Page 109 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Tori

My back had been aching all morning, but everyone was so busy, especially the Doc, that I kept my mouth shut.

Just another pregnancy symptom, I could deal with it, just like I had managed to deal with the fact that I was now ten months pregnant instead of the normal nine.

Nothing to panic about, nothing at all. Luka said she was perfectly healthy and her size indicated it could still be a whole extra month.

I suppressed a shudder at the thought. I was already as big as a whale; how much bigger was I going to get?

With the little one pressing down on my bladder all the time and kicking me awake at the oddest hours—not to mention the constant heartburn—I was so ready for this to be over, even if the thought of having a baby utterly terrified me.

How was I going to raise a little girl all on my own?

A half-alien little girl of a species the Doc hadn’t even identified yet…

on a freaking spaceship, lightyears away from Earth and a couple hundred years into the future.

I fought against a wave of panic and grief, missing my family so badly that I could hardly draw breath.

Frantically casting my eyes around, I felt certain that no one had noticed my moment of panic.

The gladiators were hard at work lifting the stasis pod with Chloe aboard one of the small shuttles, so they could take her down to the planet for her surgery.

The mood was tense and serious, and poor Kitan was hovering over it all with an anxious expression as they moved her pod.

I’d overheard the Doc say that the chances weren’t great for this surgery to be a full success.

My backache seemed inconsequential compared to all that, so I wasn’t going to bother Doc Luka. He had better things to do than worry about my silly pregnancy issues. I mean, just yesterday I’d gone to him because my boobs had started leaking, it was mortifying.

“Are you alright?” Sunder suddenly asked.

His deep, gravelly voice rumbled over me like a rocky avalanche.

It reminded me of the sound of the subway rumbling along on its tracks, an oddly comforting sound for a New York girl.

I had never realized how ingrained the sound was until I suddenly recognized it in the cadence of his voice.

I shrugged, already feeling tongue-tied, even though Sunder was the one I was most comfortable around.

These men were all just so huge compared to my tiny four feet eleven inches.

I barely came up to Sunder’s belly button, for God’s sake.

But Sunder was always careful with me, lifting his wing to hover it around my body in a sheltering way, not touching, but offering safety.

“I’m okay,” I assured him as firmly as I could, biting my lip to keep myself from admitting how badly my lower back was hurting.

“Chloe is going to make it; that girl is tough as nails,” Sunder assured me, misinterpreting my unrest for worry about the human woman.

I mean, I was worried, but at this point, my back was hurting enough that I couldn’t think of much else.

I needed to get off my feet and lie down for a bit.

Making a hurried excuse, I made my much slower way out of the hangar bay, lumbering through the corridors toward the lift that would take me to the upper deck and my bedroom.

Sunder, thankfully, didn’t follow me, although I could feel his eyes on me until I’d turned the corner.

By the time I’d managed to reach my bed, I was panting, and the pain felt like it was coming and going.

I was almost starting to think I was having contractions, but why was it only in my back?

And hadn’t Luka said that it would still be another month?

This was too early for contractions—I was just overreacting.

Lying down didn’t make me feel much better, so I got back up again and wandered up and down the corridor, breathing through clenched teeth each time the pain swelled.

I was starting to get scared; this wasn’t just some strange new symptom or some more of those practice contractions that I’d had before.

This was starting to seem like the real thing, and the Doc had just left for the planet.

Who was still aboard the ship? Ziame? Abigail?

No, they’d gone down earlier to arrange for some trade, and Fierce had gone with them, along with his terrifying beast, Snarl, to get some fresh air or something.

Had the others all flown down with Kitan and Chloe?

No, probably Da’vi was still around somewhere.

He never left his engine room. Da’vi was terrifying and super grumpy.

I wasn’t going to ask him for help; he’d bite my head off.

“You’re not okay, are you?” Sunder rumbled, shaking me from my pain-filled thoughts.

He was leaning against the open doorframe of the bridge, where he’d apparently been this entire time.

I felt such a wave of relief at seeing him that I burst into tears on the spot.

His craggy, gargoyle-like face with tusks and rock-like skin wasn’t suited for a wide variety of expressions, but I could read the immediate concern.

“I think I’m in labor,” I hiccuped at him between sobs. The statement was promptly followed by a rush of water between my legs. Oh shit, my water broke.

Sunder was calm as he approached me. “I figured. Come on, let’s get you to the med bay.

” He had me around the waist, carefully guiding me toward the lift.

Stupidly, my brain worried about who was going to clean up that puddle of water, but then the thought was swept away when another wave of pain hit my back.

When I had a moment to spare to thought, I knew these contractions were coming every minute, if not quicker. The pain had started at the front of my belly too, so I had to pause and pant through it all each time another wave hit.

“Where’s the Doc?” I asked as we scuttled into the med bay. Sunder easily picked me up and lifted me onto the medical cot, still as calm as a cucumber during all of this. Had he done this before? Did he know what he was doing?

“Luka is with Chloe down on Aravax, overseeing her surgery,” he said, confirming my fear that there was no one here to help me birth this baby. “But I called and informed him of the situation. He might be on his way up, but he talked me through what to do. We can do this, Tori. You can do it.”

His words were reassuring, but I didn’t really believe him. He wasn’t the one doing the hard work here—I was. And damn it, this hurt! I doubted Sunder was allowed to, or even knew how to, give me anything for the pain.

An hour later, after a lot of screaming and tears, I had to admit that he was right.

This baby was coming quickly, and once the head was out, the rest was easy.

All this time, I’d been terrified of this moment, but now that the painful part was over.

.. there she was, my baby girl. And she wasn’t some alien freak, a monster. No, she was beautiful.

When Sunder lifted her from between my legs and tucked her against my chest, all I saw were the big, luminous teal eyes.

A tuft of bright blue and pink hair stood up on top of her head.

Her skin was a luscious mix of all the colors of the sky—a supernova.

She stared back at me quietly from beneath two soft, black nubs on her forehead.

She was so entrancing to look at that I barely noticed the arrival of the Doc or the afterbirth.

“Novalee,” I whispered to my tiny baby girl, and she made a soft, happy gurgling sound in return. She had tiny horns and the most surreal colors, but she was beautiful. She had five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot.

Suddenly, I wasn’t so scared of the future anymore.

I had Novalee to care for now, so I’d better step up.

With a little help from Sunder now and then, I could do this.

I had to—for her. When she smiled a toothless, happy smile at me, her eyes seemed to glow even brighter.

My heart overflowed with emotion. Yeah, we were going to be just fine. It’s you and me now, Novalee.