“You can thank me by getting healthy and getting back to work. I’m already sick of this shit,” Curran retorts, but his eyes are filled with warmth. He glances at my brood brothers and me. “That is, assuming you can even walk at this point.”
“Wouldn’t you love to know?” Corrina says with a laugh.
“I do not understand,” says Krish anxiously. “Has there been some concern that you would have difficulty walking? You said you were mostly healed before you arrived. Should we have been taking more care?”
“It’s just a joke,” Corrina says, reaching for Krish and squeezing his arm reassuringly. “I’ll explain later.”
Curran laughs. “Yeah, that will be a fun explanation.”
“Did you have something you wanted to talk about or are you just calling to be a pain in the ass?” Corrina asks testily.
“There she is,” Curran replies with a grin. “I wanted to see how you’re doing and when you think you’ll be back to active duty.”
“You know I almost died, right?”
“Tell me you’re not having marathon sex over there and I’ll ease off on wanting to hand you back your command.”
Corrina is quiet for a minute. She folds her arms and lets out a huff. “I can be back to active duty with limited physical demands by the end of the week.”
“Hot damn.”
“But, there’s something else official that I need to do. And I need your help.”
“Fine. What do you need?”
“I need you to be a witness to a marriage contract,” Corrina replies evenly.
Curran’s mouth opens and closes for a moment. I don’t think I have ever seen him so shocked, and I first saw him when I was standing over Lianov’s remains covered in gore.
“A contract means they can live on base with me,” Corrina says more softly. “And besides, I love them.”
Zann makes a pleased sound and Krish grins widely.
“Let me know when and where,” Curran’s voice is uncharacteristically soft when he responds. “And I’ll get Liu working on finding you a bigger space. No way the four of you will fit in that closet you call your quarters.”
“Anything else I should know?” Corrina asks.
“Halstern has been sentenced and shipped out to a detention facility. He was surprisingly cooperative once he realized what else Vertage was up to. And Vertage is scheduled to be shipped out to detention – a separate facility from Halstern – on the eighteenth.”
I glance at the display in the lower corner of the console. That is in six days. I will feel better when the man who endangered our Corrina is off the station. I would feel better if I could rip out his throat with my own claws, but Corrina does not want us to do anything that could put us in danger ourselves.
“Good,” Corrina replies steadily, but I notice the way her body tenses ever so slightly. “I’ll be glad to have that whole mess behind me.”
The last days of our isolation pass quickly. True to his word, Zann insists on continuing agility and strength exercises for Corrina, though we find time to engage in other more pleasurable activities as well.
On our final morning, Curran sends a detachment of security to escort Corrina and us back to the base. The guards watch us curiously but say nothing as Corrina’s hand finds mine in the transport. Curran meets us as we exit the transport and leads usdown the hallway I recognize. We end up in a larger space a few doors down from Corrina’s previous quarters.
“Had all your stuff moved here for now. You can decide if you want to keep this space or find something else, but I thought this would be good enough for now.” Curran says. “The reinstatement ceremony is in ninety minutes. See you there.”
Corrina smiles at his back as he exits. “He missed me. I can tell,” she murmurs to herself. Then her attention turns to us. “I’m going to shower and put on my dress uniform,” she says, opening a closet. She makes a small, pleased sound and then turns to face us. “Curran got dress clothes for you too,” she says, gesturing to the closet.
“You want us to come to your ceremony?” Zann asks.
“Of course I do,” Corrina replies immediately. “You’re a part of my life now. And this is important to me. I will always want you around for the important parts.” She steps towards me and reaches a hand up to scratch between my horns affectionately. I lean into her touch. “And for the unimportant parts,” she adds more quietly. “I just want you in my life.”
I smile and pull her into a tight embrace, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. “Show me how to wear this,” I sign.
The ceremony is relatively quick, but there are very many people in the gathering space. Curran and Corrina stand on a raised platform and exchange words, but I am distracted by the crowd. There are many people watching us, some trying to hide their stares and some not bothering. Wenschel gives us anencouraging wave and Krish waves back. When the ceremony is over, many people approach Corrina to talk to her and welcome her back. It is hard to resist the urge to push my way to her side, but it helps when she finds my eyes and sends me a smile. While my place is at her side and hers is at mine, this is her place also. Her people. Her command. Her base. It makes me proud that a female as respected and powerful as she has chosen me and my brood brothers, out of all the males she has met and known.
