Screaming. All that can be heard is mad, female ranting like she’s got a case of The Rades.
“—hell no! Hell no, freaks. This is not happening!”
Jareth comes to a screeching halt just inside the doorway, and I bump into him. Peering over his shoulder with my palm pressed at his lower back, I take in the scene. On one table, an alien human remains sleeping despite having been pulled from her cryotube. The other one, though…
She’s feral.
Despite wearing one of the medical gowns, she’s anything but weak or sick. This alien is fierce and furious. Despite being two nogs shorter than Avrell, she points up at him with her filed down claw like it has the power to flay him like a magknife. Avrell’s jaw clenches as he bites back words.
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Emery tries. “But if—”
“No,” the feral female growls. “I’ve heard this three times already. You want to take me to something called the sub-faction. Everyone is nice. Who cares if they’re big fucking freaks because you all want to have their babies. Yeah, got all that.” She seethes with rage, her long, dark, brown hair swishing back and forth with her movement. “The part I’m not getting is how this one”—she pokes Avrell in the chest—“says I’m fucking pregnant!”
Jareth stiffens. I meet Calix’s stare, and his jaw clenches.
Pregnant?
“Listen, honey,” Emery starts again.
“Grace. My name isn’t honey or alien,” she snarls, her words directed at Avrell. “It’s Grace Miller. AND I AM A FUCKING VIRGIN! My name isn’t Mary and this guy here isn’t God! This is not happening!”
“She’s pregnant,” Jareth mutters, his voice a mixture of fear and awe.
As though she’s a geostorm chasing the sun from our world, she slowly turns around, darkness burning from eyes the same color as Jareth’s cock ring. Dark silver. Strong. Piercing.
Rekk.
“She is pregnant,” Calix agrees, finding his voice. “And the mortling belongs to you.”
Jareth freezes and shakes his head in disbelief. But Calix isn’t looking at him. His intense stare is on me. I peel my eyes from his to scan down her body. Her stomach isn’t as big as Emery’s, but it’s swollen. Obviously so.
Rekk no.
Rekk no.
Rekk no.
“Yeah, you’ve said that,” Grace hisses. “Three times.”
I wince, realizing I said it out loud.
She walks our way, and her steely eyes burn with fury, melting me with just one look. “You did this to me?”
I blink at her, understanding her meaning. As though I pushed myself on her while she slept. “I, uh—”
She smacks me right across the face, the burn from her hard hit shocking me. Jareth growls at her, his sub-bones snapping out of control. Rekking great. Calix makes a grab for Grace’s arm just as I step in front of Jareth, blocking him from attacking her. His chest bumps my back.
“We ought to toss you in a reform cell,” Jareth bites out at her.
“Toss him in while you’re at it!” she cries out. “Where I come from, we don’t allow rapists to walk free!”
“No,” I argue. “We are not Kevins. I would never.”
“No one physically violated you,” Avrell assures her. “I was the one to inseminate the females.”
She turns her fury back to him. And as he rattles off all the specifics of what he did, she seems to deflate. Where Jareth and I are unknowing about medicines and biological code, this female seems to understand him clearly.
“Come on, Grace,” Emery says. “Just us. Let’s go. I’ll take you somewhere, so you can eat something and catch your breath. I’m so sorry.”
This time, Grace seems to see reason. She allows Emery to tug her away. But before she gets past us, Grace stops to narrow her eyes at me.
“I may have your alien bastard baby inside me, but I’m not a monster. I can feel it kicking.” Her hard eyes seem to flicker with a softness before it’s chased away again by anger. “The poor thing is innocent. But don’t think for one second that I’ll let you be some deadbeat dad. If I’m forced into this, you will be too. Got it, freak?”
All I can do is nod.
Because what the rekk else am I supposed to do?
She’s pregnant with my mortling.
Mine.
Pride and mortification war back and forth inside me. I’ll allow myself time later to understand what this will mean and how it will impact my life.
Now is not the time.
Jareth storms out of the lab, and I shoot Avrell an apologetic look before trotting after him. It’s not until we’re within his quarters that he reveals what’s going on inside that nog of his.
The door closes behind me, and I slowly approach him.
“Jareth…”
He turns and glowers at me, but I don’t miss the hurt glimmering in his black eyes. “These aliens have ruined everything.”
I shake my head vehemently. “No, they haven’t. They’ve given our people hope.”