Night of the Zandians (Zandian Brides 1)

“I’m sorry, I mean no disrespect, but I can’t… this can’t be. You saw my reports, what they did to me. My fallopian tubes were fused shut, destroyed. It’s not possible. Right? Or was it something else?” I find a chair and sit, head swimming, and my mates surround me, their hands warm on my face, my arms, my hands. I squeeze and lean back, so grateful they are here.

“Maybe the Zandian sperm helped heal you,” Bayla suggests. “Or the planetary crystal. But right now, we don’t have a medical reason why your body would heal itself. It’s a novel phenomenon.”

I still can’t process this. “I’m really pregnant? For real?”

She nods. “That is why you are so sick,” she says. “Some women have very serious morning sickness; in your case, it’s severe. But I had a suspicion you were pregnant, based on the smell of your breath.”

“The smell of my breath?” I can’t comprehend this.

She nods. “It’s a very subtle thing that sometimes happens when humans are pregnant with non-human babies—their breath smells like apples. When we examined you… it became clear.”

I remembered Holla had mentioned my breath smelling like apples, too. Had she suspected?

“But… twins?” It’s boggling my mind.

Dr. Daneth interrupts. “I would like to research the breath situation,” he says. “I would like to get samples of Riya’s exhalations and run them through a CG to check which volatile compounds are responsible for the odor. It could be a useful addition to our diagnostic arsenal.” He coughs. “I still have much to learn about humans,” he admits.

Bayla adds, “You will need to stay on bedrest until the pain resolves and you regain enough weight. We need to be very careful. We don’t know why your tubes reopened, Riya, but you are still fragile. We need to treat your pregnancy very carefully, especially with twins.”

“The bigger one is probably mine,” says Ronan, touching my still-flat belly. “I bet mine will be huge.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” snaps Tarren. “They are both from the same Zandian. And the bigger one would be mine, anyway.” He puts his large hand over mine and squeezes. “And we will care for them regardless.” He gives me a guilty look. “We only said those things because we thought you couldn’t have one. Of course we, ah, are now very excited about this.” He’s nervous; I can tell from the way he shifts his leg and taps his foot. But something in his eyes shows deep excitement, too. He’s getting something he never though he could or should. A gift.

“We would have been more than satisfied without young,” Jax explains. “But this is clearly important to you, and I’m delighted. Either way we want you, Riya.” He caresses my head, massaging my scalp with his fingers, a soothing feeling.

“Have I told you how much I want young?” Ronan says. “So amazing! Remarkable creatures. I can’t wait to, ah, change diapers for you.” He blanches so that even his horns get paler, and I laugh so hard I gag, but I grasp his hand on my belly.

“I’m sure you will become an expert very quickly,” I tell him with a smile.

“We are going to start you on an IV infusion of vitamins and an

ti-nausea meds,” says Dr. Daneth. “And soon we expect you’ll be able to eat again and regain your strength.” He adds, “They could be identical twins, or fraternal. And I have to tell you that there is a chance they could be from two different fathers, if you both… penetrated her… in short succession, and she released two eggs. We won’t know until we do genetic testing, but I don’t recommend that until she regains strength.”

I don’t even care about that right now. All I can focus on is having my mates here. Tarren, Ronan, and Jax have forgiven me. They came for me. They want me, after everything that happened. It’s incredible.

“When can we take her home?” Tarren asks, and it sounds more like a demand.

“She’ll need to stay in a medbay for now,” the doctor answers. “Until we can get her weight up and assess the safety of the pregnancy. It may be just a few planet rotations, or possibly a few lunar cycles.”

“Then we will live in the pod with her,” declares Ronan. “And go to work from there. It will be smaller than the dome, but we will make it work.”

“You will do no such thing,” advises the doctor, rolling his eyes. “The pod room she will be in is for one patient only, but you may, of course, visit daily.” He eyes my mates with narrowed eyes, as if he doesn’t trust them to listen.

“You truly want me?” I need to hear it again, and again.

“Yes,” they all say, their voices blending into a symphony of tones, my favorite sounds in the world.

“I love you,” I whisper, looking at each one in turn. And it’s true. I love these Zandians as much as I love life itself. I touch my belly, and feel the most incredible joy possible, knowing that my past is truly in the past. Despite my mistakes, even after everything that happened, my future is bright and beautiful… full of everything I could have dreamed.

14

Tarren

Do you need more tea?” I hover over Riya, placing the soft fleece throw she likes over her lap. “Stay warm.”

She tosses it off. “Tarren, it’s like a hundred degrees in here, and with Zandian twins in my belly, my temperature is twice that.” She makes a face at me and laughs. Now that she’s past the morning sickness, color has returned to her face, and she’s glowing. To me, she’s never looked more lovely.

I grab her and pull her to her feet and kiss her, reaching back to smack her ass. “Don’t talk back, human,” I admonish her.