Stolen - Nhys Glover Page 0,101

guys into it if they weren’t interested.

Lain pushed Meida aside and wrapped his arm around my waist. “You snooze you lose, brother,” he said smugly, leading me out onto the floor.

Marissa and Kius joined us a few minutes later. Kius looked over the moon to have his podmate in his arms. He even subjected himself to the indignities of dancing for the honor.

“It was well worth going through all the pain to get to this place in my life,” Marissa said, resting her head on Kius’ shoulder but speaking loud enough for me to hear.

“I couldn’t agree more. Who would have thought those bastard renegades did us a favor? And they were right about us being podmates. Just not their podmates. Every one, except poor Summer of course, has found her pod now.”

“Rian dying changed them. It allowed them to start healing. Shawna is amazing these days. I wish she could have been here,” Marissa said.

“They’re knee deep in building their new dome. I understand why she sent her apologies,” I said, wondering what it would be like to build your own home from the ground up. Stressful, but so rewarding.

“Jade’s guys were instrumental in forcing the political resolution of the Vargeez issue,” Marissa said, seeming to move from topic to topic without need of a segue. “They’re going to be a political force to be reckoned with in years to come. It’s good that Jade is more than capable of schmoozing the worst dickwads.”

Maybe Marissa’s change of topic came because she spotted Jade and Briad, and it reminded her of the war. It didn’t take much to remind me of the war and what came before it.

“Having the wounded Briad as a living example of the horror of that war probably helped,” Lain said. “How that guy came back from what he did is anyone’s guess.”

“It nearly destroyed Jade,” I added. “I would have felt the same way. Losing Rian in Danan form was bad enough.”

“But it’s done with now. All the dramas and all the heartache. Now we get to enjoy our lives with our amazing podmates.” Marissa leaned up to kiss Kius’ lips. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind me this isn’t just a wonderful dream that followed the nightmare.”

I knew how she felt. I leaned back so I could bring Lain’s face down to mine. Damn they were tall!

As my lips stroked across Lain’s mouth the music changed into a much more seductive number. A hard, hot body was suddenly pressed into me from behind and it nibbled at my earlobe.

It was Nial. His wicked thoughts had me squirming in the sandwich they’d formed around me.

Marissa laughed. “Hey, none of that! You’ll have every non-podmate female gritting her teeth in jealousy. And there are children present!”

My guys glanced in the direction of the children’s play area. None of them seemed in the least interested in what the adults were getting up to.

I spotted Charsus sitting in the sandpit with his sister. For the moment her entourage had deserted Danheez, but it didn’t seem to have fazed her in the least. It was good to see Charsus relaxing enough to play.

“Those two will make great ambassadors one day,” Kius said, following my gaze to my kids.

“Well, they definitely have the old heads on young bodies’ thing going on. They’ll need it when the Therans finally realize they exist and start throwing their political weight around. They’ll want Rian neutered and probably the kids as well. But Charsus seemed to think that this was an evolutionary step we had to make, and his people would just have to accept it. Grow or die. That’s the way of Nature. Gaian or any other.”

The song came to an end and the green-skinned Naicin stepped up onto the small stage at the far end of the room. He waved briefly to Bronwyn who was still perched on Maica’s shoulders. I guess the view up there was worth it. Or maybe Maica’s hand slipping up under the gown was making the spot more pleasurable.

“I will keep my speech short so you can all get back to dancing or whatever else you’re doing that’s drawing attention,” he began, lifting his green eyebrow at us.

I felt Nial’s rumbling laugh behind me and picked up Lain’s amusement. I had to wonder at what age fathers stopped being fathers to their sons.

“The Danan race had struggled for thousands of years with loneliness. Podmates had become harder and harder to find. I know my brothers