Page 37 of Captured By The Alien (Starbound #2)

He propped himself up on one arm and grinned down at her. She rolled her eyes.

“Stop looking so pleased with yourself.”

“I told you. Three.”

“At least. There may have been more.” She stretched languorously. “And now I need another shower.”

“My apologies.” Vahn sounded smug, not sorry at all.

“Totally worth it.” She touched a finger to the pale blue fluid smeared on her thigh. “Can I ask you something? What does this look like when it’s fertile? You know, when you add the magic stuff from your… what did you call it?”

“My balinzh gland.” It was the gland beneath his bottom dorsal spike. “It renders my girem white.”

“You’ve checked, huh?”

“Of course. Stimulating the balinzh gland is highly pleasurable for males. But we do not release it into females unless we’re procreating. Its emission has a marked impact on them.”

“Well, duh,” she teased. “It gets them knocked up.”

“That, and its release is enough to trigger a prolonged climax in one’s mate.”

“Really? How prolonged?”

“Anywhere up to an hour. Sometimes more.”

She sat up.

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

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

“Damn. And I thought my orgasms 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 us kalehsh if 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.

“Vee, do you have anything to help me sleep?” she asked at last.

“Herbal or chemical?”

“I don’t care. I just need to get some shut-eye.”

“Complying.”

There was a brief hiss as something was pumped through the air filter. A pleasant floral scent wafted over Kara and instantly her body began to relax.

As she finally drifted off, a random thought about Vahn’s request floated through her consciousness.

It might be awesome.