The Breeding Prize - Aya Morningstar Page 0,17
threaten Kula. I’d almost forgotten about that part.
Kula takes in a deep breath and opens the door. “Muru! We have visitors.”
Ellie comes up to greet us. She’s wearing a local style outfit of synthesized smart fibers. Her dress stretches over her stomach, which is nearly ready to burst. The fabric of the dress shows the fetus in her womb in full color.
“Is that...Raiska?” Ellie asks, gaping up at me.
To my astonishment, Annabelle takes hold of my arm and presses her body against me. She leans her head into my arm, and the scent of her hair hits my nose. The proximity to her and her smell make my cock twitch and stiffen.
Annabelle grins sheepishly. “I’m from Earth! If you couldn’t already tell. That’s a cool dress. I know you’re never supposed to ask a woman how far along she is because she might not actually be pregnant, but Kula already told us that you’re pregnant, and there’s also the fact that you’re wearing some kind of futuristic x-ray dress that is literally showing me the fetus, so it’s probably okay to ask how far along you are.” She laughs nervously and gasps for breath. “Eight months? Or thereabouts?”
Ellie laughs and holds out her arms. “Come here, little human.”
“Oh God, you’re going to call me that too?”
Ellie wraps her arms around Annabelle. “It’s hard to hug with this baby in me. And I’m four months along, to answer your question.”
Annabelle looks down and gasps. “Four months? God, how are you going to get that thing out of you when it’s full size then? Is it going to be as big as Kula?”
She puts a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, sorry! I shouldn’t say that.”
“Aparan babies are ready faster,” Ellie says, smiling. “It doesn’t take nine months, only about five”
“Oh.”
I clear my throat. “Ellie. I am sorry about what happened on Earth.”
She looks up at me and smiles, but it’s nowhere near as warm as the smiles she showed to Annabelle. “I’m mostly mad about the mind control, to be honest.”
“I never laid a hand on her.”
“Are you mind controlling her?” Ellie points to me, and her smile is gone now.
I shake my head. “I couldn’t bring myself to, because…”
Because seeing her changed everything. Because I realized my life had been entirely empty before I saw Annabelle. I can’t say these things in front of her, let alone in front of everyone here. “I...I learned my lesson, and chose not to.”
Kula crosses his arms and smirks at me.
“Let’s all sit down and get something to drink,” Ellie says.
We sit down at a large table, and Ellie pours us cups of pink liquid. I take a sip of it and realize it’s the same drink we had at Kula’s restaurant.
“What is this stuff?” Annabelle asks.
Ellie takes a big sip. “I call it chill juice. I’m going to need a lot of it, I think. Fortunately it’s safe to drink while pregnant.”
“I apologize for the intrusion, Ellie. Annabelle has been selected by the Ulkar as the fertile prize in the Breeding Games—”
Ellie spits out her drink. “The what?”
“The Breeding Games,” I repeat. “Four of us were tasked with giving her our seed. Fortunately one of the competitors has already been slain. But two more yet live. Well, technically four, but I think three of them are a symbiotic orgasm with one consciousness. They are coming for Annabelle, and…”
A few hours later, we’re checking into a hotel.
“I have my own room,” Kula says.
“You don’t want to go back to your Muru?” Annabelle asks. “Maybe smooth things over with her?”
He shakes his head. “She didn’t like the idea of our home becoming a battleground in the Breeding Games. It’s best if I stay here until the danger has passed.”
I feel I should thank him, but our relationship is complicated, and I don’t want him to question my intentions. It seems easier to stay cold toward him than to risk reaching out. It’s a tactical decision rather than an emotional one.
We get into the hotel room, and Annabelle laughs nervously. “One bed?”
“It’s a large bed. I can sleep on the floor.”
“There’s a couch,” she says.
“That couch is meant for weak humanoids. It cannot support my size.”
“I guess I could take the couch.”
“No, little human. You are weaker than me and need the enhanced comfort a bed provides. A soft carpet is more luxurious sleep quarters than where I slept most of my life.”
“What was it like for you growing up?” she asks.
“We will save such interrogations for