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Dani never imagined that she would gain a lifelong bond with a sentient four-legged companion and find her husband while rescuing the creature from a fate worse than death. She also never imagined she’d be stuck on a ship crammed full of antennae-laden, mischievous mogha for a couple weeks.
Truth be told, she enjoyed their soft fur brushing her body everywhere she turned. But the close quarters didn’t lend itself to any alone time with K’vyn, which he made up for by whispering sweet nothings in her mind, complete with images of what he would do with her once they were finally alone—
And once it was explained the chickens weren’t for eating, the occupants of the ship subsisted on eggs. Colony 739 was never going to get that delivery, but if the mogha ate the chickens, there’d be no more eggs. There was a store of rations K’vyn had onboard, but it wouldn’t have been enough without the eggs.
She patted Molly’s head as L’iza held the chook up to Hedge’s cage. Apparently satisfied, the molk threw himself on his hoard of shiny objects with a happy squeak. L’iza even placed several chicken feathers in the enclosure.
Unable to help it, she grinned at the hologram.
“What?” L’iza’s electronic lilt sounded scandalized. “I am just making sure he doesn’t get loose.”
Of course. That’s what was going on.
The mogha were afraid of the molk at first, but once K’vyn explained to D’alla that the glass would hold him, he became a curiosity.
When can he ride on my head again? C’hase had a hard time understanding why he couldn’t let Hedge out. Not even for a little while?
“Frozen planet on the port side,” K’vyn announced.
Watching the world covered in white and gray ice, she shivered. Stars, she really hoped that wasn’t Sanctuary. What a miserable existence—
“It’s uninhabitable,” K’vyn said.
“Full of bear beasts,” L’iza said.
And thank the heavens they went right on by it.
Two more weeks—
“Approaching Sanctuary,” L’iza said, voice amplified throughout the ship.
And then the entire hull became transparent.
All occupants stilled, the space around them breathtaking. Drifting through blue, red, and green nebula, Dani had to remember to inhale and exhale as her mouth hung open, K’vyn’s awe mirroring hers through the bond.
Nearby stars dotted the tall celestial clouds—
Those aren’t stars, K’vyn said in her mind.
Dani squinted her eyes, then they opened wide. The dots were ships. Hundreds of organic ships.
And then she saw it, a green and blue planet hanging between two colorful nebula.
“Welcome home,” L’iza said.
Pulling her close, K’vyn kissed the top of her head.
Dani looked over the mogha, the chickens, Hedge, C’hase and L’iza, her eyes meeting her handsome Korthan’s. A smile spread across her features, heart swelling, threatening an overflow from her eyes. Never eligible for the HCA Colony Program, having only set foot on two planets in her entire lifetime, she was part of a colony anyway.
They were about to start a colony of their own.