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BEAR

Bear was glad the ceremony was over. It was one of the strangest and most off-putting customs he’d ever been part of, and that was saying something since he’d once brokered a trade agreement with the snail people of Borka Four in which he had to stand shoulders deep in a pit of “holy slime” in order to make the deal.

He felt slimy in a whole different way after the Karpsian Joining ceremony he’d just been through. He’d hated saying such misogynistic things to the sweet little female who was now his bride.

Your temporary bride—don’t forget, this Joining isn’t supposed to last, whispered a little voice in his head. Bear winced at the thought of that. When he’d been speaking over the viewscreen to the girl’s father, Sir Greggor had made the idea of disavowment sound simple and easy.

Well, it probably is simple and easy for the males on this planet, he thought. But for the females, it seemed to be a whole other proposition.

The very fact that they had a clause for instant divorce if the male found another female he wanted more than his wife built right into their Joining ceremony told Bear all he needed to know about what kind of people the Karpsians were. If they hadn’t needed access to the wormhole so badly, the Kindred would never have agreed to deal with them.

His people believed that every female had a spark of the divine in her—they were all molded after the image of the Goddess, after all. The Mother of All Life who had created the Kindred people and still watched over them held a special place in her heart for her daughters and the Kindred—who were ninety-five percent male due to a genetic anomaly—revered females as a consequence.

In contrast, it was clear the Karpsians didn’t value their females at all. They felt free to toss their mates aside at the least provocation, like used tissues. Bear felt scorn for any people so misguided. How could they not see the value of their females?

Hadn’t you better “get down off your high horse” as the humans say? whispered that same little voice in his head. Have you forgotten that you’re going to abandon and discard your new bride as soon as your business here is concluded?

Bear felt a flush of unease pass through him. Well, yes that was true, but he had made a vow never to call and keep another bride after his beloved Zelia had died. He couldn’t break a solemn oath which he had taken in the Sacred Grove before the Goddess herself—could he? He would just have to be certain that his new wife was well cared for after he disavowed her. There was nothing else he could do…was there?

“Come, my husband.” The soft, sweet voice drifted up to his ears, breaking into the guilt and confusion he’d been feeling. He looked down to see his new bride—what was her name again? Oh yes, Aleena . He looked down to see Aleena looking up at him and tugging tentatively at his sleeve.

He couldn’t help noticing, now that the ceremony was over, that his new bride was uncommonly pretty. She had lovely, smooth bronze skin and long wavy hair that was the rose-gold color of pure copper. The color shouldn’t have worked with her gorgeous pale purple eyes, which sparkled like jewels, but somehow it did.

In addition to her lovely face and bewitching eyes, she was also what the Kindred called an “Elite”—a female that the Goddess has blessed with extra full curves. Gods, she almost made him wish he hadn’t taken his vow!

He pushed the thought aside guiltily. He shouldn’t be thinking such things about a girl he didn’t even know.

“We must go,” she said, tugging on his sleeve again.

“Er…where are we going?” Bear asked her, frowning.

“We must be the first to sample the Joining Loaf,” she explained, nodding in the direction of the other end of the clearing. “And we must let the guests congratulate us on our Joining.”

Bear noticed that the fine-link metal netting that she wore was still pulled up and thrown over her shoulders, which meant her full, ripe breasts were still bare. He didn’t like that for some reason—didn’t like the idea of her exposing herself when there were so many other males here who might see her. A wave of protective possessiveness passed over him and he remembered guiltily how full and firm those lovely breasts had felt in his hands.

“Shouldn’t you put down your, er, breast net?” he asked, nodding at the golden links.

She looked down modestly.

“It is not for me to say if my breast net should be worn up or down, my Lord Husband—only you may determine that.”

“Put it down then,” Bear growled, frowning. “I don’t want the other males to see your breasts. It isn’t right.”

Aleena seemed surprised, if her wide eyes were any indication, but she obeyed them at once, pulling the two golden chain-link panels of the netting back down to cover her full breasts again.

“Is that better, my Lord Husband?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Much.” Bear nodded. “Come on—show me the Joining Loaf.”

She led him across the clearing but it was slow going since every guest there had to congratulate him on his new bride. And of course, this included his new “father-in-law,” Sir Greggor, and what he assumed were the other members of his bride’s family.

“We’re so happy that you agreed to accept Aleena as your bride,” Sir Greggor said, smiling genially. “I know she wasn’t your first choice, but I hope that you’ll be very happy using her body for your pleasure.”

Bear opened his mouth to protest this statement but the older woman standing next to Sir Greggor chimed in. She had brassy gold hair and was wearing an elaborate golden breast net set with precious stones that flashed in the sunlight coming through the branches of the trees.

“Yes, we apologize—we know Aleena’s not nearly as lovely as her little sister, Faleesha,” she said, nodding to the young woman at her side, who had a spoiled, petulant look on her pretty face. She was not an Elite, being nearly as skinny as a rail and her breast netting was silver and also flashed with gem stones. It covered much smaller breasts than Aleena’s, Bear noted.

But he couldn’t stand by and listen to his new bride being maligned like this. Of course, he planned to end the Joining before he left, but while he was her mate, he was going to protect and defend her, he told himself.

“Actually, I think Aleena is beautiful,” he said firmly, frowning at the older woman. “I’m very pleased to have her as my bride.”

“Well!” The older woman frowned. “You have to admit she’s rather on the plump side. Still, at least with her broad hips, she should have no problem bearing your heir once you plant your seed in her belly.”

The younger woman, who must be Faleesha—the girl he was originally supposed to Join with—tittered unkindly and gave Aleena a withering look.

Bear felt another wave of protectiveness flow over him quickly followed by a spike of irritation. Was it normal for a girl’s own family to insult her on her Joining day here?

“Aleena is what my people call an ‘Elite’,” he said stiffly. “That is—a female whom the Goddess has blessed with extra generous curves. Such females are sought after and much prized among the Kindred.”

“Is that so? How fascinating!” Sir Greggor said quickly. Clearly he wanted the conversation to be over before anyone took offense. But Faleesha obviously didn’t get her father’s hint.

“What—are you saying the Kindred actually like fat women?” she demanded rudely.

“We adore curvy females,” Bear said, trying not to let his words come out in a growl. He hadn’t even known Aleena’s younger sister ten minutes and already he disliked her intensely. Thank the Goddess the plans had changed at the last minute and he’d been Joined to Aleena instead of this little snake!

Both the mother and the younger sister looked surprised at his words. But Bear wasn’t done—he wanted to give them even more to chew on.

“I feel blessed by the Goddess to have an Elite as my new bride,” he said to them. “Clearly she knows that I don’t care for skinny women and chose to bring Aleena into my life because of her generous curves and beautiful smile.”

“Well!” Faleesha exclaimed, her pale blue eyes flashing. She had brassy golden hair like her mother and it was coiled on top of her head in an elaborate up-do, making her skinny face look even thinner.

Bear looked down at Aleena to see how she had taken his words. He found her staring up at him, her gorgeous eyes wide and her lush mouth a little “O” of surprise. Had no one ever told her how beautiful she was? It seemed not—at least from her reaction.

“Well, it was nice chatting with you, but my new bride tells me we have to go taste the Joining Loaf. Isn’t that what you said?” he asked Aleena.

“Oh, er…yes. Yes, indeed. Thank you, Father and Stepmother for your well wishes,” she said, nodding formally to Sir Greggor and his wife. “But I must go with my new husband now and attend to his desires.”

“Of course you must, my dear. I’m just glad that he’s so happy with you,” Sir Greggor said heartily. His wife and his other daughter agreed, though not very enthusiastically. They had identical sour expressions on their faces, like they’d been eating unripe bilba fruit, Bear thought, with satisfaction. Clearly his words had hit home.

He nodded again and then let Aleena lead him across the clearing to where a simple white stone pedestal covered in a white cloth was standing. On it was a large, puffy pastry coated in some kind of shiny, sticky glaze. It was twice the size of Bear’s head and he estimated that it ought to feed all the Joining guests with no problem.

A woman was standing near the enormous Joining Loaf and waving it anxiously with a folding paper fan to keep flying insects away. She seemed to have been successful since Bear didn’t see any of them near the pastry.

“Oh, the happy couple!” she exclaimed, breaking into a smile when they approached. “My goodness—I do believe congratulations are in order! And don’t you make a handsome pair!”

This was more the kind of compliment that Bear was used to. He nodded, and thanked the woman, accepting her kind words which seemed to be genuinely meant—unlike the saccharine-sweet, backhanded compliments Aleena’s stepmother had given them.

“And now you’ll be wanting to have a slice of the Joining Loaf! Just let me get the ceremonial knife.” The woman fluttered excitedly as she reached under the table covering and pulled out a long, serrated knife and a plate.

Bear took the knife but then handed it to Aleena. She held it hesitantly in one hand, looking up at him.

“Now, my dears—you must cut into it together for the best luck,” the woman told them. “Don’t be shy—guide your bride’s hand,” she added, speaking to Bear.

Since Aleena didn’t object to this order, Bear pulled her gently around until she was standing right in front of him with her back to his chest. Then he reached around her and gripped her much smaller hand in his so that they were holding the knife together. This close to her, he couldn’t help noticing her sweet, feminine scent. It seemed to do strange things to him, but he tried to ignore it and get on with the task at hand.

“Where are we supposed to cut it at?” he murmured in her ear, because he really had no idea.

“Oh—wherever we want to. What about right in the middle?” she suggested, looking up at him shyly.

“Sounds good to me.” Bear let her move the knife to where she wanted to cut and then, together, they sawed into the massive sticky pastry.

“Get yourselves a nice big slice!” the woman who had been watching over the Joining Loaf told them. “After all, my dear —this is like to be the only Joining Loaf you’ll ever have,” she added, speaking to Aleena.

Meaning, Bear supposed, that he himself might have another Joining Loaf if he decided to cast his bride aside and get himself another female, but apparently that option wasn’t open to Aleena.

The idea felt wrong to him. Kindred formed a Soul Bond with their mates that only death could break. The idea of casting aside a beloved wife to get a different one was a blasphemy in the eyes of the Goddess—not to mention an impossibility once the Soul Bond was formed. But clearly the Karpsians formed no bonds with their brides.

Once they had a large, gooey piece of the flaky pastry loaded onto a plate, Bear gave back the knife.

“Now what?” he asked Aleena. “Do we each take a bite?”

“We’re supposed to feed each other a bite, my Lord Husband,” she said, looking up at him shyly again. “If it pleases you.”

Bear wanted to tell her she didn’t have to address him so formally but he didn’t want to offend her, so he decided to keep that conversation for later.

“All right,” he said instead. Tearing off a piece of the flaky, sticky pastry, he held it up to Aleena’s mouth.

She parted her lush lips—which were the same color as her nipples, he couldn’t help remembering—and allowed him to place the piece in her mouth.

“Mmm, delicious!” she exclaimed, after chewing and swallowing. “May I feed you a piece as well, my Lord Husband?”

“Of course.” Bear opened his mouth and leaned down—she was so much shorter than him and he didn’t want her to have to reach too far.

Aleena popped a piece of the pastry into his mouth and he started to chew—only to bite down on something hard and metallic.

“Ow!” he mumbled and did his best to swallow the lump of pastry without also swallowing the foreign object he’d bitten into.

When he pulled it out of his mouth, he saw that it was a tiny silver baby, about as big as the last joint of his thumb.

“Oh!” Aleena’s hands flew to her mouth. “The luck baby! You found the luck baby!”

“The what?” Bear frowned down at the shiny baby cupped in the palm of his hand.

“They always bake it into the Joining Loaf,” Aleena explained. “And whoever finds it is supposed to have luck for a whole year!”

“And what your new bride is probably too shy to tell you, is that when the groom finds the luck baby, it means his new bride will certainly conceive the moment he changes the color of her eyes,” the pastry woman added, grinning broadly. “Truly your Joining has been blessed by the Goddess of Mercy!”

“I suppose you must be right.” Bear held out the little silver baby to Aleena. “Would you like it?”

Her eyes shone as she looked up at him.

“Truly? You would give your luck to me?”

“Why not?” Bear said. He smiled at her, trying not to feel guilty when he thought of how soon their Joining was going to end. “You’re the bride—you should have everything you want on your Joining day.”

The idea of the Joining day being special for the bride was a belief the Kindred shared with the humans, whose planet they were currently guarding. And after having met her family, Bear thought that his new mate could certainly use some luck.

“Thank you, my Lord Husband.” Aleena took the luck baby carefully from his palm and hid it somewhere in the folds of her long, split skirt. She smiled up at him shyly.

Looking down into her sparkling pale purple eyes, Bear couldn’t help thinking again how beautiful she was. It was strange—he had never noticed any female since his Zelia had died. It didn’t matter how beautiful a woman was—none of them made any impression on him. But now it seemed he couldn’t stop noticing Aleena’s beauty.

You’d better stop noticing quickly, the little voice in his head muttered. Remember, this Joining isn’t going to last. It doesn’t matter how pretty she is, you can’t keep her!

Which was absolutely true. After his business was concluded, he would have to disavow Aleena and leave her behind while he went back to the Mother Ship alone.

Bear wondered why the idea bothered him so much when he didn’t even really know his new bride. But it didn’t matter—facts were facts and this Joining wasn’t meant to last.