Free Battle of the Ring by Thorarinn Gunnarsson

you
the most important secret of all.”
    “Yes, I see what you mean,” Skerri agreed with growing
enthusiasm. “Thank you, Captain!”
    The first mate hurried off, leaving Maeken to bite her tongue to keep from
laughing aloud. But her purpose was accomplished; she had certainly impressed
him and won his admiration and loyalty, and he would prove to be a mine of
useful information.
    “So I ask you, was there ever a ship’s Captain smarter than
me?” she inquired aloud.
    “Not in my experience,” a mechanical voice replied promptly.
    Maeken glanced up impatiently. “Who asked you?”
    “You did, of course,” the ship responded in a voice that seemed
to hold a note of self-satisfaction. Maeken was wise enough to avoid
responding. Controlling people was an easy matter, but a computer was something
altogether new. How did one apply psychology to a machine?
     
    Velmeran stirred, waking suddenly but gently. He opened his eyes but saw
nothing, for the cabin was completely dark. But other senses told him that he
was not alone. Consherra lay wrapped in his arms, her warm body pressed tightly
against his own, while he lay in her comforting embrace. Although he could not
see her, her face was so close to his own that their small noses touched. He
snuggled even closer against her, feeling very comfortable and secure.
    When Consherra did not respond, he began to suspect that she slept as well.
That surprised him at first, until he considered how worn she must have been
from worrying for him... and from that first-rate fit she had pitched. He ran
his lower hand gently over the firm muscles of her double shoulders, down the
bony inward curve of her back and the softness of her rump, then nuzzled her
gently and kissed her in the darkness. She stirred, then tightened her own
embrace, returning his kiss while running one of her own hands down the tight
muscles of his hip and upper thigh.
    “Sherry?” Velmeran asked, almost cautiously.
    She laughed. “Who did you expect?”
    “I am never certain anymore,” he teased.
    Even though they could not see a thing, Velmeran was sure that Consherra was
glaring at him. The long moment of silence that followed was certainly ominous.
But, in truth, she was really just amazed at him for saying such a thing.
    “Oh, ho! Our good pack leader thinks that he is funny!” she
exclaimed in mock sarcasm. “I suppose that you have been making
comparisons between me and your duty mates.”
    “Of course.”
    “Indeed? And what have you determined?”
    “That you are the only one who can make me happy,” he said with
that peculiar innocence he possessed, assuring her that he made a statement of
fact of what would have been simple flattery from anyone else. She nestled
closer against him, touched by his sincerity.
    “Well, you have better luck with your duty mates,” she said as
casually as she could. “I have been wondering why we have no child of our
own.”
    “I was not aware that you desired a child,” Velmeran said
simply. Female Kelvessan found it nearly impossible to conceive if they did not
desire it. They could, in essence, practice contraception by force of will. If
Consherra was not pregnant after two years, it was only natural to assume that
she preferred matters that way.
    “For a long time I did not,” she answered.
    “Then what is the problem?” he asked with frustrating
simplicity.
    “I just wanted to know if you desired a child. A child that would be
your own as much as mine, different from your duty matings. And so your
decision as well.”
    “So? Do you recall the first time you took me to bed two years ago? I
knew then that little wolflings could come of it.”
    “Does that mean yes?”
    “If that is what you want,” he said, and laughed at himself.
“I really do know better than to say ‘I want what you want.’
But sometimes that is a valid answer, like right now.”
    “The prospect does not frighten you?” she asked skeptically.
    Velmeran laughed again.