Rhoe’s Request Read online

  She leaned her head back when he pressed his lips to her throat, and she groaned as her instincts took over. Her mind sank into his, weaving their thoughts together.

  She felt him shaking against her, and her body rippled with pleasure when the linking became complete.

  “How did you…” Hiiron stared down at her, his dark eyes wide with wonder.

  “Instinct.”

  He sighed and pressed his forehead to hers. “I have always admired your instinct. This is going to complicate matters. We were supposed to have a nice, slow courtship.”

  “Tough. Slow is for those who aren’t creative.”

  His smile was wary. “I am going to catch hell for this.”

  “Why? Neither of us is in uniform.”

  He chuckled. “You have a point. Next time we both have leave, would you like to visit my home?”

  Fear suddenly speared through her, and she knew he could feel it.

  “What is it, Rhoe?”

  “Your people might not embrace a half-breed as your wife.”

  “They will adapt or we will simply move to your settlement. Your father has already agreed to allow me to immigrate.”

  She laughed and wrapped her arms around him. When a medic popped his head in, she blinked at him. “I tripped. He is catching me.”

  The medic grinned. “That is quite the grip.”

  Rhoe looked down, and she was pinned to the wall, her legs around Hiiron’s waist and her arms around his neck. She winked at the medic, “It was a heck of a fall.”

  The man could be heard laughing down the hallway.

  The pain of Yelana’s injuries faded from Rhoe’s mind. “The colonel is under a medic’s care. We should check on her.”

  “If she is with a medic, she is fine.”

  She prodded him, mind first. He sighed and released her, letting her feet touch the ground.

  In a moment, she was out the door and following the traces of her parents through the damaged areas and out to a medical tent.

  She found her mother’s mind and touched it briefly. It welcomed her, so Rhoe went in search of her parents. Rhand was sitting at her mother’s side. Rhoe quirked her brow at Rhand, and her father nodded.

  Yelana grunted, “Cracked ribs, broken leg and it would have been a lot worse if you hadn’t arrived. Sorry about the broadcast.”

  Rhoe knelt next to her mother’s side. “I am sorry it took so long, Mother.”

  “You came to get me when I needed you, daughter.”

  Rhoe felt shock ripple through her mind, followed by wry understanding. She looked back at Hiiron and smiled, “My family, meet my husband.”

  Rhand blinked. “What?”

  Yelana groaned, “Mind to mind. Damn, I hadn’t counted on that. Well, battlefield promotion. Rhoe, you are now promoted to captain.”

  Hiiron stood next to Rhoe and placed his hand on her shoulder. She got to her feet and leaned against him. “We were talking and then, wham. Our minds were together.”

  Hiiron cleared his throat, and he was going to correct her, but she elbowed him in the ribs.

  Yelana Whisk smiled at them, “Yes, I am sure that is how it happened.”

  Rhand smoothed hair from Yelana’s face. “Well, we will be mimicking your example, daughter, as soon as my bride-to-be is out of her sickbed.”

  Yelana sighed, “I still don’t know how we are going to work that.”

  “Ah, love, you are still a pilot, are you not?”

  Rhoe felt the love between her parents as it swelled and broke in a wave that caught her and Hiiron in its wake.

  Hiiron’s quarters were in the undamaged section of the base, and they wasted no time in tangling the sheets.

  After they had locked far more than minds, Rhoe was cuddled against him while he traced the markings that she had been born with. “So, Colonel Whisk is your mother?”

  She grinned and nipped his chin, “She is. I was a contract breed, and she carried me and gave me to my father. He loved her, but she had another child to bear, and if they became mates, that would not happen.”

  “So, you get your gift of flight from both your parents. That does explain it. For someone doomed to walk, you were born for the sky.”

  She laughed softly as his fingers trailed over a ticklish spot. “I was born for this moment. My craving for the sky merely got me here.”

  “My mother is going to love you.” He rolled her to her back and moved over her.

  “All my life with no mother, and now, suddenly, I will have two.” She laughed as he nibbled at her neck and moved lower. “If I end up with another mate, I will have to stop this streak.”

  “If you end up with another mate, you will be a widow with only one husband left in short order.” He smiled and looked up at her before tracing her markings with his tongue.

  She gasped and surrendered to his touch, embracing the way he made her fly without ever leaving the ground.

  Days spent in the sky and nights spent with Hiiron loomed ahead of her, and her future was dizzy with promise.

  Author’s Note

  We learn about Rhoe’s half-sister, Whyt, in the next book Whyt’s Plea.

  Whyt craves the sky, she wants to fly, but her family wants nothing more than a good relationship and a family of her own to bloom into being. A light swan, she knows that she was born a half-breed, but she ignores that little fact when it comes to pursuing her dreams, and her dreams don’t involve a quiet life. She wants roars, flight and a life of light with a heartbeat that will match her own. What she gets is a surly dark swan who refuses to take get bent for an answer.

  About the Author

  Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.

  Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.