Page 33 of Marked

K endra

Over the next several months, we took the leisurely route back to Earth.

Alaric and I spent as much time together as we could.

There wasn’t a day that went by where he didn’t leave me feeling sore, used, and well satisfied, and I liked it that way.

As we traveled through space, he contacted many of his close connections, trying to figure out just how the Ghengrills had found out about my existence in the first place.

There were several theories, including one surmising that he’d owed debts to a few individuals and one that he had pissed off the wrong people, but even though those were viable possibilities, all of them came back around to the same individual.

Richie.

The bar owner knew Alaric had taken me up to his room and likely knew that the two of us had slept together, and he’d offered me the apartment when I’d come back looking for Alaric.

Everything pointed to him, and Alaric planned to take it up with him when we reached Earth.

Something told me that the scrawny little man had a painful lesson in his future.

I wouldn’t be able to see it though, because Alaric had forbidden me from accompanying him back to the bar.

I didn’t miss Earth, and I didn’t mind that he had prohibited me from going back with him to the bar. I was going to stay on the ship, where it was safe.

During that time, my Lupenii traits became more pronounced.

At first, the changes were subtle, things I could almost dismiss as tricks of the light or my imagination playing games with me.

I would catch my reflection in a windowpane and notice the way my pupils seemed just a little too sharp, a little too elongated, like a predator’s when watching its prey.

The icy blue of my irises had deepened, dark flecks emerging like cracks in frozen water, and at certain angles, they gleamed with an unnatural luminescence, even in the dimmest light.

Then came the more obvious transformations.

My nails, once blunt and ordinary, hardened into something sharper, more claw-like, tapering into fine, curved points before I forced myself to keep them filed down.

My senses, already heightened since Alaric had marked me, became something other , something more .

I could hear a heartbeat in the next room, smell emotions as if they had a tangible weight to them—fear was acrid, sharp, almost metallic; desire was thick, rich, something I felt curl inside me like a living thing.

And then, there was my body. My muscles had grown denser, my strength quietly doubling until I could lift things that should have been too heavy, move faster than I should have been able to.

But the most undeniable proof of my transformation lay in the soft, rounding swell of my belly, growing fuller with each passing day.

It wasn’t just any child I carried—it was his .

A Lunpenii boy, strong and restless even in the womb.

Some nights, I swore I could feel him stirring, pressing tiny hands and feet against me, a quiet reminder that he was already more than human, already something powerful.

Alaric had told me what to expect, but nothing could have prepared me for the depth of it—the way my body instinctively cradled the life inside me, the way my shifting form adapted to accommodate him.

I ran my hands over the firm curve of my stomach, feeling the warmth of my own body radiating outward, and I knew, without a doubt, that I was no longer just Kendra. No longer just human .

I was Lupenii.

Gengry, the Ghengrill that I had affectionately dubbed Attitude, contacted me from time to time with new information about what he’d learned from my blood.

To date, he’d published his firsthand account of the breaking of my heat.

He’d identified a number of mutations that led to my enhanced senses and healing abilities, but that wasn’t the thing that excited me the most.

Ghengrill infertility was a growing problem on their planet.

That was why the vaccine was so important to them and that was why they’d been stealing Lupenii females like me on the cusp of their heat.

Gengry had made a crucial discovery with my blood, the blood of a female that had been successfully broken through her heat.

He found that my blood held the critical component he needed, only it was stronger and intrinsically more powerful than the females they’d studied before that hadn’t gone through their heat.

He’d identified the protein structure of that component, and he was currently trying to come up with ways to manufacture it in the lab without needing a direct source.

I was happy I’d begged for his survival.

If he was able to figure that out, it would mean no more Lupenii females would ever be stolen away again.

I thought about all of this as I stared out the window at the stars. I was alone, at least for now. Tanika was in rest mode, and Alaric had gone off to inspect some power core related to the shields outside the ship, so I was taking the time to reflect.

I slid my hands over my swollen belly, feeling the steady, rhythmic movement of my son beneath my skin.

His kicks were strong now, sharp little jabs that sometimes made me wince, but I welcomed every single one of them.

Each powerful strike was a reminder of his strength, of the life growing inside me—a life that was part of me, yet something entirely more .

I could feel him stretch and roll, shifting as if already restless, already eager to carve out his place in the world.

Sometimes, late at night, I would lie still and just breathe , tracing slow circles over the firm curve of my stomach, marveling at how much he had already changed me.

The connection between us was undeniable, something deeper than words, more instinct than thought.

He knew me, just as I knew him. When I spoke, he responded, pressing against my touch as if reaching for me from the inside.

Sometimes, I swore he reacted to Alaric’s voice as well, his movements growing more insistent, more determined, as though recognizing his father’s presence even before he’d taken his first breath.

It wasn’t always easy. His kicks were growing stronger, and sometimes they caught me off guard, sharp enough to steal my breath.

There were nights when discomfort settled deep in my bones, when exhaustion made my muscles ache and my body felt stretched too thin.

But none of that mattered, not really. Because this was him .

Ours. The undeniable proof of the bond Alaric and I had forged, of the life we were bringing into this world.

I couldn’t wait to meet him. To hold him. To know him, the way I already felt he knew me.

Strong arms wound around my shoulders, holding me tight against a warm chest.

“Hey there,” I whispered softly.

“Hey back, little Lupenii. How’s the baby today?” Alaric purred. My pussy pulsed with desire, and I suddenly wanted to retire to the bedroom so that my mate could remind me that I was his.

“He’s active today. Rolling and kicking in there like he means business,” I replied.

“He’ll be strong. Fierce like you,” he responded. I could hear the pride in his voice.

“I feel so fierce right now, looking big as a house,” I retorted, and he spun me around to face him.

“You’re beautiful, little mate. You’re glowing. Pregnancy suits you,” he reassured me, and I rolled my eyes. In response, his eyes darkened with warning.

“You doubt me, baby doll?” he asked, and I found myself squirming under his scrutiny.

“No, sir,” I replied quietly, unable to stop myself from biting my lip.

“Good. Because I have ways of turning that little ass and that needy little pussy of yours bright red, even now, if you need that kind of reminder,” he cautioned me.

I shivered with arousal and he sniffed the air.

“You are wet right now, aren’t you?” he questioned, his dark eyes investigating mine, and I couldn’t hide the blush that came over my cheeks.

“Yes, sir,” I murmured, thoroughly embarrassed that he knew me so well.

“We should probably take care of that, shouldn’t we?” he purred seductively, and a soft whine escaped my throat.

“Please, sir,” I begged.

“I want you to go to the bedroom. I want you completely bare on your hands and knees, waiting for me. I haven’t decided which little hole I want to take tonight.

Maybe it’ll be that greedy little pussy.

Or maybe it’ll be that deliciously tight little bottom hole.

Or maybe even both. You’re just going to have to wait and find out, little mate.

Now move, unless you want a taste of my belt too,” he demanded.

I bit my lip and turned as I obediently followed his directions.

I couldn’t wait to find out what he was going to do to me. He knew what I needed, and he was going to give me exactly that.