“You do?” Sammi asked hopefully. “Um, does it cost anything?”
“No charge—the Kindred are a class act. They just want us humans to be happy.” Bernard grinned. “Why? You need to go someplace?”
“Actually, I do but it’s kind of far away—up in North Tampa?” Sammi asked, raising an eyebrow.
Bernard made a shooing gesture.
“North Tampa’s not a problem. I drive people all the way out to Pinellas sometimes.”
“Oh, well in that case, could you take me?” Sammi asked. “I mean, if you’re not waiting on anyone else?”
“Well, I was supposed to have another passenger but she’s apparently going to be another hour or two. Getting some stuff from the Mother Ship or something.” He shrugged. “So sure, I’ve got time to take you. Hop in.”
He walked to a plain black sedan parked at the curb just a little way away and opened the back door for her.
“Thank you.” Sammi nodded gratefully and got in.
“Watch your hands and feet!” Bernard said and carefully closed the door. “All right,” he said as he got settled in the driver’s seat and put on his seatbelt. “Where to?”
Sammi gave him the address of her Aunt Vicky’s house and then settled back and closed her eyes. She hoped Bernard wasn’t going to want to make small talk and to her relief, he seemed to see that she didn’t feel like making conversation. Instead, he turned on some soft music and turned his head briefly.
“This okay?”
“It’s nice.” Sammi leaned her head back against the cushions. “Really nice.”
“Glad you like it. Just relax. Traffic sucks this time of day so it might take a little while.”
“Okay.” Sammi nodded, keeping her eyes closed. She felt completely worn out from the awful morning she’d had. From finding out she was pregnant, to confronting Roark and having him brush her off completely, she was both emotionally and physically exhausted.
Roark was horrible and she was in a bad situation but she couldn’t dwell on it just now, Sammi told herself. Right now, she just needed to be calm. Later she could tie herself in knots again but for now she just needed to take it easy.
The rocking of the car and the soothing music worked together to help her relax. Before she knew it, Sammi had slipped into a doze.
She didn’t even notice when the car turned South instead of North and started heading out of town.
Forty
“Where’s Sammi?” the human female outside his door demanded.
Roark frowned at her. He knew her vaguely—wasn’t she Samantha’s best friend? He had met her once or twice in the corridor when she came to meet her for “girl time” as Samantha had called it. Was her name Meg? He thought so, anyway.
“Excuse me?” he frowned at the woman who had blonde hair and a scowl on her face.
“I said, where’s Sammi?” she repeated impatiently. “Look, I know it’s none of my business, but she came to talk to you over an hour ago and now I can’t find her anywhere. I know your lab is top secret but is she in there with you?”
“No, she most certainly is not,” Roark growled. “If you must know, she is no longer in my employ. I’m afraid I had to let her go this morning. Good day.”
He started to shut the door to the lab but found he couldn’t because Samantha’s friend had stuck her foot in the doorway to block it.
“Wait a minute—you fired her?” she demanded, her eyes snapping with anger. “She came to you and told you she was pregnant and you fired her?”
“None of that is any of your business,” Roark snapped.
“The Hell it’s not!” Meg raged. “Sammi is my best friend and you’re the abusive asshole who got her pregnant and then fired her!”
“I did not get her pregnant,” Roark snarled. “Though I believe I know who did.”
“Oh yeah?” Meg put a hand on her hip and glared at him belligerently. “This ought to be good. Just who do you suspect?”
“I don’t know his name,” Roark said, glaring right back. “But I believe it was her human lover back on Earth. I found one of his love notes on her counter when I went down to help her move the rest of her things.”
“Love notes? You found a note on her counter?” Her eyes widened.
“Yes, I did,” Roark said stiffly. “And it was obviously from a male because in it he called her “Beautiful” and asked what time he could come by to take her out on a date.”
“You idiot!” Samantha’s best friend looked like she wanted to punch him. “That note wasn’t from a lover—it was from Sammi’s stalker! The one who chased her across the country all the way from California to Florida!”
“What?” Roark was confused. “She never told me anything about a stalker.”
“That’s because she just wanted to forget about him. She moved up here to the Mother Ship to get away from him because she didn’t feel safe,” Meg snapped. “It’s the whole reason she was desperate enough to take a job with you. The guy was sending her pictures he’d taken when she was in the house alone—in the shower! She was in real danger down on Earth!”
Roark took a step back.
“I didn’t know that—didn’t know any of it.”
Could it be that the only reason Samantha had agreed to keep working with him was to keep her place aboard the Mother Ship? Was that the only reason she had put up with the increasingly extreme experiments he had subjected her to?
“Of course you didn’t—you’re a self-absorbed asshole,” Meg told him.
“That still doesn’t make me responsible for the fetuses she’s carrying,” Roark tried to defend himself.
Or did it? If Samantha hadn’t been cheating on him with some human down on Earth, then how had she turned up pregnant? Roark still didn’t believe that the twins she was apparently carrying could be his. The odds were just so completely against it. But long odds didn’t necessarily make an event impossible, just extremely improbable. What if—
“I think you’d better ask Liv—the doctor who performed Sammi’s pregnancy test before you go saying you’re not the one responsible,” Samantha’s friend snapped, cutting into his reverie. “I asked her to run a DNA scan before we left and I’m pretty sure it ought to be ready by now.”
“A DNA scan?” Roark raised his eyebrows.
“Exactly,” she spat. “Because I didn’t buy that shit about you giving Sammi ‘fake seed’ or whatever it was you stuck in my friend.” She leaned forward and poked a finger in his chest, hard enough to hurt. “You’d better go find out right now and then take responsibility for your actions, you asshole!”
Then she turned and stalked away, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.
“Where are you going?” Roark demanded, wondering if she was going to the Med Center herself to get the results of the DNA test.
Meg turned to face him.
“To find Sammi! So I can tell her never to have anything to do with you again!”
Then she turned on her heel again and stalked down the long silver corridor, leaving Roark feeling shaken and uncertain.
He’d been so sure the twin babies Samantha was carrying couldn’t possibly be his…
But what if he was wrong?
Forty-One
“They’re definitely yours, all right,” Liv said matter-of-factly. “Here, look.” She passed Roark the medical tablet she’d been studying to show him the results of the DNA test. “No other male on the entire ship or anywhere else matches the DNA signature of the twins Samantha is carrying,” she told him. “But when I pull up your files—look…” She touched the screen. “Perfect match.”
“I…” Roark shook his head. “But I don’t understand how this could have happened. We’re not even bonded.”
“Are you sure?” Liv raised an eyebrow at him. “I know bonding can be difficult sometimes with Shadow Twins or Hybrids but she is pregnant and those babies most definitely are yours.”
“But twin girls,” Roark protested. “The odds are�
��”
“Astronomical. I know,” Liv said, frowning. “But just because something is improbable doesn’t make it impossible.”
Her words so clearly echoed his own earlier thoughts that it gave Roark a sudden chill. Slowly, the implications of what the human doctor was telling him began to sink in. Somehow, against all odds, his sperm had worked. It had worked and now Samantha was pregnant—with his children!
But if she was pregnant, why weren’t they bonded?
Maybe because you were too much of a coward to try and bond her the right way, a little voice whispered in his head. You let the inseminator do the work for you—the work you were too afraid to do yourself!
Something else became clear to him too—he had treated Samantha—the mother of his children—horribly. He had accused her of sleeping with another male behind his back and lying to him. Then he had fired her and sent her away, pregnant and alone. Gods, what must she think of him?
Roark knew what he thought of himself. When Samantha’s friend had called him an “asshole” she had been right. In fact, she had been too kind.
“I am an asshole,” he muttered, staring down at the incontrovertible proof on the medical tablet. “A complete asshole.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t take the news well when Samantha came to see you?” Liv asked tactfully.
“Didn’t take it well? I called her a liar and accused her of cheating!” Roark closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Gods, I have to find her and apologize to her. What an idiot I’ve been!”
Suddenly the door to the private room in the Med Center where he was consulting with the human doctor banged open and Samantha’s friend, Meg, charged in.
“Oh, Liv—thank goodness—there you are!” she exclaimed. “I’ve searched and searched but I can’t find Sammi anywhere aboard the Mother Ship. Did she come back here to see you?”
“No, I’m afraid not.” Liv frowned.
“Oh.” Meg’s face fell. “I thought she might have come back to ask about the DNA test.” Her eyes flicked over Roark. “Like he did,” she added, looking at him like he was something she’d scraped off the bottom of her shoe at the park where the humans walked the loud, barking animals they called ‘dogs.’
As it happened, Roark felt like something scraped off the bottom of a shoe, so he didn’t reply.
“The Mother Ship is a big place, hon,” Liv said to the extremely upset Meg. “I’m sure she’s here somewhere.”
“Unless she left because she was so upset!” Meg exclaimed. “After he fired her and sent her away!”
Roark felt shame filling him like hot bile.
“I am…deeply sorry that I hurt her,” he said, his voice coming out low and hoarse. “I would also like to find her—to apologize for my actions.”
“I doubt she left the Mother Ship,” Liv said. “But just in case, let me check with my hubby, Baird. He’s the head of the Kindred Fleet so he’ll be able to find out for us.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating, and Roark knew she was reaching for the mental link she had with her mate. The link he had despaired of ever having with a female himself. But might such a link be possible with Samantha? After all, if she could get pregnant with his seed, might he not also be able to bond her to him?
If she ever wants to bond with you, after the way you acted! sneered the little voice in his head. It’s much more likely she’ll never want to see you again!
“Oh dear.” Liv’s voice shook him out of his reverie and he looked up to see her frowning.
“What is it? Where is she?” Meg asked anxiously.
“Baird says that one of his pilots took a human woman matching Samantha’s description down to Earth a couple of hours ago,” Liv said. “He said she seemed extremely upset, though she didn’t say about what.”
“I know what she was upset about!” Meg glared at Roark, who was feeling worse by the minute. “She probably went back to stay with her family—she’s really close with her Aunt Vicky. Do you have a think-me, Liv? I’ll call Sammi and make sure she’s okay.”
“Sure. Here you go.” Liv rooted around in her desk until she found a thin circlet of golden wire and handed it to Meg. The Kindred Mother Ship had made recent changes so that communicators much like human cell phones were usable, but the think-me was still the fastest way to communicate, since you could push your thoughts directly into another person’s mind.
Meg put the golden circlet on and closed her eyes, concentrating hard. After a moment she murmured,
“Sammi? Don’t freak out, it’s just me, Meg. Are you okay?”
She paused for a moment and Roark knew she must be getting a mental answer from Samantha.
“All right, hon—sorry to disturb your nap,” she finally said. “You take care and be safe down there with your aunt. I promise I’ll come visit you later in the week. Love you.”
Then she took the think-me off her head, a look of relief on her face.
“She’s okay. She’s in an Uber headed for her aunt’s house. She was all worn out—I couldn’t get her at first because she was sleeping.”
“See? I told you she was all right.” Liv smiled at Meg reassuringly.
Meg nodded.
“I don’t love the idea of her being back on Earth because of that damn stalker. But as long as she stays with her aunt and uncle, she should be fine.”
“Stalker?” Liv raised her eyebrows in alarm.
“Yeah. Some creep who followed her all the way from California to Florida,” Meg told her. “He wouldn’t leave Sammi alone and she was actually in fear for her life. That’s the whole reason she came up here in the first place.”
“Poor girl!” Liv shook her head. “Men can be so horrible! Well, human men, anyway,” she added.
“I don’t know—I think some Kindred guys can be bastards too.” Meg shot Roark a glare.
Roark looked back at her.
“I deserve everything you’ve said about me and more,” he said quietly. “I was completely wrong about Samantha. I judged her harshly because I have been…hurt by a human woman in the past. But now, I would very much like to make amends.” He held out his hand. “May I have the think-me?”
“No!” Meg thrust the thin golden circlet behind her back. “I told you, Sammi’s taking a nap right now. Besides, you don’t deserve to talk to her—or to be with her for that matter. Not after the way you acted!”
“Now, Meg…” Liv put a soothing hand on the other woman’s knee. “I think it has to be Samantha’s decision whether she’ll take Commander Roark back or not. She is carrying his babies, after all. It sounds like this is all some big misunderstanding—why don’t you let them clear it up?”
“Not right now,” Meg insisted stubbornly. “You told me yourself how tired being pregnant makes you. Sammi needs her sleep.”
“Well, being pregnant does make you horribly tired,” Liv admitted, frowning. “Especially in the first quadmester.”
“Fine.” Roark nodded, though he wanted desperately to speak to Samantha and let her know how sorry he was. “I’ll leave her alone—for now. I should go down and speak to her in person, anyway. Communicating through a think-me isn’t as meaningful as speaking face to face.”
He pictured himself on his knees before Samantha, begging her forgiveness—asking her to come back to him so that they could raise their little girls together…
“Don’t you go bothering her right now!” Meg snapped. “Maybe if you’re still sorry I’ll give you the address of her aunt’s house in a couple of days. But she needs at least that long to process what you did to her.”
“A couple of days?” Roark protested. “But—”
“She’s emotional right now,” Meg snapped. “She needs some time to deal with everything you’ve put her through! I don’t want her agreeing to go back to an abusive asshole because she feels desperate.”
Roark thought about protesting that he had never abused Samantha…but was that really true? He remembered
how it had been, the many times he had strapped her into the insemination machine, the many different phalluses he had thrust inside her. At the time he believed she was submitting to such treatment because she was as sexually aroused by what they were doing as Roark was.
But was that really true?
He just didn’t know anymore. Possibly Samantha had only been putting up with his experiments because she thought she had no choice. Without a job, she would have had to leave the Mother Ship and from what Meg had said about the human male stalking her, she hadn’t felt safe doing that.
Then he had forced her to go—by firing her and breaking her heart at the same time, Roark thought remorsefully. So maybe he was abusive after all. Maybe Samantha had hated and resented him this entire time. But…hadn’t she said she loved him, there at the last?
A tiny tendril of hope curled up from the barren, rocky soil of his heart. If she had loved him once, she might be persuaded to love him again, if only he could prove he was worthy of her.
But how could he do that if he couldn’t talk to her and apologize?
“I have to go.” Meg’s voice cut through Roark’s frantic thoughts. He looked up as she stood and headed for the door.
“Please,” he said. “I really am sorry. I love Samantha and I treated her horribly—I see that now. Won’t you give me the address of her female relation so that I can go and apologize? I give you my oath as a warrior that I won’t pressure her to take me back. I simply want to let her know how sorry I am for how I acted.”
Meg’s face, which had been set in stone, seemed to melt, just a little.
“Maybe I’ll tell you the address tonight,” she said at last. “But give her time to get settled at her aunt’s place, okay? And promise you won’t contact her until then.”
“All right, I swear it. And thank you.” Roark nodded.
“Bye, Liv,” Meg nodded at the human doctor. “Thanks for your help with this mess.”
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