Page 59

Time flies whether you want it to or not.

“He’s so cute, Don. He’s got blue scales, a little bit lighter than Kal’s, but his brown hair and eyes are all Seth.

God, I just want to smoosh his face,” Vince gushed, lying on our bed back at the palace.

I was still aboard my ship, far away from him, and it had been months since I’d seen Vince with my own eyes.

No matter how much time passed, I couldn’t stop thinking about the day I’d left Vince.

His sadness about being separated, his terror of staying on the station, his utter unwillingness to let me go.

I’d kissed him, not caring who was watching, needing to be close with my mate, and Vince had held onto me while he silently asked that I demand he stay.

I hadn’t, and I regretted it everyday since, but, at the same time, it had been the right thing to do.

Vince needed to make his own decision, and I needed to be chosen for who I was.

“He’s the cutest baby,” Vince said, hugging himself.

“Kalvoxrencol sent me several images of their kit,” I replied, smiling as Vince grinned. “Have they picked a name?”

“No. Seth’s determined to name him Bob. Seriously? Who names their kid Bob?”

No drakcol of Kalvoxrencol’s station would.

“Kal’s refusing. It’s become a silent battle between them. Well, one of them. Kal literally cannot stay silent.”

“Seth still can’t let anyone besides Kalvoxrencol hold their child?” I asked.

It had been a week since the kit’s birth, and I’d received multiple notes about Seth refusing to allow anyone to hold the baby besides him and his mate.

Kalvoxrencol had merely said Seth needed time.

His mate was utterly terrified something would happen to their child.

This was the first human and drakcol hybrid, though I doubted the last. None of the seeker souls knew if the baby would be alright or if something would happen.

Seth had a hard time accepting that. Naturally, he loved his child.

“Not yet,” Vince said. “Well, he’s letting me and Wyn hold the baby. Other than that, no. I think Fyn’s really hurt. He and Seth are close.”

I imagined my younger brother was, and yet, out of everyone, Zoltilvoxfyn understood Seth and the way he battled his mind.

“But Seth’s talking to his therapist. I think he’ll get there. It’ll take time. He hasn’t left Bob alone for even a minute yet.”

“So you’re calling him Bob?” I asked, rolling to my side and staring at Vince’s lovely face.

I missed him. It was a constant ache in my soul, and the separation was starting to affect me.

Every breath wasn’t enough, and my guts were constantly churning, making it difficult to eat.

Every night when I tried to sleep, my arms would reach for him, and when he wasn’t there, it would hurt like it was the first time.

It wasn’t getting better, but rather, becoming worse.

“You know Seth will win this fight. They might make his name ridiculously long, but Seth will be calling his son Bob.”

“You’re probably correct.”

“Do you want kids?”

I ran my eyes over my beautiful mate and replied, “Perhaps.”

“What does that mean?”

Resting my cheek in my hand, I said, “When I was younger, I wanted to be a father because of how much I adored my younger brothers. Then when all of them so despised my inner fire over the years, I rethought it.”

“Those bastards.”

I smiled at how protective he was of me. “It wouldn’t be pleasant for a child to have your father be aware of your every thought and emotion. There would be no privacy. I would love that child, and having them hate me for something I couldn’t control would destroy me.”

My mate frowned. “You don’t know they would.”

I lifted an eyebrow.

“Fine,” Vince said, voice rough, “the kids will hate it at some point, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have them. You’ll be an amazing father, Dontilvynsan. You are so sweet and understanding and kind.” He shook his head. “I can imagine how soft and lovely you’ll be.”

When my mate left, it would hardly matter. I would never have a child without Vince. I simply said, “Thank you.”

Vince's smile turned gentle. His hand stretched toward the screen. “I miss you.”

A groan formed in the back of my throat. “I miss you, my Vince.” Miss was far too small of a word. It was an all-consuming black hole of need.

His eyes closed, and his breathing began to deepen.

The hour was late, and he’d been busy and would be busy…

without me. Stars, that thought burned. It wasn’t that I disliked Vince having things to do, but it was difficult how well he was doing without me, while I was struggling to cope without him by my side.

This space in our relationship without clear guidelines of what we were was hard for me.

Vince had said we were the same as before. He wasn’t courting anyone else, as far as I was aware, and neither was I. I scoffed. I didn’t want anyone else. Vince was my soul.

He jerked, eyes opening, and he blinked rapidly. “Sorry, Sweetheart, I’m just tired.”

“It’s fine. Sleep.”

“No,” he groaned, flopping, which made me smile. Almost anything he did made me smile. “I miss you. I wanted to jerk off together.”

That was something we did often. Vince loved to watch me and I him as we chased our pleasure.

“Tomorrow,” I said. I fought a growl. It had been six months of tomorrows already.

“When are you coming home?”

“I do not know.” I wished to say I was heading toward him right now, but that wasn’t true.

There had been strange activity on the Immortal Planet, and the Cohort and the Council of Seekers were hesitant to have me end my vigil.

They were sending out a ship to form a base on the most distant moon of the planet, so the planet could be protected and observed constantly, something we hadn’t done before, because we didn’t want to chance interference.

“Seth’s going with the ship to Earth,” Vince muttered.

The air left my lungs like I’d been hit in the gut. “What? When are you leaving?”

“A month, I think,” he replied, yawning. “Seth and Kal are going. Fyn and Caleb aren’t. It’s not safe for Caleb to travel so long. Mindy and Teddy are on the fence.”

I frowned. I didn’t understand what fencing had to do with this situation.

“Wyn’s going. He said he would never let Seth and his child out of his sight for a year or more.

Teddy and Caleb do have a huge list of ‘samples’ they want Seth to ‘collect.’ For Teddy, I think it’s going to come down to whether the Cohort will allow him to get his family.

He wants to talk to them and see if they want to come back to Tamkolvanloknol.

Oh, Camden is also petitioning for his brother to come back with him.

Poor Shannon has been asking every day for the ship to leave sooner.

She misses her wife and kids, and I don’t really blame her. ”

I tried to find something to say, but panic rang in my ears so loud that I couldn’t seem to find any thoughts. Vince was leaving for Earth in a month. It would take longer than that for me to return home, even if I was allowed to.

“Pierce isn’t going. She’s been spending time with Caleb and his sister-not-sister Tinlorray.” Vince wiggled his eyebrows. “I suspect we’ll hear wedding bells soon enough.” When I didn’t respond, he said, “They’ll be mates, Sweetheart.”

I grunted.

“Anyway, the Admiral Ven has to rush, I guess,” Vince said, yawning. “With the xoi taking so many humans, the Cohort needs to claim Earth.” He laughed.

I swallowed at the sound. How many more times would I hear it? “What?”

His eyes cracked open. “Did you know they are declaring Seth the leader of Earth?”

“The Cohort is?”

“Yeah. I guess to claim Earth as under drakcol protection they have to say Seth is the leader, and since he’s mated to Kal, the planet belongs to the Drakcol Empire.

They're doing some fast wording that I’m sure Caleb gave them.

It’s a ploy to establish a base nearby, but undetectable by human tech.

It should keep any xoi ships away. The vveki apparently support it.

They want to stop illegal trafficking of Earth spiders.

One of the priests went so far to say he had a vision of the goddess telling him Seth was the earthen ruler. ”

Vince broke into a fit of laughter. “God, Seth’s so uncomfortable.

He wanted so badly for Teddy to be the one they used, but all the humans we’ve rescued and who want to stay have huddled under Seth’s protection.

I think it's because he’s so normal. Everyone’s comfortable with him.

And Seth’s so terrified of power he’s never going to misuse it. ”

It didn’t surprise me that the vveki had supported the claiming of Earth.

If it worked, the Coalition would turn it into a reserve of sorts, to keep the remaining humans safe until they were ready to travel among the stars.

The vveki had great camouflaging technology—it was how they survived.

They were a small unassuming race, but they were insanely intelligent.

“Did you know the vveki inject themselves with spider venom to speak to their goddess?” Vince asked. “It kills some of them. But they call it dying in her embrace. It’s so sought after that they have to limit it to a select few who build up an immunity.”

“I did.”

He grinned. “You’re so smart, Sweetheart.”

Warmth flooded me at the compliment, even though my first instinct was to deny it.

Vince snuggled closer to the screen. “I’m falling asleep.”

“Then go to sleep.”

He shook his head. “I miss you. I want to talk to you.”

“And I shall be here tomorrow.”

“I know, but all I can do is send messages until tomorrow night. That’s not enough.”