Chapter 14
Fourteen
Cairn
Waking up with Georgie in my arms was the best feeling in the universe. I wanted it to be like this every morning from now on. It didn't matter whether we were on Earth or on Spiris, as long as we were together.
I watched her as she slept. She had pushed the duvet down so it only covered her to her belly button, leaving her breasts on full display.
I was almost surprised her nipples weren't still red and swollen, considering how long I'd sucked on them last night.
After our first mating, we'd had a break, some food, before going for a second, and then a third round.
We'd fallen asleep after a quick shower - her bathroom had clearly not been designed with wings in mind - and I'd slept peacefully for the first time in forever.
Sunlight was streaming through the windows downstairs, announcing the new day.
Our first day as a mated pair. Or a couple, as Georgie called it.
I smiled to myself. I'd given up all hope of ever finding this sort of happiness.
Now I had my mate in my arms, the most perfect female I could ever have imagined.
The mating mark stood out against her pale shoulder, two small punctures surrounded by fading purple bruising.
I traced the skin beside it with one fingertip. Georgie had not merely accepted the bond. She had chosen it. Chosen me.
She stirred, her lashes fluttering. The moment her eyes opened, she grabbed my hand and bent my fingers one by one.
“Still flexible,” I said.
Relief softened her face. “Just checking.”
I did not tell her that I had been doing the same thing every time I woke. My tail tightened around her calf, needing the reassurance of her warmth.
“How are you feeling? How are your ribs?”
“Better,” she muttered sleepily. “Is the mark still there?”
“Yes. Were you hoping it wouldn't be?”
“No, not at all. The opposite. I was worried it may have disappeared. When you first bit me, the marks vanished almost instantly.”
“That was after I drank your blood. This time, the bite completed our bond. And just like the bond, the marks are permanent.”
“Do I get to give you a permanent mark? Or does this only work one-way?”
I gently pulled a lock of hair from her face. “Female gharrgoils have fangs and can give their mates a bite mark. You lack that ability, I'm afraid.”
She scoffed. “That's a bit unfair. How do you feel about tattoos?”
“Are you thinking a tattoo of bite marks or something else entirely?”
“I'd have to think about that.”
“I can't promise my skin will accept human tattoo ink, but we have tattoo artists on Spiris. We might just have to make a trip to my planet for it.”
Georgie sat up straight. “You want to take me to your planet? An alien planet? Full of aliens?”
I laughed at her astonished expression. “I think it's only fair to show you my home now that you've shown me yours. Not any time soon. First, we have to find my brothers. Then we can go on adventures.”
She pushed the duvet off her legs. “Well, we better get started then. We have two gharrgoils to find.”
I sat up as well, but stopped mid-motion. Cloch.
“Georgie?”
“What's wrong?”
I groaned in frustration. “Two of my toes have petrified.”
She didn't seem as upset as me. “There's an easy way to fix that.” She licked her lips, her gaze travelling to my fangs.
“You don't mind?”
“Mind? I was almost hoping you'd turn to stone again. I love it when you drink my blood. Best feeling ever. Although this time, could you try a different spot to drink from? My thigh, maybe? Or a little higher?”
I chuckled, suddenly very glad about this latest bout of petrification. “I'm sure that can be arranged.”
Cleo came to the cottage after lunch to save us from having to travel to the city again. I'd dreaded the C-suit after yesterday's disaster, and once again Georgie was without a vehicle. If only she'd agree to let me fly her where she needed to go.
Cleo took one look at the two of us and grinned widely. “So you did it then?”
Georgie choked. “How...”
“Trust me, I've brought enough people together to recognise a happy-morning-after face. And you two are positively glowing.”
I put an arm around Georgie. “She agreed to be my mate.”
“And he agreed to be my gargoyle.” She laughed. “I've got a mark and everything.”
Georgie had put on a pretty green garment that left the top of her shoulders exposed, putting our mating mark on full display. I loved her for it.
“Congratulations. Pam sends her love,” Cleo said, dropping a huge bag on the table. “George, your car won't be fixed for another week or so. Pam is happy to provide you with a rental but she has conditions.”
I spread my wings, almost knocking some books off the shelf behind me. “What conditions?” I growled.
Cleo wasn't fazed at all. I supposed she dealt with protective males all the time.
“First, to be more careful on the road and to not have any more accidents.”
“It was the deer's fault,” Georgie muttered.
“She also wants you both to give me a DNA sample.
One of the reasons why Hot Tatties is so successful in matching humans with aliens, and why the Intergalactic Authority and the Intergalactic University both like working with us, is that we have managed to prove that there are genetic markers that are the basis for a mate bond.
Technically it was an Albyan scientist who first came up with it, but we've built on his method and applied it to multiple species. Pam wants to see if she can find such a marker in both your DNA, which would then mean she can scan the Hot Tatties database for other women with the same marker.”
I gripped the chair in front of me. “Are you saying you might be able to find mates for my friends that way?”
“I can't guarantee it, but there is a chance. It worked for the Vikingar, Albyans and most recently the Finfolk.”
Georgie looked as excited as I felt. “And all you need is a blood sample?”
“Not even that. Just some saliva. I'll take them to the lab this afternoon and our scientists will start work right away. I don't know how long it will take. Could be days, could be weeks.”
“That's okay,” Georgie said before I had a chance to express my impatience. “It will take time to go through the records and find the two gharrgoils. I doubt I can ask my apprentice to help us, not after everything that happened. He'll never want to work with me again.”
Cleo rummaged in her bag. “If Pam agrees, maybe I can help. I'm between projects and have spent most of yesterday trying to convince her that I should be responsible for the gharrgoil matchmaking. I think she wants you for herself, but she's way busier than me.”
Georgie grinned at her friend. “Would it help if I personally requested you? And you've already spent more time with Cairn than Pam has.”
“It definitely won't hurt.” Cleo pulled out two small plastic containers. “Spit into one of these, both of you.”
“That's all?” I asked, expecting something a lot more dramatic.
“Aye, that's all. You do have saliva, right? We were working with this one species and... doesn't matter.”
I grabbed one of the containers before I had to engage in that conversation.
It felt too personal. I watched Georgie as she unceremoniously spat in hers, then copied her.
This seemed too easy. Finding a mate took many rotations usually, and while there were mating advisors who could help make it slightly faster, this technology was unheard of on Spiris.
How could a little-developed planet like Earth do this when we couldn't?
Time had passed, though, I reminded myself. Many generations had come and gone since we'd left Spiris. By now, gharrgoil technology would be much more advanced than what I remembered. The planet I'd known would have changed beyond recognition.
“What's wrong?” Georgie said quietly and took my hand. She was so perceptive.
“Nothing. Just thinking about home.”
“We will find us a new home. Something we can build up together. A place just for the two of us. Unless... have I asked you yet what baby gharrgoils look like?”
“Pebbles,” Cleo whispered in a volume that was meant to be understood by all. She sniggered while packing away the containers.
“We'll have this conversation when we're alone. Some day,” Georgie promised quietly. Her eyes were shining with life. My mate. My one and only. My little human.
Human computers were strange. They needed a lot of hand-holding. They didn't respond to voice. They didn't work autonomously. And I couldn't read what it said on screen.
In all the rotations I'd spent on that wall, nobody had ever bothered teaching me to read English or any other human language.
In the end, Georgie had taught me how to make tea so I could keep her hydrated while she was going through various databases on the hunt for my gharrgoil brothers.
Any time she found one that matched the right time period and stone colour, she called me to look at the images.
I'd seen maybe a hundred statues so far and my hopes of finding Sten and Hallr were quickly diminishing.
There were so many. These humans really liked carving statues.
Georgie would occasionally point out one by a stonemason she knew or had studied. It was fascinating to learn more about the subject she was an expert in. She showed me how the styles had changed over time, how religion had influenced the grotesques, how the stone used could tell a story.
I'd been a statue - that didn't mean I knew much about them.
By late afternoon, the table was covered in notes, photographs and sweet wrappers. I had discovered that I liked coconut and didn't like lemon. Georgie had discovered that I had a big appetite.
I'd done little other than eat, while she had made lists of dates, locations, quarries, and the names of stonemasons. I felt utterly useless. Learning to read and use human technology was going to be a priority from now on.
I stared at all the notes and tried not to despair. “This is impossible. There are too many.”
Georgie looked up from her computer and smiled. How was she so perfect?
“There are too many gargoyles, but we're not looking for just any.
We need two statues that look like you, made from grey stone, that were first added to buildings in or shortly after 1537.
First, we'll look at any that don't have a stonemason named.
If that doesn't work, we'll also look at those with a recorded artist. You were supposedly made by Michel Auberge.”
“Nice fellow. Bit pompous. He tried to chisel bits off me.”
Her eyes widened. “I keep forgetting that you were awake for all of history! I have so many questions. Auberge had a particular style, which is why he was invited to Scotland and-” She took a deep breath.
“Not now. Sorry. One other thing we're looking for is statues that are perfect.
No signs of weathering. No damage. Unless...
Do you think parts of you could have broken off if you'd fallen?”
My tail flicked against the floor at the thought. “They tried to get rid of my horns because they made me look too much like what they called demons. It didn't work. I was too hard.”
Georgie pointedly looked at my battle wrap. “You're hard in many places.”
“I'm trying to focus. If you say something like that again, I might have to fly you to bed and show you just how hard I can be.”
She laughed. “Tempting, but I want to get through a few more pages of records. Let's assume that your friends are still fully intact. That narrows the list a lot. Most statues of that age will have been damaged over time. Wars, accidents, the Scottish rain.”
“I used to like the rain. It would wash the avian excrement off me.”
“Oh-kay then. Let's get back to work.”
She picked up one of her lists and drew a line through three names. I had watched her dismiss hundreds of images, yet she didn't appear discouraged. If anything, she had become more determined with every hour.
“Sten and Hallr may not have landed close to me,” I reminded her. “Their pods could have travelled in different directions. They may not even be in this country.”
“Then we widen the search once we’ve checked Scotland. England next, then the rest of Europe. Cleo can help with the dating agency’s contacts, and I know conservators who work all over the UK.”
“You cannot spend your life searching for my friends.”
Georgie looked at me as if I had said something particularly stupid. “I found a five-hundred-year-old alien pretending to be a grotesque on Stirling Castle. Locating two more is going to look brilliant on my CV.”
“You cannot tell anyone about us.”
“I know. That was a joke.” She took my hand and squeezed it. “I can’t promise we’ll find them, Cairn. But I can promise that we won’t stop looking.”
The certainty in her voice broke something inside me.
I had been the captain. Protecting Sten and Hallr had been my responsibility, yet I had abandoned all hope of them centuries ago.
I hadn't been brave enough to hope. Georgie had never met them, but she was willing to search an entire planet simply because they mattered to me.
I pulled her from her chair and onto my lap. My wings closed around us while my tail wound around her waist. She squealed in protest, then leant against my chest.
“What about your work?” I asked.
“This is my work. For now. I've got some overtime to use up. And I haven't been on holiday this year. Maybe I can even sell it to my boss as a work project. Finding two mysterious statues of great historical value.”
“And the fact that they are living aliens?”
“Minor detail.”
She laughed and kissed me. Her mating mark was visible above the edge of her shirt, permanent proof that she had chosen me. Somewhere beyond these walls, perhaps closer than either of us knew, my friends might still be waiting. For the first time, the thought gave me hope rather than pain.
Georgie returned to the computer, and I wrapped my tail around the back of her chair while she continued searching. I looked around me and relaxed. This was home now. A stone cottage with a swinging bed, a bathroom too small for my wings, and a mate who had brought me back to life.
Waiting for her had been worth it.