Epilogue
KAELUS
“Well, it seems congratulations are in order!” Commander Sylvan said, leaning back behind the enormous desk in his office aboard the Kindred Mother Ship. “The two of you saved many lives.”
Kaelus glanced at Clair, who was sitting beside him in one of the chairs facing Sylvan’s desk, and felt the warm answering pulse of her presence through their Bond.
Nearly three weeks had passed since they left Titus Four, and he still hadn’t grown accustomed to the quiet miracle of knowing she was there, tied to him.
Sometimes her mental presence was only a faint warmth at the edge of his awareness.
Other times, especially when Clair was annoyed with him, her emotions came through with remarkable clarity whether she intended them to or not.
At the moment she was pleased, tired, and faintly amused—probably because Sylvan was looking at them like a proud father congratulating two particularly troublesome children.
“It wasn’t just us,” Clair said. “Maera and Varell did a lot of the work, and once we isolated the active veloria metabolite, the medical teams here were able to synthesize it amazingly fast.”
“That may be true, but none of it would have happened if you hadn’t discovered how the compound was created and transferred,” Sylvan pointed out. “And Doctor Kaelus uncovered the evidence proving the Glenvarren outbreak was deliberate. I think both of you can accept a little credit.”
Kaelus inclined his head, though his mind immediately returned to Glenvarren.
He and Clair had gone there only briefly after leaving Titus Four, taking the first synthesized doses of antidote with them while the Mother Ship laboratories worked to create enough for the entire infected population.
He would never forget the condition of the colony when they arrived, he thought.
The Savage males had been isolated in reinforced medical wards—many of them restrained and sedated for their own safety and the safety of everyone around them.
Their wives had been kept nearby whenever possible, though some were recovering from injuries and others were too frightened to come close until the treatment began working.
The first male they treated had been a Beast Kindred named Brellan, who had been Bonded to his wife for nearly twelve years.
When Kaelus first saw him, Brellan had been strapped to a reinforced medical bed, snarling and fighting the restraints while his eyes burned with the same terrible red light Kaelus remembered seeing reflected in Clair’s frightened face in the Containment Center.
They had administered the synthesized veloria compound intravenously, though Clair insisted on remaining beside the observation window for the entire procedure despite Kaelus telling her she needed to stay clear of the danger.
Less than twenty minutes later, the red had begun fading from Brellan’s eyes and the violent struggling stopped. His body had relaxed against the restraints.
After testing his blood markers and finding him safe, Brellan’s wife was at last allowed to enter the room. Kaelus thought he would remember that moment for the rest of his life.
Brellan had looked at his wife—confused at first. But then recognition flooded his face and he began to weep. They weren’t quiet tears, but deep, broken sobs as he begged his wife’s forgiveness for things he had done while the virus controlled him.
His wife hadn’t said a thing, but she had crossed the room without hesitation and wrapped her arms around him as soon as the physicians released the restraints.
She spoke no words, but Kaelus knew that she was communicating through their Bond—forgiving her husband, telling him how much she still loved him. It filled his heart to overflowing, when he remembered how Clair had forgiven him as well and told him that she loved him.
After that, they treated another male. Then another and another and finally, all the rest.
By the time Clair and Kaelus left Glenvarren, dozens of infected Kindred had come back to themselves, and shipments of the synthesized compound were arriving from the Mother Ship fast enough to treat any residual cases.
Some families had wounds that would take far longer to heal than the virus itself, and seven women would never come home at all—nothing could change that. But the outbreak was over and no more wives would die.
That knowledge meant more to Kaelus than any commendation Commander Sylvan could give him, and he knew Clair felt the same.
Clair must have felt the direction of his thoughts through the Bond because her hand slipped into his and she entwined her fingers with his, before giving him a gentle squeeze.
Kaelus looked down at their joined fingers and squeezed back.
“You all right, big guy?” she asked silently.
The sound of her mental voice still made warmth spread through his chest.
“Yes, Lissa’ra,” he sent back. “I am always all right when you’re with me.”
Sylvan watched the silent exchange with open interest.
“I’m going to assume that the two of you are currently having a conversation I’m not invited to,” he remarked.
Clair grinned.
“Maybe.”
“I see.” Sylvan folded his hands over his desk. “That brings me to another matter, but before we get to it, I thought you might want to know the final disposition of Doctor Sendar Rax.”
Clair’s smile disappeared and Kaelus felt her hand tighten around his.
“What happened to him?” she asked. “We left Titus Four before they held the trial.”
“The Titus Four Council completed its judgment yesterday,” Sylvan said.
“Between the Blood Archive records and the recording made by his own surveillance device, there was no question of guilt. He confessed to engineering and spreading the Savage Syndrome strain, murdering his wife Galandra, and attempting to murder both of you. He also admitted he was planning to infect the entire male population of Titus Four with a strain of the Savage Syndrome virus designed to resist the veloria compound,” he added grimly.
“Please tell me they didn’t give him some comfortable little prison cell with three meals a day and a view of the lake,” Clair said. “The man’s a serial killer! And he was trying to wipe out his whole planet—well, the female half of it, anyway.”
Sylvan’s mouth twitched.
“No. Their punishment is considerably more severe.”
Kaelus raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? What was it?” he asked.
“The Council invoked something called the Judgment of the Hollow Heart,” Sylvan continued. “Apparently it hasn’t been used in several centuries. Sendar has been placed inside a temporal suspension field in the central chamber of the Blood Archive.”
Clair frowned.
“Temporal suspension?”
“It means his body will no longer age,” Sylvan explained. “He cannot move or speak, and according to the Titus Four physicians, his physical processes have been slowed to almost nothing.”
“But he’s alive?” Clair asked. “And conscious?”
Sylvan nodded.
“Yes.”
Clair’s eyes widened and Kaelus felt a chill. To be forever suspended in time, frozen and unable to move yet conscious of everything going on around you—it would be a living hell.
“Which is exactly what he deserves,” Clair pointed out through their link.
Kaelus squeezed her hand again.
“Litigious little thing, aren’t you, wife?”
“Only when it’s called for, husband,” she returned.
Kaelus gave her a look from the corner of his eye.
“Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
“Too late. I’m angry and now you’re going to have to serve your goddess to make up for it,” she sent back in a teasing mental tone.
Then she sent a mental image of him kneeling on the bed between her thighs, licking her sweet, creamy little pussy while she moaned and tugged his hair.
Kaelus felt himself go instantly hard. This was a little game they’d been playing lately—“serving the goddess.” It involved him tasting and pleasuring her to make up for supposed wrongs he had committed and he fucking loved it.
“…harsh but necessary.” Sylvan’s voice drew him out of his mental flirtation and Kaelus realized he might have missed something.
“It is necessary,” Clair said, nodding soberly. “If Sendar was allowed to get away with what he’d done, he would only try to do it again.”
“I agree with you,” Sylvan said quietly. “And so did the Council of Elders on Titus Four. They decided that a male who viewed devotion as slavery and considered women disposable should become a permanent reminder of where that philosophy leads. But there’s more.”
“More?” Kaelus asked, wondering what more the Council had thought of.
“Yes.” Sylvan nodded. “They’re placing a plaque beneath the suspension field which records the names of Galandra, and every person killed in the Glenvarren outbreak.
It also contains Sendar’s confession and the history of what he did.
Every scientist entering the Blood Archive will pass him and all will know his shame. ”
Clair sat back slowly.
“Wow,” she murmured.
Sylvan nodded again.
“My reaction as well. The punishment is harsh but fair.”
Kaelus nodded in agreement. Sendar was getting what was coming to him—he would stare for centuries upon the scientists who came to learn at the Blood Archive—would watch as they read about his horrific acts. And he would never be able to hurt anyone again.
Sylvan cleared his throat.
“Enough of that grim subject,” he said. “As I mentioned earlier, I understand there are other congratulations in order as well. Am I mistaken, or did I hear that the two of you are now Bonded?”
Kaelus looked at Clair and she looked back at him, her warm brown eyes dancing.
“You heard correctly,” he said.
“Well.” Sylvan looked genuinely delighted. “That is most unusual as Hybrids of our kind usually cannot bond. Perhaps the Goddess herself took a hand in bringing you together.”
“Perhaps she did.” Kaelus nodded, remembering how the Goddess had told him what to do when he was desperate not to hurt Clair.
“Well, I was going to tell you that a laboratory has opened up and one of you can move into it if you still want your own space,” Sylvan remarked. He raised his eyebrows. “But I guess that won’t be necessary now?”
“No,” Kaelus said as they both shook their heads. “Our current arrangement is satisfactory.”
Clair snorted.
“That’s the most romantic way anyone has ever said they want to live and work with me forever.”
“I was speaking to Commander Sylvan,” Kaelus pointed out.
“And now you’re making excuses.”
Kaelus sighed.
“Forgive me wife, what can I do to make this offense up to you?”
“You know what you can do. You need to serve your goddess.”
She sent him the mental image again, only this time Kaelus saw himself laying back on the bed while his curvy little wife straddled him, riding his tongue and feeding him her juices.
He had to bite back a groan as his cock surged in his trousers again.
“You have to stop doing that—we’re in a meeting!” he sent. But he didn’t really mind and he knew she knew it.
Sylvan appeared to be watching their mental communication because there was a knowing smile playing around the corners of his mouth.
“Then I’ll consider the matter settled,” he said. “You’ll retain the laboratory exactly as it is.”
“Not exactly,” Clair said.
Kaelus turned toward her suspiciously.
“What does that mean?”
“The tape is coming up.”
He frowned.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“We discussed this.”
“We did, and I won.”
“That is not how discussion works,” Kaelus protested.
She gave him a smug smile.
“It is when I’m right.”
Kaelus looked at Sylvan.
“Do you see what I endure?”
Sylvan spread his hands.
“You Bonded her. I’m staying out of it.”
“A wise decision,” Clair said.
Kaelus shook his head, but he couldn’t stop the warmth spreading through him.
Months ago, the idea of Clair ignoring his laboratory rules, invading his carefully ordered space, and moving equipment across the dividing line had irritated him beyond measure.
Now the idea of walking into the laboratory without her there was unbearable.
They rose to leave a few minutes later after Sylvan officially dismissed them.
He wished them well and as they left his office, Clair stopped in the corridor and looked up at Kaelus’s biceps.
The dark silver devotion band from Titus Four was still there.
He had worn it every day since giving her his vow as a sign of devotion to his new mate.
Her expression softened when she saw it.
“You know, you can take that off now,” she said.
Kaelus looked down at it and shook his head.
“No, Lissa’ra. I cannot.”
Clair smiled.
“Why not?”
Kaelus swung her up into his arms and held her to his chest.
“Because I belong to you and I want everyone to know it,” he said.
As he kissed her, he felt her sweet love pouring into him and knew his life would never be the same. He and Clair would be together forever and all because he had been…
Tamed by Her Touch.