by Jade Waltz
Xylo smiled and continued, “Yes, we should be done inspecting and cleaning them up by then and will give them to you to feed. Then Odelm and I will not leave your side until you are ready for us to do so. We will make sure you and the cubs are fed and taken care of.”
“We agreed to stay around and help out,” Chyox chimed in from the table behind Xylo. “It has been a long time since we have been in the presence of newborns. This is a historic moment, and we want to do our part. That is, if it is okay with you, Selena. You are the nestqueen and this is your clan.”
I gaped at him, surprised by his offer. And by his asking my permission. The others had never treated me different because I was human, but Chyox always acted like I was going to attack him at any moment.
Meeting his eyes, I replied. “If that is what you want to do, I will take any help I can get. But my nestmates also have a say in this. If any one of us refuses something, it is final.”
Chyox nodded. “We will not fail your clan.”
Closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths, I prepared myself. “Let’s do this.”
The placenta slipped out with ease. Thank the Stars.
Chyox asked if they could keep it for research, and not caring about what happened to it, I told him it was fine.
Odelm and Xylo helped me to the tub ledge, where I leaned against Odelm as Xylo pressed on my stomach and inspected me for tears, bleeding, or other injury. After a few boosters and vitamin injections, a full body scan with their portable screen, and a soothing towel dry, Xylo said I could be moved to the bedroom.
Sighing with relief, I leaned my head on Odelm’s shoulder as he carried me out of the bathroom. I allowed my eyes to drift closed, but not before noticing how red the bath water now was.
I now lay propped against a pile of pillows, a small crib nearby that Odelm had made based on examples Xylo had found in his research. We anticipated with so many willing arms to help, it would not often be needed, but it was nice to have a place to put them if necessary.
The bathroom door opened, and I heard small cries. It triggered something within me, and my breasts began to ache.
Xylo and the princes entered, beaming, each carrying a crying cub. The healers trailed behind them as they all gathered at the edge of the nestbed.
Xylo climbed the stairs and approached with one of the cubs.
“Selena. I believe you have a few cubs who are hungry and want to meet you,” Xylo whispered.
He unwrapped the towel to reveal a furry head as Odelm lowered the blanket to my waist. My eyes locked on the cub as he passed her to me.
“Here is your daughter. What are you going to name her?”
She was beautiful.
She filled both of my hands and felt so light compared to her size. Everything about her was soft to the touch. Her fur was the same color as my hair, silver. Her face and chest were a pale blue-gray. Turning her to the side, I traced a swirling pattern of black and midnight stripes with my eyes. Her bushy tail was silver on top and with the same pale blue-gray visible underneath as it curled around her body, tip flicking lazily.
I’d seen pictures of the felines on Earth, and my daughter reminded me of them—especially her triangular ears and the legs that seemed to have one more joint than a human’s, bent in the wrong direction. Tiny claws tipped her five toes and five fingers, both of which had pads, much like a feline.
A purr sounded from my daughter as she tilted her head up to meet my gaze. Her eyes matched him—her sire. They were amethyst and seemed to look into my heart, curling up in their new home.
A small chirp escaped her.
I glanced up at Xylo as I rubbed her cheeks. “What is the Aldawi word for light? Hope? Something feminine that has to do with a bright future.”
He tilted his head in thought. “Meti. It means wish, as in a great yearning.”
Meti. It was perfect.
I brought her to my chest. Instinctively, she rubbed her cheek against my breast before latching onto my nipple. I felt the drag of breastmilk as she sucked, and a pleasant feeling flowed through me.
I was a mother.
“My little girl, I’m going to name you Meti. You are the hope for the future. A gift from the Stars.” I smiled. “I’m your mother. These two males beside me are your fathers. You have two littermates who are your brothers. This means it’s you and me against a clan full of males. We’ve got to stick together,” I whispered to her, watching her eyes getting heavy as she looked up at me with trust.
Nearby, my sons were beginning to cry in earnest. I looked up from Meti to the princes, who were trying to comfort them by holding them to their chests like me. I smiled at the sight. Neither Wudox or Ulax had nipples, so would never have needed to carry offspring like that. They were obviously mimicking what I did, trying to calm my sons.
Meti released my nipple as her purrs grew louder. Looking down, I saw she’d fallen asleep while feeding.
I glanced over at Odelm, knowing he hadn’t had a chance to hold any of our new cubs. His face was full of hope and happiness. Lifting Meti, I cradled her in my arms and held her out to Odelm.
“Want to hold her? I believe you haven’t met our daughter,” I whispered, trying not to wake Meti up.
He smiled and held his hands out. “I would love to.”
I passed her to him and watched as he fell for her. I knew females were cherished by both species, but seeing him look down at her in awe, I knew this meant a lot to him. Odelm lay carefully back next to me, placing her in the middle of his chest.
“Our sons are hungry too, Selena,” Xylo whispered.
Looking up at Xylo, I saw he held both of our sons—one in each arm—and was waiting to place them on my chest. I smiled and settled one, helping him latch on, while Xylo helped the other. Their cries stopped as their mouths went straight for my nipples. As they frantically drew, purrs radiated from them both.
I looked down at their downy heads with an indulgent smile.
My sons were nearly identical, but for one minor difference. The one latched onto my left breast had silver fur around his eyes, while the one on the right had a thin silver line along the center of the arch of his nose. Both had my blue-green eyes and shared the same striped fur. Their faces and chests faded from the black of their back and sides, to midnight, and finally to steel. Thin silver stripes patterned the black fur of their back and sides. Both sons had a short tail, black on top and midnight underneath, with a steel tuft at the end.
Their tiny clawed hands kneaded my breasts as they drank hungrily, watching me. I could tell they were going to be fierce like their sire, intense about everything. And they were likely to be very protective of their sister.
“Xylo. What are the Aldawi words for protector or watcher? Perhaps hunter or something along those lines?” I asked as I watched my sons eat.
“Nocrez means dark shield, as in a hidden protector. And Neazzos means shadow, like a forever slayer. Those are fierce names for males who you want to stick together, and I believe, are what you are looking for,” Xylo said with a smile on his face as he lay down next to me, watching our sons drink.
I rubbed the son with the silver highlights around his blue-green eyes. “Your name is Nocrez. You and your brother shall become fast friends with your sister, Meti, and be her protector. The three of you shall stay together, causing mischief wherever you go.”
His eyes drifted closed as he rubbed his head against my hand. His fur felt incredibly soft. Nocrez purred louder and his breathing slowed. He fell asleep on me.
I guess he liked the name.
I slid my hand to our other son, tracing a finger up the thin silver line on his nose, stroking his head, then down his back. His drags on my nipple slowed, and from his half-lidded eyes, I could tell he was about to follow his siblings into sleep.
“And last, but certainly not least, you shall be Neazzos. Our future may be unknown right now, but you will be loved, and we will remain together as a family.”
Neazzos stopped feeding and leaned back against my hand. His lids closed and his purr deepened.
I leaned back with a smile, scanning the room.
Odelm cuddled against me cradling Meti on his chest. Xylo lay on my other side and had just scooped up Nocrez to sleep in his arms. The princes stood beside the nestbed watching me with indulgent smiles as their vines and tentacles entwined. The three healers had their wristband screens up and were typing frantically on them while sitting on the L-shaped couch in the corner.
“Where’s Kaede?”
Epilogue
Kaede
I’d known I messed up as soon as I’d opened my mouth to offer to ease her pain. I shouldn’t have allowed her to get under my skin and let me expose myself to those in the room.
I’d planned to stand in the corner, out of sight, and observe. And yet I’d let her tears and her cries break through my detachment, slipping past the wall I’d built to keep everyone out. To keep me focused on the mission.
Although, if I was honest with myself, she had already slipped past my wall. I cared far more than was safe. If anyone tried to harm her or the cubs, I would kill them. It didn’t matter who it was. The lives of Selena and her cubs were worth more to me than the lives of anyone on this ship, my own included. But I couldn’t afford to let her distract me.
And she was a distraction. One I needed to address. I had to find a way to keep her at arm’s length.
This mission was one I could not fail.
Selena didn’t know it, but she had connections to one of the most powerful males in the galaxy. Her cubs' sire would kill anyone that kept her from him or thought to harm them. And once the galaxy found out about Selena and their cubs? There would be plenty trying. Most would fear my client and steer clear, but for some? It would paint a target on Selena and the cubs.
Those were the ones my half-sisters and I would hunt down and kill, while my client kept her safe. Our mission would allow Selena to have the freedom to live her life as she wanted without any fear.
And now I’d allowed my obsession with her to cloud my judgment.
The last nine years my mission—an order only to me—was to search for Selena and bring her back to my client. Yet here I was, tempted by her, jeopardizing the successful completion of my mission.
It had been nine years suffering long periods of isolation. I had not spent much time with my crew—my half-sisters—for most of that time. Their strengths lay in other fields, so they had been assigned other missions. Sure, they could have helped search for her, but I was the only one designed to track prey.
And my prey was Selena.
Her face haunted me whenever I closed my eyes. I’d never felt desire for anyone other than her. Not from the moment I had been given her scent and begun to track.
But I would need to be satisfied with only friendship. Something that would be much harder now that I had tasted her. Now that I had been inside her.
I groaned.
She was my client’s Nova. He would not want to share her. Aldawi males never shared their Novas. They were intensely territorial. I found him allowing her to take Odelm and Xylo as nestmates very confusing, but perhaps their asexual nature meant they were little threat. They were more like caretakers.
Regardless, I wasn’t going to question him.
I licked my lips. The intoxication of her blood still lingered. Knowing her taste, having felt her channel grip my cock for the first time. Fuck, it would now be even harder not to be distracted by Selena.
Having tasted her blood, I was one with her. It had triggered my instincts; I could already feel myself slipping. The Yaarkins hadn’t designed me to breed. All my designed traits would become a problem if I mated. Tasting the blood of my prey allows me to hunt them down if they escape. But the very thing that made me a good tracker became a danger with a mate. I’d become too fixated, too focused. Especially if I drank from them.
But Selena was not ordinary prey.
I sighed.
There were too many unknowns now that I’d had sex with Selena. I had no idea what this would unlock in my unique biology. And even though it had been to help her and prevent harm from coming to her cubs, I had barely been able to hold back. To stop myself trying for more. The moment had been seared into my memory. The memory would need to be enough to sustain me, for I would never get another chance to be with her.
Well, the memory and my cache of recordings. I had carefully recorded every moment with her to re-watch and analyze later.
Nor could I keep this from my client. He would learn of it on his own soon enough. I had no doubt my obsession would be clear to him as soon as he saw me around Selena. And I didn’t want to hide anything from him.
I owed him everything.
When my client had woken my half-sisters and me nine years ago, we’d made a deal. He would free us from our prison, give us a purpose, a place to use our talents in his personal military—if we agreed to be loyal only to him. We agreed, and then helped him rescue other human experiments—none of whom were like us. Or Selena.
For nine years, we’d been hunting anyone with connections to the Yaarkins, looting and destroying any Yaarkin ships we came across. They were good at hiding—spreading out in the fringes of the galaxy, keeping to the outskirts, dealing only with the black market and the dregs of society.
The ship Selena had been aboard had been the last. Of course. So many years looking for her, and the very last Yaarkin vessel, the very last of the Yaarkin species—that was the one that held her prisoner. And it had pissed off my client that the ship had been lurking right under our noses. The slave ship had found a spot between two moons in a planetary gas ring in one of the uninhabitable Aldawi star systems to hide.
When we’d found the vessel and launched the attack, the Yaarkins and their customers had tried to fight back, but our forces were overwhelming. We had ensured they would be. My client was taking no further chances he might lose Selena.
But even with no hope of victory, they’d refused to surrender, using their slaves and failed experiments as cannon fodder—a distraction to allow them to escape. They even set a number of shuttles to self-destruct to add to the confusion.
We hadn’t been able to prevent the destruction, but we were able to either capture or kill everyone else. Except Selena. We’d thought her lost to us—that perhaps she’d been on one of the destroyed escape pods or shuttles.
Until my client realized he hadn’t felt Selena’s loss—no disconnect—just a void when he tried to dreamwalk to her. He became convinced she was unconscious somewhere, floating in space.
Both the Fates and the Stars had watched over Selena that day.
When Prince V’dim and Prince Z’fir had been connected to my client by his assistant, I’d been there with my half-sisters, debriefing. When they’d explained they’d found a human floating in space and her description matched Selena, my client had demanded more information to corroborate. It was Master Scholar Xylo who’d reported that she was pregnant, though unconscious.
We’d known then that we’d found her, and my client had ordered them to change course to meet him at CEG HQ, warning them that Selena’s safety was their responsibility. That she was in danger and must be kept a secret.
And what the punishment would be if they failed.
Since my arrival, I’d ensured no communications were sent out without my knowledge. The Destiny was now fully under my control and in just a few hours, we would be arriving. I’d fulfilled my mission.
And I would face my punishment.
I knelt on the floor with my head bowed.
< REI. CONNECT ME TO Z. >
< PATCHING. >
The wall screen dinged.
“Agent Kaede. I hope all is well?” My client’s deep, raspy voice filled the room.
Lifting my head back up to face the male on the screen, I answered, “Selena successfully delivered her three cubs and has named them. All healthy and well. She has proved able to breastfeed, but
vitamin-enhanced fish oil and finely minced fish have been prepared and stored to supplement if needed. Master Scholar Xylo has sketched a design for a breast-pump and mechanical breast to assist with feeding three cubs, since she only has two nipples.”
My client sat at his desk in full dress uniform. His amethyst eyes looked tired—a worry, since it was only midday. I wondered briefly if it was lack of sleep from worry over Selena, or if it meant things were not going well at CEG HQ...
“Get the design and send it to me. I’ll have them built by the time Destiny arrives. Selena should have everything she needs to feed our cubs.”
He paused as his eyes trailed across my body. I stilled as I braced, waiting for him to finish his inspection. I hadn’t even thought to check myself in the mirror before connecting to him, simply throwing on a fresh suit. What had he seen? Had my time with Selena already clouded my thoughts so much? I couldn’t afford to get sloppy now.
“Tell me why there is blood on your neck. Who did you have to kill?”
“Sir, I didn’t need to kill anyone,” I answered tightly.
“Then whose blood is it?”
“Selena's.”
His fist slammed down on the desk as his eyes narrowed. He growled, “Why do you have Selena’s blood on your neck?”
“Master Scholar Xylo couldn’t find a drug to alleviate her pain without potentially harming her or the cubs. The delivery was going poorly and there was worry for both Selena and the cubs. Xylo had found several arcane Earth texts that suggested arousal might help Selena cope with the pain, but neither he nor Odelm were able to produce sufficient aphrodisiac to help since she’s not ovulating. When Selena had been in labor—and significant pain—for nearly a day with no sign of dilation, he mentioned research indicating that the prostaglandin from male ejaculate might induce labor. Again, they were unable to perform. The only option was someone in the room. Any Circuli assistance would have meant another permanent bond, so I offered to help. To alleviate her pain, I also injected her with my Bahzyl, though I know it would also leave her aroused. But that seemed a lesser evil than the exhausting pain,” I explained hastily.