Page 21 of Alien Spare (Cosmic Mates #9)

One month later

“Where are we going?” Karma asked as their husbands ushered her and Kismet out of the palace to a waiting hoverlimo.

Falkor exchanged a conspiratorial grin with Jaryk. “You’ll see. Get in.”

“We don’t have a lot of time!” Her sister looked just as perplexed and vexed.

“The ceremony is tomorrow!” Men did not understand these things. All they had to do for the wedding was show up.

“The sooner you get in the hovercraft, the sooner we can get back,” Falkor said.

The king had agreed to marry them the day after their reconciliation, but then something had come up, and he’d been unavailable for a month.

Despite the delay, she was deliriously happy. Her marriage was everything she ever longed for—close, intimate, loving. Every day, she fell deeper and deeper in love with her husband.

With Soton history, Falkor had become the public head of Kaldoronics and supervised the day-to-day operations.

He planned to hire a manager as soon as he found the right candidate.

His fear the king would shut him down had not come to pass.

His father hadn’t been thrilled he’d been kept in the dark, but he’d grudgingly permitted him to continue.

She suspected the queen might have had something to do with it.

The more she got to know the monarchs, the more convinced she became that the queen ruled the throne.

When she wasn’t working on wedding stuff, Karma assisted him at the office. On Earth, she’d worked at her mother’s shop, the Mystical Mage. She loved being useful again and enjoyed supporting her husband’s dream.

So, the days were crazy-busy, but nights were reserved for hot, rapturous loving.

She hadn’t yet told Falkor, but her premonition they’d conceived a baby looked more and more real.

Always regular, she was a few days late.

But only a few. Because excitement and stress could disrupt her cycle, she wanted to wait until she was sure to tell him.

It’s a good thing I’m getting married.

She would have the double wedding she and Kismet used to dream about when they were little girls.

Since her twin and Jaryk had been married through Cosmic Mates, they also desired to make a permanent commitment. A double wedding offered the perfect solution.

Although still limited to “immediate” family, the wedding had mushroomed into a formal, elegant affair involving wedding gown fittings, floral arrangements, musicians, rehearsals, and fancy dinners.

The definition of immediate family had expanded, too.

She had no idea there were so many relatives living at the palace!

With hindsight, she realized Falkor must have been planning his little surprise for a while.

Always good-natured, he’d been exceptionally jovial and sweet the past few days, and she’d caught him watching her with a big grin.

She’d assumed he was just happy about their upcoming nuptials, but, apparently, he’d had a surprise in the works.

She climbed into the vehicle. She’d find out where they were going when he instructed the vehicle where to take them. The others piled in after her, the door closed, the windows darkened , and the vehicle lifted off.

“Did you have the windows darkened so we couldn’t see out?”

“Yes, and I preprogrammed our destination.” Falkor grinned.

“You thought of everything.”

Within a few minutes, the vehicle landed. That didn’t take long. We didn’t go far. The doors opened, and she scrambled out, eager to see where they were. “This is the spaceport!” The huge terminal sprawled out over several city blocks. Overhead, a shuttle flew in and landed while another took off.

“Why are we here?” Kismet demanded. “We can’t take a trip!”

The men broke into grins. “You’ll see. Come on, we don’t want to be late!” Falkor motioned.

She and her twin stalled, planted their hands on their hips. “We can’t leave! We’re getting married tomorrow,” Karma said.

“That’s why we’re here,” Jaryk said.

“We can’t elope! Everything is planned for tomorrow.”

“That’s why we’re here today,” Falkor said.

“Then why—”

Before she and Kismet could protest any further, the men propelled them into the terminal.

Inside, they caught a speedaway and zipped to an arrival gate in time to see a spaceship roll to the docking bridge.

“We got here in the nick of time,” Jaryk said.

“Are out-of-town relatives coming for the wedding?” Karma guessed. The guest list had grown to seventy-five people already. Small by royal standards, but it expanded the definition of immediate family.

Falkor shrugged.

“For Goddess’ sake!” Tell me already!

The door to the jetway peeled open, and the first passengers disembarked—humans.

Oh, Goddess. Her gaze shot from the passengers to her grinning husband to her wide-eyed sister.

There could only be one incredible reason why they would have been brought to the spaceport in time to see people arrive from Earth.

“You…you…did you…” Overcome with emotion, she couldn’t find the words.

A woman wearing a purple-and-yellow swirly skirt topped with an embroidered vest disembarked and scanned the area, looking for someone. Curly hair was piled on her head and wrapped in a tie-dyed purple-and-yellow scarf.

“Mom!” Karma screamed and ran.

“Mom!” Kismet yelled, hot on her heels.

“My girls!” Destiny enveloped them in a hug.

Karma started to cry. “I can’t believe you’re here. I was afraid we’d never see you again.”

“We missed you so much.” Kismet was crying, too.

“I missed you, too, my darlings. But I knew we’d be reunited. A tarot reading told me I would be going on a journey and there would be a reunion. That’s why I didn’t object when you both joined Cosmic Mates.”

Karma shot her sister a smug look. See? Throw her cards out the window, why don’t you! She hadn’t forgotten what her sister had done.

“I can’t believe you’re here, Mom!” Kismet hugged her.

“You’ll be at our wedding!” Karma said and sought her husband’s gaze across the walkway. “I love you so much,” she mouthed. She’d doubted anything could have topped the marriage proposal, but this did. This was the best surprise in the whole world.

“Longer than that,” Destiny said. “I closed up the Mystical Mage. I was invited to stay on Kaldor. I figured, why not? Adventure isn’t just for my daughters.”

“You’re staying?” She and Kismet squealed and hugged her again.

“I’m here to stay. Now, why don’t you introduce me to my new sons-in-law.”

Karma grabbed her hand and drew her over to where the men waited. “Mom, this is Prince Falkor Rullok-Myka, the best husband in the whole world.”

“Second-best,” her sister interjected.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kennedy.”

“Call me Destiny, please. Thank you for making my daughter happy.”

“Mom, this is Jaryk…” Kismet took her turn.

Falkor wrapped his arm around Karma’s shoulders. She hugged him, squeezing him tight. “Thank you,” she murmured, overcome with emotion. She had her husband, her sister, and her mother—and soon, a baby. She was truly, forever home.

The universe did provide.

* * * *

Thank you for reading Alien Spare (Cosmic Mates 8) .

I hope you enjoyed the series. If you missed one of the earlier books/duets, I hope you’ll catch up.