Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 208(@200wpm)___ 166(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
Hearing her say my name, my real name…
I press her against the wall, ignoring the pyrthithium flakes that cascade into her hair.
But from down the hallway noises echo and I pull away with a groan. She laughs and takes my hand. I struggle to keep my maleness from descending and only just manage.
I pull her deep into one last kiss as the shuttle my half-brother has just docks again, but she tugs away at the last second.
“Oh my gosh,” she breathes. “In all the craziness, I haven’t even gotten to tell you!”
“What?”
“Honey,” she grins and reaches up to cup my cheeks in her hands, not cringing or even seeming to notice my half-human half-Draci features as she does, “we’re not just having one baby. It’s twins.”
Twins?
“Two babies,” she clarifies.
Two.
Two?
“Two.” She nods, her grin so big it stretches across her whole face.
I will be father to not one kit, but two. Two kits.
The door to the shuttle bay opens and I see Shak has just docked again. Shak waves hello at me and I wave hello back before whispering, “Two babies,” and then I lift my mate and swing her in the air.
No Draci has ever been happier than I am in this moment.
Epilogue
Shak looked out at the island and watched as his brethren flew free on their new planet. The island was lush and green with foliage, the climate steamy and hot from the sun’s rays. Such a healthy, young star this planet boasted!
Shak smiled at his brother, still with surprise and joy that the two of them had come to peace in the end and not…well, the violent end he had long expected instead.
First grinned back from the other side of the expansive yard where he and Ezo were grilling steaks. Shak’s beautiful female Juliet, and her friends Ana and Giselle were huddled nearby while the children played, flying and tumbling over one another with a ball in the yard.
But perhaps that was the strange power of these earth females. They could tame even the most intractable amongst his kind. Somehow First had been brought to see reason, past his ego. As Shak’s wife often said, would wonders never cease? It was an earth saying that finally made sense to him.
The wonders of this world were indeed many, even if their technology was primitive.
Shak crossed to join his family at the other end of the yard. Juliet broke from her friends, alighting off the ground the last few feet and flying to his side, her golden wings iridescent in the sunshine. “There you are, babe. I was wondering if you’d ever get off your video-call with the embassy.”
Shak ducked to kiss the side of her sweet-smelling neck, his tongue flicking out just the slightest bit to scent her.
She giggled and curled into his side. They had two kits playing in the yard just now but he was thinking it was time to make another as he wrapped his arms around her hips.
The past five years had slid by. The transition of his people to settlements on Earth had not always been without its trials, but they had negotiated amongst the governments of Earth. Having three giant spaceships hovering above the planet, along with loads of technological advancements they were willing to share in good faith were good trump cards to have in their back pockets, granted.
They’d settled their people on islands off the Pacific, the Mediterranean Sea, and near the South American continent, under contracts with various governments.
The Great Reveal about six months after they were all settled—when locals on the islands had taken enough pictures and video that it had leaked to the larger world that aliens lived amongst them—well that had been a tense time, Shak couldn’t lie.
But between Shak and First, they’d been able to corral the rest of the Draci into remaining calm and cool-headed. Their work to reverse climate change had already given their adoptive planet a new lease on life, so it wasn’t like they weren’t “paying the rent”.
There were still plenty of conspiracy theories out there, claiming that the Draci were hatching some secret plan to eliminate the human race. But for the most part, humanity did what humanity was apparently good at—it adapted.
First and his family lived in the Mediterranean Island settlement since it was the second-most important post on the planet and Shak needed someone he trusted implicitly to run it. So it was nice to have him visiting. They tried to see each other a couple times a year in their many travels. They both kept busy schedules as the Kings and representatives of their respective settlements.
Shak had offered Ezo the third Kingship but he’d declined. He’d never wanted to be a king, he’d said—he wanted to get into broadcast journalism and be the first face of Draci news. It was perfect—he could be on earth news and television too, discussing Draci politics. He still looked completely human and could pass as one wherever he went. Ezo got a kick out of being able to travel and experience all things human. Ana went with him every chance she got. Juliet was always happy to babysit the twins.