Close Obsession (The Krinar Chronicles 2)

“You must be Marisa,” Ellet said warmly, coming up to her sister and studying her with an inquisitive look on her perfect face.

Marisa pulled away from Mia, looking a little stunned to be confronted with such a gorgeous creature.

The Krinar woman gave her a wide smile. “I’m Ellet,” she said gently, “and I’m an expert in human biology. Please, don’t worry, you have nothing to be afraid of. Come, let’s go into the living room and I’ll take a look to see if there’s anything wrong. And even if there is, I’m sure that we can fix it. The human body holds few mysteries for us at this point.”

Marisa nodded, looking somewhat reassured, and they all walked into the living room.

“Please, can you stand still for just one minute?” Ellet requested, reaching for a small white device that was sitting on the coffee table next to the couch. Picking it up, she directed it toward Mia’s sister, running it slowly over her body from head to toe, focusing especially on her stomach area.

Then, putting down the device, she said, “Did your doctor tell you that you have borderline hyperemesis gravidarum?”

Marisa blinked. “Uh, he did mention something along those lines, but I thought that was just a name for severe nausea and vomiting . . .”

“It is. It’s a condition that happens when you have excessive levels of beta hCG hormone. It could be dangerous if you get severely dehydrated, and I don’t think human doctors know how to treat it other than assigning you IV fluids in the more extreme cases and making sure you rest. However, I should be able to fix it for you, so the rest of your pregnancy proceeds smoothly.”

Marisa gave her a desperately hopeful look. “Really? You can make it go away?”

“I can normalize the hormone levels for you. Since you’re only in your first trimester, you may still experience mild nausea every now and then, so I’ll give you a little something that you can take for that. But you’ll be able to eat and function normally again – and start gaining weight like you’re supposed to.”

“And the baby? Is everything okay with the baby?” Marisa asked tremulously.

Ellet smiled. “Yes. She’s going to be a beautiful girl.”

“Oh my God, a girl!” Tears of happiness filled Marisa’s eyes. For as long as Mia could remember, Marisa had talked about wanting a daughter, and now it seemed like her dream would be coming true. Mia grinned at her and squeezed her hand.

“All right, ready? We’ll need privacy for the next step,” Ellet said.

“You can go into one of the bedrooms upstairs,” Korum told her. “We’ll be waiting down here.”

Marisa looked a little nervous. “What are you going to do?” she asked Ellet. “Is it like an operation?”

“I won’t have to cut you or anything,” the K reassured her. “It’s just a small device that needs to go inside you. It will take about five minutes, and then you’ll be able to go home.”

“Go ahead,” Mia encouraged her. “It’ll be okay . . .”

Marisa and Ellet went upstairs, and Mia sat down next to Korum. “Thanks again for getting Ellet to come out here,” she told him. “She’s wonderful.”

“Yes, she’s one of the nicest individuals I know,” Korum admitted. “She’s still relatively young, only about four hundred years old, but she’s very passionate about what she does and she’s made a lot of contributions to her field.” He sounded admiring.

A sudden unpleasant thought occurred to Mia. “Did you and her ever . . . ?” Ellet was one of the most beautiful women Mia had ever seen, even in Lenkarda.

Korum shrugged. “It was noth

ing serious – just a casual fling a few years ago. It’s nothing that you need to be concerned with.”

Mia swallowed, the pit of her stomach suddenly burning with jealousy. “You were lovers?” A wave of nausea rolled through her as she pictured them together in bed, the K’s pouty lips on Korum’s body, her slender hands touching him in intimate places.

“Only briefly. You have to understand something, my sweet – sex is a fun, recreational activity for us. Unless it takes place in the context of a serious relationship, we don’t assign any meaning to it.”

Mia stared at him, trying to digest that for a second and to push away the unpleasant, pornographic images still lingering in her mind. “So what determines whether you’re in a serious relationship or not?”

“Whether we care about the other person and to what degree.”

“And you didn’t care about Ellet?”

He shook his head. “No. We were too similar in some ways. It quickly became obvious that we didn’t have much beyond the initial attraction – which faded within a few weeks.”

“But she’s so incredibly beautiful . . . How can you possibly not be attracted to her anymore? And she to you?” Mia asked quietly, feeling irrationally upset. What could Korum want with a regular human who couldn’t hold a candle to one of his former lovers? If his attraction to Ellet had faded so quickly, what chance did Mia have of holding his attention longer? They had been together just over six weeks at this point. Would he get bored of her within another month?