Soon everyone was volunteering to do one task or another to help the new parents. It was...wonderful. I loved it here so fucking much.
“What would you want to name our seitling?” Axon asked as soon as Tarak went back to his shared cave with Gabby.
“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about names yet,” I confessed.
“I was thinking, maybe Ash for a girl, and Leon for a boy.” Axon admitted, and I was a little taken aback that he already had our baby names picked out.
“I like those names.” I kissed him on the cheek and the tips of his ears turned dark blue.
“I’m glad. I hope we get to use one soon.”
Axon’s expression turned from happy to a far away look as he took in the sight of everyone around us.
“What is it?”
“We need to tell them about what we discovered.”
A pit formed in my stomach. This would not be welcome news. No one would be happy to find out they’d been lied to for generations.
“What did you discover?” Drondia asked, having overheard Axon’s statement.
“Come,” Axon stood up from the table, and helped me up as well. “I will tell you, but not here, not where others can hear us.”
We walked with Axon’s parents to their cave where we told them of the ship and the priestess’s lies.
“But why? Why not just tell us the truth?” Drondia bit out, sounding as frustrated as we’d felt.
“The priestess’s believed if we knew the truth that we’d fall into the same trap as before. That technology would corrupt us all over again,” Axon explained.
His parents looked heartbroken and betrayed.
“We will keep this information to ourselves for now,” Karo decided.
“We will not burden our Savrix with this so soon after the birth of his sietling.”
“How long should we wait?” I asked.
“Let’s give him two weeks, and then we’ll break the news,” Drondia suggested, and we all agreed.
“Two weeks,” Axon confirmed with a nod of his head.
We rejoined the dekes in the common area where everyone had busied themselves with tasks to help Tarak and Gabby. Laundry was being washed, new cloth diapers were being cut, a basin of water was being refilled, and snacks were being placed into a large bowl.
I stood by my mate’s side and felt proud to be here. So much has happened in these five months. New friendships were formed, romances have bloomed, cultures have been shared, and I discovered a lot about myself as well. I am ace, and I like that. It’s me. I have a mate who worships the ground I walk on and soon we might have a baby of our own. Ash or Leon. They might be growing within me at this very moment. Couples often get pregnant during their first luminescence after all.
The End
Epilogue
Beatrice
I knew it would be him! I just knew it! A gut feeling stirred inside my soul from the moment I laid eyes on that sexy bastard.
It wasn’t fair! Why did I have to lumines to the one male who was the least interested in having a mate? I wanted, no, I deserved to have a fairytale romance like the other women had. As a librarian, I’ve scoured the pages of countless romance novels and daydreamed about having a love of my own one day. And what did I get? Rhaz, the sexy brooding male who casts me longing looks but never approaches me.
And the worst part, I liked him. I shouldn’t, I knew it was a doomed venture to like this male, but I couldn’t help myself. I liked the strong set of his jaw, the way he moved, even the way he scowled, and I’d cherished the few happy moments we’d had together when he did things like give me that wishing star to throw into the bonfire.
But those moments had been few and far between. He spent more time scowling at me than anything else. If he did like me, it was certainly against his own will.
