The Breeding Prize - Aya Morningstar Page 0,55

should have respected that, you fucking mongrel."

"You're a mongrel too," he spits, and he pulls himself up to his knees. "You've had her for days and still haven't gotten her pregnant. You're fucking pathetic."

I shake my head, and then he sees it. Well, he senses it.

The Ulkar. They are coming.

I let my scythe fold up into the higher dimensions. I was going to torture him. I wasn't thinking clearly, because what would Annabelle think of me if I tortured someone? Even a man who laid hands on her?

Now I don't have to make that decision, because the Ulkar are coming. They will give him a more agonizing end than I ever could have. I wouldn't dare to stop them from doing that, but that torture is on them now, not on me. It's out of my hands.

I turn my back to him.

"What's happening?" Annabelle asks me. "You're going to let him live?"

I put a hand on her belly. "The Breeding Games have ended, Muru. You're pregnant."

She gasps, and I look back over my shoulder.

The Ulkar are swarming in the air above Philos. Their bodies are grey masses, but their tentacles are pure higher-dimensional color. They pulse just like my cock or my scythe. When they move, they move in all directions, not just the directions of our lower three dimensions. This means that their tentacles disappear and reappear, or their bodies grow smaller or larger as they move in and out of cross-section with our lower dimensions.

If I close my eyes, I can see their full bodies on the higher dimensions, but I can never see their true form all at once. Even as an Ulkar-hybrid, the true essence of the Ulkar is beyond my comprehension.

I realize Annabelle is watching on in horror, and I take her by the chin and turn her face toward mine. "You don't want to see this, Muru."

I still have a hand on her belly. She looks down at it. "I'm really pregnant?"

"The Ulkar are here to exterminate the losers. The ones who couldn't spread their seed. That means my seed found its home. I've put a baby in you."

We walk away, and we try to ignore the sounds of Philos’ screams behind us as the Ulkar tear him limb from limb.

Soon his cries are gone, but an Ulkar is coming toward us. I grab Annabelle, wrapping her whole body protectively in my arms. I can kill an Ulkar. I can kill dozens of them if it comes to that.

"Relax," it says, floating over our heads and stopping in front of us.

I summon my scythe and hold it at the ready. If it makes any movement toward Annabelle, I will cut it to pieces.

"The fertile prize is yours," it says.

"You will not so much as touch our child," I growl.

"You've proven yourself, Valittu. We won't interfere with you anymore."

Annabelle is trembling in fear. The Ulkar is close to her.ay.

"Swear it," I say, holding the scythe toward it. “You will never touch our baby. You will leave my Muru and me alone. For good.”

"We need make no promises to lower beings. Believe us or not, the fertile prize is yours, and so is your child. Goodbye, Valittu."

It disappears into the higher dimensions, and then it moves even further away, until I can no longer sense it.

She wraps her arms around me and buries her face in my broad chest. I hold tight to her. "We're going to have a baby."

"It sounds too good to be true. We're finally safe. And together. And pregnant."

The destrier looks at me, and I gesture for it to come closer to me. Annabelle takes a few steps back, but I stop her.

"Try petting it," I suggest.

It stops short of us, and Annabelle moves nervously toward it.

"This is my Muru," I tell it.

Annabelle smiles as the Destrier raises its mechanic eyebrows at her. It lowers its head down, and she puts a hand on its metallic mane. It lets out a satisfied whinnie as she pets it.

"Have you ever ridden a horse before?" I ask.

"Uh," she says. "A pony. Not a robot horse."

"They call it a destrier. This one is gentle. I think it likes me. And if it likes me, it's going to like you."

The destrier bobs its head and comes nearer to us. I help Annabelle up onto it. Even though I'm nearly certain it will accept her, I still keep a firm grip on its back in case it tries to buck her off like it did Kula. It