The Vulpirans' Honor: The Soul-Linked Saga (36 page)

“Can you think of a word that would fully encompass the way you feel in your body,
heart and mind at this moment?” Vikter asked.

“No, I cannot,” Hunt replied, laying the lock of hair down gently.  “Even if such
a word existed, I cannot believe that it would not be enough.”

Vikter smiled as Hunt got off the bed and went into the adjoining bathroom.  He returned
a moment later with several warm, damp cloths which he shared with his brothers. 
This was a special ritual, caring for their Arima together for the first time, and
they took their time with it, cleansing her body and checking to make sure that she
was well, that they had caused her no harm.  When they were finished Vikter laid down
on the bed and pulled Honey over on top of him, cradling her head on his chest.  Hunt
and Lance lay down beside them, each placing an arm around Honey.  Relaxed and at
peace, they dozed off with their Arima sheltered lovingly between them.

***

Aisling Gryphon stretched up on her tip-toes to give Olaf a quick kiss, then took
two running steps and leapt upward.  Her arms shifted into wings, and her head became
that of an eagle, but her human feet hit the ground before she finished her transformation. 
Without pausing she leapt upward again, completing her shift from humanoid female
to the half eagle, half lion form of her gryphon.

“
Not bad,
Bilara
,”
Olaf said, already flying beside her. 

“I still touched the ground,”
Aisling grumbled. 
“I just can’t seem to shift fast enough.”

“Give it time,”
Rand said from her other side. 
“We’ve been doing this for seven hundred years, beloved.  You’ve only just begun shifting.”

“I’m pretty sure I mentioned somewhere along the line that I’m not particularly patient,”
Aisling said. 
“I have no intention of waiting seven hundred years to get this right.”

“How about seven months?”
Rudy suggested with a strong impression of humor.

Aisling thought about that for a moment. 
“Nope, that won’t work,”
she said, following Olaf as he began to descend toward the lawn in front of the Council
Complex.

“Seven months is not unreasonable,”
Olaf said. 
“You ask too much of yourself,
Bilara
.”

“That’s not the problem,”
Aisling replied.

“Do you want to try shifting as you land?”
Rudy asked.

“No, not today,”
Aisling replied, surprising her Rami greatly. 

“What is wrong?”
Olaf demanded as he landed, shifting into his humanoid form as his feet touched the
thick, blue grass. 

Aisling didn’t reply.  Instead she focused on landing, her four broad leonine paws
hitting the ground lightly.  Once she was firmly on the ground, she shifted, barely
noticing the concerned expressions of her guys as they crowded around her. 

“Tell us, please,” Olaf said, his entire body tensing with worry at the strange expression
on Aisling’s face.  When she raised her green eyes and he saw the glowing golden ring
that appeared when she was happy, he relaxed.  A little.  He still couldn’t read the
expression on her face.

“You guys aren’t going to believe what I just found out,” she said in a very calm
tone.  “In fact, I’m pretty sure I don’t believe it.  Although, I should believe it
since my gryphon told me, and I can’t imagine she’d lie to me.  She wouldn’t, would
she?”

“No, your gryphon would not lie to you,” Olaf said, faintly surprised he was able
to follow what Aisling was saying.  “What is it that she told you?”

“Well, I’m not sure you guys are going to like this,” Aisling said.  “In fact, I have
a feeling you won’t like it at all.  Rather, you won’t like the timing.  I think you’ll
like it, except for the timing.  The more I think on it, the more sure I am that...,”

“Please,
bilara
,” Olaf said, interrupting her gently.  “If you do not tell us what you’re talking
about, I’m going to carry you inside and ask Elder Vulpiran to treat you for shock.”

“There’s no need to be threatening,” Aisling retorted, her eyes narrowing.  Olaf sighed,
and Aisling gave in.  “Okay, all right, I’ll say it, it’s just not that easy to tell
three men all at once that they’re about to become fathers.  I mean, who does that? 
Okay, dumb question, Jasani do that, I know, but you gotta admit it’s not...,” 

Aisling stopped speaking mid-sentence when Olaf pressed a finger to her lips.  She
looked up to see Olaf, Rand and Rudy all staring at her intently.

“You are pregnant?” Rudy asked.

Since Olaf’s finger was still against her lips, she nodded.

“You are certain?” Rand asked.

She rolled her eyes.  Hadn’t she just gone through this?  Since her gryphon had told
her, she figured it was probably true.

“How long?” Olaf asked.  She rolled her eyes again. 

“Boys or girls?” Rand asked.

She reached up and pulled Olaf’s finger from her lips.  “My gryphon told me that I
shouldn’t try learning anything new for seven months because if I fell or hurt myself,
I might hurt the babies.  I asked her what babies.  She said our babies.  End of discussion. 
You want more information than that, then we’re going to have to go inside that building
behind you.  You want to stand here and ask more questions, I think I’ll go inside
anyway, and leave you to it.”

“Why would you think we wouldn’t want to be fathers?” Olaf asked as though she hadn’t
said a word.

“I know you want to be fathers,” she replied.  “It’s the timing I’m worried about.”

“What difference does the timing make?” Rudy asked. 

“A lot is going on right now,” Aisling said.  “The task force leaving for Onddo, the
meeting coming up in the Hidden City.”  She paused for a moment.  “You did set that
up, right?”

“Yes, we set that up,” Olaf said.  “But what does one thing have to do with the other?”

Aisling sighed.  She didn’t really want to bring this up, but she wasn’t going to
lie.  “You know that I am going to do my best to convince the Dracons, and anyone
else that will listen, that going to war against the Narrasti is not a good idea. 
You three don’t agree with me, to put it mildly.  Knowing how you feel, I figure you’re
not going to be happy with me for awhile, so maybe children isn’t a good idea at the
moment.”

Much to her surprise all three of her men smiled down at her.  “
Bilara
, do you believe, even for a moment, that such a thing as a simple difference of opinion
would ever be allowed to come between us?”

“I’m not sure I’d call this a simple difference of opinion,” Aisling said.  “It’s
a lot deeper than that.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Olaf said.  “We would never allow this, nor anything else to
come between us.  We love you, but we do not expect that we will always agree with
each other on every subject.  I fail to see how such a thing is even possible.”

“Our feelings about the Narrasti have nothing to do with our relationship with you,
beloved,” Rand said.  “You are a beautiful, intelligent woman and we would not want
you to be other than you are.  It is natural that we will think differently.”

“Have we done, or said, anything to make you think we are angry with you concerning
this matter?” Rudy asked.

“No, actually, you haven’t,” Aisling said.  “I’m just very worried it will happen. 
So much so that I’ve considered dropping the issue.”

“We do not want you to do that,” Olaf said.  He looked at Rand, then Rudy, who both
nodded, before looking back at Aisling with a smile.  “We were not going to tell you
this just yet, but now seems the best time for it.”

“For what?” Aisling asked warily.

“Our opinion concerning the Narrasti is deeply ingrained in us due to centuries of
belief,” Olaf said.  “It was not easy for us to change our thinking, but you have
convinced us that there is reason to reconsider warring with the Narrasti without
attempting discussions with them first.”

Aisling looked into Olaf’s olive green eyes for a long moment, then Rand’s dark brown
eyes, and Rudy’s light golden brown eyes.  She saw nothing there but love, respect,
and concern.  “Sons,” she said in a low voice, her hands going to her flat stomach. 
“We’re going to have sons.  But I warn you, they’re not going to have the olive green
hair of their fathers.”

“Please say they’ll have your dark red hair,” Rand said, reaching out to run his fingers
over a long lock of hair laying over her shoulder.

“Yes, that’s it,” she said, a distant expression in her eyes.  “They’ll have my hair,
but there eyes will be like yours.  They’re going to be so much like you guys it’s
going to make you crazy.  But they’ll be good men.  Just like their fathers.”

“How long before we get to meet them?” Rudy asked.

“Nine months,” she said, focusing on the present once again.  “It just happened.”

“Yesterday,” Olaf said.  “It happened yesterday, didn’t it?”

“Yes, it did,” Aisling replied.

“
Bilara
, how do you know what they will look like?” Olaf asked.

“My gryphon told me,” she said.  Olaf, Rand and Rudy gathered around her, holding
her close between them for a long moment. 

“Aren’t you ever coming inside?” Elder Vulpiran demanded impatiently from the doorway.

Olaf laughed as they gave each other a quick squeeze, then broke apart.  “We may not,”
he said.  “We’ve just learned the best news of our long lives and might decide to
go back home to bask in it for awhile.”

“So you are to be fathers?” Elder Vulpiran asked with a grin.  The Gryphons didn’t
have to reply.  The expressions on their faces were answer enough.  “Well, we’ve got
some news to share as well, so before you leave, come in here.”

“What news?” Olaf asked as they walked toward the entrance.

“Michael Davis is here, and he’s broken the spectrum puzzle,” Elder Vulpiran said
once they were inside and the door closed behind them.

“And?” Olaf asked.

“And you will not believe what he found,” Elder Vulpiran replied, enjoying the moment. 
“Come on, hurry up, you’re truly not going to believe it until you actually see it.”

***

Honey opened her eyes slowly, enjoying the feel of hot, firm male skin all around
her, knowing before she opened her eyes who was where.  Vikter lay beneath her, Lance
to her left, Hunt on the right. 

“How you feeling,
ahora
?” Hunt asked.

“Wonderful,” she replied, with a sleepy smile.  Her stomach rumbled and Vikter chuckled,
his chest bouncing beneath her cheek.

“And hungry?” Lance asked from behind her.

She turned her head to smile at him.  “Yes, very.  But I think I want a shower first.”

“Great idea,” Vikter said.  She felt his arms go around her just before he sat up,
clasping her carefully against him.  He climbed off the bed and started walking toward
the bathroom

“I can walk,” she said. 

“Not right now, you can’t,” he replied smugly.

She considered arguing with him, but since they were already in the bathroom, she
didn’t see much point to it.  He set her on her feet in front of a gigantic shower
and kissed her before releasing her.

“You have the most beautiful hair I’ve ever seen,” Hunt said, reaching over to run
his fingers through it.  “It’s like silk.”

“Why do you hide it all of the time?” Lance asked as he bent to retrieve fresh towels
from a cabinet. 

“I don’t hide it,” she argued.  “I just keep it up out of the way.  I’m a doctor and
lots of hair all over the place does not give a good impression to the patients.”

“I see your point,” Vikter said.  “But we would ask that when you aren’t being a doctor,
perhaps you could let it down.  For us.”

Honey rolled her eyes.  “You guys like long hair, huh?”

“Oh yes,” Hunt said.  “I can’t wait to see what it feels like to have this long, silky
hair slide across my body.”

“You should try washing it sometime,” Honey said.  “Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t
cut it.  It takes so much time and effort to wash it, dry it, comb it out.  Sometimes
it’s a real pain.”

She felt their sudden shock and looked up to see that Vikter, Lance and Hunt were
all staring at her in something very close to horror.  “Please,
zetia,
promise us that you will not cut your hair,” Vikter said. 

“We will wash it for you, dry it, comb it, braid it, whatever you want,” Lance said.

“Every single day,” Hunt added.  “We’ll take care of it for you,
ahora
, this we promise.  Please don’t cut it.”

“All right, I won’t cut it,” Honey promised, a little taken aback by their reaction. 
“If you guys like it that much, I’ll leave it as it is.”