Page 21 of Tara's Warriors

While it wasn’t unusual to see children in Kadothia, it wasn’t common, either. When one lived four to five hundred years like the majority of the Bel’Tan Galaxy, breeding had to be controlled or Kadothia would be overwhelmed with people. And there were already too many Kadothian Warriors to bond. If a Matriarch had two hundred offspring, they would end up destroying themselves. But humans lived much shorter lifespans, and had to reproduce frequently to keep up their numbers.

They stood there for a few minutes, absorbing the atmosphere before Phin said, “I wonder if our Matriarch would rather have a Territory someday on the Kadothian moon being terraformed into a replica of Earth. If that would make it easier for her to leave all of this behind.”

“Perhaps,” Karwin replied slowly as he considered the idea. “There is something to be said for the simple beauty of this place.”

“There is.” Phin tensed then whispered, “I see her.”

Following Phin’s line of sight, Karwin almost let out a purr before he stopped himself. Tara stood near the gazebo surrounded by blooming magnolia trees along with another woman, laughing at something the brown haired woman said. Tara was a vision of beauty with her hair up in some kind of complicated twist, curled tendrils hanging down around her tanned face. Her knee length white dress floated around her long legs, bright splashes of pink and yellow in geometric patterns on the cloth. A golden bangle twinkled on her wrist, and he could see that she’d put on some kind of makeup that made her lashes seem longer and stained her lips a deep, luscious red.

Lord of Life, he wanted to kiss those lips so badly, he was fairly shaking with need.

Phin threw an elbow into his side. “Control yourself. Jillian is with her.”

Shaking off his arousal, his heart gave a hard thump at the sight of the little girl, dressed in blue shorts and a glittery yellow tank top waving what looked like a stick with a glowing star on it as she chased another little giggling girl.

“We are blessed,” Phin murmured.

“So very blessed.” Karwin agreed. “Now, let’s go get our Matriarch.”

Chapter 8

Tara

Taking a sip of her second peach margarita, Tara bit her lower lip to make sure she wasn’t drinking it too fast. If her lower lip was numb, that was always her sign that she was well on her way to being officially drunk. Her nerves said that was a great idea, but her brain told her that no man found a woman attractive who tended to slur unintelligibly while wasted. So she sipped her delicious drink from its ‘adult sippy cup’ and pretended to listen to her friends and cousins as they chatted.

Somehow, word had gotten around that she had a date with the two guys from the diner.

Somehow probably being her Aunt Jean.

To the right, closer to where a jazz band was playing in the large gazebo, her Aunt Jean sat in a blue and yellow stripped lawn chair next to Uncle Rob. Jillian ran with a pack of kids between Tara and the rest of her family and friends spread out over the greenspace. While there were plenty of things Tara did not like about living in a small town, she was glad Jillian was being raised with so much love.

“Hey, Tara,” her cousin and good friend Melinda said as she brushed her long, dark bangs from her slightly sweaty forehead. “How is Lacey doing? Mom said you talked to her earlier today.”

Resting the cold cup against her chest, Tara said, “She’s doing good. Misses the hell out of everyone and wishes she could be home for the festival.”

Melinda looked away, her gaze tracking the kids running past them, “I’m glad to hear that. She’s over there helping with the typhoon relief, isn’t she?”

“She is.” Tara allowed herself a quick look at the clock, counting down the minutes until the men were supposed to arrive. “Lacey’s doing MP duty right now with a medical unit. They’re on their way to a remote base in the thick of the destruction.”

“God bless her,” Melinda said as she made the sign of the cross. “That girl of yours is something special. Always had a strong sense of justice. I’ll never forget her beating the crud out of that little jerk Nick Silas when they were eight ‘cause he was picking on a kindergartener. This was back when I was doing volunteer work in the school office, and I happened to be there the day they marched Lacey in with a split lip, and Nick in with a bloody nose, split lip, and big ol’ shiner straight to the office. Lacey had her chin raised to the sky in such a defiant way that it was like looking at her daddy at that age. Nathan had the same sense of right and wrong, and he was just as stubborn.”

A small, soft pain swept through Tara’s heart as she wished for the hundred millionth time that her husband was still around. But he was long gone, killed far too young in a tragic farm accident while helping out his dad. Not long after Nathan’s death, his parents had left, selling their farm and moving to Florida. They sent Lacey and Jillian birthday and Christmas cards, but really weren’t a presence in their lives.

The big clock struck six and everyone turned to watch the show. Instead of watching the animatronic animals come out and do their little dance, Tara scanned the crowd, but she saw no sign of the men. Her stomach gave an unhappy clench as she wondered if they were going to stand her up.

As the last note chimed out, a familiar, so-sweet-it-was-fake voice reached Tara’s ears.

“Why, Tara May, look at you, all gussied up. What’s the occasion?”

Gritting her teeth, she turned to find her bitch of a cousin, Betsy, smirking in all her usual perfection. Both blonde and blue eyed, they’d been rivals for as long as Tara could remember. When they were younger, Betsy and Tara had been on the beauty pageant circuit, just like most girls in their area. Betsy’s mom, Tara’s Aunt Pearl, had married well and spoiled the hell out of Betsy. The other woman was used to getting her way, and the fact that Tara won more beauty pageants than Betsy, and actually made it as a finalist in the Jr. Miss Georgia Pageant of 1990, still stuck in the other woman’s craw.

Some people just never grew up.

“I’m meeting some friends,” Tara said as she sipped her drink then smirked at Melinda rolling her eyes.

“Friends…yes.” Betsy flipped her stylish blonde hair over her shoulder, her perfectly tanned skin practically glowing from the expensive beauty treatments she liked to brag about. “Yet here you are, all alone, as usual.”

“I…”

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