It’d been two days and Baila had finally acknowledged she’d been kidnapped. For real this time. Or at least, she believed Zyriq this time around.

Kidnapped because she happened to have an alien bun in her oven. Yet when she looked at the big purple lug, she felt something… more… stretching between them. Something lasting and eternal—a bond unable to be broken.

Those thoughts continued to twist and turn through her mind, repeating over and over as she made meandering circles around the private observation deck. Stars whizzed past, their twinkling light no more than bright spots in space’s blackness. This area on Warking’s Blade had become one of her favorite places on the ship. The invisible shields revealed a bright emptiness that allowed her to find peace and relax. It was comfortable to sit and simply watch the galaxy pass—a space so large it made her feel small and her problems insignificant.

A soft whoosh drew her attention and she turned her head to spy Zyriq striding through the deck’s doors. He stood strong and tall, coiled power in his purple body and a tight expression across his face. Then again, he always looked so serious. Maybe she could teach him to relax a little, to let himself smile and relax every once in a while.

“Is something wrong?” She kept her voice low, as if being so close to the endless stars deserved reverence.

The moment she spoke, Zyriq relaxed, the harsh edge of his expression and taut lines of his muscles vanishing in that instant. As if she was able to wash away his worries with a single word.

“I have to leave you alone for a short time. There are issues I must address and I will be unavailable.” He stroked her cheek, a single finger gliding along the curve of her jaw.

“What kind of issues?” She couldn’t help but question him. Though he had no reason to trust her with his problems. They’d managed to spend a couple days together without arguing or bashing heads, but they didn’t exactly have a “relationship.”

Zyriq released a puff of air and rubbed his temples, the tautness and stress lines returning. She wished she could take some of that worry and responsibility, but he was the first son and some things only he could do.

“There are problems on the bridge. Then there is Adhoe.”

Baila curled her lip, remembering his attitude. “Ugh, that guy.” She rolled her eyes. “What a jerk, right?”

“Right.” Zyriq grunted out the word, no hint of a smile or twitch of his lips.

Okay then. Zyriq and teasing didn’t play well together.

“I guess I can stay on the observation deck? It’s lovely here.” Nothing but the quiet of space and soft hum of the ship’s engines surrounded her.

“That is fine.” Zyriq tipped his head in a small nod and then straightened to gesture behind him. Baila leaned to the side and realized a second person had entered with her baby daddy. “Pach is to stay at your side while I see to matters.”

Zyriq said the words as a statement, not a question. Like it wasn’t open for debate. And Pach… he just grinned at her, looking more like a puppy than a massive purple warrior. Apparently, the young warrior had a “come to the stars” meeting with Chall and Zyriq and had a different outlook on life ever since. She was pretty sure the two of them beat Pach to hell and back and he just wasn’t right in the head any longer.

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

He clenched his jaw. “It is not safe for you to be alone.”

“I’m not really alone. Blade,” she gestured at the ceiling, “is always listening and can summon you if I need you. And no one can get into our quarters or private observation deck without permission. I’m safe.”

“Pach will not bother you or hinder your activity.” Zyriq kept talking as if she hadn’t said a word. Annoying male.

Baila shot Zyriq a quick glare and let it travel to her babysitter as well, letting Pach feel a hint of her anger, too. A babysitter. She’d traveled the stars to Ark Station Zeta at nineteen, dammit. She’d dealt with station rats and tentacle-laden aliens. She didn’t need a babysitter.

“A pregnant female is never left without the company of her bonded or family.” Zyriq tipped his head toward the other male. “Pach is family. He is a favorite of my dam, the queen.”

Like him being family would make him more tolerable as a babysitter. Yeah, not so much. Baila huffed out a sigh. “I get it.” She didn’t like it, but she understood. “Just do what you need to do. I’ll be fine here.”

Zyriq padded forward and bent to gently kiss the top of her head before retreating. He left the observation deck as quietly as he’d entered—with no more than the whoosh of the door. Pach followed, taking up position near the entry, body tense and prepared to strike any who entered. The puppy was taking his job as a guard seriously.

Baila rose and returned to her slow meandering along the perimeter, inspecting her surroundings and gazing out at the stars swirling around the unending universe.

She didn’t say a word as she passed by Pach once and then twice, neither of them uttering a sound. Which gave her a chance to roll her situation through her mind again.

Kidnapped by her purple alien lover. Oh, and he’s a prince.

She had no idea how Zyriq’s mind worked. How the hell had he thought kidnapping her was a good idea?

Then something he’d said tickled her memory… tradition of Morea.

Bless the stars, that couldn’t mean kidnapping was a customary practice on Morea, right? She didn’t want to believe it, but something in her gut told her that was exactly what Morean males did when they found the woman they wanted.

She rubbed her temple, head throbbing with a growing headache. This was how the universe repaid her for throwing caution—and good sense—to the wind. A little passion and a lot of bliss and then boom, baby.

Zyriq had been so foreign and mysterious, his blatant craving for her obvious in his every look, his every touch. She’d sensed his wanting of her and it’d made her feel powerful, beautiful, and like a temptress. He’d traipsed through ASZ as if he owned every inch of the station and expected his every need to be met. Then he’d looked at her and it’d taken that single glance to know he was nothing like the station master—the true leader of the station.

Zyriq wanted but didn’t make threatening demands. And that simple fact had turned her on. Had made her eager to crawl into bed with the dominating alien. He’d been both fierce and tender, his passion demanding yet careful as he explored her body. By the time he’d left her bed and returned to his ship, she’d been well-sated and ached in all those deliciously right places.

Then there was the one part of her that hurt, but not in a good way—her heart.

Baila eased down into a heavenly cushioned seat, her feet aching and the tightness in her ankles warning her to stay seated for a little while. At least until the swelling receded. So she relaxed into place, sighing as she found a comfortable position that cradled her ever-increasing body. She must have dozed off at some point, her eyes fluttering open when the recognizable whoosh of the doors drew her attention.

She lifted her head and spied Zyriq now standing near Pach, his larger body nearly dwarfing the younger guard. “You may go. I will remain.”

Pach pressed his fist to his chest in a salute. “Yes, War Captain.”

As soon as Pach disappeared behind the doors, Zyriq’s attention rested on her. His lips split into a wide smile, his genuine happiness at returning to her obvious in his open expression. There was another emotion—a hunger—that both excited and unnerved her. Desire and lust swirled in his gaze, a longing that resided in his spirit and revealed itself in his stare.

Even large and pregnant, he still craved her. She turned in her seat and lowered her feet to the ground, wiggling forward until her butt reached the edge of the bench. But before her toes touched the floor, he was there, scooping her into his arms and holding her against his chest.

A smile teased her lips and she raised a single brow. “Why do you always feel the need to carry me? This isn’t exactly a normal thing for humans.”

Zyriq grunted, his expression turning serious. “I have been waiting for you all of my years, Baila.”

“All of your years? You mean your entire life?” She shook her head. “We’ve only spent a handful of days together.”

He shrugged. “Time does not matter. Now that I have found you and our young, I will do everything in my power to care for you and provide you with all your wants and needs. You are my one for all eternity.”

She huffed, any hint of her grin vanishing. “Put me down.”

To her surprise, Zyriq actually honored her demand, not uttering a single objection before gently lowering her until she stood at his side. At least for a split-second. She felt her frustration and anger rising, scorching her blood while his words tumbled through her mind.

Baila padded away from him, falling into a steady rhythm as she paced. “Your one? For eternity?” She flicked a glance at him and then refocused on her pacing. “How can you put that kind of label on this?” She waved her hand back and forth between them. “On us? Can we even call it a relationship?”

She snorted. Not so much.

“I do not understand.”

She had to remember he was an alien. She placed her hands on the back of a chair, using it to keep her upright. “I mean, yes, I’m pregnant with your child. I get that. But you can’t just make it sound like we’re destined to be together for eternity. Like I’m your ‘one and only someone.’”

Zyriq’s expression hadn’t changed so she tried again. “I can have your baby without turning this thing between us into a permanent relationship. We don’t have to be tied together. Do you really want to take this kind of step when we know next to nothing about each other?”

He had to see her point.

“The young is mine.”

Or not.

“I know,” she reaffirmed his claim. “I’m not disputing that. You will always have a place in his life,” she reassured him, wanting to make it clear that she’d never stand between a father and his child. “But we’re in the twenty-fifth century, not the nineteenth. Humans don’t get married because of accidental pregnancies anymore.”

“You are not human. You bear my young. You are my bonded. You are of Morea now.”

Zyriq sounded like he believed every word, too.

She mentally sighed and decided she needed to approach this from a different angle. “Zyriq, you can’t deny that my presence and pregnancy is causing bitterness and resentfulness to grow within the crew.”

He shook his head, denying her words.

Stubborn alien.

Baila rolled her eyes and lowered herself to a nearby padded bench. “Come on. Adhoe hates me. If a well-respected, honorable healer is looking for any way to get rid of me, you can’t tell me the people on your planet won’t feel the same way.”

He took the seat beside her, cradling one of her hands within his while he used his thumb to nudge her chin higher. He forced her to make eye contact, his dark purple eyes colliding with hers.

“Do you recall the moment we met? You were not to interact with customers while you worked and yet you spoke to me. You agreed to spend time with me after your shift. Conversation turned into a private spacewalk.”

She gave him a subtle nod, unable to deny the truth. Zyriq’s intense stare and low words pulled flashes of memory forward. Her belly flipped and heart raced, those thoughts dragging her buried emotions forward. She didn’t want to recall how quickly she’d fallen for the Morean male.

“Then I gave you a flying lesson and you nearly destroyed part of the station. Do you remember that?” He chuckled, and a giggle escaped her lips.

“We shared dinner and an intimate night, the most beautiful night of my life. Then breakfast the next morning before I was recalled.”

Baila nodded in agreement, her smile growing with each memory that flashed into her mind. Even still, she refused to be baited into agreeing with him. A few days of knowing one another followed by night of the horizontal tango shouldn’t result in a lifetime commitment. “We spent less than a week together.”

Zyriq gently cupped her stomach. “This young one took a single night to create,” he murmured. “We have not spent much time together, that is true,” he tilted his head with his agreement. “However, that does not diminish my feelings, and I know you feel the same.”

Baila nibbled her lower lip, staring at him as she sought to read more into his expression. Yet he revealed nothing new. “Are you… Are you in love with me? Is that what you’re saying?”

And how did she feel about that.

Zyriq shrugged as if the idea wasn’t off the wall or outlandish. “There must be love between us, however small. The light of that love burns brighter each moment I spend in your presence.”

“But how can you love me already?”

He flashed her a smirk, his eyes dancing with a self-satisfied confidence. “You should look inside yourself, yabi. If you did not love me on some level, you would not be bearing my young.”

Baila rolled her eyes. “Yeah, pretty sure your purple sperm did that job.”

“No,” his voice dropped, all hint of teasing now gone. “A Morean male cannot impregnate a female he does not love. And not if he does not sense—on some level—that his feelings are returned.”

Her lips parted, mouth falling open as shock suffused her. He couldn’t mean… She tried to deny his words and the way they made her feel, but… couldn’t. Some part of her sensed the truth in his words, no matter how shocking. “If you weren’t in love with me, and if I hadn’t been in love with you, I couldn’t have gotten pregnant?”

“Yes.”