Badari Warrior's Baby

by Veronica Scott

  Badari Warrior’s Baby: Megan and Mateer

  (Sectors New Allies Series Book 8)

  By

  Veronica Scott

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  About the Author

  Other Titles by Veronica Scott

  Copyright 2019 by Jean D. Walker

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, places, characters, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Cover Art by Fiona Jayde

  DEDICATION

  To my daughters Valerie and Elizabeth, my brother David, and my best friend Daniel for all their encouragement and support! A special dedication to my late husband Matt, father of our wonderful little family.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Julie C and The E-book Formatting Fairies!

  CHAPTER ONE

  Dr. Megan Garrison, mate to Mateer, the senior enforcer of the pack, put a hand on her aching lower back and tried to find a more comfortable position in her office chair. At this late stage of pregnancy, there wasn’t one of course. The baby promptly kicked hard at being squished and she winced. “Chip” as she and Mateer referred to the child in utero was a big, active baby. Rubbing her tummy to sooth Chip, she hummed a lullaby her mother had sung to her long ago.

  “What are you doing here?” Dr. Gemma Madarian, mate to Camron, stood in the door of their shared office, hands on her hips, head tilted and a feisty gleam in her eye. “This behavior doesn’t strike me like you taking it easy. Go home, elevate your feet, and relax. Tonight could be the night your little one decides to make her debut and I want you well rested.”

  “Mateer’s in a meeting with the Alpha, and I have one more patient.” Megan closed the record of her previous patient, an older man with gout of all things, whose stepdaughter had brought him in to discuss possible dietary changes. She smiled—Bettira, one of the valley’s top admin personnel, was devoted to her stepdad and determined to get him to be proactive about improving his health. Megan wished everyone was as health conscious. Of course the Badari didn’t have to be, given their genetically engineered immune systems. “The last person on the schedule for today should be here any minute.”

  “The patient might be but you won’t.” Gemma advanced into the office. “I’ll take over. Why are they coming so late in the day anyway? Our clinical office hours are over.”

  “He’s an old…acquaintance, from the colony.” Megan couldn’t honestly say Harker was a friend. She’d had a pleasant professional association with him on Amarcae Seven before the pirates kidnapped basically the entire colony and brought them here to this alien world for experimentation. The former deputy sheriff’s behavior since then had bordered on problematic. “He said it was a personal, embarrassing situation and he’d rather talk to me about it than someone he didn’t know. No offense.”

  “Probably a rash on his privates,” Gemma said with a frown. “Which I can treat perfectly well. Maybe it’s better I’m not from your colony in fact. I have no history with the man.”

  Although tempted to accept the offer, Megan waved a hand. “Please, go ahead and have dinner with your mate. Mateer is coming to pick me up as soon as his meeting is over and we’ll go home together from here. I can see Harker, no problem.”

  Gemma hesitated. “Rik is here working the night shift if you need help.”

  “I’ll be fine. Honestly.” Megan reached for Gemma’s hand and squeezed her fingers. “I’m so grateful to have you here, not only for my own comfort but you’ve been so wonderful about splitting the patient load and taking the on call duties. I don’t want you overworking yourself either.”

  “Which is why I’ve organized the auxiliary,” the other doctor said. “I’m actually off to meet with the volunteers in about half an hour, go over childbirth protocol and a discussion of newborn care, making sure the whole team is fully briefed before your big event occurs.”

  “Big is right.” Patting her stomach, Megan laughed. “Such a good idea you had, to see who in the valley had experience giving birth or with childcare.”

  “The Alpha scared me to death when I arrived, making it clear you and your baby were the highest priority so I figured I needed more backup than one nurse, efficient as Rik is, plus a few medics and the Badari healers.” Gemma tapped her chest and winked. “I’m no fool. All right, I’m off then but don’t let this guy take too much of your time.”

  Shaking her head, Megan arched her spine in another vain attempt to get relief for her aching muscles. “If he’s still here when Mateer arrives, he’ll clear out fast. The two men can’t stand each other, going back to when we were imprisoned in the Khagrish lab together. They basically loathe each other.”

  “If you’re sure you’re okay, I’ll go ahead to my meeting then.” Gemma waved and left the office.

  About five minutes later Harker knocked on the door and walked in. He was a big, beefy man, no match for any of the genetically enhanced Badari of course, but imposing for a human. He’d been effective as the deputy chief of police at the old colony but seemed to have trouble finding a good fit for himself in sanctuary valley, where the Badari ran things.

  “Thanks for seeing me so late, doc,” he said with a grin.

  “Come in,” she said, noticing he was sweating bullets and wouldn’t meet her eyes. Although she assumed his unease was related to whatever embarrassing medical condition he was going to reveal, a twinge of nerves jangled through Megan. The clinic was pretty much deserted right now, with Rik all the way at the other end of the building doing records upkeep. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to agree to schedule this appointment so late in the day.

  Rotating her chair, she went to call up his medical record on her handheld when her world darkened in a flash of blinding pain and Megan passed out.

  Mateer was sitting in his usual chair to the right of Aydarr, drumming his fingers on the table. When he noticed himself succumbing to the impatient tic, he stopped with a deep sigh. Really this meeting had gone on way too long already for his taste. He wanted to meet Megan and get her safely to their cave dwelling. He was sure she hadn’t rested enough today and he was happily anticipating pampering her tonight. Wondering if he could use Megan’s advanced pregnancy as an excuse and leave early, he glanced at MARL, the metallic alien Artificial Intelligence floating beside the Alpha’s mate. As expected, MARL was recording every word said – Mateer could listen to the rest of the debate later.

  As Aydarr slammed his fist on the table, he forced himself to pay attention to the discussion again. If the Alpha was showing so much emotion, it probably wasn’t a good time to duck out.

  “This is our planet,” Aydarr was saying for the tenth time at least. “It belongs to the Badari by virtue of the eight hundred years of mistreatment, torture and deaths my people suffered at the hands of the Khagrish since we were created here. Humans have been good allies and are welcome to my protection as leader of the Badari but they must understand I will rule in accordance with Badari custom and tradition. I will fight the war as I see fit.”

  “And b
y and large the humans do realize that,” Nicolle James, mate to Darik, said patiently, keeping her smile. Being the personal assistant to both the Alpha and his mate, she was relatively unfazed by Aydarr’s temper. Mateer admired her resolve in the face of the Alpha’s increasing annoyance tonight. Nicolle continued making her case persuasively. “But the humans want to have some say, a degree of influence over life here which is why the group is proposing an elected council. Purely advisory to you of course, to ensure the concerns of the human population are at least considered.”

  Aydarr stabbed his finger at her, talons deploying for emphasis. “My mate is human, you’re human, and there are other human mates. None of you hesitates to speak your mind to me. Far from it in fact. Why is this not enough?”

  Mateer thought the humans behind this request were clever to have made Nicolle their spokesperson. She was highly regarded by the Alpha and his mate and her words carried weight. She also understood better than most non-pack humans how to talk to Aydarr and when to stop arguing.

  Apparently she hadn’t reached the critical point in the meeting. “As mates, we’re members of your pack now,” Nicolle said. “All of us essentially swore a blood oath as part of claiming our mates which also made us part of the pack. The humans want a council of people who aren’t officially affiliated with the Badari. An independent group. And consider,” she added before Aydarr could draw breath, “Such a council could be good allies for pack leadership, and could help disseminate decisions and the reasons for them to the human population. Two way communication is healthy in any community.”

  “When we defeat the Khagrish and the Chimmer and take total possession of this world,” Aydarr said, “The humans are welcome to stay or to return to the Sectors, if by then we’re in contact with your government there. But any who stay will be firmly under Badari rule. If not me, then whoever succeeds me as Alpha. Make no mistake.”

  Nicolle stayed silent, a tactical move Mateer approved. The discussion had finally reached the point of triggering pack dominance issues for the Alpha and he needed a moment to step away from the perceived challenge to his rule, in order to continue the dialog.

  After a pause where no one spoke, Aydarr took a swig of his now cold tea and asked, “Say I agree to the formation of this council, how many members would there be?”

  “The number five has been discussed,” Nicolle said. “For now elected at large from the entire human population in the valley by a simple majority but in the future the council might be reconstituted to represent specific areas.” She shrugged. “Situations evolve, things change.”

  “Humans like to govern themselves.” Jill Garrison, Aydarr’s mate and the second in command in the valley, chose now to interject. She tilted her head; an act designed to show she wasn’t challenging Aydarr’s position and added a grin. “Obviously the Badari are in charge here, have to be, but I can see why the other humans would like to feel they have a more formal avenue to address their issues.”

  Aydarr glanced at her, eyes narrowed. Mateer knew the Alpha had tremendous respect for his mate. All the Badari did. So if she was now weighing in on the positive side of this council idea, it might succeed. He speculated whether Jill and Nicolle had coordinated strategy in advance of the meeting. The two women were close friends and collaborated well on day to day issues involved in running the valley.

  “If we go forward with this council, I will have veto power over any candidate,” Aydarr said, voice flat. “Certain humans have proven themselves to be untrustworthy. I refuse to deal with such individuals or give them higher status.”

  Mateer opened his mouth to chime in on this point, since he had definite opinions about a few names, when he was hit with a wave of green suffusing his mind’s eye and the scent of Spring flowers and new growth filled his nostrils. Why is the baby reaching out to me? Without realizing he’d done so, he shoved back his chair and was on his feet, talons deployed. Under the beautiful fragrance there was a sense of unease. Something was wrong in the baby’s perception of her world right now, which meant something amiss with Megan. Chip was seeking her father as the other source of comfort in her limited awareness.

  Everyone was staring at him.

  “Megan needs help now,” he said with a snarl in his voice and sprinted from the room, heading for the hospital as fast as he could run. In his head he heard Aydarr issuing an alert to the entire pack wherever they were in the valley and then the Alpha was right behind him, coming to assist. Mateer tried to send calm reassurance to the child that he was on his way. Frustration over the baby’s inability to communicate in words ate at him, even as he recognized the ridiculousness of his expecting an unborn child to parse sentences.

  He reached the clinic in record time, bursting through the door, taking note of Rik the nurse sprawled on the floor in a spreading pool of blood. His priority was his mate and since he knew others were close behind him who would take care of the injured human, he didn’t break stride but ran to Megan’s office. The room was in disarray, desk and chair shoved aside.

  Camron and Gemma hurried down the hall from the meeting room at the other end of the building. “What is it? What’s wrong? Aydarr told me to get her here right away to help.” The soldier gestured at his mate who was the second doctor in the valley.

  Gut churning with fear for his mate, Mateer waved them off. “Megan’s gone.” He checked his mate bond, glowing in his heart and mind and found the radiance strangely muted, as if Megan was a long distance away, but there’d been no time for her to be transported anywhere by whoever had entered the clinic.

  “Harker,” Gemma said, eyes wide as she gawked at the disorder in the office. “He was her last appointment today.”

  “Even he wouldn’t dare kidnap Megan, would he?” Talons and fangs deploying, Camron was appalled and ready to fight whoever had done this. “We have to find them.”

  Mateer raised his head and breathed deeply of the air, seeking his mate’s scent, which for the past few months had also been underlaid by the perfume of the growing baby. He followed the faint dual trail to the side entrance and outside. Moving faster, he found himself heading toward the landing field, which made no sense. Harker wouldn’t have access to the flyers, which were heavily guarded.

  Fire fight at the landing field! Jadrian’s message blasted into Mateer’s head as the night lit up in the off limits area of the valley. He redoubled his speed only to see one of their captured Khagrish craft rise from the ground and shoot off across the sky, heading for the valley rim.

  Can MARL block the flyer from leaving the valley? He sent the desperate question to Aydarr.

  The Alpha’s response was grim. Not without crashing it. We can’t take a chance with Megan presumably on board.

  Mateer arrived at the landing field to discover a scene of chaos. A Badari soldier was injured, prone on the pavement, with the healers already working on him. A dead human lay close by and another injured man was screaming in pain. Blaster in hand, Gabe, one of their trusted human pilots, ran to meet Mateer.

  “I don’t know what the fuck is going on here,” he said, “Ten heavily armed humans with an antigrav litter in tow shot at the guards, took one down, forced Walt to go with them at gunpoint to be the pilot, and took off. I could tell the woman in the litter was Megan—what the seven hells is going on?”

  Mateer grabbed him by the arm, remembering to pull back his talons in the nick of time. “Take me aloft, we have to follow them now.”

  He and Gabe sprinted to the nearest flyer, several other Badari warriors joining them per Mateer’s telepathic order. Gabe got them airborne in record time and arrowing through the sky out of the valley. The enforcer sat uncomfortably squashed into the co-pilot’s chair as Gabe redlined the flyer’s engines.

  “What happened?” Mateer asked. Gabe was a superb pilot, more than skilled enough to fly the craft and provide a rapid debrief.

  “Walt and I just finished a training run and we were heading for the dining hall. I was supposed
to meet my mate there and the three of us were going to have dinner. I was leaving the office, walking across to catch up to Walt when this squad of men came running onto the landing field, shot the guards and headed toward the nearest flyer. The ambush was executed with military precision. The men grabbed Walt, might have wounded him, and dragged him with them. I saw the group had a litter, so while I returned fire, I had to be careful. I did account for one of the bad guys but the element of surprise worked for them. They got away with the flyer.” Gabe fiddled with the controls and got a slight increase in power. “We have any idea where they’re going?”

  Mateer shook his head, trying over and over to reach Megan, but her mind was foggy and nonresponsive to the telepathic link. The mate bond remained subdued and his sense of the baby was she was reacting negatively to stimulus in her environment but so far okay. He couldn’t get his heart to stop pounding and when he extended his hand, talons deployed, there was a subtle tremor. Neither thing was like him. He was one of the top warriors in the pack, cold and deliberate in combat, with countless kills to his credit.

  But this is my mate and my child. My life.

  “Got them on the screen,” Gabe said, tapping a vid. “Not heading toward any installation I recognize. What the seven hells is going on, do we know?”

  “Harker apparently kidnapped Megan from her office. I don’t know who’s in his gang of accomplices but they’re all dead men when I get my hands on them.” Mateer fielded a telepathic inquiry from Aydarr. The Alpha gave him full authority to take whatever action he deemed necessary.