Read Online Frisk by Viola Grace - Free Book Online Page A

fight, so intercede if you like. None of us could make a dent. The Ekathi and Orkathi are different socially but attracted to the same kind of mate. They have each seen something in you that draws them, and they are now fighting for your future.”
    Lera got to her feet. “Like hell they will.”
    Coma sighed and raised her hand. “Sit down, Lera. We all know who wins, but they are men, and they have to hack it out. Their hormones need to know who the winner is.”
    “How will that help me?”
    Rhoda smiled, “It actually doesn’t have anything to do with you. It has everything to do with their private battle for supremacy. Their species is always in conflict. Two children born of the same womb can have the different genetic traits and they will be raised according to their appearance. Lance and Shatter are cousins in the actual use of the word. Raised apart in different societies, there is no doubt that they would have varying approaches to a mate.”
    Lera blinked. “Wait, they are actually related?”
    Coma nodded her head. “They do not think of it in such terms, but genetically, their parents were siblings. One brother, one sister and two different partners, but the children are out there pounding each other into goo.”
    “What will stop the hostility?”
    Charm sat with his arm around his mate. “Shatter will have to realize his own need for a mate doesn’t go against the natural order of things. The Orkathi believe that if they do not give into their passions and keep their species pure that the Ekathi genes will eventually cease to emerge.”
    Lera took the caf that the bot offered her. “How long have they been trying?”
    Coma sighed. “At last count, seventeen hundred years. They haven’t solved it yet, and now and then, this sort of thing happens. I am surprised that it happened over a female.”
    Charm grinned. “Terran females are worth fighting for.”
    Rhoda snorted. “Right. The ones I have met out here are a little on the far side of normality.”
    “That is what makes you precious.” Charm stroked his fingers down his mate’s arm, and she sighed and curled against him.
    Lera smiled and jumped as the exterior door slammed open. Lance stumbled in, and she ran to him, wrapping her arms around him for support.
    He kissed her, his lips careful and slow as they skated over her mouth. “Pardon me, beloved. Shatter needed to be reminded of his manners.”
    Rhoda sighed and elbowed Charm. The other Guardian got to his feet and left for a moment. He returned with a large box in his grip. “Shatter, Rhoda created this for you. We had no idea if you would need it, but it appears that now is the time.”
    Shatter moved from his spot by the door and shifted toward Charm with a definite limp. “What is it?”
    His breath hissed in and out through his cut lip and swollen nose. Apparently, Lance was pretty good with his hands.
    “There are a few more Terrans in the area. Yours has some enhancements, but this is her.” Charm opened the package, and an image was waiting for Shatter.
    The woman was in his arms, dressed in a dark survival suit. The kiss that they were engaged in was intense with Shatter’s hand cupping her thigh, pulling it high on his hip.
    Lera smiled. “So, more than friends then.”
    Shatter touched the cheek of the painted woman reverently. “What does her face look like?”
    Lera blinked as the bodysuit suddenly made sense to her. She had met that woman. It was Gadget. “Oh my.”
    Rhoda smiled, “You know her?”
    “Yeah, we met on the same day I first met the Guardians up close.”
    The artist nodded. “That would explain it. Shatter’s senses picked her up, but you were the only match he could see. It ran his brain a little wild. They run mostly by scent, and you must have gotten some of her on you.”
    Lera frowned. “We hugged.”
    “That would do it. Her scent on you would have confused matters.”
    Shatter lifted his head. “What are you talking about?”
    Lera