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“I have plenty of value to Faron,” Kendra snapped. “You don’t know me.”

“I don’t need to know you to understand you are not suitable for our son,” Rhodan said. “You look small and fragile. You will not be able to bear him the many children he needs.”

“That will be our business,” Faron said. “Humans do things differently. We are adapting to each other.”

Kendra looked up at him, concern in her eyes. “This is something we should talk about, just the two of us.”

“I agree.” Faron did want a large family, but he would force nothing on Kendra until she was ready.

“I do not agree,” Rhodan said. “We have gone to great effort to secure you a suitable mate. It has cost us time and money. You will not let us down.”

“I did not ask you to do that for me.”

“Faron! Show respect,” Siblis warned. “You are making a fool of us.”

“You give up this ridiculous idea of joining with a human and return with us,” Rhodan said. “You will be formally joined with Donik and gain a second chance to be a part of our family. That is what you want.”

Faron’s heart clenched. It had been but not anymore. He felt Kendra’s hand in his. She held on so tight he never wanted her to let go. She believed in him.

“Faron, what are you going to do?” Siblis asked.

He felt Kendra shift beside him. “This is your family. They are important,” she whispered.

His heart stuttered. She was right, but they didn’t love him. He was only valuable to them when he fit their criteria. When that had changed after the accident, they’d discarded him like yesterday’s trash. He didn’t want to be a part of that.

“I see your human is not as stupid as she appears to be,” Rhodan said. “Listen to her. We are your priority. It is the Tolong way.”

“I’m not stupid, you asshole,” Kendra said. “I know that family is important. Faron knows that too.”

“Do you have a large family?” Siblis asked her.

Kendra raised her chin. “I have no family. I am alone.”

Siblis clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “You see. She has such poor genetics that none of her family is alive. She will most likely not survive many more years.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Faron drew Kendra closer to him. “Her family circumstances are different to ours.”

“None of this is important,” Rhodan said. “The only things you need to value are joining with us and forming a bond with your new mate.”

Faron glanced at Donik. She remained silent, her lips pressed together and her gaze fixed to the wall. She seemed determined not to be involved in this conversation. There was no passion in her, no desire. She was the opposite of Kendra. A life with her would be a pitiful, lonely one.

“We leave tomorrow,” Rhodan said. “You will be with us, and you will join with Donik. This ends now.”

Faron rubbed his forehead. He wanted Kendra. In his heart, he’d already chosen her, but it still fought with his head, fighting the years of discipline and training he’d received to follow the sensible path.

Kendra stepped away and stared up at Faron, tears in her eyes. “I agree with your father. You must choose. Which woman do you wish to be with?”

“That’s not even worth asking,” Bartlek said. “There is no comparison between the two of you.”

“You need to be quiet,” Faron growled. He looked it Kendra and then Donik. He had a choice to make. His heart had made it, but his head fought so hard that he wavered. Potential happiness with an incredible, complicated, emotional human, or the path of logic and duty where he’d be bound to his family.

Loyal service to his family or terrifying, uncertain love with a human he barely knew.

Faron stared into Kendra’s eyes, and his heart throbbed. These emotions were too raw. What if he never got control of them? What if she left him? He would have nothing. No home, no love, no family.

Kendra licked her lips, and her chin wobbled. “What will it be?”

Chapter 21