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“Really? How prolonged?”

“Anywhere up to an hour. Sometimes more.”

She sat up.

“Holy shit! An orgasm that goes on for anhour?”

“I am told it softens the cervix and prepares the womb for insemination.”

“Damn. And I thoughtmyorgasms were intense. You’ve… you’ve done this with someone already?”

“No,kalehsha,of course not. I have never mated in that way with another. Though perhaps…” he cleared his throat. “Perhaps one day, when you are my Zhaalini, you would allow me to… demonstrate?”

She frowned, confused.

“What are you saying?”

He laid a gentle hand on her stomach.

“I am saying it would be the greatest honor of my life if you would consent to carry my hatchlings.”

Kara stared at him, speechless. Emotions chased through her head as she tried to process his words.

Get pregnant? By a Vraxian? But they produced eggs, didn’t they? How would that even work?

And did she even want to be a mother? She was only twenty six. And her own mother was hardly a great role model. She wouldn’t know where to start.

It was ridiculous. How the hell could she be a mother? She was a soldier. She was the least maternal person she knew.

It could never happen…could it?

“Kara?” Vahn looked at her with concern. “Say something.”

“It wouldn’t work,” she blurted. “We’re two different species. A Vraxian can’t get a human pregnant.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I do not believe the gods would have granted uskalehshif we weren’t biologically compatible.”

She stood up, shaking his hand from her stomach.

“I need to get back.”

“Kara…”

“I don’t want to talk about this now. I need to concentrate on the challenges, okay?”

Hurt flashed through his eyes but he nodded.

“You’re right. Now is not the time. Let me escort you back to your room.”

“No need. I found my own way here. I can find my way back.”

She bent and kissed his boned brow, a fleeting brush that felt perfunctory to Vahn. A heaviness settled in his heart. But he didn’t say anything further.

Back in her room, Kara commanded Vee to fill the bath. She washed and climbed into bed but found she couldn’t sleep. Even though she was wiped from the multiple orgasms she’d enjoyed that evening, her mind wouldn’t settle.

All she could think about was Vahn, his hand warm against her tummy, asking her to bear his children.

His question had evoked a thousand thoughts and fears that flooded into her brain at lightning speed. Motherhood wasn’t something she’d ever seriously considered. And certainly not with an alien species she’d been at war with for the best part of twenty years.