I’m beginning to understand the way of sholan and sholani. Until now, I believed it was the bond created by the gods, the innate compulsion to be together, that drives a male to sacrifice anything for his mate. It’s a need to understand one another, to see life from your mate’s perspective, that gives the pair the ability to achieve true happiness.
Raven throws her arms around my neck. “I love you, Ren. I wasn’t ready to say it earlier, because everything between us happened so fast, but looking at my parents, hearing them… all I can think about is that no matter what they say, whether theypoint out good arguments or not against my marrying an alien, it doesn’t matter. I love you and I’m willing to stand up to anyone and anything to have you.”
She kisses me, and I lose myself in her kiss and miss most of the discussion between her parents. When her lips eventually part from mine, the room is silent and we both turn to her parents who are watching us.
“Look at them, Charles. They love each other. And she’ll besafewith him. What more could you want for her?”
“For her to be here,” he says, the fight draining from him. “He’ll take her to Zyan. I don’t want to lose my little girl.”
This male is not my adversary. Merely a father who fears never seeing his youngling again.
“I would think in your position you’d be able to travel and visit us on Zyan, Dad.”
For the first time since Raven announced she is my sholani, I see Mr. Miller’s eyes light.
“You are right! I should be able to make a case for that.”
“And I can accept assignments that require us to return to Earth.”
Mr. Miller shakes his head. “No. Meredith is right. Raven will be safer on Zyan. You watch over her there, keep her happy, Renikk. We’ll find a way to visit.”
“Sounds like we’re having a party!” Mrs. Miller says, kissing her husband.
Raven jumps up and wraps her legs around me. “You’re stuck with me now, Shadow.”
“Stuck? What an odd word to describe spending the rest of my life with the female who completes me. I’ve been given a gift, sholani. You. Aji kali faztov, miz sholani,” I say out loud before I kiss her.
“What does that mean?” Raven asks.
“You are and always will be a part of me. It is my oath to you, one usually done during a claiming, but I thought it should be said here, in front of your family.”
“Aji kali faztov, miz sholan,” Raven repeats back to me, changing the last word to declare me her sholan.
“You are mine, Raven Miller. Now and forever.”
“Not until we kiss,” she says. “A human tradition.”
“My daughter is sly, Warrior. She’s manipulating you into kissing her,” Mr. Miller says.
“Ahh, but I cannot refuse her. Raven is my sholani. And for that, I am very happy to oblige her every whim, now and forever.”
EPILOGUE
RENIKK
Aweek later, late at night after the party her parents held to introduce me to their friends, my sholani and I lie in her bed. Two days remain until we leave Earth for Zyan. She has packed her belongings and I’ve downloaded a language training program on a comm for her. Even though alien technology is illegal for humans on Earth, her father arranged for her to have the comm, to aid her on Zyan. And I suspect as a way of keeping in contact with her on a regular basis. This is good, for Raven as well as her parents. I do not treasure taking her from them, as they are important to her, but for now at least, my duties require I return to Zyan.
While Raven approaches our life with excitement and determination, she has an entire world to learn and I must ensure she has everything she needs. I’ve already contacted my family via comm, asking them for help in preparing a house for us. They were shocked to hear my sholani is human, but very pleased to hear I’d found my heartmate.
Raven’s hand drags across my chest. “This is one of the few times I wish I could see.”
“You may explore my face, or any part of me anytime, sholani.”
Her fingers dance over my face, an act I’m now quite accustomed to, and enjoy, because of the intimacy involved. I will have to be careful not to become jealous when she does this with other males, when she wants to ‘see’ them in this unique way. I will not deny her anything, least of all the opportunity to explore the beauty of the universe in the only way open to her.
“I hear your mood in your voice, Ren, but I also read them in your expressions. And I have an excellent sense of every inch of you, from the twist of your horns, including the slight gouge at the tip of your left horn, down to your huge thigh muscles. I can tell a person everything there is to know about you, your size, and your shape. While I know you’re blue, I can’t understand color, but that’s fine. You don’t miss what you’ve never experienced. But it’s the rest of you I want to learn.”
“I’m still confused, my sholani.”