by Sky Winters
“You’re all right,” she said softly to him, petting his hair. “You’re safe now.”
“Safe for now,” he corrected. “The Resistance doesn’t have much longer. The Hoths are onto us.”
Keandra placed an index finger to his lips. “Shh,” she said. “I know. But for now, you need to focus on resting and getting better. You probably have a concussion and you definitely have a laceration.”
He looked down at the open wound on his shoulder. Then he shrugged, grinning at her. “I’ve had worse.”
As soon as it was determined that Albion was okay, he was allowed to leave the hospital tent. He and Keandra went back to their bedchamber, which was mostly just a closed-off section of a large bedchamber. They got some privacy but it was not as though the tents walls were soundproof. They were essentially tarp.
Still, as soon as they were fully into their chamber and the flap was zipped shut, Albion grabbed ahold of Keandra and walked her to the bed. He kissed her mouth, cheeks and neck and then slowly pulled the bottom of her uniform off of her. He placed his fingertips between her legs and sought out her wetness. Stroking and rubbing there, he got her wetter and more turned on. Smiling at him, she got onto the small bed that was bigger than most of the others’ and opened her legs for him.
Albion took off his uniform bottoms and climbed onto the mattress with her. They were not going to have long this time, and they would have to be a great deal quieter, but there was something about that that made it even hotter.
Quickly, he positioned himself between her legs, lying beside her instead of on top of her because of the bed’s size and because her pregnant belly meant that she could not easily be entered from on top anymore. They would be less conspicuous if someone accidentally opened their flap this way, too. Keandra moved against him, stroking his cock for a few moments and then sucking it to get it nice and wet for her.
“Mmm,” Albion whispered.
Keandra nodded, her large eyes becoming an innocent kind of seductive as she looked at him while blowing him.
Gently, he tapped her chin in order to signal her to stop. Then, he pressed his body into hers, holding her close as he entered her.
She let out a gasp that was barely even a sound and her eyes widened as he thrust far inside her. Because they did not want to be detected in the close-quarters of the tent – mainly because of shyness – Albion did his best to use slow, calculated thrusts instead of his usual quick pace. Keandra absolutely loved it. Before long, they were both sweating. She could feel every wonderful inch of Albion’s cock as he moved against her.
Feeling herself about to come, she took the fabric at the top of his shirt and bit into it so she would not emit a sound. She came hard against him and looked at him with ever widening eyes as the waves of pleasure and sweet release rushed through her.
Albion thrust again a moment later and came into her pussy.
How they both managed to fuck each other’s brains out so quietly was anyone’s guess. They were both shaking, sweating and grinning by the time they both reached their satisfying conclusions.
* * *
The Resistance regrouped the following morning, well before the Hothian sun had risen in the amethystine sky. They packed up everything they had and loaded all of their belongings and equipment into a caravan of long trucks that Keandra did not even think they had available to them.
They rode in the trucks for nearly two days. It felt a bit like the life of luxury that a celebrity might live back on Earth, but for a pregnant woman who needed to pee constantly it was less than enjoyable. Keandra was very relieved when the line of trucks finally stopped and everyone was free to get out.
The Resistance had found their new station, and it looked more or less exactly like the last placed they had staked out. The only thing separating the two locations was the fact that the Hoths had discovered the last one.
Well, that and the fact that they were slightly closer to the water source now.
Albion came to her a few mornings after their relocation, before setting out on his next daring mission that she would have to sit out of. He took her small hand in his big one, stroking the back of it with his long, claw-like fingers. She had not realized it before she saw him make his transformation into a dragon, but he did have the body of a man who could turn into a dragon. Everything about him was tall, angular, and serpentine.
Keandra looked into his eyes. “I’m looking forward to not having to go through these sad farewells anymore,” she told him. “Someday quite soon, I’m going to be able to fight alongside you.”
“That is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about,” Albion said. “If I come back from this one…”
“When you come back from this one,” Keandra corrected, snapping it out as though he had offended her with his slight fatalism.
Albion smirked at her and let a short chuckle escape him. “When I come back from this one,” he agreed, nodding. “Will you marry me? I know that I do not have much to offer. A nomadic life of bloodshed and uncertainly is hardly—”
Keandra cut him off with a kiss. They held each other close. She felt herself crying and she did not bother to try and wipe her tears away. When at last their lips broke apart, she smiled up at him. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, of course. You silly Gekkota.”
He smiled back at her, clearly touched and prideful that she had said yes. “You silly Earthling.”
They kissed each other again, and then he had to be on his way.
She was so far along now that she was confined to their chamber in the tent, not allowed to leave the bed unless it was to go to the bathroom or sit in the cafeteria for a short meal with Dehneese. The other woman had decided that it was her responsibility to look after Keandra and see to the delivery, whenever it should happen.
Keandra did not want to go into labor while her fiancé was out there somewhere, possibly being shot at by Hoths. She did her best to will herself and her baby not to start going into labor or contractions. She wanted Albion there with her. She needed him there with her.
She was fast asleep when Albion returned to headquarters. This time, thank his lucky stars, he was completely unharmed. He went to the bedchamber that he shared with his beautiful, green-eyed fiancée and found her sleeping soundly on the bed.
“Keandra,” he said to her softly. “Wake up. We have a surprise for you.”
Slowly, she let her eyes open and, as soon as she saw his golden eyes looking at her, so lovingly, she smiled.
“Wake up, we have a surprise for you,” he repeated.
Keandra did not know what it was, but there was urgency in Albion’s voice.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, sitting up in bed and carefully coming down off of it. “You’re not hurt again, are you?”
Albion shook his head, smiling at her. “No, not at all. Just come with me.”
Taking her hand, he led her out of their bedroom, through the main bedchamber where the rest of the Resistance forces in their sector slept, and outside. A crowd had gathered there and everyone cheered as he and she came into view.
There was a twisted and bent metal statue in front of where everyone was sitting. Keandra let out a laugh when she realized that it was supposed to be an altar. Someone had found some abandoned metal and shaped it into an altar for them. She beamed up at him.
Instead of marching slowly up the created aisle like she was used to, Keandra and Albion walked together hand in hand and stopped when they stood just beneath the metallic structure their friends had designed. Ggregg suddenly appeared. His arm was in a cast and he had a black eye, but he was smiling and seemed otherwise fine.
Keandra let out a strange sound that was half a sob and half a laugh. She was so glad to see that Ggregg had made it out alive somehow. “I thought he…!”
“We found him on our last patrol,” Albion said softly into her ear. “He was barely alive and pretty mangled, but we rescued him.”
Ggregg beamed at her. “You didn’t think I�
�d miss this, did you?” he asked her. He was holding a little brown book. She realized, shocked, that it was a Bible.
Where did he find a Bible in space?
Then she remembered that the Resistance was made up of people from all over. Surely one of the Earthlings had a Bible with them. Keandra was not religious, but it was nice to be reminded of things back home.
“Dearly beloved,” Ggregg started the wedding ceremony. “We are gathered here today in HQ to celebrate in the union of our dear friends Keandra Calhoun and Albion Pagoda. They have both been an invaluable part of our operations here, as you all know. May their marriage and love for each other last throughout the years and may they come to know peace in our galaxy.”
Everyone bowed their heads a little bit, wishing so badly for that peace.
“Albion, do you have a ring for Miss Calhoun?” Ggregg asked.
Reaching into a pocket of his uniform pants, Albion pulled out a sparkling silver ring with a familiar, midnight blue stone on it.
Keandra opened her eyes and her mouth wide in amazement. It was one of those Hothian galsects. She never in her wildest dreams could have imagined how happy she would be to see one of those damned rocks.
She started to cry uncontrollably as Albion placed the ring carefully onto her finger. “With this ring,” he recited. “I marry you. With this ring, I make you my wife, my partner, my best friend.”
This was all so beautiful. Keandra wished that she had been given some warning. She might have tried to scrounge around and fashion herself a wedding dress. Though, now that she thought about it, it made all the sense in the world that they should be married in their Resistance uniforms. They had worked hard to finally wear them, after all. They had earned them. Together.
Dehneese, who was sitting in the front row of the crowd, came forward and placed a small, silver ring into Keandra’s hand. She winked at her friend and then sat back down.
Keandra, gulping, did the same thing that Albion had just done for her. She placed the silver ring onto his large finger, breathing a sigh of relief when she realized that it did indeed fit somehow. “With this ring,” she said, smiling up at him. “I marry you. With this ring, I make you my husband, my partner, my best friend.”
All three of his heads grinning from ear to ear, Ggregg went on with the ceremony. “Keandra Calhoun, do you take Albion Pagoda to be your galactically wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, to fight beside in times of war and times of triumph, as long as you both shall live and even after if from the flames you both can regenerate?”
She stared at Ggregg, taken aback by the added passages. “I do,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
Although she was inquisitive in her tone, Ggregg took it as a solid answer and went on, asking Albion the same.
“I do,” Albion said before Ggregg could even get out the last syllable of his question.
Continuing to smile at them as though he was quite tickled, Ggregg closed the little Bible that he had not once actually read from and held it against his chest. “Then, by the power given to me by Supreme Resistance Leader Admiral Asquataine, I now pronounce you husband and wife!”
A cheer went up from the crowd.
“You may kiss. Always kiss each other. It would be a shame not to.” Ggregg winked at them.
Albion cupped a hand against her cheek and pulled Keandra gently to him. They kissed each other deeply, passionately, fully. She felt as though they were kissing each other’s souls. When at last the kiss ended, she felt dizzy and so happy that the planet could have exploded right then and there and she would have felt satisfied with her life.
Suddenly, Albion lifted her up into his arms and carried her hurriedly down the makeshift aisle while everyone stood and clapped for the happy couple. She was wondering at first if he was just that excited to consummate the marriage, but then she noticed the liquid that was coming out of her from between her legs.
Her water had broken.
CHAPTER SIX
As Albion brought her back into their bedroom, laying her softly down onto the bed, Keandra realized that she was the last person to realize that her labor had begun. She blushed a little when she saw all of the curious eyes in the doorway of their chamber, watching anxiously as though this baby was their own.
Dehneese pushed through the throngs in the way and came to her bedside. She took Keandra’s hand and smiled at her. “I’ve got this,” she said. “I’ve been reading books about this for a while now. I can do this for you.”
Keandra raised her eyebrows at her. “You can have the baby for me?” she asked her jokingly. “That’s a relief. I’m kind of afraid of the pain.”
Her friend laughed and shook a finger. “No, no.”
Albion took her other hand. She could tell that he was nervous. He had gone a paler shade of blue. It was strange to Keandra. He had never once lost his cool before. She supposed that having his child be born was a bigger thing than conquering evil.
Suddenly, the contractions began. Keandra let out a high-pitched squeal that would have broken glass if any was around. “Oh my shiiiiiiiit!!” she screamed. She clutched both Dehneese’s and Albion’s hands and practically shattered their bones.
“It’s okay, silly girl,” Albion said to her sweetly, petting her hair. “It’s going to be okay. Soon you will be holding our baby.”
“Gaahhhh, don’t tell me that!” Keandra shouted at him. “Don’t tell me there’s a light at the end of the tunnel—ARGHHH!!”
She threw her head back and convulsed against the bed. It did not feel like any birth she had ever read about or seen in documentaries. The babies she had seen and read about did not have fucking talons and wings!
Dehneese was calmer than both of them. “Push!” she commanded, moving down to Keandra’s opening so she could watch for the baby’s head or snout or whatever crawled out first.
Keandra pushed, not wanting to spend more time than necessary with the little reptile crawling around inside of her.
“The head is out!” Dehneese suddenly proclaimed, faltering a little bit when she saw how cute he was. “Hello, little one…”
“FOCUUUUUSSSS!”
“Sorry!” Dehneese went back to paying attention to the dilations and contractions, like the studies had taught her.
Albion looked like he was going to be sick.
Keandra could hear something breaking as she gripped his hand and pushed.
Suddenly, there was the sound of something flopping into Dehneese’s outstretched arms.
Waving his injured hand, Albion turned away and threw up into a wastebasket. At least he was considerate enough to do that. Keandra was proud of him for not fainting.
Dehneese focused on getting the baby dragon all cleaned up. She had not been anticipating that Albion’s baby would actually be born in his dragon form. No one had. But a chorus of delight went up as everyone caught a glimpse of the little blueish-purplish baby.
The baby let out a coo sound, and Keandra sat up on the bed. Now that he was out of her, she wanted desperately to see him. Albion took her hand, careful to use the slightly damaged hand so she would not break his other one. The medics were going to have a lot of work cut out for them today.
Grinning and crying a little as the emotion overcame her, Dehneese brought the baby to Keandra and gently laid him down in her arms.
Keandra and Albion started crying along with her when they saw how tiny, adorable and perfect he was.
“Hello,” she whispered to their baby.
He happily closed his eyes and grinned a sharp-toothed grin at her.
“He’s a dragon shifter like me,” Albion said quietly, amazement in his voice.
Their baby crawled around on Keandra’s chest, walking in circles until he finally caught his little tail in his mouth. He soon yawned and went to sleep against her there. She and Albion touched their heads together, fondly watching over him as he slept.
The crowd in the doorway eventually dispersed. There was
going to be a lot of drinking and celebrating tonight. No other couple had made it this far. No other baby was born into the Resistance.
“What are you going to call him?” Dehneese asked Keandra, making sure to speak only in a whisper so she would not wake the baby dragon who slumbered so sweetly on Keandra’s chest.
Keandra looked up at Albion, who looked down at her lovingly.
“Albindaro,” she said, uttering the name she had created for the first time. She loved the way that it sounded on her lips and tongue. A mixture of his parents’ names. A good, strong name for a good, strong boy. “His name is Albindaro.”
* * *
In the weeks that followed Albindaro’s birth, the baby dragon grew bigger and stronger. Finally, one day, he shifted for the first time. As a humanoid child, he looked like the perfect mixture between his mother and his father. He had light brown hair, green-gold eyes and skin that was robin’s egg blue.
Keandra’s favorite thing about her son shifting and being strong enough to chill out for a while without needing her was that she was finally about to go out on missions with Albion. Dehneese was the first one to offer to babysit the half-Gekkota, half-human.
“I have never taken care of a baby before,” she said. “But I have read about it, and I am sure I will be fine.”
Laughing a little, Keandra nodded at her. “You will be. It’s not very hard to take care of Albindaro. Especially here, where you’re surrounded by other people who can help you.”
Keandra looked around and realized that Albindaro was nowhere to be found. He was not in his crib or his play area or even his feeding chair.
Dehneese started to freak out. “Has he been abducted by an enemy??”
Before panicking, Keandra thought rationally about the situation. “Wait, wait… I think I know where he is.”
She left the Resistance encampment and, sure enough, there was her son. He was sitting in his father’s arms on top of one of the mountain’s many dark gray boulders. Keandra laughed a little and climbed up there to join them. “There you are,” she said. “I thought that one of the Hoths had taken you both away.”