“And we must settle the matter regarding the female and leave as soon as possible.”
Kadin shrugged. “I thought the two of you had already settled the matter.”
Irritation flickered through Hauk. Instead of pointing out that they had not settled it with the woman, however, he merely turned away to begin prepping for takeoff.
That was when he discovered ‘the woman’ had found her way to the bridge.
He wondered how much she had heard and understood.
* * * *
Instead of drifting to sleep, Emma found herself drifting toward more clarity. It was strange, she thought, that she could when she felt so lethargic, but once thoughts began to churn in her mind the idea of seeking oblivion just no longer held any appeal.
They had come for the baby.
She couldn’t delude herself about that when they had nearly gotten killed to collect him. They wanted him and she had to believe their intentions were good.
So where did that leave her?
A painful knot of emotion formed in her throat and tried to choke her.
She had imagined a future with the baby and now that pipe dream had dissipated like smoke.
It took a supreme effort to refrain from giving in to self-pity and bawling her eyes out. She’d kept telling herself that it was probable that someone would come to take him away from her—the government if not the people he belonged to—but it hadn’t changed anything. She’d clung to the unacknowledged hope that he would stay with her.
It was hard to believe she’d grown so attached to him in so short a time—only a matter of weeks—grown to love him so much it was devastating to think of life without him. But then she realized as soon as that occurred to her that he’d melted her heart the very moment she found him.
He’d needed her.
She hadn’t realized until she’d experienced that just how much she needed to be needed.
He’d rushed into her arms as if he knew he belonged there and that she would take care of him and keep him safe.
And that had instantly made it her life’s mission.
It was for the best for him, she thought reluctantly, knowing it was.
She’d been sick with worry about what would happen to him when the world discovered him, how he could possibly find acceptance among humans—who weren’t even great about accepting people of other races.
She wouldn’t have had him anyway.
They would’ve done awful things to him.
She should just be happy for him.
And she was.
She was still going to be miserable, going to grieve the loss, but she would at least know he was with his own people and that he was safe.
She frowned.
Actually, she wasn’t going to be there so there was no way she’d know he was safe. She knew, or thought she did, that the men who’d come for him had come to rescue him and their intentions were good, but what sort of life was he going to? Would he be loved as she loved him? Would he be taken care of? Would he be happy?
She couldn’t know without being there, and that wasn’t even remotely possible.
Was it?
Wild … crazy … terrifying thought.
She would be the only human among … whatever they called themselves and she thought they must be the same species but maybe just different races?
Like it would have been for her poor little baby if he hadn’t been rescued.
Maybe just like, she thought uneasily, as in, dealing with being hated and shunned or mistreated because she was different.
That settled it.
It just wasn’t meant to be even though she had a crazy notion that it was.
He would go home and she would stay home—where they belonged.
She’d just have to deal with her grief and move on and the baby was just a baby. He’d probably forget her before he got home.
She couldn’t let go of the notion once it had materialized in her mind, though. She kept seesawing back and forth with pros and cons until she finally got up from the bed.
The baby was still sleeping.
She debated briefly and decided he would be ok if she put the other railing up. Bending low, she kissed his soft baby cheek and left.
She surprised herself by finding her way to the men after only losing her way two or three times.
She had the distinct impression when she entered the room that she was the topic under discussion.
She felt her face heat with discomfort and a flutter of something unidentifiable in her belly when she came face to face with the one who’d kissed her—the one who’d told her his name was … Hauk?
He halted abruptly in his tracks. Something flickered in his eyes, but she had no idea what it might be. Not concern, she didn’t think, although the first words out of his mouth seemed to suggest it.
“You should be resting. You lost a good deal of blood.”
Emma blinked while her mind struggled to ‘translate’. “I couldn’t. I need to ….” Ask? Demand? Which tact would be best?
“Where is the babe?” Gaelen asked with a mixture of surprise and disapproval.
Emma turned to stare at the yellow man with her mouth agape. “Sleeping,” she responded after a long moment, feeling vaguely insulted that he seemed to be suggesting she wasn’t taking care of the baby like she should. “I put the rails up on both sides—well the other one. He should be ok for a few minutes.”
“You should get back to him. He will be afraid if you are not there when he wakens.”
Ok it was really hard to ignore the censure in that comment.
Especially since it roused anxiety in her that maybe she hadn’t used the best judgment when she’d decided to leave him.
“But I need ….”
Hauk grasped her arm. “You should not be here. I will walk you to the infirmary and then show you to a cabin more suitable for the babe.”
Rattled by the encounter, Emma had begun to imagine all sorts of horrible scenarios of things that had happened to the baby while she was gone along the way. She was so relieved when they arrived in the infirmary and she saw the baby was still sleeping and had barely stirred from where she’d left him that she felt almost tearful.
Well, her nose stung.
She rushed to the bed but Hauk was faster. Reaching it and lowering the railing, he scooped the baby up and snuggled it against his chest.
Emma didn’t know if she was more indignant or stunned.
“I’ll take him.”
“No,” he retorted. “You are weak from blood loss and your arm is injured. You would drop him.”
Emma sucked in an indignant breath. “I wouldn’t do any such thing!”
He’d already turned away with the baby, however, striding toward the door.
Emma rushed after him, intent, at first, on catching up and demanding he hand the baby over. By the time she did catch up to him, though, she was breathless and a little lightheaded.
Hauk preceded her into the cabin and crossed it to put the baby, who by that time had roused enough to fuss, in a crib that had clearly been set up specifically for him—further proof if she’d needed it that they’d come to rescue the baby. Settling the infant, he patted his bottom solidly—which seemed to soothe the baby, to Emma’s surprise. She’d more than half expected an indignant wail in response.
Hauk paused to study the woman when he turned away from the child, feeling his belly tighten as he did so.
She indeed looked pale and weak from blood loss, giving rise to some concern that she might not recover from what he’d deemed a fairly unthreatening wound as quickly and easily as he’d first thought.
No doubt she would benefit from rest if she could be convinced to do so, he thought wryly.
She seemed to lean toward a surprising tendency toward stubbornness, however, considering her frail appearance, he thought with some amusement.
“There is a bunk there. Settle before you fall down and I have to scoop you off the deck.�
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Emma gaped, partly because she still had trouble understanding what he said, and partly because his ‘concern’ was liberally tinged with ‘callous’ and she didn’t know how to take it.
But maybe it was just rough joking?
He did look vaguely amused.
She dismissed it, wobbling to the bunk he’d indicated and plopping down on it gratefully. “I want to stay with the baby,” she said with as much conviction as she could manage considering she felt more than a little unwell and also terrified at the leap she was taking.
He nodded. “I had thought that best. This is why I pointed out the bunk.”
Emma frowned, deciphering. “No! I mean go with him. If y’all are taking him, I’m going with him!”
His brows rose. “We had already agreed that we would need to take you. It is as well you feel the same. We are leaving shortly.”
It only took a moment for Emma’s surprise to give way to outrage, but Hauk had already departed by that time.
* * * *
Hauk was so enveloped in the thick haze of lust as he left Emma that it took time and distance for it to clear enough to allow actual thought. He was mildly annoyed and alarmed when he did emerge to discover that he was in an unfamiliar part of the ship.
He had certainly not been guided by ‘auto pilot’ he thought with disgust as he paused to look around and try to get his bearings—struggling to dismiss the uneasiness that Kadin might have been right about that kiss being a serious miscalculation.
Because he had felt the magnetic pull to kiss her again—and considerably more—the moment he was in her proximity again.
He shook those thoughts, assuring himself that he was not surprised and the magnitude of his lust was certainly nothing to be concerned about. He was a healthy, virile male and it had been a hell of a long time since he had been within sniffing distance of any female at all, let alone one he found very much to his taste.
And he could not deny that Emma fit his predilections exceptionally well.
What was disturbing was the fact that he had allowed himself to become so wrapped up in it as to become deaf and blind to his surroundings.
Which was not something any warrior of merit allowed himself if he had a desire to outlive the preoccupation.
It made it worse that it took no more than a moment of clarity to accept that his raging hunger for her was not reciprocated because, try though he might, he could not recall even a spark of interest in her eyes at any point.
Only …. He shrugged.
Horror.
He thought he could understand when she had never seen any beings, he assumed, beyond her own people, but that did not actually make it any easier to swallow.
He was still grappling with the blow to his ego when he finally made his way back to the bridge where the others waited.
Kadin gave him a narrow-eyed, speculative onceover that made him long to punch him in the face. “You were gone … a while,” he commented coolly. “Did you have trouble finding your way back?”
The comment was so close to the truth, though miles from the reason he had become disoriented, that Hauk felt discomfort heat his skin and wondered if it showed. “I took the time to check the ship out,” he muttered after a moment.
“Did you find the damage?” Gaelen asked with sharp interest.
More discomfort poured through him. He gritted his teeth. “I did not see anything.”
“Well there is a very great deal to see if this machine is to be believed!” Gaelen snapped.
“The machine cannot lie,” Kadin retorted dryly.
Gaelen narrowed a look at him. “It did lie,” he ground out. “It said the shields were up and would hold!”
Kadin rolled his eyes. “It miscalculated. That is not the same …. Never mind. I have a fair idea of where to look. I will go.”
* * * *
It was just as well she didn’t get the chance to vent about Hauk’s highhandedness, Emma thought later, because it took a bit longer for a sense of survival to kick in and uneasiness to replace her outrage about his highhandedness.
There was confusion, too. She wondered if she’d somehow played into their hands and maybe the decision hadn’t really been hers after all.
Well, according to him, it certainly hadn’t, but manipulation?
She dismissed that as paranoia after only a moment. They’d simply grabbed her because she had the baby when they were faced with the attack.
She just wasn’t sure why they’d decided to take her along and that was what made her feel really uneasy.
She lay down after a few minutes, not because she thought there was a chance in hell that she could actually relax and sleep, but because she felt lightheaded and dizzy.
It was when she closed her eyes that it abruptly popped into her head that he’d said they were about to leave.
And then he’d just walked out.
Not a damn word about what she was supposed to do if they were leaving.
Shouldn’t she and the baby strap into something?
Were they going to be safe just laying around on the bed?
Thankfully, it finally occurred to her that they’d rescued the baby. He mattered to them. They might not care whether she got splattered or not, but they wouldn’t let anything happen to him.
No doubt Hauk would come back or one of the others and take them to wherever they needed to go once they’d gotten everything ready to blast off.
Her belly knotted at that thought.
Was she really ready for this?
Leaving Earth—Not just going somewhere else on the same planet?
Had she been thinking clearly at all?
Chapter Five
“Not really,” Emma muttered. She’d been running on emotion, mostly, not reason. She didn’t think she could gather her wits together enough at the moment to improve her understanding, though, and the truth was she was pretty sure she didn’t actually have any options regardless of what she wanted to do or didn’t.
A not-so-subtle vibration interrupted her thoughts. It grew progressively more pronounced in a very big hurry. The baby let out a yelp and lifted his head. His face was twisted in fear Emma felt all the way through her to her soul.
His distress surpassed hers in her mind, though. She thrust her own terror aside, bailed out of the bunk, and rushed to get the baby.
Something slammed into the ship so hard just as she reached the crib that it threw her to the floor—across the room. She screamed, partly in pain, or at least anticipation of it, but mostly in surprise and fear.
The baby screamed.
Half crawling, she struggled crab-like across the cabin again and grabbed the baby, who was screaming hysterically by that time.
“We’re going to crash! We’re going to die!” Emma babbled mindlessly as she rushed around the room in search of a safe place.
There was nothing to climb under or in to offer any sort of shelter, however, and she finally clambered onto the bunk again, holding the baby tightly and rocking while she tried not to think about the pain that she might feel when she and the baby hit the ground like an insect hitting the windshield of a speeding car.
She was tense with expectation so long every muscle in her body began to complain.
And the baby stopped screaming and began to whine—slower and lower as time elapsed.
She had to make herself relax the bruising grip she had on him.
“Poor baby, poor little baby,” she crooned soothingly. “Mama’s here. Hush, darling.”
Hadn’t it been long enough to crash if they were going to, she wondered after a while?
Was there any possibility they hadn’t hit something or been hit by something that had cracked the ship like an egg?
She couldn’t still her racing mind. It dashed around and around like a wild horse on a tether.
Eventually exhaustion overtook her and her brain shut down—or at least shifted to strange dreams and nightmares.
At some point, worr
ied he might fall off the narrow bunk, she got up and wove a drunken path to the baby’s crib and settled him there where she thought he would be safer before staggering back to the bunk and crashing again.
* * * *
Emma had no idea how long she was out, but the baby woke her.
She lay still for a few moments more, trying to figure out where she was and what was going on.
A light flickered to life, thankfully a dim light like a night light, making her heart trip over itself, but not blinding her.
It illuminated a room so unrecognizable that it just threw her into more confusion when she was able to focus on it, not less.
Then the baby decided not to play nice anymore and let out a demanding wail that instantly alerted her with the certain knowledge that he was saying, ‘I’m hungry, damn it!’
She sat up with a jerk as if she’d been spring boarded, whipping a drunken look around for the bottle.
She always had one ready for late night/early morning feedings so she didn’t have to try to figure out which end to fill or how much to put in it.
No bottle magically appeared.
But an alien did.
If she hadn’t been drunk with fatigue she thought she might have had heart failure when the yellow man moved quickly into the room.
She stared at him bug eyed while he moved to a panel on the far wall and pressed something, then watched while he filled a container with some kind of liquid, replaced the lid, and then put it in a box like thing.
The ding was familiar.
It prompted Emma to bound out of bed and race to the crib where the baby was now sitting up so that he could project his wails of displeasure further.
In case she hadn’t heard his distress call.
The yellow alien man beat her to the crib and lifted the baby out.
The baby ceased bellowing as abruptly as if he’d been gagged.
Well, she supposed he had. The man shoved a bottle into his mouth.
He took a couple of swigs before he realized it wasn’t his usual food and began to fight and wail around the nipple.
The man soothed him with a hand as big as the baby’s head, stroking it over his mostly bald dome. Still complaining, the baby began to suckle the bottle and settled after a moment.
Birth of a King Page 4