Mama and the Alien Warrior (Treasured By The Alien #1) - Honey Phillips Page 0,64

reference. Tonight, he would have his wish: he and Abigail, alone in a big bed.

“Look, Mama, my room’s pink!” Lucie bounced with excitement. “And there’s a tub. Do you think they have rubber duckies?”

Abigail choked back a laugh when he frowned at the unfamiliar term. “I don’t think so, baby, but maybe we can find some bubbles. Did you take a nap today?”

“No. And I don’t need one. I’s a big girl.”

“Even big girls need naps,” Abigail said as she yawned.

“Why don’t you stay here and rest with Lucie?” he asked. “I need to talk to L’chong.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” she said with a longing look at the bed.

His shaft stiffened at the thought of her, rumpled and sleepy against the pink sheets, but he sternly suppressed it. “Do you want me to take Tiana?”

“No, I missed her too. Come here, sweetheart.” She cuddled the baby close and Tiana smiled up at her, her tail wrapping around Abigail’s wrist.

He left her turning down the bed while Lucie chattered away. Although he wanted to stay, he needed to find out if L’chong had any information about Tiana’s parents. He found the medic in a spacious office overlooking the front lawn.

L’chong rose from his chair. “Ah, Captain Hrebec. I suspected you would come by. Will you have a seat?”

“I’d prefer to stand, thank you.” He had no reason to distrust the medic and was in fact grateful for his assistance, yet the pieces didn’t add up. “Why do you know so much about Cire physiology? Especially if you only had one brief encounter with a female who was passing through?”

The medic settled back into this seat. “Why do you wish to know?”

He paced to the window and back. “My government is searching desperately for Cire females. As I’m sure you know, they were all taken by the Red Death.”

“Yes, I had heard that.” His sharp little eyes studied Hrebec. “Is that all?”

“No.” He finally collapsed into a chair. “I want to know if Tiana has a family.”

“You wish to give her up?”

“No! By Granthar, no. She is ours. But I can’t help wondering if there is a family somewhere that misses her. A grandparent, perhaps.”

L’chong watched him carefully. “Would it make you feel better to know that she has no one else?”

“Better? No. But I would feel better about adopting her if I knew that I wasn’t replacing another claim.”

“Adopting? Will your government permit that?”

The thought had never crossed his mind, but now that L’chong mentioned it, he remembered the messages he had received, the emphasis on Tiana, not as a person, but as a symbol. As an experiment.

His hands curled into fists. “I would never allow them to take her from me.”

“Even if it meant you could never return to Ciresia?”

A realization struck him like a blow. “I never intended to return.” He’d never said it aloud before, but he could hear the truth in the words.

“I see.” It was L’chong’s turn to pace. He bobbed up from his chair and hopped around the room with his odd gait. “Can I trust you, Captain?”

“I am trusting you with the lives of the females in my care.”

“That is true. Will you give me your word of honor that you will not reveal the information I’m about to give you?”

“I will not keep anything from my mate.”

L’chong waved a dismissive hand. “Of course. That is understood.” He folded himself into the chair next to Hrebec’s. “There is a Cire colony here on Trevelor.”

The news was not a complete surprise, given the conversation leading up to it. “With both male and female Cires?”

“Yes, although even here, the males vastly outnumber the females. That is why many of them have taken non-Cire mates.”

“Successfully?” he asked eagerly. “They have been able to have children and build a family?”

L’chong frowned. “In some cases. In others, they have chosen to adopt a child left in distressed circumstances by the aftermath of the Red Death.”

Hrebec gestured impatiently. “By birth or adoption, they are still a family. I know that better than anyone.”

The revelation still filled him with hope. The Cire race might change, but it would not be lost. He found the thought much more satisfying than the desperate hope that the scientists back on Ciresia would succeed with their artificial wombs and their experiments.

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” L’chong said.

“But what of Tiana’s parents? Were they part of the colony?”

“No. That may have been their intention, but they were both too ill to leave the