10. Solon

10

SOLON

Solon waited impatiently for the Draft Agents to bring his new bride to the HKR building. He knew exactly what he was going to say once she got here—he was going to urge her to enter this experience with an open mind and remind her that the Claiming Period only lasted a month. He was going to assure her that if she didn't wish to Bond with him at the end of that time, he would let her go back to Earth with no questions asked.

But he was confident that wasn't going to happen. Almost no human woman chose to go back after their Claiming Period was over. That was because the Goddess didn't make mistakes—when she caused a couple to start Dream-Sharing with each other, it was a sure sign they were meant to be together for life.

Also, a Monstrum warrior's Bonding Scent was a powerful tool in drawing his prospective bride to him. It was a special pheromone that the male's body made as soon as he was within physical proximity of his mate. It drew the female he wanted towards him and made her more open to him. The more she inhaled it, the more she wanted to be near him.

And since the Bonding Period rules stated that she must eat every meal at the same table and sleep every night in the same bed with the warrior who had chosen her, she was inundated with his Bonding Scent constantly through the entire time they were together.

It might be a dirty biological trick, as Solon had once heard a human male podcaster complaining, but it was an effective one. The Bride Retention Rate of the Monstrum was almost one hundred percent. Not just because of their Bonding Scent though, but because they put their females first and worked hard to keep them happy—which Solon fully intended to do. He would love his new bride and give her anything she desired—he wanted this time to be a good experience for her.

He was confident that once he got Abbey up to the Mother Ship and they started spending time together, she would understand that they were meant to be together and would want to stay with him. She?—

His thoughts were cut off abruptly as the Drafting Agents entered the building dragging his new bride between them.

Abbey was sobbing, her whole body shaking with the force of her grief.

Solon was immediately stricken with guilt and worry—and anger at the agents. What had they done to upset her so?

"What did you do?" he demanded, running to meet them. "What did you do to my female?"

"Nothing!" one of them protested. "She became upset when we took her from her place of employment." He shrugged. "It happens sometimes—especially if the human female has already rejected her fated mate the first time and doesn't want to go."

"Couldn't you at least try to comfort her?" Solon demanded. Abbey was sagging between the two Agents, being held up by their grip on her arms. She was wearing a dark green top and tight blue trousers the humans called "jeans" and her long, brown hair was hanging in her face, which was tilted down as she sobbed her heart out.

Apparently hearing his voice, she looked up and her eyes seemed to focus on his face.

"You! It's y-you!" Her voice dripped venom and it was clear she was trying to stop crying. She yanked her arms away from the Agents who let her go—perhaps too abruptly because she fell to her knees.

"Abbey!" Solon was on his knees beside her, trying to help her up at once.

"Don't touch me you son-of-a-bitch!" she snarled, jerking away from him. "How dare you have me kidnapped and dragged down here—wherever ‘here' is?" She looked around the room, but her eyes didn't seem to stay on any one object or person. It was as though she wasn't really seeing anything—maybe because of her grief, Solon thought.

"You weren't kidnapped—you were drafted," he reminded her. "You signed up for the Bride Draft just like every other human female of marriageable age, remember?"

"I was supposed to get an exemption!" she protested. "I applied for one."

"Well, it didn't go through." Solon felt distinctly uneasy lying to her. But it wasn't exactly lying, he told himself. After all, the exemption paperwork was still making its way through the system and it was technically true that it hadn't gone all the way through yet.

That's because you got Brone to send it around again, whispered a guilty little voice in his head. You're the reason it hasn't reached her domicile.

But there was no time for guilt—he had to try to get through to her. Solon pushed the voice away and concentrated on his new bride.

"Abbey, please—I can see you're upset," he said, trying to make his voice soft and gentle as he knelt beside her on the gray carpeted floor. "But please remember, the Claiming Period is only a month long. In that time, we'll get to know each other and we can decide if we're compatible or not."

"I can tell you already we're not compatible!" she spat, glaring up at him. "Let me go home right now or I swear to God I'm going to do my best to make your life a living hell every minute we're together!"

Solon was taken aback by her vehemence. Why did she hate him so much? For months he'd been Dream-Sharing with her and observing the way she acted with others—both her customers and her aunt. Well—listening anyway, since everything he saw when he dreamed of her was just colorful blurs. But all the dreams seemed to indicate that she was a sweet, shy, sensitive female. He had never heard her speak this way to anyone or had any indication that she had the capacity for such hatred inside her.

"I hope you'll feel differently once you get to know me," he said, trying to keep his voice level. "I've been dreaming of you for months, which means the Goddess intends for us to be together. If you could just enter the Claiming Period with an open mind?—"

As he spoke, he reached for her hands, hoping to make some contact and understand her better. After months of Dream-Sharing he was already attuned to her and his Chimera blood should enable him to feel her emotions when they made direct skin-to-skin contact.

"What are you doing? Leave me alone!" she demanded as he enfolded her much smaller hands in his own.

"Just helping you up," Solon assured her. "If you'll just let me?—"

And then her emotions slammed into him with the force of a hydro-jet engine and he let out a hoarse gasp.

She's scared to death of me!

It was true—his curvy little bride was putting up a good front and pretending to be angry but in reality the overriding emotion she was feeling was overwhelming fear. She was absolutely terrified of him—Solon could feel it running through her like an electrical current.

It was a hard emotion to absorb and he nearly dropped her hands. But if she was experiencing this feeling because of him, he had to experience it too, Solon told himself. It was only right—only fair. So he forced himself to keep holding her hands but he couldn't help speaking out.

"Why do you feel this way about me when you don't even know me?" he demanded, forgetting that she didn't know about his Chimera heritage and his ability to Feel. "What have I ever done to you to make you fear me like this? You don't even know me!"

She snatched her hands away. Crossing her arms under her full breasts, she tucked her fingers into her armpits, making them inaccessible to him.

"I'm not afraid of you!" She jutted her chin, her eyes blazing. Despite the tear tracks on her flushed cheeks, Solon thought she looked beautiful and fierce—like a warrior princess.

"I can tell that you are," he said quietly. "I just don't know why. Why do you fear me? Is it because I look like a beast?"

"How can you ask me why I'm afraid?" she demanded, her voice laced with exasperation and irritation. "You're a huge, scary, alien warrior who sent two other huge, scary, alien warriors to drag me out of my business to a place I don't know! They didn't even let me bring any of my aides or call my aunt! She's going to be terrified when she gets back to the shop and finds me gone!"

Solon didn't know what she meant by "aides" but it seemed like her worry for her aunt's feelings was the most urgent item of business.

"You," he snapped at one of the Agents who had dragged Abbey in. "Find out her aunt's phone number and give her a call. Explain that Abbey has been taken to the HKR building and that from there we will proceed to the Monstrum Mother Ship where we will spend our Claiming Period for one solar month."

"A whole month?" Abbey protested, her face growing worried. "A whole month alone with a guy I don't even know?"

"The point is to get to know each other."

Solon wished he could get to her hands again. Because she had no Chimera blood herself, he couldn't send emotions to her as effectively as he could receive them from her, but he did have some skill in that area. If only he could have direct skin-to-skin contact with her again he might be able to send her feelings of comfort and reassurance to calm her down. He should have done that earlier, but her feelings of terror had shocked him so much, he hadn't been thinking clearly.

"What if I don't want to get to know you?" she asked tightly. "What if I just want to go home and forget I ever met you?"

Her words cut him but Solon tried not to react. He sensed he wouldn't be able to get through to her until he figured out the source of her fear and helped alleviate it.

"You can't go home," he told her. "Once you're officially drafted, you're legally obligated to come back to the Monstrum Mother Ship and spend the entirety of the Claiming Period with me."

Her face crumpled and her eyes went from angry to frightened in a heartbeat.

"Please," she whispered in a soft, broken voice. "Please, I don't want to go with you. Can't you just leave me alone?"

That look on her face and the fear he knew she was feeling made Solon feel as though she'd reached into his chest and squeezed his heart in her soft little hand.

"Oh, lelka…" he murmured, the endearment slipping out before he could stop it. "I understand you're upset with me right now, and I'm sorry about that. If I could leave you alone, I would, but I can't. I've been dreaming of you for months." Reaching out, he cupped one flushed, tear-stained cheek gently in his palm. For a wonder, she didn't draw away from him, even though Solon could still feel the fear running through her. "You're my fated mate, Abbey," he said gently, trying to send feelings of warmth and caring and calm to her. "And I am yours. Whether you know it or not we belong together."

For a moment he thought he was getting through to her. He felt a slight wavering in her steady current of fear. Something else—was it uncertainty? Confusion? Longing? Whatever it was, it came though to him as he Felt her.

Then her eyes hardened and she pulled away from his hand.

"Bullshit," she hissed, her face going tight again. "This is all just bullshit!"

Solon drew in a breath. He was going to stay patient, he told himself. He was not going to let her upset him. He straightened up and stood over her as she knelt on the floor.

"Fine. We were supposed to have a Pre-Joining ceremony but I think we'd better skip that and just go straight to the Monstrum Mother Ship," he said. "After all, the sooner we begin our Claiming Period, the sooner it will be over and the sooner you can leave me. Come on."

Reaching down, he hooked one hand under her arm and pulled her to her feet. Then, never releasing his grip on her, he marched her straight through the HKR building until he reached the place where his shuttle was parked out back.

Opening the passenger side door, he boosted Abbey up into the passenger seat and then buckled her firmly in place.

She didn't say a word or try to run but when his fingertips touched the back of her hand, Solon felt the fear current running through her like a river deep enough to drown in.

What was he going to do and how could he convince her not to fear him? He had no idea but he prayed to the Goddess he would think of a way soon.