who had retained her fertility and bore him twenty years later, then Amiriska thirty years after that. He had never in his lifetime seen a pregnant woman. Not on his planet. Not in person. Only in pictures when his instructors in school had taught them about reproduction. Any woman who managed to conceive was immediately transported to a medical facility run by their allies, the Sectas, who were more advanced medically than his own race.
Even when he ventured to other planets for war games and on diplomatic missions, Taelon spent most of his time with warriors and negotiating with other rulers and diplomats. And when he did manage to secure time to rest and fraternize, the women who pursued him were all single and covetous of the prestige bonding to a member of the Lasaran royal family would bring them. None were already mated or breeding.
Releasing Lisa’s hand, he reached toward her belly, then hesitated. He glanced up. “May I touch it?”
She nodded.
Taelon gently settled a hand on the mound.
Her lips twitched. “It’s okay. You don’t have to be so careful.” Covering his hand with her much smaller one, she pressed it firmly against her.
Something thumped against his palm.
He sucked in a breath.
Her lips twitched. “The baby kicks a lot.”
Shifting onto his knees, he scooted closer and cupped her belly with both hands. Again, he felt movement. A startled laugh escaped him as he looked up at her. “That’s really my baby in there?”
“Our baby,” she said. “They fertilized my egg with your sperm.”
Some of the joy welling up inside him dimmed. “They gave you no choice in the matter?”
She shook her head. “They kept me in a medically induced coma. I had no idea I was pregnant until I woke up three days ago.”
No wonder she had been so confused. “Whose baby did you think you carried?”
“They claimed it was Brad’s, but I knew that was bullshit. Brad and I were just friends. Acquaintances really. We never saw each other outside of the institute. But they kept up the lie, trying to convince me. Then Brad snuck into the room I was held in and told me the truth—that the baby inside me was an alien’s.”
Understanding dawned. No wonder she had lost it when she’d first seen him. He had shown her a hideous, slimy, razor-toothed creature, and she had believed something similar was growing inside her. “Lisa, I’m so sorry. When you came looking for me, I thought you were one of them and showed you…” Showed her a true monster.
“It’s okay. We both know the truth now.”
And the truth was: she carried his child.
Taelon slid his hands over the mound and unexpectedly found himself blinking back tears. “Amiriska was right.”
“Who?”
He swallowed back the grief that threatened. “My younger sister, Amiriska. One of our enemies—the Gathendiens—released a virus on our planet that rendered many of our females infertile. Amiriska consulted the Sectas and thought Earth women and our men could procreate successfully. She came here hoping to form an alliance with your leaders in which we would help you eliminate your food and water shortages and provide you with free, unlimited clean energy that would eliminate your dependence upon fossil fuels, maybe even help you terraform your moon to alleviate your overpopulation, in exchange for your government allowing Earth women who were interested to travel to my planet and see if they could find mates among our males.”
“To help you repopulate?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“The Earth butchers captured her, just as they captured me.”
“What?” Horror filled her features. “Oh no. Taelon, was she there? At the base? Was she there last night? We didn’t free her! We—”
“She wasn’t there.”
His words did not lessen her anxiety. “Are you sure? Maybe we should go back. I mean, maybe—”
“She wasn’t there, Lisa.” That she would feel such concern for his sister—a woman she had never even met—and would risk her life to go back for her touched him deeply. “She wasn’t there,” he repeated. “And there’s nothing to go back to. You saw the explosion.”
Shifting, she drew her other leg up onto the bed and knelt. She inched forward until her knees rested between his, almost touching the erection that lingered after her touch and kisses earlier.
Taelon kept his hands on their child, steadfastly ignoring the impulse that tempted him to slide his arms around her and draw her close again.
She cupped his face in her small hands, her thumbs rasping over the stubble that coated his jaw. “Did they kill her?” she asked