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Epilogue

Epilogue

L

indsey, The Colony, Four Months Later…

“I swear

this baby is going to come out fully grown.” Rachel waddled over to a chair and lowered herself down beside me with uncharacteristic lack of grace. “I can’t believe I have three more months to go.”

“At least you aren’t on bed rest like Kristin.” I couldn’t help but smile. She might be grouchy because she was as big as a house, but her baby was precious, a beacon of hope for the entire planet. As with Kristin’s impending delivery, everyone was anxious. While Wyatt was the first child, Kristin and Rachel would be the first brides to give birth on the planet and the first babies born from mates brought together by the Interstellar Brides Program. All the warriors were as anxious and eager as their mates.

Kristin, Hunt and Tyran were nowhere to be seen. Probably hiding away in their private quarters peeling her grapes and hand feeding her between orgasms.

Lucky woman.

Maxim and Ryston watched Rachel closely. Ryston took a step in our direction, but Rachel waved him off. He didn’t look pleased to be dismissed and kept watch from afar.

“Well, your mates are big,” I replied. “Makes sense the baby would be big, too.”

“Yeah, well, it would help if the little peanut wasn’t punching my insides like a prize fighter.” Rachel grimaced and waved her mates away, clearly annoyed by their hovering.

Laughing, I glanced across the open expanse behind the main Base 3 building. A flat area covered with benches and trees, flowers from all over the universe and soft, springy grass, the park was the place of outdoor amusement now. We were watching Wyatt run circles around several of the warriors. After all these months, a routine had been created and many of the warriors on The Colony arrived promptly after lunch for afternoon playtime. Playtime—the term was ours—Rachel, Kristin and I had called Wyatt’s daily routine that based on Earth custom—but I wasn’t sure who the

play time

was for. No one could tell who was enjoying it more, Wyatt or the fully grown Atlans, Prillons, Vikens and other warriors he treated like his personal jungle gym.

A huge Atlan was shifting back and forth from beast mode and chasing Wyatt, making him scream and giggle so hard his face had turned pink. That sound brought both a thrill and love to my heart. Kiel stepped out of the group of men who were playing some game with a ball, similar to football, but had rules I still didn’t understand. Kiel grabbed Wyatt and tossed him up in the air. The boy squealed in delight. “Again, Daddy!”

I bit my lip, trying not to let emotion swamp me. Wyatt had started to call Kiel

Daddy

right from the start. To say that my mate considered my little boy to be his was obvious. He was protective, watchful, caring and had done so much to teach him Hunter ways already. The little mark on Wyatt’s palm indicated he had the genes to follow in Kiel’s footsteps. Someday. For now, I was content with him being carried on everyone’s shoulders. He had to grow up a bit before he could start hunting for bad guys.

Rachel had been watching the group of warriors play as well and she rubbed her swollen belly with a smile on her face. “I think he’s going to come out Wyatt-sized,” Rachel added.

I reached over and patted her hand. “It could be a girl.

She

could be Wyatt sixed.”

Rachel choked on her laugh. “Please, don’t even say it.”

“Your mates are going to be in serious trouble with a baby girl,” my mother said. She was seated on the other side of me, but she’d leaned forward to look at Rachel. Beside her was Ryston’s mother, who’d moved to The Colony from Prillon a few months before our arrival. Being of similar age, the two older women had hit it off from the start and were very close friends, even though they were from two different planets.

“Yes, a girl would change everything around here,” Ryston’s mother said. “All these males need more females about, even if one’s just a baby.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Poor little thing. She’d scrape her knee and my mates would lose their minds.”

My mother laughed and I noticed a couple heads turn in our direction. My mom was in her mid-forties and, since our arrival here, had blossomed. No stress. A new friend. She looked ten years younger and glowed with happiness. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before a few of the warriors began to express interest. Ryston’s mother was Prillon, and I didn’t know her as well, but she walked with a regal bearing that, as of yet, none of the warriors had dared approach. But with her mates both gone now, her grieving would only protect her for so long. Ryston’s father had passed recently, and his mother was not too old to live again. Both of the women might be beyond the age to bear children, but there were plenty of older warriors around who would be happy simply to have their affection and company.

“With the three new mates that are now on Base 5, I have a feeling there will be many babies on all The Colony bases soon enough,” I said with some pride. The videos I’d given Warden Egara had begun to work. More Earth women were signing up for the program and requesting to be sent to The Colony. Every woman who arrived was a blessing and a gift to the rest of the warriors. First Base 3, with the arrival of Rachel. Now Base 5. Soon the other bases would see their first brides as well.

“You’ve done good work with Warden Egara,” my mother said. “I heard a single mother with a ten-year-old daughter just transported to Base 5.”

“What?” I hadn’t heard that, but I wasn’t surprised. The warden was eager to see the warriors here matched, especially now that my stories of life on The Colony were being published—through the Interstellar Brides Program marketing. I sent the warden a new warrior profile and interview every week. The PR for The Colony was better than it had ever been. And the warden had petitioned Earth’s governments to allow single mothers to volunteer. “I want to meet them.”

“Base 5 is on the other side of the planet,” Ryston’s mother reminded me. That

was

rather far away. But still…they invented transporters for a reason, right?

“This baby’s at least the size of Wyatt, if not a ten-year old,” Rachel grumbled, her hand rubbing over her big belly. “I don’t care if it’s a girl or a boy. At this point, I just want it out.”

I laughed, as did the two older mothers around us, the sound of it carrying to the warriors. Rachel’s gasp of pain was barely more than a whisper as she pressed down on her stomach, hard, just beneath her ribs.

Maxim and Ryston turned, dark looks on their faces and dashed over to Rachel. “You are well?”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Mates, I am fine. Your baby likes to play footsies with my ribs.”

“Water?”

“A pillow?”

The mates began listing everything they could possibly get for Rachel. “Boys. Enough. I promise to tell you when it’s time by saying,

‘It’s time.’

Neither mate liked that answer based on their narrowed eyes, the way Maxim crossed his arms over his chest. Ryston leaned down, scooped up Rachel into his arms as if she were light as a feather and not carrying a watermelon-sized baby.

“Boys? You didn’t call us

boys

last night,” her mate growled, stalking off toward the entrance to the living quarters. “I believe you referred to me as a god. We will remind you.”

“Ladies,” Maxim bowed to the three of us, gave us a wink, then followed his family. With his quick pace, I judged him to be just as impatient to seduce his mate as his second.

“These warriors are a lusty bunch,” my mother said. I couldn’t help but feel the blush heat my cheeks. I wasn’t getting into this conversation with her, especially since my mate was one of the warriors she was speaking of, and he was definitely lusty.

My birth control shot had worn off and we were hoping for a baby of our own. Kiel was very attentive to this task, last night especially. Perhaps that was why I was so tired today. Instead of joining in on the fun, I was content sitting and watching.

Kiel came over then, dangling Wyatt upside down by his ankles. He carefully dropped him into his grandmother’s lap. “You’re all sweaty,” she told him.

“I was Hunting,” he told her. “An Atlan beast.”

“Did you catch him?” grandma asked, tickling his belly.

“Of course he did. Wyatt is an exceptional Hunter.”

My son glowed at Kiel’s praise and something scared and needy settled in me. I’d been so afraid for my son before, raising him alone, trying to be his everything. I would have done the best I could, but every day I worried that I wasn’t going to be enough. That I’d fail.

Now we had Kiel. I had a mate who adored both me and our son. And Wyatt was his now. I saw my mate’s love for Wyatt in his eyes, in the patience he showed, the way he got down on one knee and looked Wyatt in the eye when he spoke to our son, as if the small boy was the center of his world. As if Wyatt really

mattered

.

Wyatt’s small chin jutted out in a stubborn look he’d already adopted from his new father and I hid a grin behind my hand. “When I grow up, I’m going to be the best Hunter ever. Right, Daddy?”

“Yes. The very best.”

They began talking then, but I tuned them out, for I only had eyes for Kiel. He stepped close, leaned down so his hands were on the armrests of my outdoor chair. “Hello, mate.”

“Hello,” I whispered back.

“I think the governor and his second have the right idea.”

I arched a brow. “Oh?”

“A little inside play time.”

My nipples tightened at the timbre of his voice.

I flicked a gaze to Wyatt.

“Your mother wants more grandchildren,” he said to me. My mother grinned, but kept her head facing her grandson until Kiel raised his voice. “Isn’t that right?”

“At least three,” my mother replied without looking. She might have been chatting with Wyatt, but she’d definitely been eavesdropping.

“You’ll keep Wyatt while I see to that?” he asked my mother. His eyes held mine and he was grinning now.

My face must have been as red as a tomato. “Kiel,” I muttered.

“Of course. Take your time. Do things right. Maybe go for twins.”

“Mother!” The word was half laugh, half squeal as Kiel scooped me up, just as Ryston had Rachel.

“Playtime for Mommy and Daddy!” Kiel told Wyatt, who nodded his head enthusiastically.

“I want a brudder,” Wyatt announced.

“Oh my god,” I said, punching ineffectively at Kiel’s chest as he walked me into the building, cradled in his arms. “Everyone will know.”

I felt him shrug. “So? If they want a mate, they can get one of their own. You’re mine.” Those two words were a growl that went right to my clit.

I relaxed in his arms and lifted my hands to his chin so he’d look down at me.

“I love you, you know.”

“I love you, too, my beautiful mate.”

Ready for more? Read

Her Cyborg Beast

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Caroline Jane (CJ) Ellison has a gift for analysis. When a Wall Street deal goes bad, the choice between prison or the Interstellar Brides Program is a no-brainer. She’ll go. She’ll leave Earth, her past, and her mistakes behind. The decision is logical, not emotional. Until she wakes up on another world with a huge Atlan Warlord, her matched mate, refusing to claim her.

Warlord Rezzer is contaminated. Weak. The Hive captured him and stole his soul, his very beast. A mate is out of the question when he can’t become what he was born to be, a beast, her mate, her protector. Forced into the Brides Program testing against his will, Rezzer has no intention of claiming the beautiful, sassy female who arrives on the Colony. The Hive stole his beast, but not his honor. He vows to give her to another, a worthy male, a beast who is whole — one not hunted by the Hive as part of a dangerous new experiment to win the war.

CJ takes one look at the wounded warrior before her and knows she will never be able to let him walk away. He’s hers now, her perfect match. And if that means she has to seduce the beast or face off with the Hive to save him…that’s exactly what she’s going to do. She lived her life following the rules. With everything on the line, it’s time to break them.

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Her Cyborg Beast

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