Epilogue Julie
A few years later…
Another year, another rut. I looked around the place I jokingly called our vacation home, but really, it was so much more than that.
Our nest was a sanctuary, a place where the rest of the world couldn’t touch us.
It was where we came every time we wanted to spend time with each other with no distractions.
We came for the ruts too, of course. We couldn’t forget that.
We’d actually moved my work station down to the room in the stronghold Grtirr used as his workshop, fixing up old hovercrafts.
That way, we could do our hobbies together, side by side.
I’d learned very early on that up here in the nest, we always ended up cuddled on the bed, and there was never enough time or energy for anything else. And that was a good thing.
I stretched out in our round nest bed, enjoying the slide of the silky sheets.
This rut was special. This was our first rut after Grtirr had removed his fertility block, which meant if I wasn’t already preggers, I would be when we finally left.
I was excited and terrified all at the same time. But if there was ever a good time to raise a family, it was now. The protests and riots over at Nova Vita had given way to a new regime. And I didn’t mean a fake one, put in place by the very people we had outed. That one was dismantled quickly.
There was open trade between Nova Vita and Ellaston now, and that meant Ellaston was growing.
The Kadrixan stronghold and Ellaston also had a new program for women interested in joining the yearly rut.
One by one, the Kadrixan warriors were finding their mates too, and there was a lot of talk about starting families.
Grtirr and I wouldn’t be the first ones, and we definitely wouldn’t be the last either.
And Ellaston itself celebrated it too, with rounds of speed dating and matchmaking. They were, after all, trying to increase the population through any means possible.
In fact, Chris and Tessa were the first to join in on the tradition of disappearing into their “nest” for a few days.
Tessa, unbeknownst to us, was the great-granddaughter to the head of the Vossell empire.
Fourteenth in line for succession, she had no interest in managing a large corporation.
So when it was suggested that Vossell needed a permanent correspondent at Ellaston, she’d volunteered.
And for Ellaston and its standing in the galaxy?
Vossell wasn’t our only trade partner now, and ore wasn’t our only export.
I grinned, thinking of the collection of one-of-a-kind wire-wrapped jewelry I was about to drop.
In a galaxy full of mass-produced, cookie-cutter products, there was an insatiable hunger for slow-crafted, handmade goods.
We’d introduced the galaxy to Vokiren coffee too. The secret was to price it higher and turn it into a luxury product.
“Food first? Or bath?” Grtirr asked from his perch at the edge of the bed.
Ah, asking all the important questions.
“Bath,” I decided. “A visit to the hot spring sounds perfect right about now.”
“The hot spring it is.”
Grtirr scooped me up, carrying me out of the nest. I clung onto him as he leaped into the air. It had taken a while for Grtirr to get used to his patched-up wings, but he moved so gracefully now that it was hard to tell he’d been injured at all.
The air was cool against my skin, but the heat of my red-hot mate kept me warm.
The hot spring was a short flight away, and was technically Clara and Krxare’s.
But they usually went in the evenings, and I preferred going during the day.
A nice hot soak was particularly good on a crisp spring morning.
Grtirr set me down right in the water, his golden eyes dark with hunger as he stepped between my legs. The steam rose around us, wrapping us in a haze of warmth and desire.
“I thought we were getting clean,” I said, evading capture.
“Can’t get clean if we don’t get dirty first.” He caught me anyway and hauled me into his arms.
Like every time before, my heart started to race and that overwhelming giddiness started to well up from my chest. Funny where life had led me.
I still couldn’t believe I was splashing in a hot spring on top of a mountain with my very own sexy-as-fuck Kadrixan warrior, and happier than I’d ever thought I’d be.
I laughed, my heart overflowing with contentment as my fingers traced the hard planes of his chest. The steam rose around us, and the world narrowed to just him. My mate. My future. Up here, in our little slice of paradise, it was the only thing that mattered.
THE END