by Viola Grace
Argo frowned. “What is that?”
Maya stated calmly. “That is me. Was me. I think that Dr. Lylwin is engaged in the full disclosure portion of the union.”
“This was Maya’s last day as a full, whole human.”
She watched herself move around the control room, and the moment that she saw the first flick of an alarm, she got on the coms and got her guys out with only the fire team heading to see if they could stop the alarm. The explosion rocked the rig, and she continued to talk her teams through the blast and to safety. When she ordered everyone to bail, she had her hand on the door when it exploded inward, crushing her and then engulfing her and the monitor in a fireball.
Maya exhaled. “That was a rough day at work.”
The next footage she hadn’t seen. A streak followed the collapsing rig into the water, and there was silence. When the water boiled upward, Maya’s charred body was being lifted from the wreck. Minerva pressed her lips to Maya’s forehead, and the broken body began to breathe again.
The next image was of her in hospital, bandaged and on a ventilator. Maya murmured, “And I was stuck with the channel they picked.”
Her sister clutched her hand and sobbed, muttering about contacting the Volunteer Project again to see if they could do something.
She was being wheeled out on a gel bed.
The next image was her in the tank with wires and tubes everywhere. In a freaky time-lapse, her limbs straightened, and her hair grew. Even her skin came back. The conversations with Imbolt were silent, but the celestial avatar talked to her frequently.
The next shot was her getting the Relitan makeover with occasional UV design checks that she slept through. After that, there were shots of her working out, culminating in her working on flips with Ytal.
Hiirin looked at her. “You are just lucky to be here.”
Maya shrugged. “I have already been dead once, and it was not fast.”
Hiirin blinked. “I was not threatening you. I admire your will to live. I want to imagine the possibility of my people continuing generations after I am gone. You imagined a possibility where you could move and breathe and see again. Do you understand how desperate we are?”
“Desperate enough to knock up three of your guardians on the same day.” She looked at the guys. “If Lylwin did what I think he did. They have two months to figure out who gets to be preggers and who gets a surrogate.”
Thud asked calmly. “What did he do?”
“Ovarian stimulation. Terrans use it to increase the number of eggs released.”
“Did it hurt?”
“It made me dizzy, and I will be moody as hell when it happens.”
Argo asked, “How will we be able to tell?”
Maya looked to Hiirin. “So, as fun as this has been, why am I here?”
Hiirin leaned against the table and smiled. “I have an offer to make you.”
Maya shrugged in Thud’s embrace. “Please proceed. I am not going anywhere.”
His mother grinned and laid out her plan. It was going to be intense, but it would solve her problem and let her live her life at the same time.
Maya left the boardroom and headed to the experimental lab. Morker and Salya were waiting for her. Ytal was nearby, and he watched as she put on the band, pushed the button, and the battle suit appeared. She pulled the batons out of the boots, and the handles and blades extended.
Morker looked at her with shining eyes. “I think I just came.”
Salya looked at her. “Me, too.”
Ytal smiled. “We were making a suit for you the whole time?”
“No, but these components make an excellent whole.” She turned to Ytal. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”
He bowed. “Of course.”
She snapped the blades in and collapsed the batons. She hauled him into Morker’s office and deactivated the listening devices that Morker kept on just in case.
“I don’t know how to ask you something beneath your dignity.” She looked at Ytal.
He raised his brows. “That must be something.”
“Right. Well, I am in need of two things. A surrogate—”
“Done.”
She paused. “What?”
“I agree to be a surrogate for any of your court. What else?”
“Uh, we need a nanny? The girls are going to start showing up fast, and the first egg will be here in two months and five days.”
“Done. As long as the pay is comparable, I already have the security clearances to work anywhere on the planet.”
Ytal stepped toward her. “May I eventually share your bed?”
“Ah, the doctor told me about that. We have to wait until you have been the surrogate for one of the guardians. The hormone bump should knock you up a few notches and give you a chance at a daughter of your own.”
His eyes widened. “I will give you a rubdown every night for a decade for a chance at a daughter.”
He looked her over. “Especially if you are wearing that outfit.”
“Good because I am leaving the base, and I still need a trainer.”
“Where are you going?”
“Who else wears black, silver, and leather?”
He caught on. “Oh, wow. Active duty?”
“No, it is more like being a reserve. I do need to set a good example for the girls, though, so...” She held her arms out and smiled. “I need to get better at the batons.”
He grinned. “I know a combat trainer that could help you out. He’s middle caste and might be interested in the same offer.”
She frowned. “Well, we will need at least two. The governor convinced me to take on Dr. Lylwin after this cycle, so that should be a pretty solid court. Right?”
“If Hai-ran agrees, it will definitely be a solid court.”
“Great. I just want to get my life settled and continue digging through databases.”
“Something tells me that things around you are never going to settle.”
She had a horrible feeling that he was right.
Chapter Fourteen
One week after meeting the governor, she was looking at the scan on her tablet.
Heron’s voice chirped. “What are you looking at, Maya?”
“The end of my life as I know it.” She groaned.
The com lit up. “Command Control, we need intel.”
“Define intel, Thud.”
“Did the results of the scan come through?”
“Confirmed. Thud, confirmed.” She heard a whoop on the line. “Wave, confirmed. Shock, confirmed.” The guys were laughing and congratulating each other.
Heron chuckled. “They sound excited.”
Thud asked, “Is Heron there?”
“Confirmed.”
Thud’s voice came through the speaker. “Heron, you are going to have a little sister.”
Heron’s eyes got wide, and he pressed against Maya’s chair. “When?”
“One month after your birthday, little buddy.” Maya smiled.
“That is forever.”
“It will feel that way for your dad. He’s going to be carrying your sister.”
Heron’s eyes widened. “Can I carry it?”
“No, sweety. You are too young. You have to be a grownup with a queen of your own before you can carry a baby.” She smiled. “It will be soon enough.”
Thud spoke, “You can help me take care of Maya. She is going to be really cranky for a while.”
Heron asked without prompting, “How can you tell?”
“Command Control, out.”
She disconnected the call and got up, looking down at Heron.
He looked up at her with his father’s serious gaze. “Uncle Argo said it would be funny.”
One week after Virtel and Caloff had been reassigned to a different talent, she was breathing easier. Keeping her mind on Relita was simple compared to watching three worlds day or night. Hiirin had been e
xpecting her to give in and give up, but once she realized that she took her job seriously, they handed her the three days and directed Huron toward her. Heron had been genuinely lost and in distress. It just sped up their meeting.
She had been chosen to give Hiirin the designation of queen bringer. She would go down in history as the originator of a wave of queens. Maya was already referred to as queen bearer. Hiirin had written a memoire, and she was going to make sure that life imitated art.
With the guys on the way back to the base, she looked at Heron. “Wanna go for a ride?”
He grinned. “Will Dad let me?”
“Let me check.” She opened her broadcast com and found Thud. “Command Control, requesting permission to take the minor on a joyride?”
“Permission denied.”
She looked at Heron. “Sorry. I should not have offered. The answer is no.”
“Command Control. We are five minutes out. We can go when I get home.”
Shock hijacked the line. “Negative. She has a therapy session.”
“Damn it!” She growled. “Command Control, out.”
She had successfully dodged therapy for the whole week, but now, Shock was not only home, but he had his day off. It was a locked day, which meant he was not allowed to take a mission, as opposed to an unlocked day where he could get an emergency call.
Heron frowned. “You look mad.”
She pouted and stroked his hair. “I have to stay home, too.”
“Go to Ytal, and he will rub your back. That always makes you feel better.”
She smiled. “I don’t think that will work today. Let’s go find some sweets.”
He grinned and took her hand as they left her office and went down to the kitchens.
Hai-ran had passed his clearances, and he had been getting situated for the last few hours. He had gone from a decorated member in the governor’s military to her combat and arms trainer when he wasn’t working as the guardians’ cook.
Heron sprinted into the kitchen ahead of her and yelled, “Hai-ran, do we have any cookies?”
Maya came up behind him and held his shoulders. “Manners, Heron. Hai-ran, if there are any cookies available, we would be interested in investigating.”
The huge, dark-grey man with the ice-grey eyes smiled. “Of course, my que—Maya.”
She smiled. “The guys are going to be home in five minutes, so I really need to hit and run.”
Hai-ran blinked. “Run?”
Heron followed Hai-ran to the cookies and got two. “Yeah, Maya has to talk to Uncle Boran in his official capacity. That’s what Dad said.”
Heron walked back to Maya and offered her the spare cookie.
She took it and nibbled on the edge. She heard the shuttle land and said, “Gotta go.”
Hai-ran’s arms were around her without her seeing him move. He murmured in her ear. “You need an outlet. Everyone here gets psych assessments. Why should you be any different?”
“Because I am fairly sure you don’t see your therapist as sexually attractive.” She hissed, and he let her go in surprise. She thought it was surprise until she was wrapped in arms that sent crackles of sensation along her skin.
Boran kissed her neck. “That is the issue?”
“Most of it. Yeah. You guys looked so appalled when you saw the images of me. I haven’t gotten more than a nocturnal cuddling since.” She muttered it as she leaned back against him.
He paused. “You still want us?”
“Has the session started yet? I am not telling you any of this in the kitchen.”
Boran lifted her into his arms, and she saw Huron and Argo as they walked by. They headed to Boran’s office, and he kicked the door closed. He settled her on his lap.
“Aren’t I supposed to be sitting over there?”
“You fit here, so sit here.”
She looked up at him, and his pale-grey eyes were intense.
“So, your body is still interested? Your pheromones didn’t change, and we don’t know how your species works, so we guessed you were similar to the queens of Relita.”
She grimaced. “They lose interest in you when they have your pod.”
“Precisely.”
She rubbed the back of her neck. “Um. That isn’t the case with my species. I thought you guys weren’t interested after seeing the images of my reset.”
He tensed under her. “No, that is not the case. We were reacting as we have been instructed to do.”
“In the classes that you took.”
He stroked her arm. “Precisely.”
“Right. I didn’t get that briefing. My hormones might dip for a week but not if I am pregnant. So, to my mind, I had three men that I developed a lot of affection for in a very short amount of time, and then, they went from treating me like a lover to a pet.”
She felt his wince, so she continued. “So, now I have the little ones underway. The pods are lined up in order of fertilization, and it is going to be a torturous two months.”
He sighed. “That can be corrected. We did not think you would want our attention while our pods were inside you.”
“I can’t sense pheromones. I am touch-dependent. I am also very new here. I contact-dependant on guessing if there is any affection or lust. I honestly have no idea.”
He stiffened under her in surprise. “How do your people manage?”
“We live in close quarters, talk a lot, and the lies filter through. Partners betray each other looking for the better option, hearts are broken, souls are wounded, decisions made.”
“Is that how you ended up in that explosion?”
She grimaced. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You have been ordered into therapy by the governor. Talk.”
She explained about the ex-boyfriend when she was in high school, the cheating, the pregnancy, and the loss. After that, it was a long series of men telling her that she was too much, too intense, too intelligent, too ferocious, and too demanding in bed. So, she had gone into heavy work where being loud, aggressive, and physical got her raise after raise until she had been in the control room when the rig exploded.
“And you know the rest.”
Boran was quiet. “So, what you need from us...”
“How can I ask without asking, and how can you turn me down without saying any words?” She swallowed.
“Why would we turn you down?”
“I don’t know. Why are we having this chat, to begin with? I know why I am here now. It isn’t flattering, but the governor and I have that agreement. A minimum of six per year for ten years, and Lylwin will give me my own stash of the three-year suppressor until age stops the process.”
Boran sighed. “She didn’t tell you that the process doesn’t stop for you here; it just slows down.”
She rubbed her neck. “Why is there so much secrecy about Relitan biology?”
“Five hundred years ago, we went to war with an invading force with a thick theology. Males who bore children were obscene, so they decided to stamp us out. They did not succeed, but their purge of our people did a bit of damage. We came together under one governor and have been under her descendants ever since. Since other species object to our biology, we do not share it. We do not speak of it with outsiders, and in your case, we have forgotten that you are not one of us.”
She looked up at him, and he was so handsome that part of her soul melted. Who knew that it was located between her thighs?
He inhaled sharply, and his pupils flared. “I see what you were referring to. Do you really find me desirable?”
“I don’t take people I am not attracted to. Why?”
“We are all slightly off our species specifications. No one wants a court made of talents, but you don’t seem to have an issue with it.”
She grimaced. “I am slightly off my species specifications. We are well-matched there.”
“And the governor found a queen for us across
the stars.” Boran smiled. “That is enough for today. We will meet again tomorrow. I will put it in your calendar.”
He eased her off his lap and cleared his throat. “We should get dressed for dinner. Hai-ran has really outdone himself.”
She sniffed, but she just smelled cooking. The details escaped her. Her shoulder’s slumped, and she nodded. “See you at dinner, Boran.”
She left his office and headed to her quarters down the side stairs. She didn’t want to go through the kitchen; she could hear the guys talking and laughing.
Maya opened her closet with the three dresses and decided to skip dinner. She wasn’t in the mood to dress up, and each outfit had memories attached that weren’t really calming.
She needed to go for a walk, so she climbed out her window, crossed the roof, headed to the area near the gym, and crept down the climbing wall. Once she was down, she headed for the walking paths that she and Heron used. She walked for half an hour until she sat at the edge of the cliff and watched the moons rise.
“Command Contr—Maya here. I am fine. I am just thinking and watching the moonrise.”
Huron’s voice came from behind her. “We know. Thank you for notifying us, though.”
She turned, and he was crouched near a tree, wearing blue and white. “Hey, Huron.”
“Boran says we have been torturing you without knowing it.”
She chuckled and turned back to the view. “Interesting description but accurate. I am definitely confused and frustrated, so...”
“Why didn’t you mention it?”
She glanced at him. “I had absolutely no idea how to bring it up. You all cuddled and kissed me like a doll, but there was nothing else there, so I had no idea if it was normal or not. By the time a week had passed, I had guessed definitely not. So, it was only going to be two months until it happened again. I can wait, as long as I know, I am waiting.”
He moved and sat next to her. “How much is normal for your species?”
“My species or me?”
“You.”
She blushed and turned her face to the moons. “When I had a partner, I would have sex an average of fourteen times a week.”
He shuddered. “How many partners was that?”