by Amanda Milo
I silently chuckled.
“What’s funny?”
I waved a hand. “Oh, nothing.”
“How is your back today?” Zaid squinted in the sun's rays when a cloud moved. “Need more leaf oil rubbed on it?”
“Nah.” I rolled my shoulders, checking the feel. “I’m okay, but thank you.”
The itchy, dry skin between my shoulder blades had manifested again a week ago. I’d tried to rub up on anything rough to scratch that itch—literally. Once we started to put the pieces together, I realized it only happened after I ate the giant violet shrimps.
Couldn’t say I’d miss eating those things—the crunchy-chewy texture wasn’t the best. I was just relieved it wasn’t something else. Something that would strip more of me, my humanity, away.
My fingers ghosted over my sealed gills. While I was grateful to be able to survive this planet, I didn’t want to sprout scales or fins. That would be one change too many.
“This belly is killing me,” I groaned, slowly standing. Couldn’t sit anymore—nothing was comfortable!
“Be caref—”
A strange sensation had me gasping from the small relief of pressure. I felt like I could finally stand a little straighter, but something was off.
I looked down.
I knew the babies had been playing kick-the-bladder with me the last couple weeks, but I was pretty sure I hadn’t pissed myself.
My shorts stuck to my thighs as the slick, hot liquid continued to slide down my legs.
“Uh...”
Zaid paused, dropping the trowel and the brick he’d been holding. Before I knew it, he cleared the half-built wall and scooped me up into his muscled arms.
My body jostled when he took off at a run.
“Zaid,” I gasped for a breath, arm looped around his neck and fingers grasping his skin. “This is what we talked about—you can’t hustle me down the field like a football while I’m pregnant!”
I’d reserve my scrambled eggs jokes for later, because my middle cramped. Cramped and twisted like the mother of all periods was about to gush from me, but worse, because I knew it was a contraction.
“Holy fuck,” I roughly exhaled. Zaid slowed, but didn’t really slow. His legs were eating up the ground and—bless his heartstone—he held me tighter in his attempt to not shake me around too much.
Wasn’t working out too well.
My vision jittered and bounced, my hand squeezing onto my stomach.
“Lonan!” the mountain alien bellowed, the tarn coming into view. In a matter of seconds, Lonan, Kahn, and Dason came from nowhere, surrounding us.
“Is it time?” Dason did that trilling thing, hurting my ears.
For a few days now, I knew something was happening. The jelly-glob that came out of my vagina, the constant backache, and the inability to go an hour without having to pee were freaking me out, but I’d tried to remain sane about it all. Months, this had been coming, and I was prepared for it—I thought. Suddenly, I wanted to cross my legs and tell these not-twins to stay up there because I wasn’t ready.
“I’ll get Preta,” Kahn volunteered, hightailing it to the hometree.
Another cramp twisted my middle and I couldn’t contain the surprised squawk.
Oh yeah, these babies were coming.
“Get her to the water,” Lonan told Zaid, following close by. The sun was high, the light glinting off the placid surface of the glacier water and nearly blinding me.
I squinted, holding onto Zaid when he gently set me onto my feet. The pebbles were warm, heated by the sun, and the water floated around my ankles.
They helped me out of my soaked shorts, and though I’d never been ashamed of my body, I felt heat rushing my neck when Preta and her valos came rushing through the grass.
Everyone would see my vagina.
Suck it up, Charlie!
It was only a vagina.
I dropped down onto my knees in deeper water, prepared to squat when the time was right. I wanted gravity to help me as much as possible. Preta was at my side in no time, her hand resting between my shoulder blades.
“It’s gonna hurt like a bitch!” she piped.
I did a double-take. “That’s reassuring,” I griped. “You’re supposed to be my support!”
“Oh, right.” The corner of her mouth stretched. She was making that ‘my bad’ face. “Focus on the pebbles and the relaxing sounds of the water.”
“You suck at this.”
“Do you want me to hold your hand?”
“No,” I grumbled.
Another contraction stole my breath and reminded me why I was never fucking doing this again. I snatched Preta’s hand and squeezed. I would’ve felt guilty about possibly ruining her hand, but then I remembered she was nearly indestructible now.
I squeezed harder, and the overwhelming need to push hit me.
The contraction passed and I sagged forward, planting my forehead against Kahn’s chest as soon as he sank to his knees before me.
I groaned, “Pretty sure I’m never having sex again.”
Preta tossed back her head for a laugh, but none of my guys thought it was funny.
A garbled sound eked from my throat on another contraction.
“What’s wrong?” Zaid, Kahn, Lonan, and Dason chimed in sync.
It hurt, that’s what was wrong.
At first, panic hit me that this was happening too fast, but I quickly reasoned it away. For days I’d felt the changes, felt my body preparing—laboring.
I didn’t know enough about babies and labor and mucus plugs to have any clue what was normal. And this was an alien pregnancy. All that knowledge I didn’t have probably wouldn’t help me now. Preta’s labor was the first I’d ever witnessed, and it was altogether strange and beautiful.
Beautiful?
I didn’t think the old me would’ve ever said that about the crazy I’d seen that day. Gushing fluids and pain weren’t exactly pretty, but the act of bringing a new life into the world—my little nephew to boot—that was beautiful.
Movies were the extent of my knowledge about human births and I figured about forty percent held a bit of truth. What that forty percent consisted of though, I had no clue.
Those women cursing the guy who knocked them up? That had to be true, because I glared at Kahn like he was the bane of my existence.
He shared a wary glance with Dason.
Still didn’t know who the fathers were, but that didn’t matter when another contraction ripped through me.
I didn’t even have the air to scream. I just dug my nails into Lonan’s arm with one hand and gripped Preta’s with the other.
“Deep breaths,” Preta coached. “It helps.”
I gasped for oxygen when it was over, already feeling the sweat beading my face. “There’s a cantaloupe exiting my vagina, Preta,” I licked my lips, limbs shaking. “Breathing isn’t going to help!”
The water stirred around us, whirling, and I knew it was one of the babies.
“Drugs,” I moaned. “Drugs will help.”
“If only,” Preta agreed.
My skin began to pop with electricity, shocking Preta enough that she let go of my hand. “Sorry,” I apologized. “It wasn’t me.”
“So weird,” she mumbled, grasping my hand again once the static died down.
“The young has a strong current.” Kahn’s mouth curved to the side proudly.
Was he the father?
“As long as he doesn’t fry my insides—” again I bore down, “he could be the next Zeus for all I care.”
And I didn’t care. I cared that the baby came out healthy, not about what they could do.
“It’s a male?” Zaid asked, excitement lacing his tone.
I groaned. “That isn’t what I meant.”
“Who is Zeus?” Dason queried.
“Greek God,” Preta supplied, rolling a shoulder. “Thunder, lightning—all that fun stuff.”
Kahn’s eyes lit up. “I like the sound of thi
s Zeus.”
Aw, fuck.
“We’re not naming the kid Zeus, Kahn.”
“Why not?” He scowled. “It’s a nice name.”
My words turned into a long wailing scream when another bout of excruciating pain shot through me and my bones felt like they were leaving my body.
Blood and cloudy fluids stained the water momentarily before it dispersed as the torturous minutes ticked by and my surrounding family coached me through every contraction that followed.
I was so tired. Exhausted enough that I felt my chin dip to my chest every few seconds while I tried to stay conscious, present.
On a push that had my body shaking, Zaid repositioned himself behind me and I felt his big hands brushing along the insides of my thighs.
“I see its little face,” he exhaled reverently.
“Really?” I felt between my legs, torn between freaking out and my eagerness to see what Zaid was seeing, even though I couldn’t.
I blinked, blaming my blurry, teared-up vision on the extreme agony and not the fact that this was real. That I was bringing new life into Sonhadra, and soon, I’d be able to meet the babies who’d been kicking my ribs for the past couple months.
“I don’t want them to hit their head on the pebbles, Zaid,” I snot-cried, hiccupping.
“Shhh,” Dason stroked my hair, comforting me, because it didn’t matter what my old career was on Earth—hormones didn’t give a shit about how tough I thought I was.
“Zaid won’t let them get hurt, little human.” Lonan kissed my temple, half chuckling against my skin.
“It’s not funny,” I sobbed, body trembling like I was freezing even though I was baking. I was scared and excited all at once.
They snickered, hushing me, and stroking my skin, and reassuring me everything would be alright.
On the next spasm, I pushed, baby number one leaving my body and sliding right into Zaid’s big hands.
I craned my neck, peering over my shoulder at the silver-haired, pale, blue-skinned newborn that Zaid cradled, and an instant connection hit me when those little puffy eyelids opened.
A tether wrapped so fiercely around my being, I knew it was permanent, rock solid, and nothing could ever break it.
The air crackled when Preta cleared its little mouth with a finger and the first cry rang through the silence, almost as if it were calling upon the cute fury of a mini raincloud.
“It’s a male!” Zaid announced triumphantly.
“We’re seriously outnumbered here,” Preta muttered, a smile on her face as she gently captured the infant’s foot, her thumb running over his five little toes. “Hello, little screamer. I’m your aunt Preta!”
He cried harder.
Everyone shared a laugh, my shoulders shaking at Preta’s playful frown.
Ammos stepped forward, offering Lonan a knife and explaining how to handle the umbilical cord. He’d become quite the midwife with Preta’s birth, and his presence was calming, because so far he had more experience than the rest of us.
Just like that, the umbilical cord was cinched and cut, and my little electric valo was passed to Lonan and held up before me. I leaned forward, pressing my nose to his forehead. His little cries quieted, and he grabbed onto Lonan’s finger.
“He smells like you guys,” I murmured, being reminded of salt and the ocean, and a strange scent that I assumed all newborns had—which I figured was just the gooey white stuff covering him.
I chuckled. It was kind of gross, but I didn’t care.
The water rippled again, Rezz—my trusty, temperamental, feathery alien sidekick—butted Dason and Kahn apart with his fuzzy muzzle so he could squeeze in for a look. His two pairs of double-pupiled eyes, the color of a gray cloud, widened curiously. All the months he’d been head-booping with my belly, and purring the babies to sleep, and now he—all of us—would finally get to meet them.
Everyone hushed. Rezz’s big, soft nose sniffed the infant's head, and before anyone could make a move, his huge pink and black tongue licked the baby.
“Rezz!” my guys groused in sync.
He started crying all over again.
I tiredly laughed, and Dason pulled our curious pet away so his tongue couldn’t do anymore cleaning. “You weirdo,” I smiled.
My moment was short lived as my muscles told me it was time to push again. Zaid positioned himself once more and baby number two required much less effort. The youngin’ slid out so easily, I probably could’ve birthed them with a sneeze.
“A female!” Kahn claimed, holding the umbilical cord for Dason to cut.
She was smaller, petite, with matching blue skin, and dark midnight-blue hair. Ten fingers, ten toes, and a gummy smile that promptly bewitched my four.
I already knew she’d get away with everything.
A hellion in the making.
I grinned.
They cooed at her, unaware of the trouble to come.
TEN
GERARD
“Spathic was the Creator; he didn’t see the need for me to procreate—thus why he did not waste his skills on forming a full sexual facility in my person.”
I’d been married to two women, and I’d raised two daughters through their teen years.
You’d think I’d have kissed Nori’s beautiful fucking feet when I first learned she didn’t struggle with emotion.
That wasn’t the case anymore. Currently, she was doing her best to get a handle on feelings of inadequacy.
I could relate. There were few things a man was more compelled to do for his woman than take away her worries. It bothered me a fuck of a lot that I wasn’t able to ease her mind about this—especially when her concerns were way off base. I slid my hand to the small of her back, hoping my touch would comfort her as much as what I was about to say.
“Let it go.” I bumped my side against hers affectionately. “Don’t waste another byte of your processor space or energy or whatever you’ve got powering that brain of yours, Nori. Not on this. Hear me?”
I knew shit was serious when she didn’t immediately drop everything to inform me of the proper name for whatever parts kept her alive. I was beginning to believe a show not tell approach was the only way to prove to her that she was enough for me.
Her golden eyes caught mine. “What if you grow to miss copulation—”
Pressing my tongue into my cheek, I caught her wrist.
She let me, her gaze falling to her other hand when I caught that wrist too.
Careful not to hurt her skin, I used my grip to guide her backwards, and press her up against a tree.
I stared down at her, a burst of tender feeling overtaking all the room in my chest. She looked up at me in confusion.
“Why are—”
“Shh.” I crushed my lips over hers.
When she relaxed against me, I released her so that I could tug down the tiny shorts that had been teasing me all morning, sashaying me right out of my fucking mind, and when I finished, I enjoyed the way her pupils dilated as I gripped my belt buckle and worked the leather tongue free of the prong.
The metal clink and the rasp of my zipper accompanying it made Nori’s chest rise and fall even faster. I sprang my cock, and we both watched it paint a trail of glistening precum across the skin of her belly. I looked her right in the eye so there’d be no misunderstanding.
“I could tell you this as many times as you need to hear it. But I won’t have to. I’m going to say this once, and you’re going to believe me: I have you, beautiful. I won’t miss a thing if I have you.”
“But—”
“Nori. Shhh.” I went in for another kiss, until her knee was sliding up my leg, teasing over my hip. I caught it, and gently pressed it back down. “What did I tell you?”
A little worry line that had been sitting between her brows eased. “Your Charger doesn’t talk back,” she whispered.
I nudged my knee against hers, encouraging her to part them. I pressed my thumb over her button as I teased my fingers in the s
light space created between her silky thighs, thinking, perfect.
Then I rammed my cock in the gap.
Filling my hands with her sweet ass, I lifted her so that she’d be at just the right height to grind her button on my pubic bone.
I thrust and muttered, “Oh yeah. Fuck!”
Her hands landed on my shoulders. “What is this?” she asked in shocked wonder.
I couldn’t answer. For a moment, I buried my nose in the hollow of her neck, breathing her in, reining in my control.
When I managed to look back at her, my voice was rough with need. “It’s a sex act humans call ‘thigh fucking.’”
She tried to spread her legs more.
“No.” I grabbed her up high, my fingers brushing her pretty ass cheek. “Cross your feet.”
She did, her soft thighs hugging my dick just right. “Keep them there.” I ordered.
Nori wasn’t used to taking orders and I wasn’t sure how long her complacency would last, but the color was bright on her cheeks, her eyes were dancing with excitement, her curiosity about this new position plain. She was enjoying this game.
And she wasn’t questioning her ‘capacity to satisfy my basic needs’ anymore.
I think I’d made my point. We could make this work. Hell, we were making this work; I just needed her to stay with me. That’s what mattered. Fuck, that was everything.
I road-tested us.
At first, I controlled the rock of her hips, canting her pelvis, grinding us together so that her button got a little happy drag along the base of my cock as I fucked between her legs.
Her breath caught every time.
Just like mine did.
I pulled back and threaded my fingers into her hair, cradling the back of her head. I loved her eyes. So warm. So excited. “Get down on your knees and get me wet, please.”
For some fucked up reason, it always felt extra dirty to be polite. I grinned, and Nori’s internal parts revved.
I let her go.
Instantly, she was on her knees, taking my cock into her mouth and slicking me up perfectly.
Hoarsely, I informed her, “That’s good, baby.” I stroked the damaged side of her face, my thumb brushing over smooth skin and sleek metal. “Now get back up here.”