Read Davin's Quest for Free Online

She’s very innocent, Davin. You could scare her half to death. You’re so much older and worldlier than she is.”
    Jane was touched by the immediate compassion she felt from him. “If we do not Hum, there’s no need for further tests, Jane. Don’t worry.”
    “Is there more after the Embrace?” Mick asked.
    Davin sighed. “Only the Joining. But that is a formality. If the crystal glows as the sun, then you are truly mates. The Joining will only make it shine with the light of a thousand stars.”
    Mick released Jane, allowing her to catch her breath. “What sort of crystal is it?”
    Davin picked up the clear pointed object and handed it to Mick for inspection. “It’s quartz, but tuned.
    The fact that your planet had so much raw quartz made it ideal for us. It only needed the introduction of our home crystal to tune it to our needs. Now your Earth sings with our tones and your quartz is tuning all over your world to the new frequencies. It is something we need to survive and we use the tuned crystal in many diverse ways. It powers our cities and our machinery. It also heals us and renews us. I am a crystal engineer, by training and temperament. It is very satisfying work, but the thought of how we brought your planet’s crystal deposits to life pains me at every turn. Had I known our reports of primitive life on this planet were so very wrong, I never would have helped put the crystal seeding plan into action.”
    Jane watched him, feeling his deep remorse. “We all have some guilt to bear in our lives,” she said softly, surprising him, she could tell. He’d probably expected nothing but condemnation for his admission about taking part in the destruction of their way of life and the deaths of millions of innocent people. “What’s important is that we learn from our mistakes and do not repeat or compound them.”
    Davin nodded at her with respect. “You are wise indeed, Jane O’Hara.”
    She smiled. “I hope you’ll still think so when I ask you to give my daughter Callie some space. She’s very young and innocent. And very empathic.”
    “I’ll do my best not to let my emotions influence her. But you must realize that if we Hum, I will want to test her further to see if we are true mates or not. At that point, my emotions and her empathy will have little to do with what must be between us. For each male there is only one true mate, or so the legends say. If it is meant to be, then she will be mine.”
    “Only one?” Jane asked, her face crumpling in a way that made Davin feel guilty.
    “So it is written. Although there have been a few notable exceptions in our history.”
    “But…” Jane moved her stricken gaze to Mick as he stroked her cheek.
    “It doesn’t apply to us, Jane.”
    Not understanding, Davin moved closer. “But it does. You Hum and you make the crystal glow. You Page 19
     
     
    are true mates.” Jane was on the verge of tears now, and still he didn’t understand how his words were hurting her.
    “Davin, after your people destroyed our world, there were few women left,” Mick said softly. “Jane was already married to my older brother, Caleb.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “You haven’t met Caleb yet because he’s in your city being studied by Mara 12 right now, but Caleb is our leader, our guide. He has the gift of foresight and everything we’ve built here, we did because of his visions. He gave us time to prepare before your people’s attacks on the Earth began.” Davin was staggered by the thought of the older brother’s power and how it had saved his family. “Caleb also foresaw the coming of Mara and how we had to stand united in order to survive. Justin and I…” Mick trailed off, seemingly embarrassed.
    “What he’s trying to say is that Caleb and I expanded our marriage to include Justin and Mick when he foresaw there were no mates in their future. He knew unless they were able to express the love we all share, none of us would survive. You see, I