An NC-17 version of this chapter is available. To receive it, send an e-mail with your year of birth to choregrfr@aol.com.

As dusk settled over the Familiar home world, Brenda found herself standing at the door to Jax’s apartments. She knocked softly, but when nobody admitted her, she opened the door herself. Closing it behind her, she had to wait as her eyes adjusted to the darkness in the sitting room. "Jax?" She called his name, but again there was no answer. Brenda made her way to Jax’s bedroom and when she stood in the doorway, she gasped aloud at the scene he had set.

Hundreds of ivory tapers lit the room. They cast a warm, hazy glow over the bed, which had been changed and fairly shimmered with pale gold satin sheets. The windows were open, allowing a gentle breeze to enter. It was warm and heavy with the scent of night-blooming garyaelnas. Brenda came further into the room, stopping in front of the bed when a different scent teased at her nostrils.

She smiled, closed her eyes, and let the sensual haze roll over her like a cloud. Spicy zilliang spice surrounded her – fingers shrouded in foggy musk caressed her arms and lifted her hair up off her neck. Brenda tipped her head to the side as she felt Familiar lips trace the column of her neck to her shoulder. "Jax….." she sighed softly.

His lips traveled back up to her ear as he stood behind her. "Zira," he breathed, "you came to me."

"Familiar!" she chided him quietly. "Did you have any doubt?"

Jax put his hands on her shoulders, turning her slowly to face him. "I did, my angel." He cupped her face in his hands, rubbing his thumbs over her cheeks. "I know your decision was not made lightly."

Brenda finally looked at him closely. The sight of his perfect body in the flickering candlelight made her breath catch in her throat. He wore only black leather breeches. Drops of water glistened like diamonds on his broad chest. She ran her hands up over his shoulders to slide down his arms. "You remind me of our first days together…..back on Charporta," she smiled, noticing that even his feet were bare.

Jax took her hand, turning it over to kiss her pulse point. "As do you, my angel." He gestured towards her gossamer pink caftan. "The gown reminds me of the one you wore when you came to me…..in the dungeon." He kept hold of her hand, leading her towards the bathing pool in the back of his apartment.

"You knew, even then, didn’t you?" Brenda held Jax’s hand tightly, stopping his forward motion. "You said that a Familiar recognizes his mate when he sees her." She cupped her hand along the side of his face. "The words you spoke to me in the dungeon – now I know their meaning. You were pledging yourself to me the first time we were together."

The warmth of Jax’s gaze mirrored hers. He pulled her gently and then moved towards the bathing pool again. When they reached the side, Jax turned to her and ran his fingers up her arms to the neckline of her gown. "The first time we were together…..in the dungeon….." He slipped the closures free and the gown fell open in the front, revealing the valley between her breasts. The gown tented over her breasts, which betrayed her body’s response to the sound of his voice. Jax smiled at her and shook his head. "The only thought that kept running through my mind that first time was how much more you deserved….."

Brenda took a shaky breath as Jax pushed the gown from her shoulders. It slid to the floor with a soft rustling noise, leaving her standing nude before him. He cupped her breasts in his hands as her eyes drifted shut with pleasure. "I’ve dreamed of being here with you…..like this…..for so long, my angel…." She opened her eyes again when he took her hand. "Come," he crooned, leading her towards the steps into the bathing pool.

Brenda stifled her shock as she noticed that Jax’s breeches had managed to disappear between the time he greeted her and their descent into the pool. She giggled softly and Jax gave her a questioning look. "Is that another Familiar talent?" He still raised an eyebrow and she gestured towards his lower body. "Your ability to get out of your garments with lightning speed?"

The warm scented water lapped at her body as he lowered her to the shallow shelf at the edge of the pool. "Very perceptive, zira," he replied with a naughty grin. "But we Familiars happen to believe that the time gained in the quick removal of our clothing is better spent in foreplay!" As he ran his hand up the inside of her leg, trailing his long, lean fingers across her inner thigh, he felt Brenda shiver. "Brenda," he whispered, freezing as she looked away from him. "Does something still trouble you about all of this?"

When she raised her eyes to meet his, he saw the hint of tears. "I have no doubt that I want to be your zira in every way, Jax," she murmured, stroking the side of his face lovingly. Then she blushed and looked down at the water. "It’s just….." He tipped her chin up with his knuckle, forcing her to look him in the eye. "It’s just that I don’t want to fail you……what if I can’t complete the ritual because I’m not a Familiar, or I don’t know what to do….."

A hearty chuckled erupted from deep within Jax’s chest. "My sweet angel, knowing "what to do" is not your worry here." As he lifted his cupped hand out of the water, he brought it up to her chest, allowing the water to flow in rivulets down between her breasts. "The actual steps of the manifestation ritual have been passed down through our ancestors for millennia, Brenda."

"You mean – there actually *are* official actions that we must….complete?"

Jax kept scooping the water in his hand, only to allow it to drizzle out between his fingers over her breasts. "The ritual itself is called The 900 Stages of Fulfillment." As he continued to speak to her in a voice as warm and fluid as the water, she felt an ache begin to grow between her legs. "You need not worry about the mechanics of the process, my zira. I will lead you." His fingers trailed over her breasts as he showered them with the scented water. "And insofar as your worries about being able to complete the ritual with me – I have faith in US, Brenda. That is all that we need."

She nodded and looked deeply into his eyes, which were beginning to sparkle with the violet fireworks she had come to love. Jax slid his hand beneath her hair, leaning down to kiss her deeply. As he cradled the back of her head in his left hand, Brenda felt his strong right arm slip beneath her in the pool. It curved around her waist, and when he pressed his body against hers, she felt the proof of his desire against her side. She briefly wondered how he would manage to bring her to nine releases without seeking release himself at this rate.

Before Brenda could put words to her curiosity, Jax’s hand moved from beneath her hair. He caressed her until whimpers caught in her throat. Jax shifted her weight to pull her down further into the water with him. When he stood in waist deep water, Brenda wrapped her legs around his waistline and her arms around his neck, her eyes never straying from his.

When Jax lifted and positioned Brenda over his manhood, she fully expected him to join with her powerfully, as he had so many other times. Instead, he joined her with agonizing slowness. She had begun to take him into her body when she felt him retreat, and she moaned in frustration.

"Trust me, my zira," he groaned, repeating the action. "I will lead if you will but follow." She nodded and before she could feel the loss of him, he repeated the shallow union. Brenda hadn’t even realized she was keeping count mentally until the tenth time, when he made them complete in his usual fashion.

Jax kept up this pattern of joining with her until Brenda realized that it was part of the ritual. But as time went on, his movements grew in intensity. Brenda found herself clinging to his shoulders as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. When the tenth round came, Brenda felt the explosion building inside her until she finally reached her peak.

When her reaction subsided, Jax walked slowly from the pool, still carrying Brenda in his arms. He set her on a small bench next to the bathing pool, ostensibly to dry her. But no sooner had he wrapped her in a luxurious velvet sheet than his hands began working magic once again. They caressed her breasts as Jax dried her, rubbing repeated across her already sensitized flesh. When his attentions shifted to her legs and thighs, Brenda sighed in pleasure. The soft stroking of the velvet sent sparks shooting through Brenda’s nervous system.

Once she was dry, Jax carried her to the bed and lay her down on the satin sheets, positioned on her side. Spooning her from behind, he reached his left hand around to cup her left breast. Brenda felt the momentary sting of Jax’s teeth on the side of her neck, only to feel him soothe it with his tongue and lips as he teased at the entrance to her womanhood once again.

And so, the pattern was repeated. Jax’s movements made Brenda wonder how she would manage to stave off her release until he completed the pattern for the ritual. She was surprised when he varied the pattern this time. Jax sensed her building release, slowing his pace at times, quickening and increasing the stimulation at others by caressing her breasts.

He had barely reached the last series of movements when Brenda came apart in his arms. Jax crooned to her softly, brushing her hair away from her ear to whisper words that she now understood in the Familiar tongue. Words proclaiming his love – his eternal devotion – his powerful desire for her and only her. Jax held her in his arms until her heartbeat slowed once again to a nearly normal rate.

Brenda turned to him, her eyes lambent with fulfillment. "Have I mentioned lately how much I love you, Jax?"

Jax stroked his finger down the side of her cheek. "The fact that you came to me this night and are here with me now – like this – proves it more than words ever will." He rolled her over into the softness of the bed to give her a kiss that stole the breath from her lungs. Just when she thought she would pass into unconsciousness from lack of oxygen, Jax seemed to breathe sustenance into her lungs. When he released her lips, Brenda arched her back as Jax trailed his lips down her throat towards her breasts.

He wrapped his arms around her tightly. But when he heard Brenda chuckle softly, Jax pulled back from her. "Do you find something amusing, angel?"

She smiled and cupped his face in her hands. "Making love in *this* position, Jax?" Brenda glanced down towards where they were joined. "Surely a Familiar can come up with something more extraordinary than that?"

But her smile was wiped from her face when Jax moved so strongly it took her breath away. Jax grinned at her wickedly, his hips never ceasing in their movements. "Do you still find the experience less than extraordinary, zira?"

Three strong movements punctuated his words, causing Brenda to gasp aloud. "Never, Jax! NOTHING about you is ever less than extraordinary!"

He buried his face in her neck, alternately kissing and biting her neck while bringing Brenda closer and closer to explosion. Jax held her so tightly against him that Brenda felt as though she were melting into his body, becoming one with him. Then, just when her release began, Jax enhanced.

It took several minutes before the red flush faded from her face. She covered her eyes with her hand. "Do you think anyone heard me……scream?"

Jax pulled her closer to him, chuckling softly. "Everyone knows the time for my manifestation has come, zira. Your reaction is quite normal during the ritual."

She arched one eyebrow in surprise. "Even Familiar females find enhancing so…..stimulating?"

"Familiar females scream even *louder*, Brenda," he replied, tracing a finger up and down the length of her arm. "You can ask Scorpian if you doubt my word."

Brenda snuggled closer to Jax. "Although I’ve become quite fond of Knight Scorpian, somehow I seriously doubt that I’ll be discussing a subject like *that* with him anytime soon!"

They lay silent for a few more minutes before Brenda felt Jax’s hands grow more insistent on her body again. He rolled her over onto her stomach on the bed, pushing her hair aside so he could nuzzle her neck. Brenda felt the proof of his desire against her lower back as Jax eased his weight on top of her. He slid his hand under her to caress her yet still managed to support enough of his weight so that he didn’t crush her. When joined them yet again, she bit her lip at the exquisite sensations he created. A new pattern of joining was established – now six shallow movements followed by four intense ones. During one set, Jax pulled Brenda’s hands from beneath her. He stretched her arms above her on the bed, threading his fingers through hers.

"I imprint my image upon you, angel," he murmured in a husky voice. Brenda did not realize it, but this position was very traditional to the Familiar manifestation ritual. When he purrrrred against her neck, Brenda didn’t know if she could manage to stave off her release until Jax finished the required movements. She was counting in her mind when she felt his hands slip down her sides and under her stomach. The combination Jax’s final four movements and the pressure he exerted on her lower stomach with his fingers sent bright lights shooting through Brenda’s consciousness.

The fifth and sixth layers of the ritual saw the darkness of morning begin to fade towards dawn. Jax shifted Brenda to sit astride him facing him as he lay flat for the fifth round, again altering the pattern of his movements. The power of his hips alone, moving like well-oiled pistons, would have been enough to send Brenda over the edge. But when he followed that with enhancing, she found herself gripping his thighs so tightly that her fingernails cut deep grooves into his flesh.

The sixth level caused Brenda to catch her breath again. Now the shallow joinings had declined to four, with six powerful moves that seemed to touch her soul. Her hair, now drenched with perspiration, curled in unruly ringlets around her face. She knew that after this night, her body would feel empty without the touch of Jax’s hands. When he brought her to a blazing release once again, Brenda wilted onto the bed. She lay quietly for a few minutes, but then suddenly realized that Jax had not taken her into his arms as he had the previous times.

"Jax?" Brenda sat up slightly to find Jax sprawled across the bottom of the bed. "Jax??" Her voice betrayed her fear as Brenda crawled towards him. When he turned his head towards her and opened his eyes, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you alright?"

He swallowed hard before answering. "The ritual is a drain upon the energy of any Familiar, Brenda." He closed his eyes and placed his hand over them. "I should have told you and initiated the process sooner….."

Fear gripped Brenda’s heart to see Jax so weak and vulnerable. Suddenly, the anxiety was replaced by determination and a different kind of fire. Jax’s eyes remained closed until his felt Brenda’s hands moving over his chest in a soothing massage. She heard him purr in contentment, but then smiled wickedly as she began to move her hands lower and lower in her ministrations. When one hand closed over him, Jax’s eyes shot open.

"Brenda! No!"

"I’m just trying to revive you, my love," she whispered, placing a kiss on his stomach. When her lips trailed lower still, Jax buried his fingers in her damp hair.

"Brenda…..you can’t……" he rasped. "I won’t be able to hold back if you continue……."

Brenda looked up from where she crouched. "Then tell me what to do, Jax. Tell me how to help you."

Jax’s eyes started to glitter again with violet fireworks. Brenda breathed a silent sigh of relief when a cloud of zilliang spice rolled around her like a welcome fog. "Stand in front of me, my love," he murmured, sliding her off the bed. As Brenda stood in front of him, Jax sat up to face her.

"Touch me as I instruct you, zira," he growled. "It will help stave off my release."

Brenda followed his instructions, hoping that her touch would rejuvenate him. As she saw him regaining strength, Brenda felt the fierceness of Jax’s feline spirit take hold of her. She growled at him, leaning forward to bite his neck. Jax arched his back and caused her to catch her breath when he seized her in both hands and joined them yet again. His movements made her whimpering and needful.

Guttural sounds of passion echoed through the room. Jax had barely finished the required movements bringing Brenda to another release before he lifted her into his arms with a loud growl. The eighth level passed in a blur for Brenda as their passions reached animalistic proportions. She nipped at his throat as Jax teased at her aching flesh. Brenda ran her fingers through his damp and curling hair, barely holding onto her sanity with the force of his deep movements. Another scream was ripped from her throat when she peaked, a rainbow of colors exploding behind her eyelids.

Jax carried Brenda back to the bed, laying her down gently. As he lay down next to her, the brown pools of desire in her eyes almost looked black. "I don’t know if I can get there again, Jax. I’m so exhausted……but I can’t fail you……"

Jax pulled her to a sitting position in the bed, facing him. "You won’t fail me, zira. Our love will never allow us to fail. I am as sure of that as I am of the rising of Meer’an’s sun this day." He pushed the wet hair back off her face with his hand gently. "Don’t think about the ritual. Don’t think about failing. Don’t think about anything but us – and the love we share."

Brenda began to breathe faster at his words. Jax pulled her to sit astride him in the center of the bed. He kissed her deeply, his tongue imitating the act of love they had shared so many times that night. When his manhood mimicked the action, she wound her hands around his neck.

This time, Brenda didn’t even notice the pattern of his movements. She didn’t notice how many repetitions Jax completed. As she stared into his eyes, there seemed to be nothing and nobody else in the world save her Familiar. How could she have ever doubted her love for him? How could she have hesitated for even a fraction of a second in her decision? Tears sprang to her eyes at the depth of her love for him.

Neither of them noticed the explosive cloud building in the room around them. They failed to hear the low roar that bounced off the walls, or see the tiny bolts of lightning that crackled through the windows. As Jax came to the culmination of the ritual, Brenda saw fireworks lighting her own eyes that mirrored the ones in Jax’s eyes. He pulled her to him for a sizzling kiss just as he reached the end, finally allowing himself the release he had prevented for so long.

Brenda could feel the warmth of Jax’s love deep inside her. She lay her head in the crook of his neck, her breathing still ragged but no more so than his. When she finally raised her head to look into his eyes, a bright smile lit her face. "I did it, Jax! I completed the ritual for you!"

Jax returned her tired but fulfilled smile. "WE did it, zira." He touched a spot on her neck where a faint crease now showed. "We have given each other life."

Brenda sighed and looked around them as they sat, still joined, in the middle of Jax’s bed. The entire room was suffused with a pale golden light, highlighted by the orange and red glow of the morning sun. She kept her hands linked around his neck but stretched her upper body in a fashion reminiscent of Jax’s alter ego, the cat. "This was so amazing, Jax!" She shook her head. "I simply cannot believe that you go through this nine times in your life!"

Jax shrugged off her wonder but then Brenda’s smile turned into a small frown. "Is something wrong, angel?" He moved his hips experimentally. "Do you find the position uncomfortable? After all, you have had a great deal of ……stimulation……this night."

She returned a half-smile but then frowned again. "No, it’s not that." Brenda released her hold on Jax’s neck and lowered her right hand. "It’s just that I have a warm sensation in my hand…..almost a tingling….." When she lowered her hand and turned the palm over between them for both to see, she gasped aloud. "Oh, Jax! Oh my God!! What is it…..?"

A bright blue glow lit her hand, pulsing gently in the dim room. Even as they watched, it seemed to recede from Brenda’s fingers to gather in her palm. Her jaw dropped as a ball the same vivid blue hue formed there, radiating warmth and pulsing with a low humming sound. Brenda raised fearful eyes to meet Jax’s. "Jax……what is this?"

He shared none of her anxiety as he reached out to cup his hand beneath hers. "It is nothing to fear, my love," he whispered reverently. Slipping his hand on top of hers, he transferred the glowing sphere to his own palm. "This is our child."

Brenda’s eyes widened considerably. "Our……our child?" He barely heard her say the words.

Jax nodded. "The result of our joining in love."

Brenda watched it pulse for a few seconds, totally mesmerized. After all of the events of the past two days, this was one turn of events she had never expected. She didn’t see Jax watching her face, or the way his own countenance fell slightly. As they both continued to stare at the blue ball of light, it started to grow dimmer, the sound fading.

"JAX!" Brenda almost shot out of his intimate embrace. "What’s happening to it?"

"It’s dying, Brenda." His words held no judgment. They were simple a statement of fact. "If we are not yet ready to accept this child, it loses its reason to live……."

"But I AM ready, Jax! I want our baby!" Brenda gripped his wrist tightly, her eyes suddenly misting. "Don’t you?"

Jax’s eyes took on the appearance of the deepest reflecting pools on Tolkaren. "Of course I want our child, zira," he murmured. "But I thought that perhaps you might not be ready to make that commitment…..after giving up so much for me already this night."

She cupped her hand lovingly beneath Jax’s as the sphere began to glow brighter again. "I want this child, Jax…..as much as I want many more children with you." She placed a tender kiss on his lips. "You are my destiny, Familiar. I was a fool not to see it sooner." Jax nodded in agreement, the tears glimmering in his own eyes. "What happens now?"

Jax smiled at her, and then when the ball was glowing brightly again, humming with the new life, he slowly began to move his hand towards her. When he reached her belly, he turned his palm to place it against her body. Brenda gasped as a warm tingling sensation crept through her skin, shooting hot darts of happiness throughout her as the blue light disappeared.

"Now you carry our child, my angel," Jax crooned, still caressing her stomach lovingly. "In six months, you will be able to hold it in your arms and look into its eyes, as I look into yours now."

Brenda cradled her stomach in her hands. "This is just so remarkable, Jax." She shook her head with an amazed smile, but then raised her eyes to meet his slowly as the understanding dawned. "You *knew* that this would happen, didn’t you, Familiar?"

Jax’s face betrayed the guilt he felt but he tried to act the innocent. "I knew it was a possibility……"

She put her knuckle to his chin to lift his face. "And after all that we have survived together……after we had come this far……you could not tell me?"

Jax pushed the hair back off her face again, running his fingers through it to untangle some of the wet knots. "I knew that it was possible, angel, but only if our souls made the most perfect of connections." He sighed "And when I considered your hesitation in making the decision to become my zira in all ways, and the possibility that I had waited too long to perform the ritual and would be too weak to complete it….." Brenda took his hands in hers and placed a kiss on the palm of his hand. "I did not want to tell you for fear of raising your expectations…."

Brenda glanced down at the place where they were still joined, a wicked twinkle in her eye. "I think that perhaps expectations were not the only thing raised tonight, were they, Familiar?"

Jax feigned terror. "By the gods! I have created a demon!" He finally broke the connection between them. Pulling her into his arms, Jax reclined on his back with Brenda using his chest as her pillow. "Sleep, angel. We have much to celebrate on the morrow."

She raised her head once, using the last ounce of strength she had, only to smile into his beautiful blue eyes. "The morrow – and every day for the rest of our lives, Jax. We will celebrate our love, and the life we have created."

And as the sun reached its highest zenith over the equator of Meer’an, Brenda and her Familiar knew peace and complete contentment.

To be concluded…….

Author’s note:

The "glowing ball of light" as Jax and Brenda conceive their child comes from the imagination of Dara Joy. Every time I read that passage in the book, it brings tears to my eyes. I sincerely hope that I have done it justice.