“Examination complete,” the computer announced. “Darcy of One has been given the needed inoculations against cancer and diabetes and all other common viral human sicknesses.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” Darcy commented. “Thank you for bringing me in here and making sure I got checked.”
The computer continued to list all of his Bride’s other healthy attributes and finished with…“Darcy of One is pregnant.”
“What? Computer, what did you say? Repeat.”
“Darcy of One is pregnant.”
She reached over and grabbed his claw. Her eyes started to water. “This is what you wanted to show me.”
He squeezed her hand. “Yes. Are you ready to see and hear our offspring?”
“Already? Daxon, we had sex for the first time only two diurnals ago, how is it possible that the computer can scan an embryo this quickly?”
“Our offspring will be half Xylan. The Xylan gestational period is different from that of humans.”
“Oh wow. Computer, what is the Xylan gestational period in comparison to a human’s?”
“Xylan gestational period is six moon cycles. Human gestation is nine moon cycles.”
“Computer, is it possible to scan a visible embryo with heartbeat this soon after conception?”
“Yes.”
She met Daxon’s gaze and gave him a watery smile.
“Are you ready to see our offspring?”
“Yes,” she answered. “So ready.”
“Computer, show visual of the offspring of Daxon of Seven and Darcy of One. Use a holo vid with audio.”
“Affirmed.”
And then a vid popped up in front of them and there was his child for him to view for the first time. A tiny embryo with two hearts swishing back and forth, just like his own.
“Oh my gosh. Oh honey, thank you for this. But you’re sure you’re okay with the fact that your offspring won’t be fully Xylan? Your offspring will be half human and might not have all the Xylan attributes. I know Xylan think humans are primitive…”
“Why would I care? I am thrilled to have offspring who look like their mother. You are my Be’Ih, I am honored to have my Bride and the start of my line.”
She turned to stare at him. “Thank you for this,” she whispered. “And I want you to know something…I love you. So much. You’re aren’t a male I was forced to marry, you’re the male I wanted to marry.”
He placed claw over his hearts. “And I love you too. For all time.”
Epilogue
Eight moon cycles later…
“Mom, this coffee is great,” Darcy said with all sincerity.
Really, it was the best. Like, it could win awards. Darcy’s mom, Maria, grew her own coffee plants, using seeds brought from the original planet. She harvested them, ground them and ran them through a coffee press. The whole artisanal process took a great deal of time and patience, none of which Darcy possessed. Darcy knew she was a terrible gardener, but she was an excellent drinker and admirer of coffee. And she’d never admit this to Daxon, but her mom’s coffee was a thousand times better than that Traq he always made for them to drink in the mornings.
She took another sip of the warm liquid and sighed with happiness.
“I’m happy you love it, baby,” Maria answered.
They were both sitting together on the wide front porch of the main farmhouse, the building her family had lived in for generations. Great-grandfather Horatio had bought this land and their family had spread out to neighboring farms. Hector would one day take over the business. He was still single, but they all hoped he’d one day find someone to fall in love with and then his children would eventually continue their farming unit on into the future.
Thank gods for Hector, because without him she couldn’t have gotten off-planet to meet her own mate. And also, because he was the eldest son who stayed and genuinely wanted to farm this generational land, she was free to leave and live elsewhere with zero guilt. Well, she missed her family desperately, but she was able to contact them using a vid screen. Her parents had been able to take time off and visit her on the Hunter station, meeting her new husband and friends there and seeing where she lived. It had been wonderful being able to keep in contact. She missed their daily presence, but this daily contact was a reasonable replacement and made it easier for her to live off-planet.
A cat purred at her feet, rubbing at her ankle. She chuckled and reached down to pet the back of her favorite kitty. “Hi Abby, girl,” she said, picking up the white and gray cat and placing her in her arms, cradling the cat like a baby. The cat moved its head forward, sniffing Darcy’s lips, the result being that it felt as if the cat was deliberately kissing her.
Maria, Darcy’s mom, spit out her coffee, laughing. “That cat kissed you.”
Darcy smiled down at her precious cat, the one she’d missed the most. “Hey, I can’t help it if Abby loves me so much she wants to kiss me.” And then she kissed the cat back in return on the side of her soft face.
“Well, you’ll love to hear this…she had kittens a few months back.”
“What? Abby, you had kittens and I didn’t know?” She put the cat down on her lap. “I had a baby and you did too? How precious is that? We’re both moms now.”
Darcy had learned from her new husband that the Xylan custom for firstborns was to make the child’s name a derivative of the father’s. So their son’s name was Dax of One.
Her baby wasn’t on the porch with them because he was in a carrier strapped to his father’s wide chest. Daxon had wanted to go on a tour of the agribusiness Hector and her father managed and he’d wanted to take Dax with him. And who was she to argue? A badass miner insisting on not being separated from his son and proudly walking around with a baby carrier strapped to his chest? This man was so sexy to her, he had no idea.
Her mom took a sip of coffee. “You should take one of Abby’s kittens home with you. It can live with you in your quarters.”
Darcy’s eyes widened and she sucked in a breath. That was the best idea she’d ever heard. “Really? Are they old enough?”
“Yeah, they were born a few months ago. I was about to start looking for people to adopt them.”
Her mother would have no problem finding homes for Abby’s kittens. Cats were one of the few animals that had been transplanted with humans from the original planet. Because of this, cats were a protected species. Everyone loved cats and wanted one in their home.
“Do you think they’d let you have a cat in your quarters on the Hunter station?”
Darcy thought about it. “Yeah, I really think they would. Other beings have small pets that are from their own planets. Why couldn’t I have one?”
“Now the biggest question, would Daxon let you have a cat?”
She bit her lip. “I don’t know, but I bet I can convince him.”
“I have an idea to help you with that,” her mom said, winking at her. She stood and set her cup down on a side table. “You want to go with me to the barn? The kittens are out there. We can go pick one and bring it back…”
“Oh Mom, great idea.” Darcy kept the cat in her arms. “Abby, let’s go visit your babies.”
Thirty minutes later Darcy was sitting back on the porch with a whole crate of kittens around her. They’d meant to only pick up one, but they were all so cute they’d decided to bring all of them onto the porch to play.
Daxon and Hector pulled up in a small hover-craft. They lifted the shield and Daxon carefully stepped out with his claw cupped against the back of their son’s tiny sleeping head. Warmth flooded her chest. This man was everything. She carefully put the kittens down and ran over and met her husband on the walkway.
“My Be’Ih,” he said. He growled and pulled her in close, giving her a thorough kiss on the lips.
She stood on her tip-toes to return his kiss, and then she also dropped a kiss onto Dax’s fluffy dark hair. Her baby boy didn’t have ridges on his forehead, but he had the same claws as his father and th
e same Margol skin tone. She took her husband’s claw and they walked hand-in-hand the rest of the way back to where her brother was going.
“Do you need a break?” she asked him as they stepped up onto the porch. “I’ll take the baby.”
“No, I’m fine for now,” Daxon said, leaving the baby sleeping in his carrier and carefully settling in a chair that looked disturbingly frail underneath his enormous body.
Darcy shared a worried glance with her mother. Her husband often forgot he was too big for human furniture, until it was too late.
Daxon settled back though, the baby still asleep. “I think I want to—” And then he kicked out a leg. “What was that?” he growled. “Something is attacking me.”
Hector barked out a laugh.
“Hey, be careful,” Darcy protested. “You almost kicked a kitten.”
“A what?”
“Daxon, you almost kicked a kitten,” Hector tried to explain. “Put your boot down carefully.”
“Here, let me show you,” Darcy picked up a mewling ginger-haired kitten off the floor and put it in her own lap. “See? A kitten?”
Her husband looked genuinely disturbed. “What is this small creature with fur?”
She picked the darling kitten up and rubbed it against her cheek. It purred in her hands. “Honey, this is a kitten. It’s a baby. Look, over there is Abby, the mother cat. These are treasured pets on New Earth. The mother is full-grown and her name is Abby. She’s been our pet her whole life and lives with us. She had a litter of kittens and my mom is trying to find homes for them.”
Daxon looked over at Darcy’s mom, “You give these animals away?”
“Yes, we can’t keep all of them, it’s too many, so we find good homes for most of the kittens. We might keep one if we can.”
“Can I have a kitten that we’ll take back and it’ll live with us in our quarters?” Darcy asked.
“You want to take one of these exotic animals to live with us?” he sputtered. He looked horrified and continued to stare with wide eyes at the kittens who were now being released by Hector to roam around the porch. Her brother was herding kittens and Abby was licking a hissing black runt on one of the steps. Maria was sipping coffee and laughing at the antics.
“Let’s trade,” Maria offered to Daxon. “You hold a kitten and I’ll hold the baby.”
Daxon hesitated.
“I’m betting you right now that you can’t say no to a kitten once you have one in your arms.” Darcy challenged. “I’ll even let you name it.” She knew that there was nothing Daxon loved more than a good bet he thought he could win.
He narrowed his eyes, obviously calculating the odds. “You think I will simply touch one of these cats and then I’ll want one in my own quarters, living with us, just from one touch?”
“Yes, I do. I bet we’ll come back from our vacation with a kitten in a crate.”
“Huh. I take your bet and raise it. I bet I can hold three of these strange animals and still not want to take a single one home. And if you lose, I don’t want to ever hear again this nonsense of wanting to live with a cat.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “You’re on,” she shouted.
“I’ll take the baby,” her mom announced. “You two are so right for each other,” she murmured, shaking her head. She stepped over and Daxon helped her to carefully pull the sleeping baby out of the carrier. Maria went back to her own rocking chair, cuddling little Dax, who cooed and went back to sleep.
Daxon stood, his nearly seven feet of height causing the top of his head to brush against the ceiling of the porch. He unhooked the empty baby carrier and tossed it aside, then he did an elaborate muscle-man stretching routine, showing off his enormous biceps. He winked at her. “I’m ready. Let’s get started.”
Darcy smirked. “Bring it on.” She was so ready; she’d carefully picked the three cutest kittens. This warrior was going down.
Daxon sat back down in the chair. It let out a dangerous creak.
“Come on, Hector,” she said. “Let’s do this.” And she and her brother walked up and each began placing kittens, one at a time, into Daxon’s crossed arms.
The three precious kittens squirmed in his giant arms and stared at him with big eyes. His features were impassive as he ignored their tinny mews. He tried to act like he didn’t care that their fur and tails were brushing against his lips. Finally, a tiny claw raked across his chest and their fierce hissing got to him. His lips twitched.
“Aha!” Darcy stood and shouted. “Got ya! You adore those freaking kittens.”
“Godsdammit,” he growled. “These kittens will be the death of me.”
“We’ll take two,” she told her mom.
And then there was a huge cracking sound and the chair underneath Daxon broke, leaving her husband sitting on top of a pile of broken furniture.
“Oh gods.”
Daxon found himself enjoying Darcy’s human line more than he’d expected. He’d been treated well by her father, mother and brother. Even her extended line in the nearby farming units had come by and greeted him openly. And their initial etiquette and deference towards a Xylan warrior was appreciated. His Bride had certainly been unaware of the etiquette required when they’d originally met. If she hadn’t been his mate, she would’ve been in lockdown within two point five seconds.
He sat on the floor on top of the broken chair and watched his Bride’s animated features and heard her throaty laugh. He loved her raspy voice. The more time he spent with her, the more he appreciated that basically everything she said sounded like pure sex. His engorged cock pressed against the closure of his trousers. He had to mate with her, immediately.
He stood and brushed dust off his trousers. Then he took her hand and pulled her forward. “Let’s go,” he told his Bride.
“Go? Go where? We’re—”
He grabbed her ass and bent to whisper in her ear, “Now,” he ordered. “I want you in our bed.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t worry, if you two want to leave and have some time alone that’s fine. I’ll watch the baby,” his mother-in-law offered as she continued to cradle his son. “It’s no problem.”
“And I’ll put the kittens away,” Hector added.
“But, but—” Darcy sputtered.
His Bride never wanted to leave their infant behind, no matter how often his mother-in-law had offered. Finally, Daxon decided it was time he took matters into his own claws, making the decision for them. They’d been sleeping with their offspring in their quarters, next to their own bed. They’d only recently been cleared by the med bay for his Bride to mate again. He’d been subsisting on stolen moments of pleasure in the middle of the night, Darcy’s hand pumping his cock. Now he wanted alone time to fully mate with his Bride—without having to worry about waking a child.
“Now,” he growled, his claw on her back, pushing her forward.
Hector chuckled. “Take your time.”
Daxon pulled his protesting Bride up the stairs and into the quarters they had been using in her parents’ domicile. The room was small, and the bed barely fit the two of them, but he was enjoying his time there. He shut the door behind him. His cock was now leaking, ready to plant seed in his female. He was ready to breed her again, eager to see her grow large again with his offspring.
“Clothes off,” he ordered. Her breasts and ass were larger now than prior to giving birth. He was eager to dig his claws into her ample curves.
“Oh gods, they know we’re up here having sex.”
“Yes,” he answered. “Hurry.”
She bit her lip and then seemed to come to a decision. “Okay, let’s do this.”
She pulled off her shirt and her short trousers, and then came off that annoying human “underwear.” And finally his Bride was naked. He took in her standing there in her full glory. Then he pulled her into his arms and began to devour her. He had her breasts in his claws and he sucked on each nipple, scratching his fangs against her puckered skin.
He loved her breasts. Milk beaded from there, and he continued to suckle. She was a feast for him as well as his offspring.
Her breaths came out in short pants. “Daxon.”
She sank to her knees and pulled out his cock. He quickly dropped his trousers and fisted it for her, placing it on the tip of her offered tongue. A drop of his precum landed there and she licked it and smiled. “I love how you taste,” she told him.
“You want this?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
Damn, she loved his cock. “Take all of it.” Her dark hair was so long he wrapped it around his fist, guiding her movements. And she sucked him hard, just the way he liked, up and down, again and again. And then he was about to hit the point of no return, and he pulled out. “I want to come inside of you and fill you up with my seed again, I want you large with our offspring.”
“Already?”
“Yes. I want many offspring. Don’t you?”
“Yes,” she admitted with a large smile.
He helped her up and swept his arms under her legs and lifted her into his arms. Then he took a few steps forward and dropped his primed and naked Bride onto their bed. He took off his boots and kicked off his trousers, then reached back to pull his tunic off over his head.
He looked down to see his Bride staring at him with lust in her hooded eyes. Her legs were splayed, her gleaming pink pussy ready for the taking. He pulled on his cock, giving it a few rough strokes as he placed his knees on the bed and moved between her legs.
Then he reached down to trail his claw along her slick cunt and slipped inside to rub against her clit. That part of her that caused his Bride to orgasm. He loved that he knew this about her, knew exactly how she wanted to be touched. He’d made a study of it. She was dripping wet and ready for him. He loved her human hair and all the parts of her that he’d originally thought were verging on strange, and he now found to be the exact reasons he found her so irresistible.
The Alien Bounty Hunters Complete Series: Books 1-8 Page 71
