by Reagan Woods
“You’re almost two weeks pregnant. Congratulations, mama!” Priya grinned from ear to ear, finally looking up at Arianna.
Her brain refused to work. Surely, she hadn’t heard what she thought she heard. She couldn’t possibly be pregnant.
“I think I have a gadget that will let us see the little sea monkeys,” Priya excitedly began digging through her bag.
“Monkeys? Plural?” Arianna finally found her voice.
She stuck her head between her knees. This constant dizziness and shock was becoming a disturbingly regular event in her life. She needed to find some normalcy. Fast.
“Definitely two peas in the pod,” Priya nodded. “Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. You’ll be fine.”
Arianna wasn’t so sure. She sat up, horrified, “Have the CORANOS developed a nice, easy way to give birth?”
“Sorry. That’s a no. It’s still pretty much push them out or C-section.”
Arianna felt the blood drain from her face. “Have you seen the size of my mate? One baby might kill me. Two definitely will. He’s eight feet tall if he’s an inch. I’m only five six on a good day,” her voice rose hysterically. Another alarming thought occurred to her, “Darvan mentioned other Earth women carried Corian fetuses. Have there actually been any live births, yet?”
“Nope. There are a few further along than you are, but everything I’ve seen indicates that these children are healthy and viable. My lab has done quite a bit of genetic testing on the embryos. The tests indicated that breeding with Corians dramatically decreased the incidences of genetic disease to, like, zero,” Priya informed.
“Everything alright in there? Do you need some help?” Balcar tried to open the door.
“Go away!” they both shouted.
“Calm. Down. Remember your breathing,” Priya sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“I’m sure I’ll be hearing you say that a lot over the next few months,” Arianna tried to find the humor in the situation, leaning into her friend’s embrace for support.
“I’m sure you will,” Priya chuckled. “Look on the bright side, you’ll be like the Pope, the Dali Lama and Jesus Himself all rolled into one for these people.”
Arianna highly doubted that. Her mate didn’t want her and her mother-in-law, while nice, had been clearly disappointed in her son’s choice of mate. “What makes you say that?”
“Your twins are girls,” Priya squealed delightedly, giving Arianna an excited squeeze.
“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” She asked drily, giving Priya a speaking look.
Priya thought about it for just enough time to make her nervous.
“Nope. I think that about covers it.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Darvan had called on his family’s many allies for their support but it hadn’t had the desired effect. The time had arrived to tell his mate that she was still considered a person of interest in the High Council’s inquest into Jorkan’s defection. While he was selfishly glad she still needed his protection, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to adequately shield her. The Council was desperate for someone to punish and they saw her as their easiest target.
He paused outside the door to his private quarters wishing he could go back and undo his decision to use her to distract Jorkan. But wishing wasn’t going to make the threat go away.
He hadn’t been able to locate her on any of the camera feeds for quite some time, so he assumed she was sleeping. He wasn’t proud of it, but he wanted to put off telling her that the Council was going to vote on bringing her to trial until tomorrow. According to Darkan, who had covertly polled his fellow Councilors, it seemed as though she would be tried.
She emerged from the sleeping room to greet him as soon as he walked in the door. “I expected you to be asleep,” he said gruffly, dismayed that they’d likely have another argument. He pinched the bridge of his nose, imagining it. She’d offer him an annulment and try to leave him again. He’d lose his temper because she wasn’t very good at hiding her desire to be with her former lover again.
“And I was waiting up to speak with you,” she retorted tiredly, indicating that he should follow her into the sitting area.
“I spoke with Balcar, it seems they were able to straighten your illness out?” he said the first thing that came to mind as he took the chair across from where she sat, still fully clothed, shining hair tumbling over the knees she’d drawn up to grasp in front of her.
“Yes, he also let slip that most of your warriors believe I’ll be tried for aiding the Ventix soon,” she gave him a pointed look. “But we’ve got more important things to deal with right now,” she flipped a little holodisk she’d hidden in her hand over to him.
Catching it, he activated the moving image within, squinting to make out the strange picture. “What is it?” How could two squiggly lines be more important than her life?
“The appropriate question is ‘who are they?’” She corrected with a small smile and a catch in her voice.
“Who are they?” he echoed, confused.
“Those are our daughters,” she said quietly.
After a few beats, the impact of her words sank in. “What?”
“I’m pregnant,” her words were quiet, as if she didn’t really want him to hear. She cleared her throat and said in a stronger voice, “The headaches and nausea are what we call morning sickness on Earth.”
She looked very unsure and scared, huddled up in the over-sized chair, big green eyes wary and watchful. His heart contracted painfully in his chest when he realized that she was apprehensive about his reaction to her good news.
“That’s wonderful news,” he was in front of her in one long stride. Gripping either arm of her chair, he knelt so they were face to face. “You’ve made me the luckiest male in all of the universe,” he reached out a hand to wipe at the tear streaking down her face. “Please don’t cry, Arianna. It’ll be alright.”
“I’m so scared,” she sobbed, pretty face crumbling.
That made two of them.
He was fiercely glad that his seed had taken hold in his beautiful mate, children would tie her to him permanently. Two daughters was more than any male in his race could rationally hope for. And he stood to lose all three of his females in one fell swoop if he didn’t figure this mess out.
“And now your family is going to be drug through the mud because of me. You’ll be off fighting. I’ll be incarcerated at the very least. What will happen to my babies?”
He gathered her to him and held her small body while she cried herself out. She hadn’t broken down in all the time that he’d known her. Yes, she’d cried in her sleep, but, awake, she’d pushed through every obstacle thrown her way. So much had changed for her so rapidly, but she’d soldiered on, making even his toughest warriors seem weak in comparison.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffed, leaning away to wipe her eyes. She moved further back into the chair, as if embarrassed to have taken the comfort he offered.
“For what?” he asked softly. He intended to set her straight on a few things as soon as he saw his opening.
“For blubbering all over you. I intended to have a rational discussion with you, not to dump my emotional turmoil on you,” she gave an awkward chuckle and rushed on. “I think we need to figure some things out. I realize that you don’t want my love and can’t give me yours, but, surely, you’ll love our little girls?”
“What?” He shook his head in denial, not understanding how she’d come to that conclusion. If anything, he’d told her over and over again that she was his.
“You made it very clear this morning,” hurt flashed in her eyes and she rushed on. “But that doesn’t matter now. What matters is that we have two little lives that need stability and consistency.”
“I agree,” he saw his opening. “Arianna, we will be good parents. We will get through misunderstandings like the one we had this morning. We will love our children. I don’t ha
ve to promise to try to love you. I already do,” he watched the tears roll down her pale face and hoped he was being clear. He knew she couldn’t love him back, but he wanted her to know she was cherished and loved by him.
“I –“
He cut her off, “Don’t say anything now, my love. Your strength and bravery were such a surprise to find in one so small and beautiful.”
“Darvan –“
“You are everything I have ever wanted in a mate and I took the first opportunity I could find to make you mine. I know you love another, but give me a chance,” he pleaded.
“I don’t love anyone else.”
I will be a good mate. I will find a way to protect you, all of you,” he swore.
“I’m trying to tell you that I love you.”
Darvan felt her words all the way to his soul. Something hard and knotted inside of him eased, becoming softer, making him believe that the future would take care of itself. There wasn’t anything he could do to sway the council vote now. They’d just have to wait and see what happened. Whatever the outcome, they’d face it together.
And, if the outcome was unfavorable, he would take his mate someplace far beyond the CGA’s reach. He would allow nothing to come between them. Ever. “You don’t have to worry about any of this. Whatever happens, we’ll have each other. That’s more than enough for me.”
He swept his beautiful mate up into his arms and strode purposefully for the sleeping room. Now that they were learning to communicate better verbally, he felt the need to reinforce their physical connection. He wouldn’t ever get enough of being Arianna’s alien.
Epilogue
Neutral space just outside the boundaries of the Ventix Empire
Vast blackness pressed in on Lyon. He could feel the cold nothingness of space shifting and rubbing against the outer hull of his craft. The endless night always waited, watching for an opportunity to strike, to end them. Fate and the darkness whispered in unused corners of the small craft, conspiring to deny them their vengeance. He grew weary of waiting for the time to act. He needed to seek revenge. For his king. For his brothers. For himself.
Born to fight, his kind weren’t meant for months of inactivity, let alone, the years of boredom he’d endured. He trained brutally in the small gym every morning and, again, after his shift at night, sparring with the droids. Weapons training, hand-to-hand, anything to mete out violence, envision justice.
“Getting antsy?” Lara strode onto the command deck to relieve him, immediately switching the view on the screen to an active pan around the ship.
Barely reaching his chest, the little female knew no fear. She was small but fiercely loyal to their king, wholly dedicated to the cause. Her complete disregard for personal safety would likely lead to her death in the coming war. As he’d trained her, Lyon had tried to teach her the merit of survival, but Lara had calmly informed him that she had nothing and no one to live for. She’d take as many of the murdering bastards as she could out with her when the time came. The brave lady warrior didn’t plan on surviving what was ahead, embraced her fate with an almost disturbing gusto. He’d loved her spirit from that day forward. She was the sister of his heart, if not of his blood.
“You have no idea.”
“Well, you can go knock the snot out of a few unsuspecting droids now. I’m sure this shift will be as uneventful as the last thirty have been,” she began systematically reviewing the logs he’d just completed. Lara was nothing if not conscientious where her ship mates were concerned.
“If this keeps up, we’ll have to go find another vessel to relieve of its freight” he bared his teeth in a fierce smile.
“Anything to end the boredom,” she grinned back at him.
A sensor alarm began to ding, then another, and another. The whole command deck escalated to high alert status in a matter of seconds, brining Zocan and Ssszit rushing to help.
“It looks like a worm hole is forming precariously close to TLI 359. Shit. It’s directly between us and the planet,” Lara reported. “What are the odds of that? One in several trillion, at least.”
“Fuck,” Zocan gritted out from the nav screen. “Strap down. Brace for impact in ten.”
Grabbing the restraint harness, Lyon jumped into the pilot’s chair and surveyed his small crew. They were all ready to ride the shock wave. Avoiding it from this position wasn’t possible and they’d be lucky to survive it. He ran his fingers over the controls, sending them into hyperspace, hoping to minimize the damage to his crew and their craft. He prayed to all the gods he knew of that they’d be safe.
His prayers weren’t enough. A horrifying hour later, Lyon brought them out of hyper drive. He wiped a hand across his brow as they slowed, coming away with copious amounts of blood. Even harmless objects took on lethal speed under the conditions they’d just endured. Living organisms weren’t meant for externally accelerated hyper drive, they were lucky to be alive.
To his left, Zocan wiped at the oozing cuts on his own golden face absently. He was Lyaran, like Lyon, a large, sturdy man. Zocan’s concerned gaze shot past Lyon. Turning to his right, Lyon’s view of Lara was blocked by the scaly armor of Ssszit’s muscular form. He bent over Lara’s chair, giving ominous chirping whirrs of distress.
“I will carry her to medical. Hopefully, a regen bed is still in working order. She’s lost too much blood,” the Tixerian’s voice sounded inside Lyon’s head.
Ssszit cradled Lara’s small body delicately in his arms. His distress whirrs taking on a soothing rhythm, he moved in a near-blur out of command.
Lyon’s eyes followed the spattered blood trail backwards to Lara’s chair. What he saw there made him sick. Even if a regen bed had made it unscathed through the wild buffeting, he wasn’t sure that Lara could be saved. Bright red blood dripped and splashed from her chair into a spreading puddle on the silver floor.
“We’ve been blessed. Medical is in remarkably good shape, all things considered. I was able to make contact with Lara’s mind before the bed took her under. She’s in pain but she’ll fight. You need to start clean up and repairs immediately. We have guests coming,” Ssszit’s mental voice commanded.
Pressing the com button for medical Zocan asked, “From the wormhole?”
“Yes. One of them has remarkably similar brain structure to our Lara.”
“How many?” Lyon asked.
“Three in total.”
“Enemies or friendly?”
“I cannot yet tell. They are in worse condition than our Lara. Time is of the essence.”
“I’m glad he’s on our side,” Zocan attempted a smile as he stood and limped to check the engine monitor. “Did you hear him last night?”
“No. I was sound asleep. Why?” Lyon knew Zocan was trying to distract their minds from the worry that threatened paralysis. Lara had come to mean a lot to each of them in different ways. She’d taught Lyon that females could be fierce and loyal, cunning and clever.
“Something is interfering with Ssszit’s sleep. That high-pitched scream he makes when in psychic pain isn’t comfortable to hear, I can’t imagine how much it hurts to generate a sound like that.”
“Races with strong psychic abilities take a lot of risk leaving themselves open to the environment around them. He keeps his shields down so he can keep us safe from approaching life forms, but maybe we should talk to him about sleeping with his mental shields up,” Lyon suggested.
“We were lucky. This damage can be repaired easily enough,” Zocan finished his analysis of the hyper drive.
“Same here,” Lyon pressed the button to release the repair drone into space. It would quickly patch and mend any damage to the cere shields and the energy field. The shields, field and repair bot were all top-of-the-line CORANOS technology. Who said pirating didn’t pay?
Several exhausting hours later, Ssszit rejoined them on the command deck, “Lara has stabilized. We must return to TLI 359. The life signs that came through the wormhole are fading quickly.”
&
nbsp; “Strap in to be safe,” Lyon ordered gruffly. They were taking a chance on the newly repaired systems and he didn’t wish to endanger his friends again.
When he brought them out of their high-speed jump, he simply stared at the ship on the view screen for a few minutes. They were all silent, contemplating the best course of action.
“You have to be fucking kidding me,” Lyon finally turned to Ssszit, confused.
“I assure you that I am not. The ruined battleship houses a Corian and a Doranos. There is a small craft somewhere nearby with a female – I am unfamiliar with her exact origin but she is similar to Lara. Her life signs are not encouraging.”
“Why not?” Zocan shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to plunder the tech from a CORANOS war bird.”
“Save the female first,” Ssszit’s mental voice snapped – a rare show of impatience from the Tixerian.
Slowly Zocan nodded at Lyon, “Okay. The female first. Let’s do this.”
From the Author
I hope you enjoyed Ariana’s Alien as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, I hope you’ll take a moment to rate it on the site you purchased from. Thank you for reading! I’m always on Facebook and I’d love to hear from you! https://www.facebook.com/ReaganWoodsRomanceWriter
You can leave comments or feedback on my web-site, too! www.reaganwoods.com
I look forward to connecting with you.
All the best,
Reagan
Coming Soon
Found Earth Neverafter Book 4 – Coming April 2018
Lacy Callaghan has had it up to here with the CORANOS alien invaders, she’s tired of playing by their rules. When she’s hustled out of the Texas work camp, she thinks it could be her lucky day, the day she breaks out of captivity. But Jorkan and his co-conspirators have other plans for her. When Lacy is abducted and her abductor’s scheme gets derailed, she faces certain death. Rescued by pirates, her only company is the other hostage, Bram, a Doranos tracker. He’s not her favorite alien, but she does appreciate all he’s done to keep her safe and alive. Until she realizes the pirates have traded her to the surly Bram in exchange for completing a dangerous mission. If he fails, she’ll be sold to the highest bidder.