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She instantly shook her head. “I don’t regret any part of it. I’m so grateful for everything that’s happened. It’s just that my life was going in one direction.”

“A very bad direction.”

“Yes, avery bad direction.” She cupped his face, running her thumbs across the high arching cheekbones and further upward to his pale, inverted eyebrows. “And then you came and everything changed. My life became… miraculous.”

He feathered a kiss across her mouth. “From the moment I met you I sensed something different,” he murmured. “Something tempting.”

She laughed, the sound both amused and ironic. “Something forbidden.”

“Affirmative. Very forbidden. Very tempting.” He smoothed her hair back and stared down at her with his deep purple eyes. Such glorious eyes, full of all the universes he had visited. “But also very irresistible.”

“I wish I knew whether your unit would accept me.” Worry filled her. “I want them to.”

“Those who do not accept you will also not accept tasting from the apples. They will follow the honorable path and continue on to their Final Flight.”

Distress filled her. “Do you really believe our mating is dishonorable?”

“I do not,” he replied with a shake of his head. “I did not know what the apples would do to me before I ate them. How they would change me.”

“And if you had known? If you’d known that they would extend your life, perhaps indefinitely, or that you’d be able to get me pregnant before I actually did conceive, would you have eaten the apples?”

His cock unknotted and he eased onto his back, anchoring her against his side. “You ask difficult questions.”

Her breath quickened. “Now I’m afraid of your answer.”

“I think the truth is complicated because I did not know and cannot respond with total accuracy.” He touched her parted lips with a finger, shushing her. “But I am fairly certain I would have eaten the apples. Iwould have wanted to experience a life with a mate. With younglings.”

“And what will you do? You can’t be an Intergalactic Warrior any longer. That’s all you’ve ever done, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is all I have ever done. And no. Icannot live in any of the areas of the galaxies that the IW patrols.” He rolled over on top of her, trapping her within his powerful arms, while his hair drifted around her face, secluding them within a more private cage. “But this I swear by what honor I still retain… I will protect you and our younglings. Iwill find a place where we can live free and contented.”

“Let me guess. You swear on your bond as an Intergalactic Warrior.” The second she said the words, avow he’d made to her in the past, she realized she’d said the wrong thing. She lifted upward, giving him a quick, apologetic kiss. “You are an honorable man, Jo’Nay. An honorable male. Alien. Vettian.”

He lowered his forehead against hers. “You would not find any IWs who agree, nor any Vettians.”

She glared, indignation flooding through her. “It doesn’t matter what they think. The Vettian government is the one that did this to you,” she insisted with fierce passion. “They stole you from your families when you were only six. They altered your DNA in repeated surgeries and with hideous drugs. They taught you to believe that honor meant protecting the nine galaxies for four hundred years. They killed any child that didn’t adapt exactly to their teachings or who was resistant to their attempted changes. And then they created a hideous death for you where you experience heat flashes of growing intensity until they finally destroyed you. How isthatin any way honorable?”

He closed his eyes for a long moment. When he opened them again, fury raged through his expression. “It is not honorable. And perhaps if other IWs saw these facts the way we do, knew that at one time Vettians of our coloring became Vettian rulers instead of warriors, they might believe the same.”

“Then we’ll tell them.”

He shook his head. “We will not. We will tell our unit and decide what to do moving forward. But most important of all is your safety.” His hand shifted to settle low on her belly. “And the safety of our child.”

She covered his hand with her own. “Our three-day old child. Somehow it doesn’t feel real.”

Jo’Nay smiled, his anger abating. “When you swell with our son, it will feel real enough.”

“True.”

He heaved himself upward and held out his hand, helping her from the bed. “I need to send out a message to the warriorsin my unit. See if they are within reach. Iprefer to meet with them away from IW patrols.”

Did she appear as nervous as she felt? Lord, she hoped not. “Will those IW patrols be concerned that you haven’t experienced your Final Flight, yet?”

“Not yet, though my unit might.”

“Where will we meet them?”

“There is a station a short distance outside of our last posting. Iwill ask that we meet there.”

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