Page 8 of Kailirex (Brides of the Mylos #6)
CHAPTER 8
STELLA
I’d finished the application and the AI had informed me that my mate and his team would evaluate it along with any others received by the deadline. That was fine by me. I wanted in with a chance, and while everyone seemed to think I was a shoo-in and this was destiny and all that, I was going to make damned sure I got this job on merit before I’d accept it. If it was even offered, that is.
“Right, so, Stella and Eric, let me say first of all, I’ve loaded the welcome pack to the tablet you’re carrying. It will explain what you can expect of life within the Fleet in general,” Loris said, his smile suddenly looking nervous. “Secondly, if you look on the main screen, you’ll see an icon that looks like one of your Valentine’s Day hearts. If you tap that, you’ll find a short dossier on your mate. Before you do that, however,” he said, holding a hand up as if to stop us as we both moved to get an advance look at our new alien mates, “I feel I must remind you that us Mylos travel far and wide and this is only one of the most recent mating treaties we’ve signed. So, while Mylos genes are always dominant, occasionally some characteristics from the other parent species are expressed within any young born.”
“So, what you’re saying is some Mylos look a bit different? Like, what are we talking about here? Fangs? Tails? Hooves?”
“Well, in battle form, and during mating, all Mylos have fangs,” Loris hedged.
“What my esteemed colleague is trying to say is yep, some Mylos have fangs all the time. Some have horns and/or tails, but no hooves. Some have a battle form that expresses gills when in water, however,” the perky AI butted in. “And since Mylos cherish young, they often adopt from among other species, so just as human young adopted by Mylos are considered Mylos, so are they.”
“Okay, I can deal with that.”
I sucked in my lower lip. Were they trying to warn us that our mates were Mylos born of another species and looked vastly different? I tapped the icon, desperate to see what we were dealing with here. And whoa…Kailirex was even hotter than the guy on the posters I’d seen. Super hot and a rather fetching shade of green. I giggled.
“Not so little green men!”
“What?” Eric leaned over to look at my screen. “Holy shit! He really is green! I wonder if your kids will be.”
“Kids? We still have to complete our mating and have a big wedding so Mom and Dad forget about killing us, and who even said I’d be getting preggers anytime soon?”
“I didn’t mean it that way. He’s really good looking and your kids will be adorable. He’s not Shrek-like at all.”
“Yeah, but you gotta admit, Shrek looks pretty cute for an ogre.”
Eric laughed at me while Loris stared at us as if we’d lost our minds. “I always knew you were a little weird.”
“It’s one of the many reasons you love me.”
“Good thing, too, huh, seeing we put down that we wanted to not be separated, even if only one of us matched.”
“Xernaos spoke up once more. “As to that - I took the liberty of interpreting that to mean you’d want to share the same quarters aboard ship. You will each have your own master suite and rooms for any young to come.”
I laughed at Eric’s expression as he realized he was probably going to be a dad himself at some point.
“Suddenly in a hurry for babies, huh?” I taunted.
“I just never thought I’d ever be in a position to make it a reality,” he corrected. “As for a baby, well, I’d be open to adopting an older kid.”
“I’d totally donate an egg for you,” I said, and his eyes misted over.
“Thanks, sis. I’ll keep that in mind and talk it over with Piloris when the time is right.”
“You going to take a look?” I prodded, inclining my head towards the tablet in his hands. He squared his shoulders and then hurriedly jabbed the pink heart on the upper left hand part of the screen.
“Well, he’s not green,” I observed. Indeed, he was a rather human shade of bronze with limpid eyes so dark they were almost black with deep blue flecks. His hair was a deep navy blue as were his incredibly long, thick lashes.
“He’s not,” my brother’s voice rasped as he drank in the sight before him. ”He’s beautiful. I know I’m not bad looking, but I’m no Adonis. Shit. he’s going to be so disappointed!”
“Stop that,” I told him sternly. “Perfect match, remember? He will take one look at you and think he’s the luckiest guy in the galaxy.”
“She’s quite correct, you know,” Loris reassured him. “He will have begun to imprint on you as soon as he saw the picture we sent him with your dossier, his hormones kickstarting into gear as he knows spiritually that you are his missing piece.”
“I…I like the sound of that,” Eric said, and I wanted to go back in time and scratch the eyes out of all the idiots who’d made my brother think he wasn’t worth more than a hookup or that he wasn’t sexy enough or fun enough or rich enough. While I did that, he could go back and punch all my exes in the nose so all the jerk wads we’d had to put up with, well, they’d each have a double whammy from our sibling duo.
“Me too,” I agreed. “And hey, we’re in it together. Me and you forever, just as we said when we were kids. Each other’s ride or die, right?”
“Right.” He cleared his throat. “Okay. Could we maybe have some water? I think we’ve had enough coffee and a drink would be nice while we read all this and wait.”
Loris looked immensely relieved we weren’t wigging out. “Sure, I’ll be right back.”
“Ride or die!” Xeranos said. “I like that! Oh, and I probably should have said earlier, but just call me Xero. Everyone else does. Well, everyone except the warriors. They tend to be a stick in the mud about it.”
Eric and I chuckled at his pouting tone.
“Just Xero, got it,” I told him seriously.
“Yep!” came the now cheery reply. “Once on board, just call my name and I’ll do my best to assist you. I do pretty much everything, and if I don’t, one of my assistants is on the job. Um, other than monitoring stress levels and life signs, I don’t keep tabs in your quarters unless asked to, just in case you were wondering.”
“Cool.” I had actually wondered about that and was relieved to know that was the case.
Eric nodded. “Good to know, buddy.”
Eric moved to sit next to me on the love seat and together, we began to read and share information about our mates.