“I don’t know what to tell you, Bavric. All I know is they look just like a developing human foetus. I have never heard of this happening either, but I’m not prepared to let you test them and risk losing them just to find out what they are. They are the first of their kind in existence, and we need to protect them.”
He stared at her, his golden yellow eyes intense. His head whipped around as he studied the screen again. “Do you think they could be... females?” he asked, the word female said so hesitantly and with so much emotion that Tina’s heart squeezed.
Sedric gasped beside her, his wings flaring out. “Is that even possible?” he asked in a rush, his voice filled with hope.
Tina looked at the screen again. Was it possible? Could they be little girls? Could she and Sorvar have created the very first ever females of the Morgath people?
“I... don’t know.” She had no experience with this. It wasn’t her specialty, and she didn’t want to give them hope only to rip it away later when her young hatched and they were all males. “It’s possible, I suppose. You would have to test Sorvar to find out if the change has allowed him to produce sperm capable of creating both female and male young. But if it turns out he isn’t, you will have given him hope only to rip it away again.”
Bavric nodded, his gaze still glued to the screen. He didn’t seem to want to look away. “Yes, you are right, Princess. There are some scans we can perform that will not harm the young that will be able to give us more information on them. With your permission, of course. I think at this stage it would be best if we kept the knowledge that the young are different between us.” He turned to look at her. “There will be those who will insist on testing the eggs to find out for certain what they are, Tina, if the knowledge is allowed out. You are right. If there is even a fraction of a chance these young are females we need to protect them. They are priceless and irreplaceable.”
He was talking about Sorvar’s father. The king would definitely want to know if his son’s first children were female. It would change everything. Tina’s breath caught for a moment. He would have to accept her if she was capable of bearing female young. Her belly fluttered uncontrollably.
A wave of dizziness washed over her and caused her to stumble into Sedric, who scooped her up in his arms before Tina had a chance to protest.
“Don’t argue, Tina. You are barely capable of staying on your feet,” Sedric growled at her.
He was right. She’d been clinging to him so hard the only thing that had stopped her from tearing into his arm was his tough scales. If it had been Sorvar, she would have shredded his arm. She relaxed in his hold as Bavric fussed with the eggs, moving them to a trolley for transport to the room next door.
Sedric laid her on the examination bed with a surprising amount of gentleness, being extra careful of her wings, then stepped back so Bavric could activate the scanner.
She and Sorvar were going to be parents. Good god. They were going to have three babies. Tina had never even looked after one baby. How was she going to cope with three? She turned to look at the three white eggs sitting side by side in their little support cradles on the trolley.
Her heart squeezed. How could she not give it everything she had? Three little people were relying on her to make sure they were safe and protected and allowed to continue growing. And Sorvar. Should she tell him there was a chance two of the babies were female? Or should she keep it to herself and only tell him when she was one hundred percent sure?
She would hate for him to be disappointed. He would be more than disappointed—he would be devastated. They’d talked into the wee hours of the morning about his people’s attempts to be accepted into the Coalition. The main thing standing in their way was their species’ inability to produce their own females and subsequent need to steal females from other species—of course, now they were at war, as well.
Every attempt the Morgath had made to negotiate with other species to acquire females had failed. They had tried trading for females, but of course the Coalition frowned on buying people, since it was a form of slavery. They had asked for volunteers, and had been rejected in every society they approached. Claiming and stealing was the only way they could get females, and even then, many of the females they claimed committed suicide rather than go through the change and become the mate of a Morgath male.
Tina still couldn’t really understand why these females would choose to end their lives. Being mated to Sorvar wasn’t a life sentence. He treated her with the utmost respect... most of the time, and he loved her with every breath in his body.
And now she loved him, too.
She stared up at the scanner as it descended over her, not really seeing the frame or the small box that housed the machine, and bit her lip to stop the slight tremble that started. But it didn’t stop the tremble that started in her body or the fast acceleration of her heart beat.
How had this happened? No, no, that was a stupid question. She knew the answer. Sorvar had made her fall in love with him. He was wonderful, caring, funny, intelligent. He knew exactly how to please her in bed and didn’t shy from letting her know that he loved it when she pleasured him in return. He was gorgeous, not that that really meant anything. She’d been with good looking men before who had turned out to be assholes.
It was all the little things, and it had crept up on her over the last few months and now... well now she couldn’t deny it.
She loved him against all her better intentions. It should make her happy to know she felt so deeply for the male who was the father of her children, the male she intended to spend the rest of her life with, but it didn’t.
It made her whole body lock up and prepare to flee. She wanted to lash out and hurt him so he would hurt her in return and prove everything she had thought about males for so long was true. He would hurt her. She knew he would. He wouldn’t be able to help it.
He was a male, and that was what they did when someone loved them. They used that love, the deep binding emotion a person felt for them, and they twisted it, making one bleed. They turned love into a chain and lock and bound the person to them so they could never get away, then they were free to treat them whatever way they liked.
Tina gasped in a ragged breath. The ridicule would be first. Name calling, and snide comments about the clothes she wore. Little digs about her body and how she was too fat. Her hair would be the wrong colour or too long, or not long enough. Or maybe he’d tell her how useless she was because she couldn’t do anything fancy with it. He’d tell her she was ugly and made ugly children.
A chill shot down her spine, making her shake harder. He’d complain about food and how she couldn’t cook. Little biting comments meant to strip her of her pride and self-worth until she was nothing without him, couldn’t do anything without his directions or commands. She would become focused on him and satisfying his needs, trying to win his approval and even the tiniest bit of praise, and eventually she wouldn’t be good enough for even the roughest tumble, and he’d go looking somewhere else.
“Tina, is everything all right? Your heart rate is exceptionally high.” Bavric’s voice cut through Tina’s thoughts and made her jerk.
Her breath rushed out of her only to catch and freeze in her chest until her lungs hurt and she was gasping. Tina’s heart thundered, pounding so hard that she could feel it thumping against her ribs. Sweat broke out on her forehead as she stared back at Bavric, her eyes wide and unfocused.
A hand landed on her shoulder and Tina shrieked, jerking up and hitting her head on the still descending scanner frame as she forced her body off the examination bed.
“Tina,” a rough masculine growl came from behind her, making her spin around.
Sedric stared down at her, a question in his eyes, and Bavric closed in on her from the other side. Males. There were males everywhere. She could hear more of them through the broken door.
Oh, god. She had to get away from them. They wanted to hurt her. They wanted to lock her in the dark. Laughing at
her when she whimpered in fear and begged to be let out. They would ridicule her when she wet herself because she hadn’t been allowed out to use the bathroom, and they’d refuse to give her anything to eat leaving her for hours without food and water.
“No,” Tina whispered. She wasn’t that frightened little girl anymore. She was grown. She could outrun these males who wanted to hurt her. “No!” Louder, she yelled before taking off for the door and the freedom it presented.
No man would ever lock her in again. No man would ever have control over her, forcing her to be what they wanted, to act like they wanted and taking all the pain they dished out.
She was at the door when the males behind her broke into motion, the sound of clawed feet on the stone floor spurring her to push her aching and sore body harder. The males in the entry to the Medical suites stared at her as she rushed past and out into the corridor.
Dark blood lay in splatters across the white stone, in drops and sprays and swipes on the walls. Memories assailed her, the white stones turning into aged and yellowing walls, but the blood was the same. Dark, dried blood in splatters and swipes in the rough shapes of hands across the walls. Drips on the floor and drag marks down the hall.
The screams came next, filling her mind. The screams of a woman she couldn’t help, a woman who had loved her once. A woman who had held her in the dark of the night when she had nightmares. A woman who let her eat as much as she wanted to make up for all the meals she missed.
Tina ran, sliding on the wet blood in the corridor, blindly dashing along as tears stung her eyes and ran unchecked down her cheeks. The click of claws grew louder behind her dragged a whimper from deep in her chest.
“Tina, stop. You shouldn’t be running. Bavric needs to heal you.”
The deep growl from behind her forced a small squeak out of her.
He was lying. They didn’t want to heal her. They wanted to shut her away. Tina didn’t stop. She kept running, around a corner in the corridor until her feet went out from under her and she crashed to the floor with a screech of pain as her wings tangled and wrenched. Her momentum sent her sliding across the floor in the blood that coated the stone.
A great hulking shape turned at her screech and growled so low, all the hairs on her arms and neck rose in warning. Violent rage surged through her. Oh god! She stared up at the nightmare that was Sorvar coming closer and closer. Tina scrabbled across the slick polished stone floor, unable to stop herself from rushing headlong for the very male she desperately wanted to get away from.
“No,” she whispered, but she couldn’t stop herself from sliding right for the ferocious male. A sob ripped from her throat, the sound harsh in the quiet corridor.
“Tina,” he said, so low and dangerous a tremor rocked her body.
But she couldn’t talk, couldn’t respond as she shook her head up at the monster in front of her.
“She’s having a panic attack,” another voice said from behind her.
“I know. I can feel it.” The monster looked down at her. “Pavri, where have you gone? What has made you so afraid?”
Tina swallowed and shook her head. She wouldn’t tell him. If he knew what she feared, he would use it against her. Just like her father had used her fear of the dark against her. She pushed back, sliding in the wetness on the floor.
If she could just get away. If she could just find somewhere to hide, he’d eventually give up looking for her, but she didn’t get what she wanted. He reached for her, his huge clawed hands coming closer and closer as she shimmied across the floor, whimpers rising in her throat.
She slipped and twisted, rising to her knees in preparation to flee once again only to run into the second male behind her.
“No, no, no,” she chanted as she pushed against the hands that grasped her, struggling to get away.
Another set of hands pulled at Tina, claws digging into her arms, making her shriek. The rough hands smashed her against a hard chest, then they were moving at a ferocious pace back down the corridor.
It’s all right, pavri. Whatever you are afraid of, we will deal with it so you don’t have to be afraid anymore.
Tina didn’t respond, a whimper rising in her throat as she struggled, kicking and pushing against the male who wouldn’t release her. He was what she was afraid of. Him and all the other males that wanted to lock her up just like her father had done, and like his father had done, too. Her breath sawed in and out of her, the gasps loud in the quiet corridor, competing only with the rushed clicking of claws on stone.
They stopped as fast as they’d started, but before she could attempt to escape, another presence moved up to her and something cold pressed against her neck.
No. They couldn’t. But the slight sting against her neck told her they had.
He’d betrayed her. He’d promised she was safe with him, and now he was drugging her. God only knew what they would do to her while she was unconscious. Maybe she’d wake up in the little black hell hole she’d been in when she arrived.
Did it really matter? Sorvar had lied to her, just like her father always lied to her mother. Tina’s head lolled to one side resting against Sorvar’s chest, her eyelids fluttering as she desperately tried to stay awake, but the darkness inevitably sucked her under.
Chapter Thirteen
Three days had passed since Tina had laid the eggs. Sorvar was still confused about what had set off her monumental panic attack. Her emotions had been so strong inside him that he’d barely been able to fight Sinder and not drop to his knees with his head in his hands. But he’d managed to finish the fight with his brother, and he’d even taken Tina’s advice and not killed him.
He knew she was right. If he had killed his brother, he would have regretted it, and it would have made their situation with his father even more untenable. His brother was alive, barely, and wouldn’t be suggesting they do anything to hurt his young again.
He stared down at her where she sat on the couch in their suite, his hands resting loosely on his hips. His wings felt like a dead weight on his back, the weight of the last three days dragging them down. Tina huddled in the corner, her legs pulled up and her arms wrapped around them. She barely looked at him and didn’t respond when he spoke to her.
Sun streamed in through the tall window behind her and lit her hair on fire. The bright heavy mass hung in unbrushed messy curls down her back and over her wings. In the three months Tina had been there with him, the only time he had seen her hair in such a state was when he had carried her out of the dungeon.
The situation could not go on. He wouldn’t allow it. She hadn’t spoken to him since she’d woken from the drugged sleep Bavric had put her into. His friend and medic had healed Tina of the damage she’d suffered while delivering the eggs and had given her something to keep her calm when she woke.
But she had not been the Tina he knew and loved when she woke, and she continued to refuse to talk to him, no matter how he tried to engage her. Every time he tried to touch her or hold her, she shied away from him. She’d barely eaten, and he knew she wasn’t sleeping either.
The dull look in her eyes sent a streak of pain through his chest and clenched his stomach into a hard knot every time he managed to catch her gaze and made him feel sick to his stomach. Her emotions felt distant, as if he was feeling them through a baffle. He didn’t know what she had done to keep her emotions from him, and he didn’t like it.
Concern for her had kept him in his suite since he’d brought her back from Medical. He had been by her side for three days, making sure she had everything she needed, making sure she was comfortable and cared for.
No, it definitely couldn’t go on, but he was at a loss for what to do to bring her out of the shell she had erected around herself. He didn’t even know what had set her panic attack off, but he was going to find out.
Sorvar stepped forward, then dropped to his knees in front of Tina. He wanted to touch her, but he also didn’t want to set her off and make her panic again. Her emotions,
what little he could feel of them, were heavy and bleak inside him, and the possibility that he might have been the cause of her feeling this way almost broke his heart. He’d promised her he would never hurt her, and she was hurting.
“Pavri.”
Nothing. She didn’t respond. Sorvar gritted his teeth. There had to be something he could say to her to get her to respond. He scrubbed a hand down his face, rubbing at his eyes.
“Tina, I don’t understand what happened,” he said, unable to keep the emotion from his voice. “You were so pleased to see the eggs, and you never gave up hope that they were going to be all right even though Bavric said there was something wrong. You stood up to Sinder, and I was so proud of you for protecting our young.”
He took a breath and blew it out. “I knew you would be a perfect mate, and you just keep proving it to me with every little thing you do.” He reached for her, tentatively, slowly, so as not to scare her. His fingers brushed the top of her foot, just a soft touch. Nothing aggressive and grasping, nothing needy or proprietary. Just a soft slide of his fingers across her skin, then he held them there against the corded and flexed top of her foot. “Tina, I need you to tell me what happened. I want to understand, I want to mend whatever is broken between us and see you as the happy beautiful female I know you as.”
It started as a tiny point of heat in his chest and Tina yanked her foot out from under his hand. Her anger grew, feeling like it was smothered under a layer of Earth and only a gentle warmth came through, but she still refused to look at him. Sorvar ground his teeth, his jaw aching under the strain. Now she was being stubborn. How could he fix this if he didn’t know what happened? How could he fix this if she wouldn’t talk to him?
He reached for her again, sliding his hand around her foot and holding her in a light grip. “Pavri, if you don’t talk to me, I can’t understand. I want to understand. I want to know what happened after I left you with Bavric and Sedric. Did they hurt you? Or did they say something about our young?”
Claimed (Project Destiny Book 1) Page 15
