by T. S. Ryder
She squeezed her eyes shut tight and pretended that she was still sleeping, and this was nothing more than a dream.
Chapter Two
Shay held his hands behind his back, his chin on his chest as his lungs filled with smoke. It had been months since he had been able to do a proper cleanse, and it felt good to let the fires in his belly burn hot, to let steam and smoke exhale from under his scales, burning away the pollutants that had accumulated in his system during his time on Earth.
His thoughts turned to Gemma–he had been wrong to take her like he had. He knew that now. Revealing his true identity first would have been the right course of action. He had just been so excited to know that she carried his child, he'd lost his head.
It was a disturbing show of emotion. His grandfather had always told him that his tendency for emotion was his greatest stumbling block. He'd had to fight for his position, showing that he could be emotional and logical both. It hadn't been easy, but here he was, Science Alpha of a research vessel.
He had been planning on telling Gemma his true name soon. But her reaction to his true form was disturbing–now he wasn't sure she would even want to stay with him. He couldn't share his true name, that deep part of himself, with someone who wasn't going to stay with him for the rest of his life. Gemma wouldn't understand the importance of his true name yet, anyway.
Silly superstition, he thought, scoffing at his own desire to share his true name with another person. For having a true name at all. But even if it was a silly superstition with no basis in science, it was important to him.
Shay blew out a deep breath, exhaling the last of the smoke from his chest. Somehow he would make this up to Gemma. He had to.
When he stepped from the cleansing room, he saw somebody waiting for him. Wynon, the dragoness the Science Board appointed as his second on his ship. She carried an info link and averted her eyes while he pulled on the scarlet robes that indicated his rank. She wore green, designating her as a Science Chief. The color clashed horribly with her aqua scales.
Human shyness when it came to nudity had been one of the things that had surprised Shay the most. Among Stlozyn, if one didn't want to look at another's naked body, they merely adverted their eyes. It wasn't difficult.
"Science Alpha."
She bowed towards him, holding out the info link.
Science Alpha. Shay smiled at the title. He had worked long and hard to earn that rank, to be given his own research ship. The only way he could improve his rank now was to sit on the Science Board itself–something he fully intended to do. He was determined to be the youngest dragon to ever be appointed to that prestigious position.
"These are the results of my fertility tests?"
"And the DNA scans of the fetus in the human."
"Gemma," Shay growled lightly. "Her name is Gemma, and you will refer to her as such."
Wynon bowed her head. Shay took the info link and set the small database against his wrist, snapping it into place before withdrawing the transference spike from its place. He set the spike against the base of his skull, wincing as it pierced through flesh and connected with his neurological systems.
A flood of information poured into his mind and he closed his eyes, letting it all settle before he tried to make sense of it. When the information was properly organized, the fires in Shay's stomach leaped higher.
Two things were very clear. One, he should not be able to father children. His own bout with the disease that plagued his people had made his genetic material too weak. Second, the child that Gemma carried was his. It was undeniable.
His heart lightened, swelling with joy. He had always wanted to have a child, and now the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on would give him one. The scans indicated the baby was perfectly healthy, in the third month of development. Gemma also wasn't suffering any unexpected health effects. The weight of worry left him. They were both healthy.
He removed the info link, wincing as it came out. Infolinks were the most efficient way to upload large amounts of information directly to the brain, but the little spike grazed nerve endings that made most unaccustomed users faint. Shay was proud to say he had never experienced such an embarrassing show of weakness, although the first time he'd used an infolink, it had driven him to his knees.
"Have the information relayed back to Bronæl," he ordered Wynon, "along with the rest of my research from Earth."
She saluted him and spun on her heel, marching away. Shay hurried to Gemma's room. As soon as she had woken, he’d had her moved to a more comfortable location, no longer needing to monitor her condition in the medical bay. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer.
"Gemma, it is me. Shay."
"Go away."
Shay's eyes widened slightly and he drew back a step, hurt by her dismissal. "Gemma—"
"I want to be alone right now."
Shay's brow furrowed. "I will be back later, then."
There was no response.
It was more than likely that she was still very upset with him. And it was no wonder, either. After all, as she had said herself, he had abducted her. The ways of Stlozyn were very different to those of humans.
Mental acuity was more highly praised than physical prowess among his people, but it was still common practice for higher ranking individuals to simply bring their mates to their own homes when a child was conceived, and he had acted in that manner, not thinking about the effects it would have on her.
He understood why Gemma would not be happy with him for his actions. After all, she’d only just found out he wasn't human, and certainly didn't know anything of their customs. He had acted impulsively, and that had harmed their relationship. He would have to give her time to come to terms with all of this and regain her trust.
"If you need me, just call and I'll get the message."
No answer.
Shay turned on his heel and headed towards his command deck, hands in his pockets. He only hoped that it wouldn't take too long to win her back–even this short time separated from her felt like an eternity.
When Shay reached the command deck, all of the crew snapped to attention until he told them to return to their duties. A few of the higher-ranking individuals congratulated him on his coming child, and Shay allowed himself to beam as he thanked them. A child. This was happy news indeed.
Wynon was the only one who wasn't smiling as Shay ordered a return to their home world. She stepped up beside him as they activated the tesseract, taking them into string space. This dimension allowed them to travel at speeds billions of times faster than light while not experiencing the temporal distortion that had plagued early faster-than-light missions.
"Sir, may I speak with you in private?" Wynon asked, under her breath.
Shay nodded to her and lead the way to his ready room. Inside was a large meeting table, but neither Stlozyn sat at it. A heavy frown was on the dragoness' face, and she did not look at her Alpha.
"What was it you wanted to say, Science Chief?"
He really did need to find a way to speak with Gemma. Even though she didn't want to see him at the moment, he needed to let her know what to expect when they reached Bronæl. Children were highly celebrated, especially these days when the disease was making conception harder and harder to achieve. She would be greatly honored when they arrived, and it might be overwhelming for his little human. She was calm and confident, but easily drained by crowds.
"Sir, this child carried by the hum–Gemma may indicate a cure for the fertility plaguing our people."
Shay nodded, his eyes shining. "I did tell the Science Board that humans were the key to fixing our fertility problems. It will take some further synthesis and testing, but I believe their DNA will provide a cure for this plague."
"That is not what I mean."
Shay's eyes narrowed. Wynon was not his choice of Science Chief. He would have preferred one of his friends from the University, but the Science Board always appointed the Science Chief to resea
rch vessels. She was respectful, as was her place, but it was clear that she still held to the antiquated and disproven belief that dragonesses were less emotional and more intelligent than dragons.
It rankled him. What did he have to do to prove that emotion and intelligence could exist in the same space? Wasn't his research proof of his own mental acuity?
Shay folded his arms. "What do you mean, then?"
"If we could extract physical DNA from the fetus—"
"No." Shay shook his head at once. "It would be too risky, both for the child and Gemma."
Wynon folded her arms, her expression hardening. "You are not thinking about our people, Alpha. What is the life of one fetus or human compared to saving our species from extinction? With the infertility rates this disease is creating, we will die out in only a handful of generations. There are many human dragonesses—"
"Women. Human females are called women."
"Women, then." The dragoness didn't say the word quite right, as though she couldn't get her tongue around it. "There are many women on Earth. If those females take Stlozyn seed the way this one has, then there will be plenty of opportunities to create more children, both for you and many other dragons."
"Your point?"
Wynon's eyes narrowed. "The DNA extraction from this fetus may be able to reverse the disease's effects on you, so you can have a dragoness for a mate."
Shay glared at his second coldly. "For your sake, I will ignore what you have just said. But if you ever insinuate that my child and my human aren't good enough for protection against unethical science practices, I will have your wings. Understood?"
The dragoness stiffened. Her blood-red eyes blazed for a moment before she sank her head in a single nod.
Shay grunted. "Good. Now get back to your station. I am going to go check on Gemma."
"Yes, sir." The dragoness saluted and walked stiffly from the ready room.
Shay's brow furrowed as he watched her go. As soon as they returned to the home world, he was going to request a replacement. The Science Board might not be pleased with him for doing so, but this was a ship. And on his ship, his word was law.
He couldn't have a second who undermined him, especially not when it came to something as critical as Gemma's wellbeing. Suggesting that they perform procedures on the baby when it could not give consent? That was blasphemy, and he wouldn't have it on his ship.
Nothing was more important than his human and their child. Nothing.
Chapter Three
The new room Shay had given Gemma was twice the size of her apartment. It was cozy, decorated in neutral colors and hung with portraits that shifted to different pictures every few minutes. When Gemma tried to touch them, her hand had passed right through. Holographic projections, she guessed. Now that she had had some time to process the whole situation, it was actually quite fascinating.
There was a knock on the door. Shay again.
Gemma sucked in a deep breath, her heart going double time. She knew she should still be furious with him, but she had calmed down enough that she was ready to listen to him. Plus, if she was honest, just hearing his voice was reassuring in this crazy situation.
She couldn’t believe that he had been malevolent when he took her from Earth. There had been lots of times since they met when a cultural element had confused him. Perhaps this was one of those times. Maybe it was something in his culture that made it okay to abduct people. She'd have to tell him that it wasn't, though.
Blowing out her breath, Gemma tucked her legs under her, smoothing down the canary-yellow robe she had been given to replace her flannel PJs. It was the softest fabric she had ever touched, embroidered with patterns of flowers.
"Come in."
Shay stepped in, wearing a red robe that hid the shape of his magnificent body. He offered her a cautious smile, the kind he always gave her when he was unsure if she was angry at him. Gemma smiled back.
"I'm still upset, but not as much as I was," she told him. "It's just a lot to take in."
He nodded deeply and came to sit on the sofa beside her. "I apologize for not telling you about myself before I brought you to my ship. It's just that… well, I should not be able to have children. And yet you are pregnant. It swells my heart, and I admit I did not think my actions through. I acted emotionally, and there is no excuse for it."
"That's okay." Gemma gave him a tense smile. "Just take me back home and we can talk about it."
He shifted. "I'm afraid that's not possible."
Her shoulders tensed and hands clenched. "Why?"
"We are currently on our way to my home planet. I have to deliver my findings to the Science Board, and I would like to get opinions from other bio-medical professionals to make sure I'm reading the scans right and that this pregnancy is normal in every way."
Gemma's shoulders relaxed despite herself. Normal. "So what you're saying is that the hybrid risks aren't actually risks in this case?"
"I see no indication that you or the baby are anything but perfectly healthy."
"Good. Now, what's this Science Board you mentioned?"
"Our highest level of government."
Gemma's brows furrowed. Shay had always had an almost religious approach to all things scientific, but to have a science board ruling over the planet? That was nuts! She shook her head–his culture was different to hers. It wasn't her place to judge.
"Gemma, I want you to know that I love you. I may not have told the truth about everything, but I did about that."
Heat rose into Gemma's cheeks and she dropped her gaze. She'd had plenty of boyfriends before Shay, but none of them had made her feel beautiful the way he did… He didn't mind that her ass was a little too big, or that her breasts were just a tiny bit too small for the rest of her body, or that she had a double chin. When he touched her, he did it with such reverence that he might as well have been touching Aphrodite.
"Don't distract me," she said, shaking her head again. "I know that you love me. That doesn’t mean I shouldn't be angry with you."
"I know. I just want you to know it was never my intention to cause you pain."
"After you give your findings and get the second opinion thing, you'll return me to Earth, right?" Gemma glanced up at him. "I have a life there. I can't just disappear."
But did she really have a life there that wasn't Shay? She had lost her job, and it had been months since any of her friends had called her. She had no family, either. Well, her landlord would miss her when she didn't pay next month's rent, at least. Mr. C was a nice guy. She couldn't let him worry.
Shay's shoulders slumped, but he nodded. "Of course. I acted in haste, but you are right. Your home is Earth. I'm sure I will receive permission to continue to dwell on Earth with you if that's what you want. Only it will be better this time." His eyes lit up and he gave her the dazzling smile that always had her heart melting. "This time, I won't have to hide my true forms from you."
Gemma returned the smile, though her heart was sinking at his enthusiasm. She didn't want to hurt him, but the truth was she wasn't certain if she could continue dating an alien. He was an alien.
"Wait. Forms? Like more than one?"
Shay nodded. "Yes. We have the form you see now, and what we call our beast form, which we can shift into."
"Okay," Gemma muttered, storing that away for later. She still needed to wrap her head around this form, let alone another one.
She was still freaking out in a low-key sort of way, although she had come to terms with the fact he was an alien and she was on an alien spaceship. Technically he had also kidnapped her, but she wasn't so worked up about that anymore. Shay was one of the sweetest men she had ever met, although he could get a little superior when talking about things she didn't understand.
"Are you hungry?" Shay asked.
Gemma shook her head just as her stomach rumbled. Shay laughed and leaned forward, then stopped. His blood-red eyes grew worried and he pulled back.
"Can I still kiss y
ou?"
Gemma bit her lip. This whole situation was nuts. Wasn't it? But despite his scales, Shay's face was exactly the same. There was even that little pucker in the brow above his left eye that appeared when he was worried. She felt herself relaxing, even though she hadn't realized just how tense she still was.
It was still him. Still Shay. She nodded.
Shay pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, and it was the same kiss she knew. The one that made her heart beat faster and made her forget why she was angry with him. She moaned, parting her lips. His tongue darted into her mouth, but as she flung her arms around his neck, Shay pulled away. He was smiling, though, and a deep chuckle vibrated in his chest.
"I think it would be best if we took things a little slower than that, don't you think? You're still getting used to this. I don't want you to move too fast and then freak out."
"I… you're right." Heat flooded Gemma's cheeks. "And I am hungry."
"I'll get something for you."
Gemma settled back as Shay went to the kitchenette. It suddenly struck her as surprising that there were a fridge and stove instead of alien cooking appliances, but then she shrugged. He’d probably had this place custom made for her or something.
One of her hands rested on her belly, and she smiled when she remembered how happy he had been when she had told him she was pregnant. He had actually danced around the apartment. She had been a little afraid–not of the thought of having a child, which was something she always knew she wanted–but that Shay would react badly.
Now he was taking her to his home planet because he was so happy. Knowing that he wanted their baby as much as she did helped the rest of her tension disappear. It would take the time to adjust, but that didn't mean that she couldn't.
"Would you really move back to Earth for me?" she asked, as Shay cracked a couple of eggs into a frying pan. "I mean… you must have family, friends, hopes and dreams and all sorts of things on your own home world. Would you really give it all up?"