“But I’m thirty cycles,” Makenna protested. “It is a bit of an age-gap, but it’s not twenty-five years!”
“What?” He looked so surprised that she almost wanted to laugh. “But…but I thought…you don’t look any older than eighteen or nineteen cycles!” he protested.
“Thank you,” Makenna said primly, smiling at him. “But I can’t take credit for my youthful appearance. My people mature slowly and keep our age very well.”
“But…but that means…” His golden eyes were suddenly hopeful. “Fifteen years isn’t too much—our soul-bond should be able to handle the difference!”
Makenna frowned.
“I don’t understand—what are you talking about?”
Rapidly, he explained about the soul-bond a Kindred formed with his mate and the way it kept them both together and allowed them to die at the same time as long as there were no accidents or terminal illnesses.
“But it only works that way if there isn’t too much of an age gap,” he told her. “I’ve been thinking all this time that you were a quarter century younger than me—been pushing you away because I didn’t want to die first and leave you lonely and alone during the most vulnerable part of your life.”
“Oh, Bard…” Makenna’s heart swelled with love for him. “So you’ve been pushing me away for my own good—because you cared so much you didn’t want to leave me alone if you went first?”
“That’s right, baby girl.” He nodded. “I lost my first mate, Rilla, only six months after we were mated and it’s taken me all this time to feel love for a female again—for you.” He pulled her down and gave her a kiss.
“That’s why I was pushing you away—I thought you were too young for me. Which you still almost are,” he added.
“I am not!” Makenna protested. “I’m actually considered quite old to be going through my first ripening. And may I remind you, you’re still helping me through it.”
She squeezed her inner muscles around him, reminding him that he was still buried deep inside her.
“Mmmm…” Bard growled, his golden eyes half-lidded with desire. “Gods, baby girl—you’re so tight around me! Feels so damn good!”
“It can feel better if you move with me.” Makenna began rocking her hips, making both of them groan with need. “Come on, Bard—make love to me again,” she begged. “Make me yours forever!”
“You’re already mine, baby girl. And I’m never letting you go,” he promised.
“Gonna bond you to me again—bond you all night long!”
As Makenna moaned and gave in to the pleasure of his shaft moving inside her and his Mating Fist filling her, she knew that her life had changed forever. She and Bard would never be parted—they would live a long and happy life and die together at a ripe old age, thanks to the soul-bond.
And all because she had been…Saved by the Beast.
Epilogue
“So we’re no closer to getting any Yillium to load the Darkling Shot cannons with and you think another attack is imminent?” Commander Sylvan, Head of the High Council, raised his eyebrows in concern.
“If the Darklings’ pattern in your ‘verse mimics the way they acted in ours, then yes—I am afraid another attack will be coming very soon.” Rarev nodded reluctantly. “But there is a bit of hope on the Yillium.”
“There is?” Sylvan leaned forward eagerly, his hands clenched together on his desk. They were meeting in his office for maximum privacy. The Head of the High Council had told Rarev he didn’t want anyone knowing how dire the situation was until they had some kind of solution.
Rarev had to agree with him…up to a point. But he believed that people needed to be warned of the coming danger—the humans, especially, should be ready in case there was another attack. They had to be able to get under cover if the ravenous Darklings came back, looking for fresh meat. But hopefully, such dire circumstances could be avoided.
“There is hope,” he affirmed, nodding his head. His mane ruffled with the motion. He really ought to get it trimmed, but there had been no time lately, with the desperate search for the rare mineral going on. “One of my scouts has found a definite source of Yillium,” he told Commander Sylvan. “A whole planet with huge deposits.”
“We’ll send some mining ships at once!” Commander Sylvan exclaimed. He was already rising from his chair in his eagerness. Rarev hated to “pop his bubble” as the humans said, (he was beginning to get accustomed to their strange slang), but he couldn’t let the other male get too excited.
“I’m afraid it’s not quite that easy,” he said, frowning. “You see, the planet—Rigellen Five—is inhabited and the Rigellens do not give up their natural resources easily.”
“Damn…” Sylvan sank back down behind his desk. “I should have known there was a catch.”
“It’s nothing we can’t handle,” Rarev assured him. “We just need to send the right ambassador to bargain with them for the mineral rights to the Yillium. Or rather, I should say, ambassadors.”