Page 37 of Tara's Warriors

“Usually two to three Earth days before you’re strong enough to travel.” Karwin eyed her wearily. “My wife, I can feel your pain, and it brings me sorrow that I can do nothing to heal it.”

Sucking in a deep breath, she took their hands in hers and said, “All my life, I’ve had to fight for my family—fight to keep us clothed and fed, fight to provide my girls with a good life. I’m not going to stop fighting now. Help me find my daughter.”

“Ourdaughter, now.” Phin raised her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. “I swear, we will find her.”

“As do I.” Karwin took her hand and placed it against his cheek. “I will not rest until you are reunited.”

Knowing they meant it, feeling their sincerity, went a long, long way toward helping her relax a little. “Thank you.”

Standing, Karwin offered her his hand. “Come, my Matriarch. We have contacted medical, and they are expecting you to begin your upgrades after we retrieve Jillian.”

Donning a pretty pink dress that floated around her ankles, she scrubbed at her cheeks, hoping the alien makeup she wore was tearproof. “I don’t want to look too young, though—please. I’d like to keep a few of my lines, a little bit of my years on my face. Not a lot, but I feel like I’ve earned these marks, that they’re my reminders of a life well lived. Does that make sense?”

“Anything you want.” Phin smiled. “Do you want us to do the same?”

“Hmmm? No, you’re prefect. I mean, I don’t want to look like your grandma, but I also don’t want to look like a kid.”

Karwin pulled on his black armor with ease, and she took a moment to admire how good her husband looked in it as he said, “We understand. It is your body; you do as you wish. If you wanted scales instead of skin and a tail, that would be your choice, and we would still love you, tail and all.”

“You can do that? Wait, never mind. We need to focus. Are you sure Jillian is okay?”

“Yes,” Phin replied while closing the throat latch of his green armor. “We have six men watching her home. It will be easiest if you pick her up alone. We will be watching you from nearby, of course, but it would be unusual for you to bring us with you to retrieve Jillian from your cousin’s house.”

“Hey, those goodbye crystals that Jaz was talking about? The ones that will trigger when the wormhole closes—can I have one made for my cousin as well?”

“Yes.” Karwin turned so Phin could start braiding his long, long multi-colored hair. “Do I have your permission to send Scouts into your home? They will scan Jillian’s bedroom and will replicate it for her room on the ship. Is there anything else we can do to make her feel more at home? We want her to know she is welcome.”

His sincerity warmed her a little, so she kissed his cheek before saying, “Yes, that would be nice, though don’t replicate it exactly. That might be a little hard for her to understand. Oh, and we have two cats. They’re indoor outdoor, mostly outdoor, but we love them, and it would really help Jillian to have her pets.”

“That will not be an issue.” Phin pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Are you ready to say goodbye to Earth?”

She swallowed hard. “No, but I am ready to go find my daughter.”

“Wewillfind her,” Karwin promised as she slipped on her shoes. “I swear it.”

Chapter12

Tara

Tara stared up at the sky from her seat near the fountain, her awe-struck gaze once again roaming an alien galaxy with pure wonder.

They arrived at her Territory the prior day, and she’d spent most of the time since in a haze, totally overwhelmed by everything.

While intellectually she knew she traveled to a world different from Earth, she hadn’t realized justhowdifferent.

For one thing, the very sunlight itself shone a different color on this planet. It gave her skin an odd lilac sheen and gave her blonde hair purple highlights when she was outside during the daytime. And Jillian’s tanned skin seemed even darker, but her brown eyes sparkled with hints of purple and green, like they’d been sprinkled with amethyst and emerald dust. Tara’s blue eyes remained pretty much the same, but the lighter blue flecks now took on the same lilac hue as her skin.

Giggles came from the fountain as Jillian and her new friend, Pevnalla, played with the little black and green fish swimming in the water. Pevnalla was the daughter of one of Tara’s personal guards, and a sweet little girl with startling green curly hair and webbed toes and feet from the amphibious Bocnar race. Their families had settled on Kadothia four generations ago, and they’d lived in the Territory now belonging to Tara ever since. One of the few official duties Tara completed so far was to meet the leaders of the various races living in their Territory. When the Bocnar met with her in her throne room—yes, Tara had a throne—Jillian had been utterly intrigued by the amphibious people. She had made fast friends with a group of Bocnar children and seemed to be adjusting well.

Dressed in a gossamer purple gown with pink and gold sparkles floating at the hem, and covered in dirt on one side of the skirt and some kind of purple grass stain on the other, Jillian was having the time of her life on Kadothia. Not only was everything new and exciting, the Kadothian people fawned over Jillian like she was the most adorable thing they’d ever seen. Of course, Jillianhadturned on the charm, and she had a fan club among the Kadothian Warriors on the Reaping ship.

Though she wasn’t the only one with a fan club.

Already the offers—or should she say the desperate pleading? —from Kadothian men looking for a Matriarch to bond them had started pouring in. She’d received hundreds of gifts, thousands of letters, and literally tens of thousands of messages. Phin and Karwin had assured her it was normal for a new Matriarch, but it freaked her out a little.

Especially once she’d learned the Earth Matriarchs bonded through physical contact. For every man that wanted to bond under her, she’d have to get physical with them.

Jaz had explained that, for some women, that meant a kiss, while others had full-out sex with every Kadothian Warrior they bonded.

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