Abziarr and his unwilling Queen (Lords of Arr'Carthian 1.5) by Cathy McAllister Page A

thought you weren’t going to come,” said Moreena and the king chuckled behind his hand.
    “I’m sure they had more important things to do,” said Mortociar with a wink, causing Keela to blush.
    I hid my smile behind my hand. I liked Keela a lot. When I abducted her four months earlier, in order to get to Marruk through her, I had the pleasure of getting to know her a little. She was not only strong, faithful and brave, she was also amusing.
    “Is there any news?” she asked, clearly in order to move the conversation away from her love life.  
    “Yes, they’ll be here soon,” answered the queen. “Ceyla? Calculate the arrival time of the Cordelia.”
    “At this point the Cordelia is within our orbit, Your Highness,” replied the palace computer.
    “Thank you, Ceyla.”
    Keela and Marruk sat on an empty bench and Amber, clearly revealing a pregnant belly beneath her dress, poured them tea.  
    “Your Highness,” Ceyla spoke again. “My sensors are telling me that the Cordelia’s beamer has just been activated. General Kordan is with the first landing group.”
    “Thank you for the update,” Moreena responded, delighted.
    Kordan was the first to come into sight. No wonder – this giant even towered above most Carthians by half a head. Keela was clearly unable to remain seated. She immediately jumped up, craning her neck in her excitement. She suddenly shouted out.
    “Susan!” she called, her voice cracking with emotion. “That’s my friend, Susan!”
    She ran through the garden towards the new arrivals - her friend had now spotted her, too, and was waving. They embraced, laughing and crying at the same time. I rose from my seat, as did the others, to follow Keela.
    “I don’t believe it! You’re really here? Susan? That is sooo… cool!” I heard Keela say excitedly.
    Her friend was laughing. I was as if hypnotized. Her laughter released an electrifying tingling sensation deep within me and my tiger became restless.  
    ‘ Mate ,’ I heard it inside my head. ‘ My mate! ’  
    “Did you think I was going to let you have all the fun here? And anyway, I needed to bring you something,” said Susan - I was staring at her lips like a complete fool. Those lips! I wanted to kiss them. No! I had to kiss them. I was suddenly incapable of thinking of anything else.  
    “What?” I heard Keela ask.
    “Tarzan and Jane, of course!” said those lips, smiling. If only she would smile at me like that.  
    I wondered who Tarzan and Jane might be and why they seemed to be so important to Keela. I only hoped that this Susan had no mate - if she did, I would challenge him. I had to have her! I would fight any male for her, if I had to.
    “They’re here? You’ve brought them with you?” Keela asked so loudly that it hurt my ears.
    “They’re still on the ship, they’ll be brought down soon,” her friend explained.
    “That’s … I’m lost for words,” sniffed Keela.
    Then she turned to another young female who had just arrived and hugged her. She had black hair tied in a ponytail.
    “I’m so happy that you’re well,” said Keela. “We’ve all been so worried since your abduction.”
    “I’m happy to be back here, too,” answered the black-haired female who had to be Lory, because Kordan was standing behind her, territorially,   looking as if he would devour anyone who came too close to his mate. “I thought it would be great to go back to Earth, but once I was there, I just wanted to get back here as soon as possible. We’ve got so much to tell you - it’ll take days.”
    “We’re having a barbecue this evening. We can chat all night,” declared Keela.
    In the meantime more and more people from the Cordelia had arrived in the garden. Soon there was such confusion that I no longer knew whether I was coming or going. Everyone was greeting one another and talking at the same time. I observed the situation with amusement. Two little wild cats, of a breed unknown to me, had also been