Tina set the knife down, slid her hands through the thick clear liquid in the egg, and lifted the baby’s little head out. Cradling the head in one hand, she wiped the thick liquid away from the baby’s nose and mouth.
“Come on, sweetheart, breathe for mama,” she murmured.
At the call of their little son, the baby in her hands wiggled and stretched before opening its mouth and sucking in a huge breath. A small gurgling noise turned into a higher pitched cry.
Bavric was there with a warm blanket, and Tina lifted the babe into his arms. She could feel the emotion swirling in the air behind her. Taking the baby from her friend, she turned to Sorvar and placed the tiny bundle in his huge, muscular arms.
“Meet your new baby my beautiful mate. This is Hope.”
Low gasps came from all around her. It was unheard of for a mate to name a hatchling. The father always named his sons.
Tina turned away to get to work on her second egg, stopping to stoke her finger along the scaled snout of her tiny son. Tiny claws had ripped at the sides of the tear in the egg, and she could now see his yellow-green eyes.
“Tina,” Sorvar growled.
She could feel him, but chose to ignore him in favour of stepping up to the last remaining egg. With far more confidence than she had felt with the first one, Tina cut into the egg.
“Tina!”
She looked up at Bavric and rolled her eyes. If he could have grinned at her, he would have. A low chuckle escaped him, and amusement danced in his more green than yellow eyes.
Baby number three had the same creamy skin, but its scales were a soft yellowy-green. The combined cries of its siblings startled it into sucking in its first breath. Little eyelids with deep red eyelashes fluttered open, and yellow eyes with slit pupils gazed up at Tina.
Low voices in a heated conversation came from behind her. Sorvar’s emotions were overflowing inside her, making it hard to keep ignoring him, but Tina managed to get her last baby out of its egg and into Bavric’s waiting arms. He wrapped the blanket around the babe and handed it to her.
Suddenly, nervous to face the range of emotions she could feel radiating off the males behind her, Tina turned and walked to Sorvar.
“And this is Destiny,” she said, stroking her finger down the baby’s soft cheek.
Growls and grumbles came from the king and Sinder. Sedric stood beside Sorvar, protecting him from being pressed by his father and brother.
“How long have you known, Tina?” Sorvar asked.
She looked up into his startling yellow eyes. “Since the last time Bavric scanned them. I suspected when I saw the scans on hatching day, but they weren’t developed enough to tell their sex.”
“That’s why you fought so hard for them.” He stroked her cheek and sent a warm pulse of love to her.
“Yeah.”
A low squawk from behind them made Tina pass the babe in her arms to Sedric so she could retrieve her son. The little Morgath male clawed his way up her chest to cling to her shoulder. Tina winced at the sharp prick of his tiny claws, but her chest swelled with warmth when he nuzzled into her neck and started to purr.
With her son’s tail wrapped firmly around her arm, Tina joined her mate and his brother.
A rather loud growl from the king warned them he was losing his patience. “Sorvar, I would see these hatchlings your mate has put so much effort into protecting.”
With a deep sigh, Sorvar steered her over to his father, Sedric on their heels.
“Father, I would like to present to you my son Tinvar, Hope and Destiny. My daughters.”
The silence would have been funny if the future of a species wasn’t at stake. The king stared down at the babes, before reaching a tentative hand towards the bundle in Sorvar’s arms and gently peeling back the blanket.
Hope whimpered as the cooling air of the incubation room hit her pale skin. She turned towards the warmth of her father, but let out a squall when he turned her so the king could see all of her tiny body.
Ten perfect little fingers and ten little toes, each with tiny claws, the slew of peachy scales that graced her waist, back and thighs, and the green eyes with slitted pupils she blinked up at them could not be ignored.
Tina’s so called human babies were not human. They were a beautiful combination of her and Sorvar, hopefully the first of many little girls to come.
Well, Tina wasn’t sure yet, but she had a feeling in a few months the scans of the eggs she was carrying would show more baby girls on the way. She was keeping that surprise for another time. One shock a day was enough for her mate. This one could wait for tomorrow.
The king turned to her, and Tina held her breath. Sorvar sent warmth down the bond to her, soothing her nerves.
“Welcome to the family, Daughter. May you bless the Morgath with many more beautiful females and live a life blessed by Holy Ninvah.”
The ritual welcome for a new mate was a little stilted, but the relief that poured from Sorvar staggered her. Tina didn’t have time to dwell on it.
The king turned to Sinder. “Sinder, come and meet your brother’s hatchlings.”
But Sinder was gone.
* * * *
Five years later.
Tina smiled into the screen of the communications console. “Hello, Emily, how are you?”
The Liaison for Human Females of the Coalition grinned back at her. Her eyes flicked to the sleeping bundle in Tina’s arms.
“Congratulations. How many this time?”
Tina sighed. “Two boys and one girl. Sander and Sartec keep growling in their sleep and waking Promise up. It’s very frustrating. Sorvar promised to have another cot made for me, but he likes the idea of them all sleeping together.”
“God, Tina. How many does that make?”
“I’ve lost count, Emily. Every time I turn around, Nardoc is pushing us together, taking the kids off our hands so we can have special time together. I’m sure he’s trying to get me to breed an entire race of females all by myself.”
Emily cracked up, hooting with laughter.
“Laugh all you want, Liaison. How are your negotiations with your mate going?”
That shut Emily up, but the smile didn’t slip from her face.
“Well, I have some good news for you, Princess. Now that the Morgath’s admittance into the Coalition has been finalised, we can start sending dignitaries out to meet you. The first group are already on their way. They should arrive in a week.”
Tina sat up straighter, her interest piqued. She loved visitors.
“Who’s coming?”
Emily laughed, a husky wicked chuckle.
“Belina Masters is the Ambassador for Earth, and she has ten human women willing to find a mate on Morgath and start a new life.”
Tina stared, just stared. “You are joking! Where did you find women willing to go through the change?”
Another laugh. “Oh, that was the easy part. We just showed them an image of Sorvar, and they were falling all over themselves. We had to draw straws because there were so many from the new batch willing to be shackled to a male as gorgeous as him.”
A low growl came through the communicator.
“I thought I was the only male you looked at.” Clawed hands landed on Emily’s shoulders as her mate came to stand behind her.
Tina inclined her head in greeting, “Drenvah.”
He nodded back. “Princess, you are looking well.”
She grinned at him. “So I have a week to come up with some sort of event so these women can meet as many males as possible. How are they going to feel when the males want to taste them?”
Emily waved a hand. “They know what they’re getting into. They’ve all been thoroughly briefed on Morgath mating habits.” Emily snickered. “The only one who doesn’t know is Belina. She thinks she’s just a chaperone and pilot on this trip.”
Tina’s face split into a wide wicked grin. “Oh, Sinder’s going to just love this. I can’t wait to see the look on his face whe
n he finds out.”
Emily laughed and her mate just shook his head. They knew all about Sinder and his loathing of humans and the little girls he refused to acknowledge.
They spoke for another ten minutes before cutting communications. Tina looked down at the little sleeping face of her daughter framed as it was by fuzzy black hair. Little Promise had been a surprise. Every one of Tina and Sorvar’s girls had red hair, all except Promise. She had her daddy’s black hair. It made a striking contrast to her ruby red scales.
Eleven human females. Tina grinned as she stood. Sedric would be beside himself with glee. He’d been waiting for this for five years. Hopefully he’d think one of the females tasted good and take her to mate.
Tina rubbed her rounded belly with her spare hand. A little help populating Morgath with females would be nice.
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed reading Claimed. Tina was a lot of fun to write and I’m looking forward to writing more snarky human women and the aliens who fall for them as the series progresses.
For an up to date list of releases and free short stories head over to my blog www.leeannwallace.com or like my Facebook page www.facebook.com/LeeAnnWallaceAuthor or you can email me directly at [email protected]
—Lee-Ann
About the Author
Lee-Ann Wallace wants to live in a world where washing folds itself, coffee’s good for you and dreams come true (at least the good ones).
With one series published by eXtasy books, she’s just getting started with this thing called writing. If only her hands could type as fast as her imagination flows.
When she’s not tapping away at her computer working on her next story, you can find her daydreaming about her next tattoo, watching action movies with her family, and practicing self-control, so she doesn’t one click every book on Amazon.
Find out more about Lee-Ann’s current releases and what she’s working on now at www.leeannwallace.com
Claimed (Project Destiny Book 1) Page 20
