Ayrie: An Auxem Novel

by Lisa Lace

“There’s nothing for us to discuss. Is there a place to hide here?”

  “I won’t let him do anything to you.” Anders spoke sharply, making me focus on his face. “You’re not going anywhere. But don’t you think you should give him a chance to say anything? After you’ve listened to him, if you still want to go to Earth, I’ll take you there.”

  I only saw truth in his eyes. The ship finally hailed us, and the pilot asked for permission to dock.

  “Fine. Let him come aboard. But I’m still going to Earth.”

  “That’s what I said. I won’t change our course without your permission.”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  The hatch opened with a clang. A moment later, Arnon dropped into our ship.

  Chapter Nineteen

  ARNON

  Jayne looked distraught and scared of what I might do. “What do you want, Arnon?” Her voice sounded different. It was like I had never heard it before. Her threat to leave was real.

  I had been a fool.

  “Can I speak to you privately?” I glanced at Anders, giving him a dirty look.

  She looked slightly frantic. “We can talk right here.”

  “I don't want to discuss our relationship in front of my brother.”

  She shook her head fearfully. “I don't think that's a good idea.”

  “Jayne.” She turned to look at Anders. “Remember my promise? I won’t let him make you do anything you don’t want to do.”

  “Wait a second. Am I the bad guy here? You're the one helping her escape.” I glared at him.

  Anders gave me a cold look. “Call it what you want. The way I see it, I’m the one taking care of someone after her husband abandoned her. You should be thanking me.” He moved toward me with anger all over his face.

  I felt betrayed, then shocked. Was that what I had done?

  “I don’t want to take the baby.” Could she feel the truth from my heart?

  “That’s not what she thinks. Talk to him, Jayne. If he’s still acting like this, I'll take care of you.”

  She nodded, looking calmer and relieved. “Okay.” The word came out like a sigh. “It didn’t seem like you, but that's what you said. If your father could make you do something like that, who knows what else you would do?” She trailed off, looking hopeless before she walked past me into the bedroom.

  I turned to Anders. “You’re right. Thank you for taking care of her.”

  “Just so we’re clear. Now convince Jayne you’re not evil. I’m the screw-up. You’re the golden boy. Don't encroach on my territory.”

  I doubted his self-assessment. He had apparently grown into a capable man. We had all underestimated him. I intended to speak with him about his personal issues later. For now, I had to fix things with my wife. Nothing else mattered unless I could make things right. I entered the room and shut the door, leaning against it and taking in her beauty. Jayne sat on the bed, looking as nervous as I had ever seen her.

  “Did you think I was going to take our baby?” I whispered.

  “Why wouldn't I? You said as much last night.”

  I should have thought about what to say before I boarded the ship. How could I even begin? “What I said yesterday was wrong. I wasn’t thinking clearly. Please, just forget it.”

  “It’s a hard thing to forget when your husband says he’s leaving you and threatens to rip a child from your womb at the same time.”

  I swallowed hard. “I deserved that.”

  “Yeah, you did.”

  I hoped admitting I was wrong was a good first step toward rebuilding our relationship. “I was wrong, Jayne. I was an asshole of the highest order yesterday. I should never have said those things, and I didn’t mean them.”

  She studied my face as I spoke.

  “I had intended to come to you so we could figure out a way around my father’s plan. Instead, everything fell apart. I said terrible things. I thought you had lied to me. I had just come from an awful meeting with my father.”

  “Yes.” She stood and interrupted my litany of excuses. “I forgive you for all of it, even for keeping the reality of your wings from me. The question facing us is, what are we going to do?”

  “I'm not sure what you mean.” I had thought it would take more groveling before we reached this point.

  “The situation we face is the same whether I forgive you or not. I'm still H4T7 positive. Your father still wants us to part ways. I'm pregnant, in case you forgot.” She turned away from me as her eyes filled with tears. “And our relationship is hitting a rocky stretch.”

  I felt as though my heart was being ripped out of my chest.

  “I didn't expect us to be sunshine and roses all the time. We shouldn't have this much trouble so soon. Maybe we just aren’t meant to be together.”

  I wanted to reach out and hold her, but I kept my arms at my sides. I didn’t think she would welcome my touch. “Don’t say that.” Fear leaped into my heart again. I thought everything had been going well, but maybe Jayne had a different picture of our conversation in her head.

  “How can any of these things be worked out? They aren’t fixable.”

  “There’s got to be a way. Let me think about it.” I started to walk around, as much as I could in the cramped quarters. “I’m not supposed to marry a woman who carries the gene, but does that matter? We will need men in the next generation. Even if we have a family full of boys, they’ll be vital too.”

  “That make sense, as long as you can convince other people.”

  “If Father has a problem with us, he can disown me. We can go live in a cavern in a cliff and remain blissfully unaware of planetary politics.”

  “That sounds a little dangerous.”

  “As a matter of fact, there are some nice, safe homes built in unusual places on Auxem. You can do a lot with wings.”

  “What about the baby?”

  “I want this baby more than you can imagine.” I finally crossed over to her side. I had to hold Jayne in my arms.

  Despite herself, she couldn't help reaching up and clasping her hands around my neck. My arms went around her waist, and I pulled her close to me.

  “Really?” She sounded like she could hardly believe it.

  “Of course. I am both delighted and excited. You have no idea.”

  “Tell me. Try to make me understand.”

  “I can’t wait to hold him in my arms.”

  “Or her,” she interrupted. “Even if there’s a ninety-nine percent chance we will have a boy, that implies there is a one percent chance we're going to have a girl.”

  “I never thought of it that way. I suppose that's the difference between an optimist and a pessimist. I don’t care which it is. A boy or a girl, either way, I can’t wait to hold that baby and play with them. I can’t wait to see you swell up as the baby grows inside you. I hear woman’s breasts get large and sensitive.”

  She licked her lips and bit the bottom one, which I found terribly attractive. But I could tell that I hadn’t won her over yet. She still harbored doubts.

  “You’ve convinced me that you want the baby.” She dropped her eyes. “But what about me?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you want me?”

  I lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “Do you think you're undesirable?”

  “You were ready to let your father separate us. That’s not exactly showing me that you love me.”

  I gazed into her eyes. “I love you, more than anything. Can't you feel it?” I pushed my hips toward her in case she hadn’t noticed the bulge in my pants. “Give me another chance. I promise I’ll never let you down again. I will love you and our child. I will take care of you.” I held my breath as she stared at my face.

  “Only under one condition. I’ll forgive you and give you another chance, but you have to forgive me too. I knew about the report. A lab tech told me about it, but it sounded like a mistake to me. You had already said that I didn’t have the gene. I was supposed to get tested again, but you
came home that day, and we got distracted.”

  I nodded my head. Considering what we had already done together, I couldn’t believe she wasn't blushing.

  “I completely forgot about the retest. No one ever contacted me again. I don’t know if the tech overlooked it...maybe there was a cover-up. Someone might have suppressed the information considering that we were both essential to the project.”

  Nothing Jayne said mattered to me anymore. We were supposed to be together. I couldn't bear to let something as trivial as a test result tear us apart.

  “I forgive you, Jayne. Now I know that I can’t live without you. I don’t care about your genetics.” I looked away, suddenly remembering an inconvenient fact. “I might have been wrong about your original test.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The method we used in the field that night can be inaccurate if not done properly. Doing a test in a lab is entirely different than in a bedroom. I was distracted when I was testing you.”

  She smiled gently. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention it before, but I didn't think it was important.”

  “I believe you.” I kissed her desperately and passionately, trying to show her with my lips what was in my heart. When we came up for air, she seemed stunned.

  “Do you know something?” Her eyes looked hazy.

  “What?” I kissed her cute little nose.

  “That thing about pregnant women being lusty is true.”

  “Will you let me take care of you?”

  “Please. Now, and for the rest of our lives.”

  JAYNE

  I couldn’t believe it. A few minutes ago, I had been scared, hurt, and disillusioned. Suddenly Arnon was back in my arms and loving me.

  He undressed me carefully like I was a precious package. Next, he stripped off his clothes, getting back into bed. He covered us with the blankets and turned down the lights. We kissed until the need between my legs became overwhelming.

  Without speaking, I guided him to my entrance. Arnon nodded his head and slid down my body, filling me with his hardness.

  He slowly rocked into me. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” I wrapped my legs around him and moved my hips to take him deeper inside me. I loved the feeling of him pinning me to the bed.

  “I'll always trust you, and never leave you alone.”

  My nipples rubbed against his chest and I felt my orgasm building.

  “I think I’m going to explode.” He stiffened against me, jerking with a shattering release. My orgasm hit me with an intensity that blew my mind. He covered my mouth and swallowed my cries of passion with his kisses as his white-hot eruption filled me up.

  My body spasmed for a long time until I finally lay still beneath him. A few minutes later, he said, “I like pregnancy sex.”

  “Me too.” I didn't open my lazy eyes.

  “We’re going to have a lot more of it. I promise.”

  The love in his eyes proved that he meant it.

  Chapter Twenty

  JAYNE, 9 MONTHS LATER

  I looked down at the baby boy in my arms and felt a wave of protectiveness come over me that I could never have imagined. There were no words to describe the love for a newborn baby. I held him close and rocked him, dropping little kisses all over his face and head.

  I had never been happier.

  I looked over at Arnon. “How is she?” I needed to know my daughter was safe.

  “She’s wonderful, aren’t you, baby?”

  I smiled at how gentle he was with her. He would be a great father.

  “Dad came by while you were sleeping. He gave me his formal congratulations.”

  “Really?”

  “I guess we couldn’t expect too much. At least we don’t have to go live isolated from the rest of the world.” He shrugged.

  “You know something? That wouldn’t be so bad, would it, little guy?” I whispered to my son, but Arnon heard me and gave a soft chuckle.

  “I can’t believe this girl was hiding behind her big brother.”

  “I didn’t let them scan the baby. There is plenty of evidence that it’s unhealthy for the child.” I felt defensive.

  “Maybe it’s bad if you do it on Earth. Our medical exams are perfectly safe. She’s tiny, though. The doctors couldn’t even feel her.”

  “They just thought Abel was unusually large.”

  “They’re both perfect and healthy.”

  “Who would have thought that we would have a boy and a girl?”

  “Not me, that’s for sure. I thought we would end up like my family. One hundred percent boys. Aliyah was definitely a surprise. Weren’t you, sweetie?” He dropped a kiss on her forehead.

  “Abel will have to take care of her. She’s going to be a handful.”

  “If she’s anything like her mother, she can take care of herself.”

  “If she’s anything like her father, she’ll be honest, kind, and caring.”

  “I love you, Jayne.” He leaned over for a kiss.

  I managed to say one more thing before our lips met. “I love you too.”

  Water World Confidential

  A TerraMates Novel

  Chapter One

  SAMANTHA

  Moving and getting married are two of life's most stressful events. I know it's true; I looked it up on the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale. I'd put myself in quite a situation this time - I was getting married to an alien I hardly knew for an unknown amount of time. As part of the deal, I would move to a planet that was flooding and gradually losing all its natural land.

  I couldn't stop nervously twitching my legs. I suppose the reality of my situation was starting to overwhelm me.

  I had it easy compared to Ashlyn. She never even met her future alien spouse, Nathaniel, before they got married. I had met his brother Jori before, and we had interacted with each other. Nathaniel and Ashlyn had concocted a scheme where Jori and I would get married through TerraMates, and good things would happen for both of us. Nathaniel knew a guy, who knew another guy, and manipulated the TerraMates matching algorithm. We ended up on each other's lists of potential mates, and we picked each other.

  To put it kindly, this wasn't a dream marriage for me. It's not like Jori chose me because he loved me or even cared about me. He was in trouble with the law.

  Jori needed a wife so he could appear to be a stable, upstanding, and contributing member to Vandwan society. In theory, his post-marriage life would convince the parole board that he was a different person. If he failed, Jori would go back to jail to serve the rest of his sentence. He still had over a year of time remaining. On his planet, the authorities could extend his sentence if they thought he had not actually reformed.

  I didn't want to tell my parents I was marrying an ex-con. In my mind, I was convinced Jori wasn't a terrible person. Otherwise, why would I marry him? He must be misguided and misunderstood.

  A smile crept over my face as I brought up the image of Jori in my mind. I had to admit one of the reasons I entered into the marriage contract was Jori's fantastic body. His lips helped convince me too. I wasn't doing this for sex, but I wouldn't say no if the opportunity arose. It had been a long dry period since my last steady boyfriend. Come to think of it, I wasn't doing this only for money either, although it was a pleasant bonus. TerraMates paid well for going to a foreign planet and marrying an alien.

  I was getting married to have an adventure in a new world. It would be safe; TerraMates monitored the relationship to make sure there wasn't any abuse. After a year, they would help me divorce if I wanted to, no questions asked.

  Strangely enough, not many of the arranged marriages ended in divorce. My friend Ashlyn's marriage was a perfect example. She and Nathaniel got married. They didn't even know each other, and they ended up falling in love.

  That wouldn't happen with Jori. He wasn't husband material at all, but he was sexy as hell.

  One thing about TerraMates was that I didn't have to sleep with him if I didn't want to. The
contract did not require sexual relations; Sex only happened if both parties consented.

  I wondered if I was going to consent.

  I stared out the window into the blackness of space. I tried to appreciate the beauty of the stars and distract my mind. I didn't know when I would be able to be in outer space again; I wanted to enjoy it, and not become overwhelmed with my future. Just as I started to calm down, an announcement blasted through the air.

  We are now approaching Vandwa, and beginning deceleration procedures. Be advised: mild nausea can be a side effect of the deceleration process.

  People around me rushed to their seats and strapped themselves down. I had been on a few space flights before. This part of the journey always felt like a violent change in speed. I managed to make my way back to my seat just as I started to sweat. I felt hot, and all I wanted to do was get off the ship. My stomach was churning. I had suffered from motion sickness all my life. When I was a child, my parents would take us on trips to a neighboring city two hours away. It was fun once we got there, but I typically spent the traveling time vomiting.

  On my first trip to Vandwa, I realized my motion sickness would cause complications on the planet. Boats were the primary method of transportation. The last time I was there, I thought I might die from nausea. The only thing that made me feel better was medication from Earth, but I didn't like putting foreign substances into my body. I hoped Jori didn't have extensive travel plans in the future. I looked forward to getting to a building on land, and staying there. If we needed to go anywhere, we could walk.

  The view of Vandwa out the window was much different than the appearance of Earth. My home planet was a big blue marble with several land masses. Vandwa was a big blue marble covered in black swirls. The strange black irregularities were known locally as The Barrier, a Vandwan construction that was visible from space.

  A long time ago, Vandwans constructed The Barrier to protect themselves from dangerous aquatic creatures. Some wildlife on Vandwa was safe, but other animals, like the slepyi or rajywth, were merely bags of teeth and fins, and only lived to eat things.