Resting my cheek in my hand, I said, “When I was younger, I wanted to be a father because of how much I adored my younger brothers. Then when all of them so despised my inner fire over the years, I rethought it.”
“Those bastards.”
I smiled at how protective he was of me. “It wouldn’t be pleasant for a child to have your father be aware of your every thought and emotion. There would be no privacy. I would love that child, and having them hate me for something I couldn’t control would destroy me.”
My mate frowned. “You don’t know they would.”
I lifted an eyebrow.
“Fine,” Vince said, voice rough, “the kids will hate it at some point, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have them. You’ll be an amazing father, Dontilvynsan. You are so sweet and understanding and kind.” He shook his head. “I can imagine how soft and lovely you’ll be.”
When my mate left, it would hardly matter. I would never have a child without Vince. I simply said, “Thank you.”
Vince's smile turned gentle. His hand stretched toward the screen. “I miss you.”
A groan formed in the back of my throat. “I miss you, my Vince.” Miss was far too small of a word. It was an all-consuming black hole of need.
His eyes closed, and his breathing began to deepen. The hour was late, and he’d been busy and would be busy… without me. Stars, that thought burned. It wasn’t that I disliked Vince having things to do, but it was difficult how well he was doing without me, while I was struggling to cope without him by my side. This space in our relationship without clear guidelines of what we were was hard for me.
Vince had said we were the same as before. He wasn’t courting anyone else, as far as I was aware, and neither was I. I scoffed. I didn’t want anyone else. Vince was my soul.
He jerked, eyes opening, and he blinked rapidly. “Sorry, Sweetheart, I’m just tired.”
“It’s fine. Sleep.”
“No,” he groaned, flopping, which made me smile. Almost anything he did made me smile. “I miss you. I wanted to jerk off together.”
That was something we did often. Vince loved to watch me and I him as we chased our pleasure.
“Tomorrow,” I said. I fought a growl. It had been six months of tomorrows already.
“When are you coming home?”
“I do not know.” I wished to say I was heading toward him right now, but that wasn’t true. There had been strange activity on the Immortal Planet, and the Cohort and the Council of Seekers were hesitant to have me end my vigil. They were sending out a ship to form a base on the most distant moon of the planet, so the planet could be protected and observed constantly, something we hadn’t done before, because we didn’t want to chance interference.
“Seth’s going with the ship to Earth,” Vince muttered.
The air left my lungs like I’d been hit in the gut. “What? When are you leaving?”
“A month, I think,” he replied, yawning. “Seth and Kal are going. Fyn and Caleb aren’t. It’s not safe for Caleb to travel so long. Mindy and Teddy are on the fence.”
I frowned. I didn’t understand what fencing had to do with this situation.
“Wyn’s going. He said he would never let Seth and his child out of his sight for a year or more. Teddy and Caleb do have a huge list of ‘samples’ they want Seth to ‘collect.’ For Teddy, I think it’s going to come down to whether the Cohort will allow him to get his family. He wants to talk to them and see if they want to come back to Tamkolvanloknol. Oh, Camden is also petitioning for his brother to come back with him. Poor Shannon has been asking every day for the ship to leave sooner. She misses her wife and kids, and I don’t really blame her.”
I tried to find something to say, but panic rang in my ears so loud that I couldn’t seem to find any thoughts. Vince was leaving for Earth in a month. It would take longer than that for me to return home, even if I was allowed to.
“Pierce isn’t going. She’s been spending time with Caleb and his sister-not-sister Tinlorray.” Vince wiggled his eyebrows. “I suspect we’ll hear wedding bells soon enough.” When I didn’t respond, he said, “They’ll be mates, Sweetheart.”
I grunted.
“Anyway, theAdmiral Venhas to rush, I guess,” Vince said, yawning. “With the xoi taking so many humans, the Cohort needs to claim Earth.” He laughed.
I swallowed at the sound. How many more times would I hear it? “What?”
His eyes cracked open. “Did you know they are declaring Seth the leader of Earth?”
“The Cohort is?”
