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ALEENA

Aleena couldn’t believe how sweet and kind her Kindred husband was. She had never heard of a husband who wanted to give his wife pleasure. Nearly every married woman she knew seemed to view the sexual relationship with their husband as just another chore that had to be done—like mopping the floor or making dinner.

But Bear’s kindness to her wasn’t limited to the bedroom.

The next day after his negotiations, the two of them took a hovercoach to her mother’s domicile. Her mother was too ill to leave her bed—missing a treatment always made her weak because it allowed the disease in her blood to gain a new foothold on her body.

But Bear didn’t seem to mind that the tiny hovel wasn’t as neat as it could have been if her mother had been able to clean. His full attention was consumed with the examination he conducted.

After taking a few blood samples and using equipment in his bag to test them, he nodded thoughtfully.

“It’s what I thought—you could be cured completely with the right medication—one tailored exclusively to your DNA.”

“I could?” Aleena’s mother looked up at him uncertainly. She clearly didn’t know what to make of a man who treated her kindly and as an equal instead of being impatient with her illness.

“Yes, definitely,” he said, nodding. “I’ll send some of these samples to the Mother Ship so they can synthesize the right compound. In the meantime, I’ll give you an injection that will mitigate the symptoms you’re having now and slow down the disease until we can get the cure.”

Aleena could barely contain her excitement.

“You can cure her?” she asked, looking up at her new husband hopefully. “For good? Truly?”

“Truly.” He nodded and gave her a smile. “There’s no reason your mother shouldn’t live to a ripe old age once we get her the right medicine.”

“Oh, thank you, my Bear!” Aleena threw her arms around his neck impulsively and her mother cried out in alarm.

“Child, be careful what you do! Your husband may not wish you to hang on him so!” she exclaimed, giving Bear a worried look. “You must apologize at once or you may earn yourself a beating.”

“It’s all right, Mother,” Aleena said, giving her a reassuring smile. “Bear is a Kindred and they think differently of such things. He has promised never to beat or hit me.”

“It’s true,” Bear agreed, backing her up. “We Kindred believe that all women have a spark of the divine in them. To hit or hurt a beloved wife—or any woman at all—is unthinkable to us.”

Aleena’s mother stared at her new son-in-law with wide, uncertain eyes.

“That is most kind of you, my Lord Ambassador,” she said at last.

“Not to my way of thinking,” Bear said firmly. “My people believe that men and women are equal. I treat my wife the way I want her to treat me—with decency and respect.”

This made Aleena’s mother look even more surprised. If her eyes got any bigger, they would swallow her face, Aleena thought. She thanked Bear again as he gave her the shot that would help “mitigate her symptoms” as he had put it.

“You’re welcome, Mother of my Mate,” he said formally.

“You are beyond kind, my Lord Ambassador…er, my Lord Doctor.” Her mother made a helpless gesture with her hands. “Forgive me—I’m not certain how to call you.”

He smiled.

“You don’t have to call me ‘My Lord’ anything. Just ‘Bear’ will do. Or if you want to be more formal, you can call me, ‘Mate of my daughter’—that’s how we Kindred refer to our in-laws.”

“Thank you, Mate of my daughter,” Aleena’s mother said, nodding. “Truly, from the bottom of my heart I thank you. Not just for treating me, but for caring for Aleena so tenderly.”

Bear shot Aleena an affectionate look.

“Well, she’s extremely easy to care for. You’ve raised a lovely young woman. I’m proud to call her my bride.”

At this, Aleena’s mother got tears in her eyes and it seemed that she could barely get out her thanks without crying, though it was clear she was trying not to.

“It’s all right, Mother.” Aleena moved to sit on the bed beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. “Bear doesn’t mind if you cry. He’s not angered or disgusted by women’s tears.” Her father had been both those things—he never liked it when his wife or daughter cried in front of him.

Bear squeezed her mother’s arm gently.

“I’ll leave the two of you alone,” he murmured. “Take your time, sweetheart,” he added to Aleena. “I need to get these samples ready to send to the Mother Ship.”

Then he left the tiny bedchamber, closing the door quietly behind him.

“Oh my child!” Aleena’s mother finally got out. “He is…so much more than I ever hoped or dreamed for you. But can it be true? Can such a man really exist?”

Aleena laughed.

“It’s true, Mother—he really is kind and thoughtful and everything I could wish for in a husband,” she said. “He is also most forgiving. Why, he didn’t even get mad at me when I burned an expensive dweezle roast our first night together! In fact, he insisted on taking me out to eat afterwards.”

She didn’t tell her mother about the attack the night before—it was an even bigger act of forgiveness on her Kindred husband’s part, but she didn’t want to worry the other woman.

“What a wonderful man,” her mother breathed. “Surely the Goddess of Mercy put him in your path, my child.”

“I think you must be right,” Aleena agreed, smiling. “Of course, Faleesha was jealous right away once she saw how handsome he is. But do you know he told her he doesn’t like skinny women! He said I’m what the Kindred call an ‘Elite’—a woman blessed by the Goddess with extra full curves—and he says that’s the kind of woman he loves.”

“Oh my!” Her mother’s eyes went wide again as Aleena recounted the Joining ceremony and all that had happened afterwards.

“He sounds like a wonderful man,” her mother said at last. “But…” She frowned at Aleena. “Your eyes…their color has not changed.”

Aleena felt her cheeks get hot.

“He says he wants to take things slowly with me,” she explained. “Because he’s so big and I’m so small compared to him. But he’s been very kind in that area. Very…understanding.”

She didn’t want to say any more—it was too embarrassing. Luckily, her mother seemed to understand.

“Of course, my child,” she said, nodding. “But please remember, until he changes the color of your eyes, your marriage is not truly consummated. I advise you to fix that as soon as possible—it’s much easier for a man to disavow you if he hasn’t had the pleasure of your bed.”

“Bear won’t disavow me—he promised he wouldn’t!” Aleena said quickly. But her mother’s words had made an impact. Despite all the pleasure they had shared, their marriage was incomplete and she still wished to be Bear’s wife in every sense of the word.

Maybe I can change his mind, she thought as a plan began forming in her head.