Chapter 11
Lucia woke to the tickle of her hair being played with. Her eyes fluttered open and she startled to see Soren lying beside her, just watching her. Her head snapped back on her neck as she shrunk and snorted, lifting the sheet over her face.
“Don’t you know it’s rude and slightly creepy to watch people while they sleep?” Lucia peeked out over the sheet.
“You snore.”
“Wha-” Lucia sputtered, blushing profusely. “I do not!”
Soren’s lips tipped up into a slow smile. “You do, but I do not mind.”
“I refuse to believe it!”
“That does not make it less true,” he shrugged a shoulder lazily, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Lucia grabbed a pillow and hit him with it. His chest shook with laughter that sounded muffled by the pillow until he removed it.
“I’m surprised you’re not up and being hogged by someone other than me,” Lucia said, liking the feel of her legs tangled in his. After his confession last night about how he saw their first week together, Lucia could feel a slowly blossoming something in her bones, but she wasn’t sure what yet. She just knew that Soren had touched a new place in her being.
“Soren?” she whispered. He watched her, his fingers still playing with a few locks of her crazed morning hair. “Do you ever wonder if…” she swallowed. “…if you have a mate back home or a family that’s searching for you?”
Lucia’s chest squeezed at the thought he might actually leave one day and she’d lose a friend. Just thinking about his absence put an ache in her belly, but the thought that he might have a mate out there that cried for him every night made her feel selfish.
“Sometimes, yes,” he rumbled. “I am conflicted, though. I sometimes hope I had a family who cared for me as yours cares for you. I sometimes hope that I had a mate who awaits my return.”
Lucia felt a swell in her throat and she gulped it back down. Don’t be selfish.
“Then,” he said in a softer tone. “Sometimes I hope that I do not have any of those things. I do not know how long I was enslaved, and I would not wish the loss of a son or mate on anyone.” Soren trailed his knuckles down Lucia’s arm, once again comforting her.
Lu moved into his arms, laying her head under his chin. His familiar scent and warmth filled her lungs. “Do you ever wish there was a way to get your memories back?” she whispered. Soren was quiet for a long moment, just trailing his knuckles up and down her arm lazily.
“There are times I wish I could remember something, anything,” he began. “I fear the unknown and crave it. The person I cannot remember may have deserved enslavement.”
“No one deserves that,” Lucia mumbled. He grunted.
Lucia’s comm next to her bedside table beeped and Nova’s voice came through. “Wake up sleepy head! Come down to first meal.” Then it zipped off.
“We’re being summoned,” Lucia groaned. She rolled out of bed and grabbed a sheer morning robe to wear over her nightgown that draped to the back of her knees. Soren was still in his sleeping pants that hung nicely along his hips and he didn’t bother grabbing anything else. “I’ll meet you down there,” she said as she ducked into the cleansing room.
Lucia washed her face and then stared at herself in the long mirror over the double sinks. Her stomach growled with hunger and she rubbed her hand over it as she turned to leave. Lucia paused, turning back to the mirror and lifting her nightgown up over her stomach. She ran her hand over her abdomen, looking at it in the mirror and then slightly turning. It was marginally more rounded than she remembered.
It’s official. Not working is making all those sweets go to my belly.
That could barely be considered a pouch. You’re being ridiculous.
No, that’s a definite pouch!
Lucia let her gown drop back down and made her way to the terrace where her family was enjoying first meal. Zan attacked her legs with hugs and began talking excitedly about his plans for that day. Lucia snatched up a berry and dipped it into the cream as she stood beside Soren’s chair. She ‘mmm’d’ and did a little dance with her brows as she delighted in the tart and sweet flavors singing along her taste buds before swallowing.
See, this is what’s causing the pouch, her inner voice chastised her.
Lucia stopped short when she felt something warm and wet gush along her thigh. She looked down to see green slime mixed with blood running down her leg and pooling under her right foot.
“Oh my god-” Frellie said shrilly.
“What the-” Lu started but then a pain shot through her abdomen that felt as if a serrated knife was digging in and twisting. Her knees gave out beneath her as she began to shriek with the overwhelming agony of it all. Soren caught her under the arms before her knees slammed into the terrace stones and the pressure of being touched at all just made Lucia clamor more fervently.
Lucia tried to speak, but only stuttered as she tried to bite around the pain in between gasping. Sweat beaded on her forehead and spittle dabbed her lips when she shrieked again as a burn that could only be described as a chain of razors scraped up her insides and lit a fire. Her eyes watered and it began to spill down her face. Lucia’s muscles tightened so badly she feared her bones would crack beneath them. She was vaguely aware of her family crowding her and asking her what was wrong while her mother yelled for someone to call the doctor. Then everything went dark.
****
Lucia’s eyes fluttered awake for the second time that morning with Soren staring at her. His orbs were fully black, and she could hear the relaxing sound of water flowing. She opened her mouth to speak but only a wheeze came out. Her hand flew to her throat and her gaze swept about her surroundings. She saw the curling vines of an air purification plant sprouting across the far wall from a pot in the corner. Its yellow veins pulsed as it worked hard to suck in impurities and pump out oxygen. They were always strewn around hospitals.
I’m in the hospital.
Why am I in the hospital?
The white synthetic band curved around her wrist monitored her vitals and displayed everything on the large glass sheet against the wall she was facing. She watched the numbers raise and lower, counting pressure and heartbeats and everything else that she didn’t understand. Lucia looked back to Soren who was crouching next to the bed she was in as it hovered above the floor. She could hear her parent’s voices outside of the room as they spoke to someone.
“What’s-” she tried to speak and Soren shook his head. He grabbed a glass half filled with water beside her bed and gently held it to her lips. Lucia took a sip and instantly her throat felt better. She took another swallow, larger that time and then pushed the glass away. Soren set it back on the table and crouched beside her again, hesitantly slipping his hand under hers as it lay upon the white sheet. Lucia’s brows knitted together in confusion and she laced her fingers as best she could through his.
“Why am I here?” she asked, just as her parents and a doctor entered the room.
“Congratulations!” the doctor exclaimed and grabbed a long, white wand from a cabinet. His brown eyes lit with excitement. “You’re going to be a mother.”
Lucia snorted.
“Excuse me?”
The doctor, who was all smiles, lifted the wand and slowly covered the span of her belly. He looked up at the large glass sheet where her vitals were. Immediately, the vitals zipped out of sight and an internal display of her uterus lit the screen. Everything was outlined in blue, but there floated a sac and inside the sac was something with a little heartbeat.
Lucia squawked a sound of surprise and confusion.
“Oh dear,” Nova breathed as she stared wide eyed at the screen. Soren had left her side, standing closer to the glass and peering strangely at the blue graphic. He was still only wearing his sleep pants and the end of his tail twitched from side to side. Soren’s black gaze flipped back at Lucia, then to the screen again.
“That’s not possible,” Lucia said in denial. “Wade said Melier and humans are not compatible.”
“Wade was right,” the doctor said, putting the wand back in the cabinet. “And that’s why your body tried to reject it. I’m doctor Trex by the way. It’s nice to meet you Lucia.” Lu nodded, still waiting for an explanation. “I ran some of your blood and found a nifty quirk,” he smiled and Lucia was positive he loved his job. “It would seem you have some Yadana DNA running through those nice veins of yours and,” he continued, looking to Soren, then back at Lu. “Melier are definitely compatible with Yadana.”
Her mother fanned herself and leaned into her father.
“That still makes no sense,” Lucia tried to reason, not accepting that explanation. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m not a male. Did Soren provide and fertilize the egg? Am I incubating his clone?” Much to her chagrin, Dr. Trex chortled with amusement.
“That’s a very good question, Lucia. The egg Soren implanted,” he paused to give her time to deny Soren was the donor and her mother paled at the mention of ‘egg’. “Has been pulling DNA from you in order to fertilize itself, if you will; the fetus will be a product of both donors. The downside is, your immune system is viewing the fetus as an infection and what you experienced this morning was the onset of evacuation. Thankfully, we were able to stop it.”
Soren was pacing the other side of the room, growling and making everyone nervous with his hulking, half naked self.
“That’s-” Lucia blinked and shook her head. “That’s ridiculous! I can’t believe this!”
“Oh believe it,” Dr. Trex grinned, completely enthralled with the weird science of it all. “You’ll give birth in thirteen weeks.”
“What?” Lucia, Nova and Angus exclaimed simultaneously.
“Oh yes,” Dr. Trex nodded enthusiastically, making a few notes on the glass tablet he was carrying. He was just pleased as punch. “The fetus is growing at an accelerated rate. Gestation period is four months. It’s a female, by the way.”
Soren stopped pacing.
Lucia buried her face in her hands as she tried to soak everything in.
“Your body will continue to try and evacuate the fetus, however,” Dr. Trex frowned for the first time. “My team is synthesizing a cell that will continue to trick your immune system and prevent it from trying to reject the fetus. Essentially turning off certain immune signals as would naturally happen in a human pregnancy. Fascinatingly enough, this cell is derived from certain fruits including wexna, yuli, seetkut, roshka, so on and-”
Lucia cut him off by laughing, which turned into hysterical laughing and even Soren began to chuckle knowingly.
“What’s funny?” Dr. Trex looked curious.
Lucia went on and on until she was having a hard time breathing. She just couldn’t believe the irony of it all. The cell his team was trying to synthesize was sitting in a basket in her family’s pantry. She went on to tell the doctor this when she finally stopped for a breath.
“That’s fantastic news!” he exclaimed. “The cell in its natural form would be much more effective than the synthesized version. If you have enough, one fruit per day until birth should give you the dosage you require to keep your immune system cooperative.”
Lucia shook her head and collapsed back against the pillow. “But I haven’t experienced any symptoms. That can’t be natural,” she protested, realizing there was nothing natural about the entire situation. Frellie had experienced every pregnancy symptom known to science, yet Lucia felt nothing. Well, maybe a little emotional.
“That’s another interesting development,” Dr. Trex began. “I’ve never observed a pregnancy like yours, so I have no notes and none of my colleagues do either. In fact, we have no research on Melier reproduction with other species, only that certain species are compatible. Anything you experience, I would like for you to let me know so we may add it to research. It’s an exciting time indeed!” His enthusiasm about science would be funny, if she wasn’t part of that equation.
Lucia’s hand found its way to her abdomen and she wasn’t sure what to feel. She didn’t think she was ready to be a mother. She didn’t even have her own life together, how could she bring another one into the world? There wouldn’t even be time to properly prepare. These were all questions she was sure every woman asked herself.
“There’s so much to do,” Nova said from where she stood. She had her serious event planning tone and that made Lucia nervous. “Our Quar Loy family must be notified so they can be here for the bearing ritual and feast. Oh! The feast! I’m sure we can get rasq beast this time of year, it will just take a little more work to find a supplier. So much to do…” she prattled on, her eyes lighting as she went into her zone. This was the kind of thing her mother lived for.
“You never did do anything the proper way, lass,” her father grinned and leaned in to kiss her forehead. He held out his hand across the bed to Soren who slowly took it and gave it a shake before Angus pulled him into a hug above Lu. He gave him a rough pat on the back and that was all that needed to be ‘said’.
Soren’s eyes were still black. He nodded in this wordless conversation they were having and then Angus ushered a still babbling Nova from the room, the doctor trailing behind them.
Immediately Soren sunk to his haunches beside her, looking like he didn’t know if he should touch her, jump for joy or puke into a bucket. Lucia huffed amusement and reached out to place her hand along his cheek.
“In a few months, you’re getting diaper duty.”
Soren’s brows furrowed in confusion and Lucia just snickered away.
Well shit.