The Morcai Battalion: Invictus

“What are you doing?” Caneese demanded belligerently as she approached them. “You are not allowed to touch her before the bonding ceremony!”

He was so far gone that he growled at Caneese.

She cuffed him hard enough that the sound echoed. She growled, too. Madeline, almost mindless with her own responses, barely registered that Dtimun obeyed the older woman at once. He let go of Madeline and moved back, grasping at control and dignity.

“It is all right,” Caneese told him gently. She touched his cheek lightly. “It is all right.”

Madeline was getting her breath back. She was flushed. “I’m sorry,” she told Caneese. “It was my fault. I only wanted to know what was going to happen.”

Caneese smiled at her. “There is no need to apologize. I understand.”

“The bonding ceremony is tomorrow, anyway,” Madeline began.

“Yes, but the mating must be witnessed, that is the law,” the older woman said gently.

Madeline had heard that odd phrasing before, but never thought about it until now. Witnessed?

Dtimun had recovered. His head bowed slightly, in deference to Caneese’s position. “We were discussing certain...aspects...of the ceremony,” he said with a straight face. “Madeline was curious.”

Caneese’s eyes were wide and shocked. “And you were telling her?”

He moved forward, took Caneese’s face in his hands and, smiling, touched his forehead to hers. “I was not,” he lied. “She wanted reassurance. Our customs are disturbing to her. I was attempting to explain them when things got out of hand.”

“A little out of hand,” Madeline said blithely. The look she gave Dtimun, unseen by Caneese, was wicked enough to make his eyes flash green.

Caneese melted. She touched Dtimun’s cheek with her hand. “I had to interfere. But you must not tell her anything further. I do not want you to make her more frightened.”

“Not to worry,” Madeline quipped. “I’ve had all my shots, and I’m experienced in six martial arts.”

Dtimun burst out laughing. Caneese stared worriedly from one of them to the other.

“We will not embarrass you,” Dtimun assured her. He hesitated. Madeline’s reaction to him was extremely stimulating. “We will not deliberately embarrass you,” he corrected. “It might be...wise—” he considered his choice of words “—to double the mute screen in the mating chamber, however.”

Caneese now looked horrified.

Dtimun held up a hand. “She has been known to throw things at me when she lost her temper,” he said quickly, looking for an explanation that would not disturb Caneese.

“Wouldn’t it be easier just to remove the ceramics from the room, sir?” Madeline asked him cheekily.

“Sir?” Caneese echoed. “Madeline, you must refrain from addressing him so.”

“Sorry,” Madeline replied with a smile. “Habit.”

“You must consider that this is the lesser of two evils,” Dtimun agreed. “She has, at least, refrained from saluting me.”

“Oh, I rarely do that,” she said. “In fact, we have this new guy, the kelekom tech, Jefferson Colby, that the commander stole...excuse me, borrowed,” she added when Dtimun glared at her, “from Admiral Lawson. Colby saluted the CO so often that he was getting a crick in his neck. So we told him that we never salute the CO because it affects his ego. Right, sir?” she asked Dtimun with a grin.

He glared at her. “When we are at Benaski Port, if you refer to me as ‘sir’ in front of possible spies, even your pregnancy will not be enough to ward off suspicion that we are enemy agents.”

“Point taken. Sorry, sir. I mean...” She hesitated. “Well, what the hell am I supposed to call you, then?” she asked.

“Madam!” he gritted.

“Madeline!” Caneese echoed.

Madeline threw up her hands. “I give up. I’m never going to be able to pull this off. I mean, look at...?”

She stopped, fascinated, as Rognan came dashing toward her as fast as his injured leg would allow.

“You must deal with this,” Caneese told Dtimun helplessly. “He has been told that he will not be permitted at the ceremony. He is very upset.”

“But why can’t he be?” Madeline asked.

“Because he considers you his mate,” Dtimun said with a flash of green eyes. “We would never make it past him into the mating chamber.”

“And when she becomes pregnant, there will be no place where she can go without him,” Caneese groaned, missing Madeline’s flush. “He will consider the child his, as well.”

“Meg-Ravens are quite fascinating to study,” Dtimun mused as the bird came closer. “It is best to do it at long-range however,” he sighed.

Rognan paused in front of them and flapped his wings angrily. “Rognan must come to ceremony. Rognan is family!” he muttered.

Madeline reached out and stroked his feathered head, scratching it gently. He calmed at once.

“Yes, Rognan is family,” she agreed gently. “But there will be many people, and you don’t like strangers around you. Yes?”

He hesitated. He ruffled his feathers. “Strangers make Rognan nervous,” he agreed.

“So you can watch from a closed vid screen,” she suggested, pointedly looking at Caneese.

The elder Cehn-Tahr nodded. “That will be possible.”

Rognan sighed. “Very well.”

Impulsively Madeline hugged him. “You must stop worrying so much about things. It isn’t good for you.”

He enveloped her with a huge black wing. “Rognan will try. Rognan is happy that you will be family,” he added in a hesitant tone.

She drew back and smiled at him. “Thank you. That’s very nice of you to say.”

“You have amazing skills in diplomacy,” Caneese remarked when Rognan had hobbled away. “They may be quite useful one day.”

“They already are, when dealing with some individuals,” she said, and glanced wickedly at her commanding officer.

He chuckled.

“What sort of witnessing are we talking about?” Madeline asked suddenly. She hadn’t wanted to bring it up, but it was disturbing.

“We require proof of parentage in, shall we say, our aristocratic circles,” Caneese explained solemnly. “The first mating requires witnesses.”