8. Solon

8

SOLON

"Solon, what brings you in today? Did you finally find your bride?" Brone, who was a Beast Kindred, smiled as Solon entered the other male's office. They had met during a battle against the darklings several years before and had become fast friends at once. "You were telling me just the other day you thought you knew where to find her," he added, rising from behind his desk to offer Solon a warrior's clasp.

Brone worked in the Bridal Draft Office which served the North American Continent, and Solon had been confiding in him ever since he'd started Dream-Sharing with Abbey. He had realized early on that she was from a country called The United States, which was located in the continent Brone dealt with.

"I found her, all right," Solon said grimly, clasping his friend's forearm briefly before letting go.

"Uh-oh…" Brone frowned, his dark brows drawing low over his golden eyes. "I take it there's a problem?"

"She doesn't want to come with me!" Solon couldn't keep the anguish from his voice. The rejection of his fated mate had hurt him more than he liked to admit—even to himself.

"Why not?" Brone asked reasonably. "You're a good-looking male. Lots of human females love the Monstrum."

Solon shook his head.

"I don't know why—she didn't give me any explanation. She just said that she'd filed for an exemption and she wasn't going to come with me to the Monstrum Mother Ship."

"Exemptions are almost impossible to get," Brone said.

"That's what I told her." Solon sighed and raked a hand through his dark gold mane. "Can you look her up for me and see if she's telling the truth?"

"Well, we're not supposed to…" Brone cut his eyes towards the open door, as if to see if anyone was watching them.

"Here." Solon closed the door. "Now look," he directed.

Brone sighed.

"All right—I might not be able to get a full report but I can at least see if she really filed for an exemption and if it was accepted or denied. What was her name again?"

"Abbey. Abbey Lennox. I think Abbey might be short for Abigail," Solon added. "And she works at a place called Rose's Roses." He gave the address and some other pieces of information he'd managed to pick up as soon as he verified Abbey's identity and Brone nodded.

"Okay, give me a minute."

He tapped at his touch-keyboard for a few minutes and then frowned.

"Hmm…"

"What? What is it?" Solon asked anxiously.

"Well…I hate to say it, but it seems her exemption was allowed," Brone said reluctantly. "I'm sorry, Brother—I know how disappointed you must be."

"But why?" Solon demanded. "How can that be?"

"I don't know—I can't access that part of the report." Brone shook his head. "I'm really fuckin' sorry—I know how hard this must be."

"Hard? It's impossible! I've been Dream-Sharing with her for months." Solon raked a hand through his hair again. "She's the one the Goddess has chosen for me—I know it!"

Brone looked ruefully at his screen.

"I wish I could change it for you, but I can't. The exemption has already gone through. As soon as she gets the paperwork in her hands, she'll have the legal right to turn you away and there won't be anything you can do about it."

"Wait…" Solon started pacing in front of his friend's desk. "You said as soon as she gets the paperwork? Meaning she hasn't gotten it yet?"

Brone peered at his screen again.

"According to this, no, she hasn't. I don't think it's even left the office yet. By law we have to send them through the human's mailing system, but this one hasn't gone out yet."

"Can you stop it? Or even delay it some?" Solon asked desperately.

"Oh, I don't know about that…" Brone shook his head doubtfully. "I could lose my job!"

"And I could lose the only chance I have of Bonding with my mate! My only chance of true happiness!" Solon pointed out. He hated to use guilt as a weapon, but what he was asking for wasn't that much—he didn't think anyway. "Look, I'm not asking you not to send it at all—just make sure it gets lost for a little while," he said. "If I can even have the first week of our Claiming Period with her, I'm sure I can convince her that we belong together. At the very least it will give my Bonding Scent time to work on her."

"Well…" Brone was weakening—it was clear he was. "Maybe I can send it through the system one more time—that should buy you a little time," he said at last. "We can say it's missing a signature or something. That should work." He tapped at the keyboard some more and then nodded. "Okay—done."

"Thank you!" Solon exclaimed. If he had been a more demonstrative male, he would have hugged his friend! As it was, he offered his arm for another warrior's clasp and pumped Brone's arm and hand vigorously. "Really, Brone—you don't know how happy you've made me!"

"Just go easy with your new bride," Brone advised. He still looked a little uneasy, Solon thought. "Remember how small and delicate these human females are compared to us. She's probably going to need some time to get used to you."

"You know I would never hurt her," Solon said, frowning. "As a Monstrum Kindred, the very idea goes against my nature!"

"Mine too. You know that and I know that but your new bride might not," Brone pointed out. "The humans don't think like we do—human males are often cruel to their females, though the Goddess knows why. You might have to earn her trust."

"I will," Solon said confidently. "Just let me have some time to get to know her and to let her get to know me."

"Well, you've got a little more time, anyway. A week or two—maybe more if you're lucky." Brone shrugged. "Use it wisely, Brother."

Solon nodded.

"You know that I will. I'll set her draft in motion at once."

"Fine—you'd better hope the Draft Officers don't check the exemption logs," Brone warned.

"They won't," Solon said confidently. "I just need them to generate the paperwork and go get her."

He knew that most humans thought the Bridal Draft worked like the military drafts they used to conscript soldiers at wartime. But that wasn't the case at all. What usually happened was that a Kindred or a Monstrum warrior started Dream-Sharing with a human female. When he found out her identity—usually from a combination of clues he picked up in the dreams and research done on his own—he would go to the Draft Officers in the nearest HKR building and have them generate official paperwork for the female in question.

Then he could either go and get his bride himself or send the Draft Officers to pick her up at her domicile and bring her back to the HKR building for a Pre-Joining Ceremony. Following that, the warrior in question had the legal right to bring his new bride up to the Mother Ship to begin their month-long Claiming Period.

In this case, Solon decided reluctantly to send the Draft Officers and wait for them to bring his bride to the HKR building. She seemed so hostile when she saw him—maybe she would be less angry and antagonistic to the agents if he wasn't there with them. Then, once their Pre-Joining ceremony was complete and they were up in his suite aboard the Monstrum Mother Ship, they could begin to get to know each other.

He just hoped he could get Abbey to fall in love with him in the time he had before the exemption paperwork got to her domicile. If not, things might get tricky…