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“Are you… pleased?” she asked, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

“Pleased?” He looked up from his hands to her face, seeing the vulnerability there. “Kara, I…”

Words failed him. Instead, he gathered her into his arms, lifting her off her feet in a careful embrace. His tail curled around them both as he pressed his forehead to hers.

“There is no word in any language for what I feel,” he murmured against her skin. “Joy seems too small. Excitement too common.”

She laughed, a sound of pure relief and happiness that resonated through him. “I was worried. We never discussed having more children.”

“I never dared hope for it.” He set her gently back on her feet but kept her close. “I thought myself fortunate beyond measure to have you, to have Rory and Talia. This is…” He shook his head, overwhelmed.

“I know.” She leaned into him, her warmth a counterpoint to the cool evening air. “The doctor says everything looks normal sofar. The baby appears to be healthy, though they want to monitor me closely.”

“Is there any risk to you?” The thought sent a chill through him.

“No more than any pregnancy.” She placed her hand over his where it still rested on her abdomen. “Actually, Doctor Sarn seemed more excited than concerned. She mentioned something about writing a paper for the xenobiology journal.”

He snorted. “As long as she takes good care of you both.”

They stood in silence for a moment, absorbing the magnitude of this new development. The garden around them seemed more vibrant somehow, the night air sweeter, the distant stars brighter. Everything was transformed by the knowledge of new life.

“When?” he asked finally.

“About seven months, if it follows a human gestation.” She looked up at him. “We’ll need to prepare. The house isn’t really set up for an infant.”

“We’ll make it ready.” His mind was already racing ahead—another room to prepare, supplies to gather, adjustments to make. “Whatever you need, whatever the baby needs.”

“And the children? How do you think they’ll react?”

He considered this. “Talia will be excited, I think. You know how much she enjoys playing with the younger children.”

“And Rory?”

“Change is difficult for him.” He rubbed his thumb gently across her knuckles. “But he’s adapted to so much already. We’ll help him understand, prepare him gradually.”

She nodded, leaning her head against his chest. “A family of five.”

“My family,” he said softly, the possessive pronoun still a marvel to him after all these months. “Our family.”

He looked up at the unfamiliar constellations of this world that had become their home. Somewhere up there was Ciresia, the homeworld he had fled in grief. For so long he had carried that loss like a stone in his chest, believing himself undeserving of happiness, of connection.

Now, with his mate in his arms and the knowledge of their child growing within her, that old grief seemed distant, transformed. He would always honor the memory of those he had lost, but he understood now that his survival had led him here—to this garden, this woman, these children. To a future he could never have imagined.

“What are you thinking?” she asked, her voice gentle in the darkness.

“That I have everything I never knew I wanted,” he answered truthfully. “And now even more.”

His tail curled protectively around her waist as they stood together under the alien moons, the promise of new life binding them closer than ever before.