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BEAR

As the luxury hovercoach he’d rented for the ceremony drove them soundlessly through the city, Bear wondered when would be a good time to tell his new bride he was going to disavow her and end the Joining after his business on Karpsian Sigma was concluded. It seemed cruel to tell her right now, after the ceremony was barely over—but it also seemed cruel to wait and let her think that he was going to keep her with him always.

He wished that he would have checked more closely into the customs and culture of Karpsian Sigma before agreeing to this Joining. But he’d been too busy pouring over the details of the trade agreement, which he had considered to be the most important part of his trip here. The short-lived Joining was supposed to take a backseat to the business he had to conduct.

But the more he got to know Aleena, the more she felt important to him. He felt especially protective of her after seeing the way her own family treated her. Her father seemed nice enough—well, except for giving him permission to beat her which was unthinkable. But her stepmother and the half-sister were awful. The less he saw of them, the better, Bear thought.

Well, he wouldn’t be on Karpsian Sigma for long, he reminded himself. So he didn’t really have to worry about his in- laws. And he would just have to be certain that Aleena was well taken care of when he left.

That shouldn’t be a problem since Commander Sylvan had given him an almost unlimited line of credit. He could buy the house he had rented and put it in her name and make sure she had some kind of allowance to live on. He would make certain she was independently wealthy and didn’t have to rely on her awful family after he went away, Bear promised himself.

In the meantime, he decided to keep the news that he was planning to end their Joining to himself. It seemed cruel to bring it up now, right after the ceremony had just taken place. He would find a better time to talk about it later.

He just hoped Aleena wouldn’t be too upset when he told her he planned to disavow her.