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Solon shook his head.
“I don’t know why—she didn’t give me any explanation. She just said that she’d filed for an exemption and she wasn’t going to come with me to the Monstrum Mother Ship.”
“Exemptions are almost impossible to get,” Brone said.
“That’s what I told her.” Solon sighed and raked a hand through his dark gold mane. “Can you look her up for me and see if she’s telling the truth?”
“Well, we’re not supposed to…” Brone cut his eyes towards the open door, as if to see if anyone was watching them.
“Here.” Solon closed the door. “Now look,” he directed.
Brone sighed.
“All right—I might not be able to get a full report but I can at least see if she really filed for an exemption and if it was accepted or denied. What was her name again?”
“Abbey. Abbey Lennox. I think Abbey might be short for Abigail,” Solon added. “And she works at a place called Rose’s Roses.” He gave the address and some other pieces of information he’d managed to pick up as soon as he verified Abbey’s identity and Brone nodded.
“Okay, give me a minute.”
He tapped at his touch-keyboard for a few minutes and then frowned.
“Hmm…”
“What? What is it?” Solon asked anxiously.
“Well…I hate to say it, but it seems her exemption was allowed,” Brone said reluctantly. “I’m sorry, Brother—I know how disappointed you must be.”
“But why?” Solon demanded. “How can that be?”
“I don’t know—I can’t access that part of the report.” Brone shook his head. “I’m really fuckin’ sorry—I know how hard this must be.”
“Hard? It’s impossible! I’ve been Dream-Sharing with her for months.” Solon raked a hand through his hair again. “She’s the one the Goddess has chosen for me—I know it!”
Brone looked ruefully at his screen.
“I wish I could change it for you, but I can’t. The exemption has already gone through. As soon as she gets the paperwork in her hands, she’ll have the legal right to turn you away and there won’t be anything you can do about it.”
“Wait…” Solon started pacing in front of his friend’s desk. “You said as soon as she gets the paperwork? Meaning she hasn’t gotten it yet?”
Brone peered at his screen again.
“According to this, no, she hasn’t. I don’t think it’s even left the office yet. By law we have to send them through the human’s mailing system, but this one hasn’t gone out yet.”
“Can you stop it? Or even delay it some?” Solon asked desperately.
“Oh, I don’t know about that…” Brone shook his head doubtfully. “I could lose my job!”
“And I could lose the only chance I have of Bonding with my mate! My only chance of true happiness!” Solon pointed out. He hated to use guilt as a weapon, but what he was asking for wasn’t that much—he didn’t think anyway. “Look, I’m not asking you not to send it at all—just make sure it gets lost for a little while,” he said. “If I can even have the first week of our Claiming Period with her, I’m sure I can convince her that we belong together. At the very least it will give my Bonding Scent time to work on her.”
“Well…” Brone was weakening—it was clear he was. “Maybe I can send it through the system one more time—that should buy you a little time,” he said at last. “We can say it’s missing a signature or something. That should work.” He tapped at the keyboard some more and then nodded. “Okay—done.”
“Thank you!” Solon exclaimed. If he had been a more demonstrative male, he would have hugged his friend! As it was, he offered his arm for another warrior’s clasp and pumped Brone’s arm and hand vigorously. “Really, Brone—you don’t know how happy you’ve made me!”
“Just go easy with your new bride,” Brone advised. He still looked a little uneasy, Solon thought. “Remember how small and delicate these human females are compared to us. She’s probably going to need some time to get used to you.”
“You know I would never hurt her,” Solon said, frowning. “As a Monstrum Kindred, the very idea goes against my nature!”
“Mine too. You know that and I know that but your new bride might not,” Brone pointed out. “The humans don’t think like we do—human males are often cruel to their females, though the Goddess knows why. You might have to earn her trust.”
