No. That was as absurd as thinking that Ezra had rejected him. Titan didn’t get embarrassed, and even if he did, what had Ezra said that would generate such a reaction from him? So Ezra had a relationship with Al and Jude’s offspring and he did not—why did this matter? Titan had, quite literally, been light-years away when they had hatched. It was not his fault that they did not share a closer kinship.
But still, his cheeks were warm. He felt something about what Ezra had said to him. What if… what if it wasn’t embarrassment? What if it was shame?
Before Titan could dwell on this thought any longer, Human Corbin did something to the electronic device on the podium before him that made a terrible crackling sound throughout the room. Titan winced, then checked for Burrow Worm activity. Fortunately, their dormancy had not been interrupted. Truly, a blessed day indeed.
“Welcome, everybody, for what is sure to be the weirdest wedding ever held on Earth,” Human Corbin announced to the small crowd of Titan’s relatives—and the smaller number of humans present—once the crackling had subsided. “There was a lot of debate over how to go about executing this event, given the, er… cultural differences between the grooms, but ultimately we decided on a hybrid wedding-slash-bonding ceremony with a little bit of both cultures sprinkled in.
“Thanks to ten bucks and getordained.org, I will officiate the wedding part of everything, and then Al’s great-aunt, a respected elder in the family, will perform the bonding, which is good because I probably shouldn’t even be in charge of a wedding, let alone something that involves honest-to-god telepathy.” Human Corbin paused as though awaiting something. Ezra snorted and Human Jude’s parents let out a couple awkward chuckles, but no one else made a sound.
Human Corbin clicked his tongue. “Wow, tough crowd, huh?”
Ezra laughed at that—not just a snort, but an uninhibited, joyful sound—and while Human Corbin continued to speak, Titan did not hear a word he said, as he became so distracted by Ezra’s easygoing beauty that the world around him seemed to melt away.
Ezra quieted down quickly, but joy remained on his face even after the laughter was over. He grinned at Human Corbin with platonic affection, then allowed his gaze to naturally drift elsewhere and accidentally made eye contact with Titan.
Titan smiled.
Or, rather, kept smiling.
The prickling feeling was gone, and in its absence, he felt light.
Pink rose in Ezra’s cheeks and he quickly looked away, but it did not matter. There would be plenty of time to see the ambassador smile without inhibition after Titan made Ezra his.
5
Titan
“For the sake of all the, uh, out-of-town folks in attendance,” Human Corbin went on to say, “we usually have the groom stand at the altar and have the bride walk down the aisle toward him, but since there are no brides here and also literally nothing about this wedding is normal, our grooms have opted to walk down the aisle together. Please rise for the grand entrance of Al Leon and Jude Adler.”
The audience shuffled to their feet as music began to play. Titan did not recognize the melody, but he had heard his parents mention that it was performed by beetles, which made the arrangement much more impressive.
The doors at the back of the venue opened in time to the music, sweeping smoothly over the sand to reveal Al and Human Jude standing hand in hand. They were looking into each other’s eyes as the doors opened, then turned their heads as one to look down the aisle and took their first step into the venue together.
Titan stood a little straighter, eyes sweeping the area for any disruptions in the sand that might indicate a Burrow Worm had awoken, but all was calm and still. It seemed the sanctity of this union would not be challenged on this day, which was fortunate, as he doubted Ezra knew how to effectively incapacitate an annelid.
Three steps into the progression, Al and Human Jude were joined by seven others—their offspring—who rushed forward to surround them as though their small bodies would provide protection against acts of Burrow Worm violence. Four of the offspring held traditional Darvrokian bonding ceremony crystals, which were comically large in their small hands. The other three held baskets filled with…
Titan’s face blanched with horror.
The baskets were full of petals plucked from the reproductive organs of plants, which the offspring grabbed in heaping handfuls and threw into the air to rain down upon the sand for their parents to crush beneath their feet. They did so again, and again, until they reached the dais, at which point they looked into their baskets, then at each other, shrugged, and dumped what was left right there in the sand.
It was such a vulgar and violent act that even Titan, who was not easily rattled, felt his stomach churn, yet Human Jude’s parentslaughed.It was no wonder why first contact had yet to be established when Al’s ship had malfunctioned and caused him to crash into the planet. Beings who derived pleasure from scattering mutilated genitalia were better off left alone.
While the Darvrokians in the audience recovered from the perverse atrocity they had just witnessed, Al and Human Jude took their place on the dais and the children were brought to their seats. Al seemed nervous, perhaps similarly rattled by human tradition, but when he laid his eyes on his True Mate, his discomfort melted away. He smiled and took Human Jude’s hand, Human Jude smiled back, and Titan felt the uncomfortable prickling in his stomach all over again.
He did not need touch telepathy to know what they were feeling—their love for each other radiated off them so brightly, it penetrated Titan through to his core.
With the grooms now on the dais, Human Corbin resumed his speech. It had surely been crafted with much thought and care, but Titan found it rather redundant. Did not everyone in attendance know that they had gathered here today to celebrate the love between his brother and his True Mate? It was unnecessary to state it and frankly, rather rude, as it implied the beings assembled lacked the intelligence to know why they had come to such a place.
Fortunately, Titan was an intelligent being, and as an intelligent being, he chose to shift his attention off the words being spoken and onto something more interesting: his brother. Al had undergone great change since they’d last seen each other, and not simply because he now wore a human disguise. He stood taller—straighter—and exuded an air of confidence.
Perhaps fatherhood had done him good.
Or perhaps…
Titan shifted his gaze to Human Jude.
Perhaps Al’s change in demeanor had less to do with fatherhood and more to do with love.
