Even though she’d been checked out and the medical AI had said her condition would ease, a few days later Jess was feeling no better. In fact, she was feeling decidedly worse. The feelings of stomach discomfort had increased to actual nausea and she felt hot all over, the kind of clammy hot all over that didn’t bode well.

Groaning, she turned on her side and looked toward the door of her bedroom. She’d returned to lie down after lunch, but the nap hadn’t done her any good. Instead, now she was seriously worried. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. She needed to go to the medbay.

Her entire body ached as she pulled herself to the edge of the bed. The effort made her light-headed, shivers running over her skin as she made her way to the door. The room spun around her, the walls moving as she made her way through the main room of the women’s quarters and into the corridor beyond.

“Lady Jessica! I was hoping to see you,” a familiar deep voice sounded behind her.

Spinning on her heel, Jess overshot and stumbled… right into Saal’s arms. His eyes widened in surprise and for a second heat flared in his eyes.

“I’ve wanted to get you in my arms for weeks,” he murmured, his voice husky and seductive, but almost instantly he frowned. Lifting a hand, he pressed it to her forehead. “Gods, Jessica… you’re burning up.”

“Medbay,” she pleaded, her fingers curled in the edges of his jacket. “I don’t feel well. Please, Saal.”

“For you, my love, anything.”

She didn’t argue over his endearment as he swept her up in his arms, too busy trying not to be sick, and she closed her eyes as he carried her through the corridors. His frame was big, warm and reassuring and she relaxed, knowing that she was safe with him. For the moment anyway. Even though he’d eased off trying to claim her since he’d rescued her from the purist guard, she was under no illusions that he had forgotten about it. It was only a matter of time before he tried his luck again. She couldn’t think of that at the moment, though, not when her skin felt like it was burning off and her lunch was likely to make another appearance.

“Almost there,” he said in a low voice, his breathing not even labored as he hurried through the palace with long strides. “Open up,” he ordered, his voice pitched to carry. “Lady Jessica needs a healer. Now!”

She heard rather than saw the bustle of medbay around them, still clinging to Saal to stop the awful spinning in her head. He murmured soothingly as he bent to lay her down on a soft surface. Risking a small peak, she found she was in the main bay, healers bustling around them and a steely-faced Daaynal watching them both. She didn’t miss the icy expression in his eyes. Shit, he was Laarn’s uncle as well. If he thought she was cheating on his nephew… she’d be pissed as well if she were him.

“I felt ill,” she explained as the diagnostic bed started up, the arch forming over her in a swirl of interlacing beams. “He found me in the corridor and brought me here.”

Daaynal nodded, transferring his attention to the healers clustered around her. “What’s wrong with her? Find out. Now!”

Jess relaxed back against the padded mattress with a sigh. Whatever it was, the computers would figure it out, and hopefully give her something. She shuddered violently as a wave of heat, and then cold washed over her, not listening to the voices and bleeps and beeps of the machine anymore. It all merged into one as she slipped into semi-consciousness.

“She’s pregnant?” Daaynal’s stunned voice brought her out of her doze to find the big emperor staring at the healers. Then he turned an accusing glare on Saal. The warrior looked surprised for a moment, and she caught the flash of fury in his eyes before he blinked and covered it, adding a quick, fake smile.

“I’m what?” she asked, but her stomach rebelled and she rolled to her side and puked into the bucket one of the healers held out quickly for her.

“We are blessed,” she heard Saal saying, as he patted her calf. “We weren’t sure but had hoped…”

Nononono. She tried to shake her head as savage heaves racked her frame, her body purging itself of everything she’d eaten in the last couple of hours, but she couldn’t do anything until she’d finished throwing up. A healer gave her a damp cloth and helped her rinse her mouth out before she collapsed weakly back on the bed, her head and shoulders now raised comfortably, to find Saal and Daaynal locked in a battle of wills, steely expressions on both men’s faces.

“I claim the Terran, Lady Jessica…” Saal was saying through gritted teeth. “She’s carrying my child, so she belongs to me.”

Carrying his child… she was pregnant.

“I can’t be,” she said, her words dropping like a ton weight into the charged silence of the room. “I’ve never slept with him, nor has he claimed me. I mean, he’s tried, but—”

“I’m claiming her now,” the big warrior insisted. “And I have bedded her. How else is she with child?”

“Lady Jessica?” Daaynal turned toward her, his eyebrow raised. The frosty expression was still on his face but had thawed a little. He wanted to believe her… that much was evident.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I haven’t had sex with anyone since I left Earth months ago…”

“Lies!” Saal exclaimed, only to be cut off as the double doors to the medbay swept open.

“He’s the one lying,” Kenna announced as she swept into the room. “She’s been avoiding him because she’s worried he’ll claim her and she wants Laarn to.”

“Kenna!” Jess hissed, panic rising along with the bile in her stomach. Quickly she grabbed the fresh bucket a healer held out for her.

“Oh, shut it,” the marine ordered in a no-nonsense voice. “You want to be tied to a man you don’t want? I got this.”

She turned her attention to the two men in the center of the room, her hand not resting on the grip of the pistol at her hip but relaxed beside it. The kind of relaxed that said she could have the thing in hand and firing within a heartbeat. “No one is claiming anyone today. My girl Mary here just got the shock of a lifetime, so let’s all back the fuck down and sort out what the hell is going on, shall we?”

Daaynal frowned. “Mary? I thought her name was Jessica.”

“It is. It comes from—” Kenna shook her head, her expression bringing an exhausted smile to Jess’ lips. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Jess, how are you feeling?”

“Like I just got out of high-g training after a three-day bender on Tarinat-four,” she grumbled, naming one of the rough and ready outpost stations in the Sol Sector. She transferred her attention to Daaynal. “I have not slept with Saal,” she declared firmly. “And I am definitely not pregnant by him. I shouldn’t be pregnant at all. Are you sure?” she demanded of the healer hovering by her.

He nodded, pulling up a display in front of him and tapping through data she couldn’t read until he found the one he wanted. Turning it, he showed her the screen. “See these levels here and here? The scans all indicate a viable pregnancy in the very early stages. I would say no more than two weeks.”

“You can tell that early?” She blinked in surprise, looking up at him. While she’d seen him in the main medbay a lot, she didn’t recognize what clan he was from. Definitely not a K’Vass that was for sure. He had high cheekbones and an almost exotic look that she’d never seen before.

“Of course,” he replied. “Our technology is far more advanced than yours. We can tell from the moment of conception. Even check the child’s DNA and extrapolate what it will look like.”

Oh my. She just looked at him, unable to take it all in. “So I really am pregnant? Can you…” Shit, this was going to sound so bad. “Can you tell who the father is?”

The healer blinked. “You don’t know?”

“Everyone OUT!” Daaynal ordered, his loud, commanding growl causing healers and warriors alike to scatter, heading for the double doors at the front of the room. “Even you, Saal. Now!”

The big warrior grumbled, looking toward Jess, but she ignored him. Her attention was fixed on the healer, who suddenly looked very nervous. Flicking a glance between the two women, and the emperor, he cleared his throat. While Laarn was away, he was obviously the lead healer, as his scars attested to. They weren’t as numerous or as vicious as Laarn’s, but certainly more plentiful than the other healers she’d seen in here.

“No,” she repeated. “Since I’ve not slept with a man since I left Earth, I don’t know who the father is.”

Her hands crept down to cover her stomach in wonder as she spoke. Could it be true? Was she really pregnant, and… how?

The healer frowned. “What does sleeping have to do with procreation?”

Daaynal rumbled in the back of his throat, half a growl and half clearing it. “It’s a Terran phrase. It means she hasn’t had sex with a male.”

“But…” Surprise flowed over his face. “She must have, more than that, she must have had sex with a Lathar warrior…”

“Oh?” Daaynal’s gaze sharpened as Jess spluttered. “I can assure you I have not!”

“Well, she must have. I can see the human genetic information, but the father was definitely Lathar—”

“Who? What family?” Daaynal demanded, his expression sharp. Jess thought the healer would have a heart attack on the spot, the tension in his frame was so complete as he studied the readings on the screen.

“He took some of my eggs for a test,” she said quietly. “He must have fertilized them and implanted them without telling me.” It was the only explanation that made sense. Her heart broke as she met the emperor’s gaze.

“The baby is Laarn’s.”

* * *

The shuttle ride to the Keran’vuis, Xaandril’s flagship, was less than ten minutes but seemed like hours as Laarn hovered by the stretcher holding the still form of the general. The big warrior was pale, his wounds standing out stark red against his skin. He wasn’t that much older than Laarn, but with his scars and the terrible wounds across his body… he seemed eons older.

“Coming into dock now, my lord,” one of the pilots leaned out from the cockpit to inform him.

Laarn nodded, feeling the shuttle slow and the slight bump as the docking clamps engaged. The stasis unit was holding Xaandril’s condition steady, but he couldn’t remain in it forever. Despite the fact it held death at bay, just, the longer he remained in it, the harder it would be for Laarn to bring him back.

The airlock cycled with heavy whirrs and clunks. Then the door behind him slid open. Laarn was ready, pushing the stretcher out first, scattering the warriors waiting on the other side.

“Move!” he barked in a hard voice, looking through the morass of warriors until he found scars under open jackets and teal sashes. “Is the surgical bay prepared?”

“Yes, my lord… and a support team on standby with a backup healer.” A healer shoved his way through the group until he reached Laarn’s side, taking over pushing the stretcher as they strode through the corridors.

“We won’t need them. This is beyond everything they have,” he said, rolling his shoulders as they walked. He needed to be loose and limber for the operation ahead.

Warriors in red sashes trailed behind them, obviously waiting for permission to speak. Their expressions said they plainly didn’t like the idea of a healer being in charge but none of them had stepped up to challenge him. He didn’t expect them to. Unlike what he’d heard of human medics, who swore to do no harm, healers among the Lathar were something different entirely. They were warriors always and fought if they needed to. Some of the most dangerous warriors in Lathar history had also been healers, his own grandfather among them.

“Orders, my lord?” one of them ventured just before they turned into medbay. Laarn cut him a glance, noting it was one of the general’s commanders. Xaandril didn’t have a second in command as such, but a team of them. Laarn could see the reasoning. Rather than one person who could directly challenge him for his rank and position, there was a group who had to fight among themselves before they could challenge him. The infighting kept the balance until one emerged strong enough to be named second officer properly.

“Yaraan, right?” Laarn asked, pulling the male’s name from his memories of coming aboard nearly a week ago. “Split the war group and create a cordon between this part of space and all routes to Lathar Prime,” he ordered. “Keep the patrols tight and capture any of the enemy if you can for interrogation. I want to know what these bastards thought they’d achieve by all this. These colony-worlds hold little value, so it doesn’t make sense. Establish contact with the local Krynassis queen. See if you can broker a short-term treaty to deal with this threat, but give no assets away. Understood?”

Through it all, Yaraan stood, his face determined as he nodded. The fact that Laarn spoke directly to him, rather than the other command officers around him meant this was his responsibility.

“Yes, my lord. Loud and clear.” He grinned suddenly. “I won’t let you down.”

“You’d better not.” Laarn transferred his attention to the group around Yaraan. “Who commands the general’s flagship?”

“That would be me.” An older male stepped forward, his manner and bearing screaming experience. “Draxx. Commander of the Keran’vuis.”

Laarn nodded to him, conferring the correct respect to the older warrior. To command a flagship was an honor, even more so when it was a general’s ship. The only honor higher was commanding the emperor’s ship, the Misaan’vuis, itself. “Bring us about and set a course for Lathar Prime. The general is in critical condition and I may need the facilities in the healer’s hall at the palace to…” he didn’t finish his sentence. They all knew the general was in bad shape.

“Aye, sir,” the commander nodded and then growled at the warriors clustered around. “Ye heard the lord. Hop to it!”

The warriors scattered, boots thudding on the deck-plating as the corridor cleared. Draxx turned to Laarn, his expression direct. “Save my brother, healer, and I will forever be in your debt.”

Laarn blinked in surprise as the big commander turned and walked away. He and Xaandril were brothers? Now he looked at it, he could kind of see the resemblance—in their builds and the way they walked—and it explained why an obviously capable warrior was content to serve under another.

Turning, he walked into the medical bay, putting everything else from his mind as he entered the cleansing unit to prepare for surgery.