“How did you even get in? The security there was crazy.”
“The soldiers who guarded the base didn’t sleep there. They were taken in military transport vehicles to another location. I took the badge and uniform of a soldier my size.”
“Do I want to know how you did that?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t kill him, if that’s your fear. Though that ultimately is what led to my downfall.”
“Not killing him?”
“Yes. I thought he would remain unconscious longer than he did.” Once more, Taelon cursed his own carelessness. He should have taken the time to summon Ari’k and have him keep the soldier unconscious on the ship. But the information he’d gathered had led him to believe the officers’ visit to the base was imminent and would be brief. Taelon had feared he would miss it if he waited until the next shift and gave Ari’k time to dispose of the soldier he mimicked. “I had just managed to get close enough to the military officers to read their minds when they received a call. The soldier I had incapacitated had awakened. One of the officers knew about Amiriska. I saw her in his thoughts just before he ordered my capture. I tried to make the lower-ranked soldiers think I was the officer and he was me, but it was too late. They knew me for what I was and injected me with a drug that sedated me. When I awoke, I was restrained to the table on which you found me. They’ve kept me drugged ever since, weakening me so I couldn’t use my gifts. Until the last day or two, that is. They became distracted. I think…” He stroked her tummy. “I think they expected you to birth our child soon. I heard them talking but didn’t know they were discussing you. Then they captured some vampires, which distracted them further. They forgot to dose me…”
She wrinkled her nose and dropped her hands to her knees. “Then the vampires’ friends arrived to rescue them. And I came to gawk at you.”
Missing her touch, he took one of her hands and carried it to his cheek. “No. You rescued me, Lisa… even though you must have been terrified after what I made you see.”
Again she drew her thumb across his stubble in a soft caress. After experiencing nothing but pain and humiliation during his long captivity, her touch felt sublime. “So you came here for your sister?”
He nodded. “She’s sweet and innocent. Like you. It tears me up inside to think of the butchers doing to her what they did to me.”
Her lips turned up in a wry smile. “I’m not that innocent.”
Though she probably referred to sexual innocence, he smiled. “And not so sweet? At least not to the soldier you threatened to shoot.”
She laughed. “Apparently outright terror can make me ballsy.”
Familiar with the Earth term, he laughed. Pain ripped through his chest.
Grunting, he leaned forward and rested a hand against the wound. It felt like the slightest move would send his drekking heart and lungs tumbling out.
The mound of flesh he still touched with his other hand tightened.
Lisa cried out and gripped her belly, leaning forward until her forehead nearly struck his.
He forced himself to straighten. “Lisa?”
Sucking long breaths in through her nose, she expelled them from her lips.
“Lisa?” he repeated softly.
She shook her head and kept up the harsh breathing.
Long minutes passed, during which Taelon forgot his own pain. Shifting to sit beside her, he wrapped an arm around her and encouraged her to lean against him.
She did so, turning her face into his chest. Reaching up, she curled a hand around his neck to hold him close.
Taelon rested his cheek upon her hair and smoothed his hand over her belly in slow strokes he hoped would soothe both her and the baby. How many times since she had rescued him had he seen her grimace and clutch her belly? “Does this happen often?”
She nodded. “I think something’s wrong. I think that’s why they woke me.”
He frowned. “This is not common for Earth women when they breed?”
“No. I mean, light cramping and Braxton-Hicks contractions are, I think. But not this. This is something else, something more.”
Perhaps he had spoken too soon when he had expressed his awe over Lasaran men and Earth women being compatible enough to reproduce. Perhaps the differences in their genetic makeup would harm the child.
Sorrow struck. He had thought he would never become a father. To learn in the space of a few minutes that he was a father but they might lose the baby was the utmost cruelty. “How long do Earth women carry offspring?”
“Nine months.”
If he compensated for the difference in the length of Earth days and Lasaran days, Lasaran women usually bred for seven months. “How long have you carried our baby?”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure. But think I’m about seven and a half months along.”
“So you should not be feeling birthing pains yet?”
“No.”
His mind worked furiously. “We can’t go to an Earth doctor.”
“No, we can’t.”
“It would take us roughly thirteen Earth months to reach Lasara. Half that to reach the nearest Secta outpost.”
She drew back enough to look up at him. “You have a ship?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know. I left my guard in command of it, and he’s keeping it concealed so Earth’s military can’t shoot it down or confiscate it.”
“Can you contact him?”
He tried and failed to send a mental summons to Ari’k. “No. I didn’t want to risk Earthlings getting their hands on any of our technology, so I left my communicator on the ship. Normally I would be able to contact him telepathically, but I’ve not been able to do that since the butchers began drugging me.”
“The drug hinders your telepathy?”
“Yes.” The few times he had tried to read minds since the butchers forgot to dose him had made his nose bleed, something that had never happened before.
“Then how were you able to talk to me telepathically back at the base?”
A very good question. “I don’t know. I tried to read the soldiers’ minds when they burst in here to question us and couldn’t.”
“Can you read my mind now?”
He stared at her pretty face and tried to hear what she was thinking.
A maelstrom of thoughts and emotions flooded him, muted but clear enough for him to understand she was afraid. Afraid they would be caught. Afraid something would go wrong with the baby or that they would have to deliver it themselves without any aid. She also hurt for him, for his sister. And cared about him. And was attracted to him. And feared he would succumb to his wounds and die or be killed by more soldiers. If he didn’t, she worried he would leave her or that he would only keep her close until the baby was born, and then—
“I won’t leave you, Lisa.”
She sucked in a breath. “You can read my thoughts.”
“Yes.”
“Please stop now.”
“As you wish.”
Her brow puckered once more. “Why can you read my thoughts if you couldn’t read the soldiers’?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps the baby links us in a way that makes it easier for me to read you.” He curled his hand into a loose fist and drew his knuckles down her soft cheek. “But I would not leave you, Lisa, even if there were no baby. You saved me.”
“I don’t want your gratitude, Taelon. I don’t want you to feel like you owe me. Because we both know I probably wouldn’t have made it out of there without being killed by the vampires and their soldiers if it weren’t for you.”
He shook his head and stroked her soft skin again. “You fascinate me.”
She quieted.
“And in case you didn’t notice when you were kissing me,” he said, giving her a cocky smile, “I’m very attracted to you.”
She laughed, her face flushing in a way he found adorable. “I noticed.”
“Should I apologize for
my body’s reaction to you?”
“No. Since you read my thoughts, you know how mine reacted to you.”
The memory of it made him hard again.
She winced and touched her stomach.
Worry returned. “More pain?” So soon after the other?
“No, this time the baby is just moving around in there and kicked me in the ribs.”
He palmed her stomach. Only a second passed before he felt a thump. He grinned, his heart swelling. “She’s strong.”
“Or he.”
He shook his head. “It’s a girl.”
Lisa tilted her head and studied him curiously. “Is that wishful thinking, or do you actually know?”
“I know.” He moved his hand across her stomach and stilled. Another thump nudged his palm. He laughed. “When I was speaking to you telepathically at the base, I felt the presence of another female. I thought it was another woman they had captured to experiment upon. But I believe it was our daughter.”
She stared down at her belly and cupped it with her hands.
Taelon covered her hands with his.
“Our daughter,” she whispered, then looked up at him helplessly. “This is so weird. I mean, we barely know each other and haven’t even…”
“Copulated?”
She winced. And this time he knew it was because of his word choice as opposed to the baby’s movement inside her. “I was going to say made love, but… yes.”
It was weird. “Well, we’re already beginning to get to know each other.” He winked. “Perhaps we can remedy the latter after our daughter is born.”
She laughed. “I suspect you’re charming enough to talk me into it.”
He sure as srul hoped so.
“But what do we do in the meantime? Do we just stay here and wait for the drug to wear off so you can contact your ship?”
He glanced around the motel room. It was aged and worn and bore a faintly musty odor that indicated mold or mildew hidden from view. This was not a healthy place for the mother of his child to rest.
And those soldiers could return.
He tried again to summon Ari’k and failed. “I don’t understand why the drug hasn’t left my system yet.”
“Maybe it just takes time. How often did they dose you?”
“Twice a day.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “You’re right. It should’ve worn off by now then. You’re sure it’s still inhibiting you?”
“Yes. My wounds aren’t healing.” He glanced at his bare chest. The most severe one, the incision that ran down his middle, bled a little from the pressure Lisa had applied to it when she had straddled him earlier.
Her gaze dropped to his chest. “Oh crap! You’re bleeding.” Rolling out of bed, she headed into the cleansing room she called a bathroom. Grimacing, she wrapped one arm around her belly.
“More pain?” he asked, alarmed. How frequently did it assault her?
“No. I’m just not used to having this much weight attached to the front of my body. It’s awkward as hell.” She ducked into the bathroom.
Worry resurfaced. The tunic she had donned left her arms bare. Both were overly thin. And when she had been naked from the waist up, her collarbones and the bones in her shoulders had been distressingly prominent. He thought back to the pictures his schoolbooks had offered of breeding women. The Lasaran women they depicted had bloomed with good health, their faces rounder and their limbs plumper. The same was true of the holovids his father had made while Taelon’s mother had carried each of their children. Clearly Lisa was undernourished.
When she returned, she carried a towel.
Taelon reached out and took her hand, steadying her as she climbed back onto the bed and knelt before him.
Carefully, she dabbed at his wound and wiped away the blood. “You need a doctor.”
He shook his head. “I heal quickly. This should already be scabbing over. I don’t understand what’s hindering my regenerative capabilities.”
“Is your ability to heal quickly something you were born with or is it from some kind of nanotechnology? Sometimes in sci-fi movies they have little microscopic robots they inject into sick people to heal them. Maybe the doctors at the base removed yours.”
He smiled. “There are no robots in my bloodstream. I was born with greater regenerative abilities. Lasarans are very healthy and long-lived.”
“Oh.”
“I think the drug must still be in my system. I should be healing, but I’m not. I could make the soldiers who came here see what I wanted them to—a man without injuries. But it taxed my strength far more than it should. And I couldn’t read their thoughts. I should’ve been able to read their thoughts.”
She examined his wound. “Why would they dose you twice a day if it takes this long for the drug to wear off?”
“I don’t know. But I need to find a way to flush it out of my system so we can rendezvous with my ship. I want to get you to a safer, healthier environment in which you can rest and acquire the nutrition you need.”
“Ditto.”
That word didn’t translate. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It means I want to get you to a safer, healthier environment in which you can rest and acquire the nutrition you need. You’ve suffered for… How long were you there?”
“I think for two or three of your Earth years.”
Her lips tightened. “That is so messed up. I hope those fuckers all died in the explosion.”
He smiled.
“What? You think that’s funny?”
“No. I think you’re fierce. Lasaran males admire strong females.”
Her lips turned up in a small smile. “Yes, well, you’re pretty badass yourself.”
He laughed, then grimaced and gripped his chest.
“Careful,” she cautioned, then winced and rested a hand on her belly.
“Another pain?”
“Yeah.” She breathed deeply. “It’ll pass.”
What would they do when the time came that it didn’t?
The notion panicked Taelon. He knew nothing about childbirth. How could he deliver their baby with no aid, no medic at his side, no advanced medical technology on hand to remedy any difficulties that might arise, no medical tools whatsoever?
At the very least, they would need access to the medical bay on his ship. It might not offer all the expertise of a Sectarian healing facility, but it could detect and heal many ailments and injuries. If the worst should happen and something went wrong, he could contact the Sectas and seek their advice. He could also have Ari’k kidnap an Earth medic experienced in such matters and let her deliver the baby.
And the medic had better be a her. Taelon did not want any man—Earthling or Lasaran—to see parts of Lisa that he had not yet seen himself.
“I need to flush this drug out of my system,” he said again. “Do you know how I might do that?”
Lisa’s expression turned thoughtful. “There are a few ways I can think of. You can drink a lot of water and see if fluids will flush it out. I can order takeout again and have them bring lots of tea. Tea is a good detoxifier. We can also steam up the bathroom and you can try to sweat it out. I overheard a couple of classmates talking once. One was freaking out because he had just found out there was going to be a drug test at his job and he smoked marijuana. His friend told him to stop eating junk food and to eat a ton of fruits and vegetables. I can’t remember what that’s supposed to do though. They’re high in antioxidants, so maybe that does something?”
Taelon didn’t know. “Let’s try the water and the steam.”
“Okay.”
Chapter Eight
“What about now?” Lisa asked.
Taelon stared through the window at the motel employee who currently dedicated the least amount of effort possible to sweeping the sidewalk. “Nothing.”
She moved closer, her side pressing against his as she peered out at the young male. “He doesn’t appear to be the brightest bulb in the box. Ma
ybe he’s just supremely empty-headed.”
He laughed. “Possibly, but I nevertheless should be able to glean something from his thoughts.”
“True.” Brow furrowing, she stepped back.
Taelon let the curtains fall and stared down at her. She was so small. The top of her head barely reached his shoulder. And her skin looked as soft as umkhosi feathers, distracting him time and time again. She had showered earlier and hand-washed her clothing. While the garments hung over the shower rod, drying, she wore a large white towel wrapped around her. But it only covered her from just beneath her arms to just beneath her bottom, leaving a lot of pale, perfect flesh bare to his view.
That, too, was uncommon on Lasara. Women on his planet tended to wear clothing that covered them from neck to wrist and down to their ankles, relying on the cut of the garment to entice, rather than the revelation of their skin. Men tended to cover up as well. It was simply part of their culture.
“Do you think there’s such a thing as sleeping the drug off?” she suggested.
“I doubt it.”
Her pretty face reflected the same frustration that battered him. He had consumed more water than he ever wanted to again in such a short time. The water here on Earth was vile, tasting of chemicals she identified as chlorine and ammonia and something vaguely metallic, making him miss the fresh taste of Lasaran water. Lisa said water quality on Earth varied according to the source and thought filtered water would taste better. But they had no access to that here and no transportation either. So he had swallowed plastic glass after plastic glass of the foul liquid, hoping to wash the drug out of his body.
All that had resulted were multiple trips to the bathroom to relieve himself.
He’d tried steam next. While he had perspired a great deal, all it had done was give him a pounding headache that a cool shower had helped. He’d washed his own clothing then and now wore a towel around his hips. It felt oddly natural, being with Lisa while both wore so little. He just had to be very careful not to let his gaze stray too often to the plump mounds of her breasts that threatened to spill over the top of her towel, because his own towel did little to hide his body’s instant reaction to the tempting sight.
The Lasaran (Aldebarian Alliance Book 1) Page 12
