Everyone filed out and Kyele waited until Torkel reached the door. "I won't be late again."

Torkel grinned. "I have a Chosen. It is hard to leave her. I'm glad you and Joni are together."

Kyele would have to become comfortable with the idea. At times it seemed too good. "Thank you, Torkel. For your guidance and support."

Torkel knew what it was like to feel unwanted. They were about to part ways, Kyele eager to search for Joni, when Shaya Alonson exited the elevator. Her eyes brightened but she didn't head for her son. She closed in on Kyele and his Unit Leader abandoned him by getting on the elevator she'd exited before the door closed.

"Kyele, I came to see you."

Swallowing, he remained still as she hugged him. Torkel's maman treated the Jutaks as if they were her children as well.

"I wanted to let you know Marlin and I will be at the presentation to support you. Lissi and the kids as well."

Kyele's eyes widened. Torkel's sister was a menace. The only reason no one denied her anything she asked was because they were scared of Rydak and of course her brother would rip apart anyone who upset the blond beauty.

"That's not necessary, Shaya."

Warmth entered her smile. Torkel's maman ignored him. "Torkel said you'd refuse. I brought you something I thought you'd appreciate."

He accepted the brown package she pulled from a bag over her shoulder. Not having a maman made her attentions uncomfortable.

"Open it." She clasped her hands together and waited.

Kyele fingered the brown wrapping then tore into it and gaped. Black leather filled his hands. He smoothed his fingers over it hesitantly, bumping the side clasps. When his vision cleared he staggered back. "I can't accept this."

The large square cut green stones were worth a fortune and she'd used them as the basis for the clasp on the loitte. A loitte she'd clearly made for his presentation. Kyele swallowed past the thickness in his throat. No one had ever done anything like this for him.

"Of course you can accept. Every male should receive a loitte from a loving female in his family. I consider you family. All of you Jutaks are family. To refuse is to insult me."

Which would send her Chosen and Torkel after him for the offense.

"Thank you," he managed.

Her blue eyes crinkled. "You're welcome."

Chapter 31.

The sun's rays heated Kyele's oil-slicked body, creating a sheen over his glistening muscles. His bare torso drew Joni's gaze and the knee- length leather kilt he wore dropped her stomach to her feet. He spread his legs in a wide stance, arms folded arrogantly over his chest. Corded thighs led to his calves and bare feet. The women around her cheered as they raced past the curtain, kicking up the sand covering the ground of the giant arena.

Awe held her frozen at the entrance to the arena while she absorbed the sounds of the roaring crowd and the sight of dozens of men waiting to be chosen. Faye and Lissi tried to warn her but nothing compared to the reality of the moment.

"You should hurry before someone takes a male you have your eye on," The man who'd given instructions on the process said.

Joni held up the Chosen medallion that she needed to present to Kyele. "I'm not worried about that."

Proving her words true, the women dressed in the heavy brown hooded cloaks similar to hers took a wide path around Kyele. It would have been funny if she didn't know how much it hurt him to stand and be judged by the people of his adopted home world. When she'd asked him to be her Chosen, she didn't realize how hard it would be for him to accept. Not because he doubted her love but because he knew none of the females attending the presentation would choose him.

Yet he stood proudly among his peers, trusting Joni. His courage astounded her. She walked forward, her bare feet scuffling sand in her wake. Attendees were not allowed to wear shoes on the grounds and she winced as grains squeezed between her toes.

As she got closer, the subtle tension in his shoulders loosened. His green eyes began to glow and a fine mist swirled in his pupils. Joni tugged the hood down about her shoulders and held up the chain and medallion. "I choose you, Kyele Bastien."

He didn't return her smile. He bent forward and lowered his neck within reach. It was important for participants not to speak until the selections were made. Joni found it ridiculous to be honest but she didn't hesitate to place the medallion over his neck, her fingers fussing with it the chain to disguise her caressing his chest.

Kyele lifted his head. Joni almost stepped back from the love blazing at her.

"Kyele Bastien, present."

Joni jolted at the loud voice. Kyele steadied her with a hand at her lower back. She wanted to feel him skin to skin. She couldn't wait to get rid of the scratchy robe and show him what she wore underneath.

The three members of the Commissioning body stared at them. For the first time, Joni felt a spurt of fear. What if she'd done something wrong? Faye warned they could deny her if she and Kyele messed up then they'd have to wait until the next presentation to claim one another. Joni never wanted to subject him to this again.

"Kyele, you have been Chosen. Present her."

Kyele wanted to grab Joni and run. She was almost his. He reached for her hand and lifted his arm in the air. Conra, the head of the Commission nodded.

"Joni Miller has Chosen." His throat locked. His gaze jerked unerringly to the line of men waiting outside the waist high barrier. His Unit, every member, dressed in the formal white of their Jutak uniforms. Kyele took a deep breath and let it out. When he faced Conra once more, his voice rang clear, "Kyele Bastien has accepted."

Conra smiled and walked past them to the next couple.

Kyele shuddered and tightened his grip on Joni's fingers.

"Congratulations, Kyele." Merlyn nodded as she and Naine, the last member of the Commissioning body, strode by.

Kyele hurried Joni to the sidelines. Faye, Lissi and Sylvie surrounded Joni as they hugged her but she never let go of Kyele's hand. For that he was grateful.

Torkel wrapped an arm around his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "We deserve love, too."

As Joni talked animatedly with her friends, her gaze checking on him every few seconds, Kyele believed him.

Epilogue.

Months later Kyele should never have listened to Joni and stopped taking the birth control shots Dr. Maku dispensed to all of them. It was hard denying his Chosen anything she wanted much to the amusement of his fellow Jutaks. She wanted children and wanted them born close to her friends who were already pregnant. With reluctance, Kyele gave in.

Watching the three women from Earth interact during each stage of the pregnancy had caused panic, laughter and fear among them. Torkel suffered the most as Faye didn't agree with him following her everywhere including the bathroom. Their child had been born last month. Sylvie complained about the ease of Faye's birth until her child entered the world. With Arak there to influence the baby to shift and maintain its human form, she too, came through with little difficulty.

Kyele envied them. Nothing about Joni's delivery went right and now he wished he could turn back time and refuse her this one request.

"Don't die little one. She needs you." He swallowed. "I need you."

Kyele had done many things in his adult life with little remorse. He'd killed and served Jutak justice without hesitation but nothing was as hard as staring at his own son in this clear box, struggling to hold on to his physical form. Dr. Maku insisted on the medical unit designed for a young child.

One moment his pink arms waved in the air and the next, he was a ball of coiled smoke. Back and forth, back and forth, each shift ending in weak cries and clearly leaving him tired. His pink skin now took on a pale cast.

Maku came into the medic center and checked the readings with his scanner. Kyele cleared his throat. "How are they?"

Maku gaze softened. "I'm sorry.

Kyele froze. "Sorry?"

"A day maybe two. For both of them. Their conditions have steadily declined and nothing I've tried has worked."

It was as if someone had sucked all the air from the room. Heart racing, Kyele clumsily rose to his feet. "What do you mean?"

"Kyele," Maku said slowly and clearly. "They are dying."

"No!"

Rage lashed out. Fear and pain collided. Kyele lost his physical form and filled the medical center with a swirling mass of fury that knocked over containers and tore objects from the shelves. Chairs overturned and a table slammed into the wall splintering into pieces.

Dr. Maku hunched down into a corner as the Jutak warrior expended his anger. He glanced at his patients both mother and child, strangely undisturbed or unharmed by the turbulence that filled the room. The storm lasted minutes. Minutes in which the man who never lost his calm vented his anger and pain. When Kyele at last resumed his physical shell, his eyes were red rimmed, his chest heaved in short exhales.

"I won't lose them, Maku. I've lost everyone who has ever loved me. I won't lose my son and the only woman who made my heart beat again."

There was no stopping the inevitable. "Kyele, I am truly very sorry."

"She's my heart, Maku," Kyele cried out. How could he live without his heart?

The doctor left him alone. Alone. Was he always to be alone?

Kyele clenched his fists. No he wouldn't be alone. If the gods chose once more to take away the only people he cared about then he'd follow them. Even to the afterlife.

"They need to be together."

Kyele palmed his weapon and aimed it in the direction of the deep voice. The one man he hoped to never see stood in the center of the room within a hands span of his son. Kyele aimed his laser higher. Right between the general's eyes. "Why are you here?"

General Azar lifted his hands from his sides in surrender. "Your pain reached me. Your despair unfathomable, son."

"I'm not your son," Kyele growled.

"I thought you dead until your Spectar soul called to mine."

"I wouldn't call to you."

The general lowered his hands, eyes steady on Kyele. "Blood calls to blood. It is the way of the Spectar. I knew instantly what had touched me. I thought...I thought you were dead."

He was. He'd die if he lost Joni. "Pretend I'm dead and go away."

"Son..."

"I'm not your son," Kyele roared.

General Azar flinched, his gaze falling to the clear box where the baby tossed, shifting from one form to the next. "This little one is yours."

The remark didn't require a response.

"He needs to be with his mother. When hybrid Spectar are born you can't separate the two until the child is a year old. If they have to be parted nothing more than an hour or they decline."

Kyele lowered the weapon. "How do you know this?"

"Your mother. The foolish healer took you to another room after your birth and immediately she began to fail."

His son mewled. General Azar leaned over the container that held Kyele's son.

Kyele tensed. "Stay away from him."

His son opened his eyes and turned his head to face the both of them. Dark lashes fluttered as green eyes stared at the world.

The general inhaled sharply. "He has your mother's eyes. Like you."

Kyele kept his gaze firmly on the man he detested more than anyone. He pressed the release buttons on the side of the special unit Maku had placed his son after his birth. Though he didn't want to, Kyele holstered his weapon and reached inside. The tiny weight filled his large hands and Kyele cradled him close. He crossed to Joni and wrapped her limp arms around his son's form with utmost care.

"She is from Earth?"

Azar kept the distance of the room between them, but Kyele stayed on guard. He ignored the question and used his hand to adjust his son in the crook of Joni's arm so he wouldn't slip.

"Earth women are special. They grab a piece of your heart and don't let go. I tried to force your mother to feel something for me. I went about it the wrong way and lost her anyway."

"Shut up about my mother." Kyele didn't remember the woman who'd lost her life trying to save his. All he had were the stories Faan told him of her beauty and spirit. "You made her a sex slave. You forced yourself on her time and time again."

Azar's shoulders slumped. "I didn't make her a sex slave. She was captured by Marenians. But I did nothing to free her and I will live with that for the rest of my life."

His son chose that moment to shift into his Spectar form. The small bundle of gray smoke swirled around Joni's arms as they limply fell to her side.

Kyele jerked, hands in the air in a futile effort to hold onto his son.

"Let him be," Azar snapped and took a step forward.

Kyele didn't have time to kill the man. "He can't hold his form. That's why the doctor had him contained."

"He needs her. She needs him. Watch."

His throat clogged with fear. It went against every instinct he possessed to follow the direction of the general. The gray swirl lengthened into a dark stream of ribbon. What would he do if his son didn't regain his corporal form?

Joni twitched in her sleep. Kyele waited with baited breath. Her arms clenched and her eyes popped open. His son solidified and she enfolded the boy in her embrace.