Inseparable

by D. M. Mortier

  “And what am I supposed to do while you look for them? Is my life supposed to always be in limbo?”

  “I’m sorry, baby. This isn’t what I want for us. It isn’t what I want for our family, but I’m going to make it right.”

  “We don’t have a family.”

  He stilled, held her gaze briefly, and then started shaking with laughter.

  “What the hell are you laughing at?” she grouched, unable to stop staring at him. He was so irritatingly beautiful!

  “Saina, I’m a doctor, remember? Coupled with the fact that I know your body better than I know my own, did you think I wouldn’t notice that you’re pregnant?”

  She punched him in his shoulder. “Ouch!” She grabbed her hand as pain ricocheted through her arm.

  “What the hell? Did you hurt yourself?” He held her hand in his gently, trying to rub the sting of pain out of it.

  “How long have you known?” Saina asked, ignoring his question.

  He raised an eyebrow and tried to hug her to him.

  She wasn’t having it.

  He sighed, seeming resigned to having to answer her question. “I definitely knew before you did. I knew about a month ago. Did you find out this week?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. Saina cringed as her voice cracked with tears and emotion.

  Thorne tightened his arm around her.

  Saina refused to budge. She closed her eyes and swallowed, determined to get her emotions in check and not let one single tear drop.

  “How do you feel about our baby?”

  For the first time, he seemed worried about her response. Saina almost laughed. What the hell does he think I’m going to say? “How do you feel?”

  “I’m the happiest man in the world. Given the circumstance, I didn’t allow myself to dream that I would ever be a father.”

  “You wanted this.” She was making a statement and didn’t even pretend to ask a question.

  “Yes.”

  She shook her head at him, feeling slightly dazed by his confession. “To be honest, I guess I was culpable in this,” she whispered absently.

  “Yup,” he agreed cheerfully.

  Saina closed her eyes in disgust at her own stupidity. They both knew what they’d been doing and now had to deal. “I thought you would take me with you,” she admitted softly.

  “I love you, Saina. There’s nothing I want more than having you live with me in Calison and being my queen. Your being pregnant with our first child hasn’t increased the probability of that.”

  Saina pulled away from him and rolled from the bed.

  He sighed.

  Needing to get away from him, she walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. There was no getting away from him, however.

  He teleported and now stood before her.

  She leaned against the hardwood oak cabinets under the weight of her crushing disappointment. “Your bandage is gone,” she observed absently.

  “Yeah, kissing you does wonders in healing my body,” he smirked.

  She glared at him, not at all sharing his amusement.

  He sighed. “We’re in this together, Saina.”

  She wasn’t surprised by his intrusion. “That locked door didn’t give you a clue as to what I want right now?”

  “You want me, but you’re too damn stubborn to admit it.”

  She felt his absolute joy over their baby and despair about her reaction to it. The war in his emotions perfectly matched her own. “Wanting you has only gotten me pregnant and living on a damn planet alone to raise our child.”

  “You’re not alone, dammit!” He moved toward her, crowding her against the cabinet. “I swear that, with everything in me, I will make this work.”

  “I don’t doubt that you’ll try, but that’s you. What about what I’m supposed to be doing while you’re vanquishing the dragon and I’m stuck in the damn tower waiting?”

  “I thought—”

  “Fuck that, I’m coming to Calison with you.”

  He laughed.

  “I’m not joking!” She glared at him. “I’m done playing the victim. I want my career, I want my baby, and I want my man.”

  He picked her up, sat her on the countertop, and wedged his hips between her thighs.

  The feel of his naked skin against hers was jarring. As soon as she realized that she was already edging closer to him, she stopped.

  “How are you going to sway my decision?” he asked silkily.

  She knew he thought to distract her with sex, but he obviously wasn’t listening and reading her emotions correctly. I’m done playing with him! For the first time, she teleported in his presence under her newfound powers.

  “What the fuck?”

  Saina grinned as she stared at his bare back.

  He turned.

  She slapped her palm over her lips to stop the laughter bubbling inside of her at the stunned look on his face.

  “Did you just…?”

  “Yeah, and now I know you can imagine me wandering around in outer space trying to find Calison, right?”

  “You wouldn’t fuckin’ dare!” he growled.

  She teleported again. This time she found herself on the lawn of the castle. She grinned as she heard his loud bellow of her name. Thank God it’s dark out. Otherwise, someone might be in for a surprise at the sight of a naked woman. It’s damn chilly out here. She wrapped her arms around herself as the cold penetrated her skin.

  Okay, I think I’ve made my point. She teleported back into their bedroom. Thorne was there pacing in agitation. She almost felt sorry for him, but she hardened her resolve when she thought of the possible empty years of waiting for him to sort out their future.

  He stood perfectly still, apparently sensing her presence, as he had his back to her.

  “How do you want to do this?” The resignation in his voice made her victory feel incredibly hollow. He didn’t look at her. Instead he started to pull his clothes on.

  “Don’t be like that,” she pleaded softly.

  “How do you want me to be?”

  “Not angry, that’s for sure. I want you to want us to be together.”

  “Well, that’s too fuckin’ bad! I’m pissed that I didn’t realize that you’re just like everyone else.”

  “What?” This wasn’t going anywhere near how she’d thought he would react. He was now fully dressed and looked as though he was ready to leave.

  “Everyone is holding someone I care about hostage to control me.” He glared at her, and his face was dark with rage. “You just advised me that you’re holding our child hostage. Congratulations.”

  “That’s not true and you damn well know it!”

  “Just remember, this is your doing.”

  “Thorne, baby…”

  “I will come back for you,” he said bitterly.

  Saina bristled under the venom coming from his voice and fury she felt emanating from him. “My God, would you listen to me?”

  He teleported.

  Chapter Twelve

  The first day after Thorne left, Saina spent it walking around the grounds of the castle, despondent and sorry about how they’d parted. The second day, she stayed indoors, distressed and worried that he wouldn’t return at all. Their separation was eating at her as it always did. The ache got stronger the longer they weren’t together. By the third day, she was hurting, but she was also pissed. Why the hell am I buggin’? He has ruled our lives for years, and it’s gotten me pregnant, unmarried, without a career, and alone. I’m through waiting on this shit. She took her tracking ring from her finger and teleported.

  Thorne returned to Earth almost a week later to take Saina to Calison. He’d needed every one of those seven days to calm his anger to a point that he could talk to her again. As far as he was concerned, with her demand to come to Calison and to give him such an ultimatum, she’d shredded any trust left between them. He was still uncertain what he wanted t
o do about it, but his priority was to protect his child. He’d fought the unrelenting desire to see her and to be with her to no avail. After one week, he needed her like a thirsty man needed water. His cock was just going to have to suffer through celibacy for a while. There was no chance in hell he was going to give into his weakness for her in that department.

  When the staff told him that Saina was out, fear unlike anything he’d ever felt before gripped him and almost brought him to his knees. He berated the men he’d left to guard her, letting them know that he should have been advised the minute she disappeared without them the first time. He teleported to every place he’d ever known her to frequent with no success in finding her. So, when she strolled into their bedroom hours later, no one could fault him for yelling at her as though he’d lost his mind. He couldn’t even remember what he said to her. Given the stony expression on her face, whatever he said had pissed her off royally. It didn’t matter; nothing mattered anymore.

  “Where the fuck did you go?” he demanded again after his tirade and her continuous silence.

  She stubbornly glared at him.

  “Do you think you can do shit like this in Calison?”

  She turned, unpacked the shopping bags she’d brought into the room, and then meticulously started folding her purchases into an open suitcase.

  Thorne moved toward her, looked inside the packed suitcase, and started rummaging through it.

  She grabbed the flimsy nightgown from his hand. “You ain’t serious with this foolishness,” she muttered.

  Still seething with anger, Thorne watched her repack the case. “We’re leaving in five minutes, and I don’t give a damn whether you’re ready or not.”

  “Well, that’s comforting.” The sarcasm in her voice was unmistakable.

  He was in a rage and wasn’t going to apologize for it. “This is what you asked for. Are you complaining now?”

  “Not quite, but I’m not going to let your juvenile attitude ruin this for me.”

  “You put yourself in unnecessary danger and I’m being juvenile?” Thorne tried to get his temper under control, but her defiance in the face of what his unknown enemies had been able to do made that an impossible endeavor. He was terrified and had to make her understand. “Saina, I’m only going to say this once. If you ever take that ring off and disappear without protection again, we’re done!”

  She stopped packing and turned to confront him with her hands at her waist. “I have three Ph.Ds., I’m stronger than any of those men you have out there to protect me, and, thanks to this child, I can teleport out of harm’s way. I would never put my child at risk.” Her voice rose and trembled with each word. Despite her obvious escalating emotions, she held his gaze steadily. “I get that you’re mad at me for my perceived betrayal. I can’t do anything about that. So, don’t threaten me because you’ll lose that fight.”

  “It will be a mistake to doubt my words, Saina. This is not a fuckin’ game with winners or losers. This is life and death. The worst mistake you could make with these people is being overly confident. I will do what I need to protect you and our child.” He strode toward the bedroom door. “Leave your bags here. You won’t need them. Nothing here on Earth is worth bringing to Calison.”

  “What?” She looked at him in horror. “What the hell am I supposed to do with my stuff?”

  “Leave it all here.” He frowned down at her. “You now have three minutes before we leave here!” Thorne didn’t wait around for her response.

  ***

  Saina had been in Calison for almost four weeks, and it was nothing like she’d expected. Despite being pissed about her being there, Thorne had really come through for her. With a fake identity, she was known as Dr. Saina James, the city of Kenton’s newest internist. As it was obvious that she was from the Europon realm, they were not worried about the use of her first name. Saina was a common name in Europon.

  Even though Thorne had told her about Calison, it was still a mind blow for her. The technology was beyond anything she was used to, but the human-like android assistant Thorne had assigned to her helped her to navigate the knowledge gap tremendously. In fact, all her household staff were androids, and female at that. The intent was to limit her interaction with anyone who could compromise her safety by revealing her identity. She didn’t miss a beat in her ability as a doctor and healer. The quickness of her mind on Earth was no match for the extreme growth in her intelligence and healing capabilities now. She was convinced the baby was playing a role in that.

  Thorne had cautioned her about teleporting anywhere in Calison when she first arrived. Instead she travelled in a chauffeur-driven space car everywhere she went. Saina loved her new futuristic existence: air transportation, electronic doors and windows, rooms that could transform to any layout and color scheme at the press of a button, wrist-watch intercom communication devices that held everything from credit cards and cell phones to identification and health monitors. Even the concept of cooking had been eliminated. Food arrived with any flavoring, temperature, quantity, or quality the recipient requested. Her relationship with Thorne had taken a severe setback, however.

  Ever since he’d brought her to Calison four weeks ago, she hadn’t seen or spoken to him. There were still sporadic attacks throughout the city, but nothing major that would justify his continued absence. She’d gotten in the habit of taking pictures of her stomach, scans of the baby, images of what she ate, and of her at various stages of her day to keep him up to date on her progress. He never replied to any of her messages or pictures. She got her android to download a song from her Earth cell phone and send it to him. She imagined over and over again how he would react when he heard the lyrics of Bebe and Cece Winans, “I’m Lost without You.” That was the first week. The second week she sent him Bryan Adams, “Everything I do, I do for you.” However, never had she imagined that he would ignore even that overture. He must be really pissed! By the third week, she was pissed too. She sent him another message. This time she let Faith Evans’ “I’m Never Gonna Let You Go” tell him how serious she was.

  That, too, was met with silence.

  Saina had one last idea to break through the wall he had erected between them.

  Today another doctor, Tarik, who was also from Europon, had invited her to the hospital’s annual ball tonight. At first, she’d declined knowing that he was looking for a date, but when he said that the King of Calison might be in attendance, it was too good of an opportunity for her to turn down. Despite being four months pregnant, the only outward changes in her body were bigger breasts, the slight thickening of her waist, and a rounder ass. Tarik had been asking her for a date ever since she arrived at the hospital. His puppy-dog devotion was getting to be embarrassing. She knew that this was a bad idea to encourage him, but she was desperate to see Thorne.

  Saina took special care with her hair. It had grown considerably from the prenatal vitamins she’d been taking, falling well past her shoulder blades. This was good because if anyone were still looking for her, they would be looking for a short-haired black woman. She’d never worn her hair long. After taking almost an hour to fix it to fall in curly waves about her face and shoulders, she now realized why she always kept it short. It takes too much damn effort to fix this thing!

  She wore a sky-blue empire-waist Grecian-styled dress that showed off her generous cleavage with the deep-V neckline, enhanced the flawless skin of her back, and displayed her toned thighs through the high split of the skirt. She took out the diamond teardrop earrings and matching necklace Thorne had gifted her on her sixteenth birthday. The tracking ring was kept in place. I want him to have no trouble in finding me tonight.

  Saina knew she was taking a huge risk in wearing Thorne’s royal color, his gift and arriving on the arm of another man. This move was bold because she didn’t know what to do to get his attention, to get a reaction out of him. She missed him, and she knew he missed her too, but he was determined to punish her for forcing
this choice.

  The first hurdle came when she tried to get her android chauffeur to take her to the event.

  “This is not an authorized location for madam,” the android informed her.

  “What?” Saina was stunned. She’d had no idea Thorne was controlling her movements to this extent.

  “This is not an authorized—”

  “I heard you the first time!” Saina knew yelling at the android was wasted energy, but she was pissed at being thwarted even before she got out the door. She’d explained to Tarik that he couldn’t collect her because, first, she didn’t want him to think that this was a date and, second, she didn’t want him to know where she lived. “Well, tell me, where do I get a taxi around here?” She was only half joking when she threw out that question to the android.

  “Taxi, madam?”

  “You know, taxi! When your damn car refuses to take you where you want to go, you get another car, a taxi.” The sarcasm in her voice was completely wasted on the machine.

  “You can override the authorization, madam.”

  “Why didn’t you just say so?” She was back to yelling at her android again. The female android simply stared at her quietly as if waiting for a petulant child to calm down.

  “Are you going to tell me what I need to override Thorne’s autocratic command?”

  “Madam?”

  “What’s the override?”

  “Are you dying and need to visit this location to revive yourself?” the monotone voice asked without hesitation.

  Saina wanted to laugh, but she didn’t dare. “Yes, I’m dying. Can you please take me to this location?”

  She arrived at the event almost five minutes later and met an anxious Tarik pacing in the air car dock.

  “Madam, I have advised King Winthrop of your impending death and the current readings of your vitals.”

  “What?”

  “The king is on his way. Have a safe evening, madam.” Her android then turned the car off and powered down to her wait mode.

  Saina stared at the machine in disbelief. She was dying to ask her how long she had before Thorne showed up. This was what she’d wanted, but now that the moment had arrived, she was scared shitless. Her watch buzzed with an incoming message. She froze where she stood.