Chapter Seventeen
A week went by, and all was quiet. The aliens at the resettlement center were getting along again. Madok spent most of the week on Earth working for Starcrossed, and when he came back, he was grim and silent, nodding in acknowledgement to Treffon and Violet without speaking to them. He completely ignored Zura and Voljaki, who hurried away whenever they saw him approaching.
Dorcas continued to clean up while playing poker, but Violet regularly made her give back most of her winnings. And Dorcas seemed to be getting especially close to Fife; the two of them spent all their time mooning at each other. Fife was an old warrior who’d been scarred in battle many times. He seemed to appreciate Dorcas’ feisty nature. He’d lost his pair-bond in the Population War.
Tristao took over the investigation into the attacks on Violet. They still hadn’t been able to discover the motives behind the attacks on Earth, but they had verified that Reznik was the one who’d planted the poison in Voljaki’s room and put poison in Violet’s shampoo.
Violet spent the days training with Zura, and hanging out with Allison and the Eeplings. Zura had to admit that training Violet to defend herself was pretty hopeless, but she tried her best. It wasn’t good enough. It was good exercise, though.
Violet continued to spend every night with Treffon, and it was getting harder and harder to imagine ever leaving him.
But on this particular morning, she knew she needed to do just that – for a couple of hours, anyway.
She was sitting in the parlor with Zura, Voljaki, Allison and Kroi, surrounded by stacks of paper samples and decorating books and trays of food. They were drinking punch and eating sweet cakes and planning Zura and Voljaki’s pair-bond ceremony, and Allison’s cub shower.
Treffon was pretending to be interested, but mostly just pacing back and forth.
“You don’t have to stay here while we do all this girly stuff. Go do some sparring,” she told him firmly. He was still worried about her safety, even with Reznik gone, and rarely left her side.
Treffon scowled. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“It’s a good thing I’m not your true mate, because I wouldn’t want to be mated to a man who goes soft from lack of exercise.” She playfully punched his rock-hard abdomen. “Ouch,” she said reproachfully. “Did you eat cement for breakfast?”
He snorted. “Goes soft? It’s a good thing I’m notyourtrue mate, because I’d be mated to a woman who is soft in the head.”
It had become a joke between them now, even though deep down it stung.
Honestly, she was touched that he was willing to forgo sparring just to stay by her side. She knew that he was about as eager to sit through the planning of a pair-bond ceremony as any Earth male would have been to sit through wedding planning – in other words, not at all.
And also, he was dying to go punch something. He hadn’t punched anything, or anyone, in days.
But he was more concerned about her safety than his own desires.
“Reznik is dead,” she pointed out. “The threat is gone.”
“I am not entirely at ease,” Treffon said, a scowl creasing his handsome brow. “The investigation is still ongoing, and we have unanswered questions.”
“We may never know all the answers,” Zura pointed out. “I will be with her, and so will Voljaki. You know that if anyone were to try anything, I would separate their head from their body.” She bared her teeth in a frightening grin, and her fangs descended for a brief moment.
Violet suppressed a shudder. She’d hate to be on Zura’s bad side.
“Also,” Zura added, “you are most annoying when you do not train regularly. You become irritable and snappish. Well, you have not done that yet today, but you soon will. So please, go. Now.”
“Very well, but please remain vigilant,” Treffon said with a worried frown. He glanced at Violet. “Or perhaps you could come with me and watch me train?”
“Go, you big lug!”
He kissed her lips gently. “I assume that lug is an earth term for handsome, charming, brave, devastatingly sexy warrior.”
Violet snorted. “Yeah, it means all of that.”
He winked at her and left the room.
As soon as he was gone, Violet missed him. It was like some important part of her insides had gone with him. She forced herself to join in the cheerful chatter with the two couples.
“She’s really going to enjoy the…” Allison was saying to Kroi.
“Merjajiceremony? Yes, I know,” Kroi finished her sentence for her. Allison glanced at Violet. “That happens after the pair-bond exchange vows, and the couple go into the ceremonial mating hut, and they…”
