The Breeding Experiment (Veslor Mates Book 3) Read online

  “I’ll show you how to use it when I get off work. Have her send a message.”

  “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “So are you. Now go. I’ll inform Joseph. If your friend can’t see you, go to another doctor. I’m not bluffing. I want that message, or I’m calling them to rat you out.”

  “Brat.”

  Her sister uncrossed her arms and suddenly lunged forward, hugging her. “You’re all I’ve got now. I can’t let anything happen to you.”

  Guilt was a terrible thing. Darla felt it as she hugged her sister back. “I’m going to go see Jessa. I’m fine, though. It’s just a stress headache because I’m rundown and have a lot on my mind.”

  Becky released her. “Have a doctor tell me that, and I’ll believe it.”

  “Such a brat.” Darla gave her a small smile. “I’m going now.” She left the tree section and headed out of the garden. It was tempting to go to her cabin first to change out of her work clothes, but she got into a lift, going to the level where Med Bay was located. Jessa’s lab was next to it.

  The doors were sealed when she arrived, but there was a button. She pushed it.

  The doors didn’t open.

  She really needed to figure out how to turn on the communications console in her cabin. Jessa might not even be at the lab right now.

  Then the doors suddenly slid open, and Jessa stood there with a smile.

  “Hey! Come on in. What a great surprise when I saw you on the monitor.”

  Darla stepped inside the lab and followed her friend to a long counter where three monitors were showing a planet. It wasn’t Earth or Radison, the only two she could identify by sight. “Is that the one you’re researching?”

  Jessa glanced at the screens and then nodded. “One of them. I have two research projects to tackle right now. I can’t go into details because this one is a prohibited planet. They’re classified, since the fleet doesn’t want anyone to learn too much about them in case civilian idiots want to break the law by visiting. We get some assholes who like to try to land on places like that to steal shit like exotic pets or stones they think might sell on the black market.”

  “I didn’t know that was a thing.”

  “It is. Prohibited planets have beacons, and they send alerts to the fleet if any ships go near them. Why haven’t you responded to my messages? I wanted to have dinner with you last night.”

  “I haven’t learned how to use much in my cabin. I didn’t know you were trying to reach me. I’m sorry.”

  “I can swing by there this evening to show you how to use stuff. Do you want to share dinner tonight? Maybe we could have a few drinks at one of the bars.” Jessa hesitated. “I don’t dance, though. Do you?”

  “I’m from Radison. It’s against the law.”

  Jessa’s mouth fell open and she gaped at her. “For real?”

  “Yes. We’re also not allowed to drink alcohol, either. I know what a bar is, and dancing. Only men are allowed to enter those kinds of establishments.”

  “I fucking hate your planet.”

  Darla laughed. “I don’t miss it.”

  “I don’t blame you. How’s your new job? I love the uniform. It looks comfortable. The shoes are kind of terrible.”

  “We get our feet wet often.” She shrugged. “They aren’t fashionable but they’re effective. I used to get blisters if my shoes were damp. These dry too fast to do that.”

  “You must work weird hours, since you’re here and it’s not close to one of the normal shift changes. Take a seat. Do you want to hang with me until I can leave? I have to do a little more research and then send that information to the people waiting for it. Just swear not to tell anyone if you see something you shouldn’t.”

  Darla licked her lips. “Um, my sister made leave my shift early. I’ve had a headache for a few days and she wanted me to see a doctor. I told her it’s from stress and being rundown. But she’s a worry wart, since it’s just her and I until our family can get jobs to be with us.”

  Jessa stepped closer and her blue eye began to glow. Then she frowned. “You’re running a fever.”

  “You can tell that just by looking at me?”

  “Yes.” Her gaze lowered. “Let me see your thigh. Go jump up on my med bed.”

  “It’s fine. It’s healing nicely.”

  “Med bed—now. No bitching about it. I’m going to give you an exam.”

  Darla sighed and walked around the counter to the med bed, climbing on it to sit on the side.

  “Lay down. I might as well do a full body scan on you this time around. I’m not frazzled anymore after our ordeal with the Elth, or pissed off at Doctor Jenson for being a prick.” She chewed on her lower lip. “Fuck. I hope I didn’t miss something. What other symptoms do you have?”

  “Just the headache.”

  “Fever, too. What else?” Jessa grabbed a handheld device and tapped at it.

  “I’m sleeping a lot. I didn’t get much while we were in captivity, and I’ve been stressed. New job. Thinking about Gnaw. I tend to sleep more when I’ve got a lot going on in my life. I’ve always been that way.”

  “Have you talked to him?”

  “No.”

  “Damn. I was hoping the two of you would become a couple.”

  Darla turned her head, staring in surprise at her friend.

  Jessa looked slightly sheepish. “I’ve been trying to learn more about Veslors since they came onboard. They refuse to come into my lab for some tests or answer my questions. I was going to totally pump you for info.” She winked.

  “Now I know why you want to be my friend,” Darla teased.

  “It was an added bonus. Okay, hold still. You can breathe but don’t move around or wiggle. I want clear scans. Ready?”

  Darla turned her head, staring up at the ceiling. “Go for it. This isn’t going to hurt, is it?”

  “I’ll warn you before the bed stabs you in the ass to take a blood sample.”

  Darla laughed.

  “Not kidding. I’m so going to do that. Hold still. Starting scan.”

  “The things I do for my baby sister,” she muttered.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Darla held still as the bed under her lit up and a robotic arm came out of the side with a mini camera for a hand. She had to close her eyes when a blue laser-like light began to flash over her, but it didn’t hurt.

  “The scan’s done. Now comes the quick sting. Don’t tighten your butt cheeks. It hurts less that way.”

  Darla gasped when something jabbed her. “Shat!”

  Jess laughed. “It was fast, right? Now I’ve got your blood and it’s being evaluated. Stay lying down, but you can turn your head now if you want to look at me. I need to view the scan to make sure none of it glitched. It happens sometimes. So…why haven’t you contacted Gnaw? Do you not want to see him?”

  “I’m not sure if he wants anything to do with me.” She peered at Jessa, who was holding a larger handheld device and tapping away. “I was hoping he’d contact me.”

  Jessa lifted her chin, meeting her gaze. “Um, I sent you a message. Maybe he did, too. We really need to get you up to speed on how to use shit. Did you buy a mobile com device to carry with you?”

  “No. Why would I need one?”

  “You know, so you can keep in constant contact with your friends no matter where you are. Does Radison not have them?”

  “No. We had an intercom system inside the greenhouse, and had to use the main computer in the office to make contact with the cities and other places.”

  “I am never retiring to some back-ass planet when I leave the fleet. You poor thing. Mobile devices are great. You can walk all over the ship and talk to me while I’m stuck at work. Or vice versa.”

  The device in Jessa’s hand beeped, and she glanced at it.

  Darla swore her friend paled as she suddenly took a step back, bumping into the counter behind her.

  “Did it glitch? Do you need to scan me again?”

&
nbsp; Jessa didn’t answer. She spun around, slammed the device on the counter, and then bent, yanking open a drawer. “Oh, fuck. Area 51, we have a problem.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It’s a saying.” Jessa straightened, holding scary-looking gloves. They seemed to be made of metal, with some wires running along the exterior of the fingers. “You know, Houston, we have a problem. Only the alien version. Never mind. You weren’t raised on Earth. Just stay still.” Jessa put on the gloves, used her shoe to kick the drawer closed, and rushed toward the med bed. She started to tap on a control panel along the side.

  “What’s wrong?” Panic started to set in. “Did the Elth expose me to some deadly virus on their ship? I was in contact with some of their white blood.”

  “Hang on. Don’t freak, okay? Just let me take a better look. I’m seeing something that shouldn’t be there on your scan. I can’t tell what it is…but I have a guess. I refuse to say anything until I’m sure.”

  A hologram of a human body suddenly appeared to hover over Darla. It was all blue and white. “Is that me? Did they put a tracker inside me?”

  “Yes, that’s you. No, it’s not a tracker. Just give me a minute to figure this out.” Jessa raised her gloved hands and reached into the holographic body. She pulled a section out between her hands, something that resembled a small ball. “How in the fuck did this happen?”

  “You’re scaring me,” Darla admitted. “I can’t see what you’re holding.”

  Jessa tore her gaze away from the glowing blue and white ball in her hands and held Darla’s gaze. “I need you to brace yourself for a shock, okay? First—you’re fine. No tracker or virus.”

  Darla felt tears well in her eyes. What had the Elth done to her, then? She’d been drugged unconscious after they tore open the roof of the shuttle, until she’d woke on the floor with the other women in their cell. Her clothes had been on, and she assumed they hadn’t messed with her.

  “Watch.” Jessa started to slowly spread her gloves farther apart, and it caused the sphere to grow larger, magnifying whatever was inside. She kept doing it until the object was about a foot and a half wide.

  “Can you make out the oval-looking shape at the center?”

  Darla nodded, horrified. Something was inside her, but she could see it. “Yes. Did I pick up alien worms or something from eating the horrible food they gave us?”

  “Um, no. Darla—that’s the very beginnings of a Veslor baby.”

  She stared in shock at the small shadowed shape inside the…sack.

  Jessa suddenly turned the floating holographic sphere a bit with her gloves, blowing it up more. “Area 51, we have a secondary problem.”

  Darla saw it. It wasn’t just one oval shape with something inside it. There was another one behind it, just slightly smaller. There were two.

  She gasped.

  Her friend suddenly slapped her gloved hands together and the sphere burst, disappearing. Their gazes met. “I’d say by the looks of it, you got pregnant with one baby, and then the second egg was fertilized soon afterward. It happens in humans. Hell, it probably happens in Veslors, not that they’re great at sharing anything about their reproductive information. I could be wrong. Maybe it’s twins and one is just larger. Like the bigger one’s taking after daddy and the smaller one’s taking after you.”

  Darla just lay there, mute and stunned.

  She was pregnant with two babies. Two.

  Emotions hit her fast and hard. Fear swiftly followed the shock. Would Gnaw be angry that she’d gotten pregnant? She’d been the one to talk him into having sex with her.

  Jessa began to remove the gloves. “Don’t freak out. We’re the only two who know, and we can fix this.”

  Darla blinked rapidly. “I’m not eating toxic mushrooms!”

  The doctor’s eyes widened. “I’m not asking you to kill yourself. That’s never an option.”

  “The mushrooms don’t kill. They rid a body of unwanted pregnancies. My mother told me what to eat in our greenhouse if I ever accidently got pregnant, to protect myself from being arrested. Unmarried mothers are criminals.” She reached down and protectively cradled her flat belly, shaking her head.

  “I am not that kind of doctor. What I meant is, we can alter the pregnancy data to keep the fleet from realizing we lied about you and Gnaw having sex. Those are alien babies inside you, which means I’ll be your doctor, fortunately. I can totally upload scans to make them believe you’re a week less pregnant than you really are, if anyone goes snooping into the medical file I started on you. That’s what I meant by fixing this. You need to tell Gnaw right away. The two of you can make a big deal out of dating, and just pretend the fucking started later.”

  “Would that even work? I mean, if I could talk Gnaw into it?”

  “Comforting each other and bonding is a frequent occurrence between crew members on these vessels after a mission goes bad. I’d say the Elth were bad. You two endured serious trauma, being kidnapped. It’s believable that you’d hook up. You’re a civilian, so they can’t penalize you for not having a birth control implant, and there’s no requirement for you to have one. You were kidnapped on a fleet transport. Who gives a shit if you had some comfort sex afterward and got knocked up?”

  Darla bit her lip hard, fighting tears. “I don’t know how he’s going to take it. What if Gnaw refuses to pretend to date me?”

  “I haven’t spent any real time with the Veslors, but from every bit of research I’ve learned about their culture, they’re a pretty moral race. He will take responsibility for you and those babies. That means he will go along with our plan. I have a gut feeling that I’m right.”

  “He’s probably going to resent me.”

  “He can get the hell over it. His ass is on the line, too. You just need to act quickly and tell him so we can keep it secret of when you really got pregnant. You’re carrying his cubs.”

  “Cubs?” Darla felt faint, glad to still be lying down.

  “Veslors call their infants cubs. You admitted during the interview that you saw Gnaw shift into what they call their battle form, while you were escaping from your cell. It’s rumored their babies are born that way. I’m guessing at some point, they shift into their human-like form. There’s a lot I’m still trying to learn about them. Also, forget nine months of pregnancy. Their gestation period is between three to four months. They wouldn’t nail it down exactly, but that’s my estimate based on the little I’ve learned about Vivian Goss. She was the first human mate to a Veslor, and they’ve had a cub.”

  Darla gaped at her once more.

  “I’m sorry I don’t have exact answers for you. The Veslors are very guarded about their mating habits and pregnancies. Vivian Goss was a cultural specialist aboard the Gorison Traveler. She left with the Veslors after the attack that took place on her ship by the Ke’ters. That’s how she met her mate. A Veslor trading ship responded to her distress hail. I have a friend who’s also a cultural specialist, and she passes on any tidbits Vivian is willing to share.”

  “Shat.”

  “That’s another reason you really need to speak to Gnaw. He’ll have information you desperately need to know.” Jessa glanced down at Darla’s stomach. “I have no idea if you need to be taking certain supplements, or if you should avoid any foods. If nothing else, speak to Maith. He’s their Veslor medic.”

  Darla noticed a grimace on her friend’s face. “You don’t like their doctor?”

  “Let’s just say we don’t get along. I have a feeling he’s going to want to take over your care as soon as they know what’s going on and try to cut me out. I hope that doesn’t happen. I mean it when I say I believe in patient confidentiality. The fleet might own me right now, but it doesn’t mean I owe them my moral compass. If they ever try to make me pick between them and a patient, they won’t like how I respond. You can trust me.”

  “I do.” Jessa had already done so much for Darla, including sticking by her side when they’d been rescued,
and throughout that horrible investigation. “I won’t cut you out.”

  “Just…talk to one of them soon. Maybe Maith will pretend to date you if Gnaw won’t go for it, and everyone can assume he’s the father. The last thing any of us needs is to deal with another investigation. Next time, they’ll be filing charges because we lied.”

  “Will they send me to prison for lying?”

  Jessa shook her head. “Not criminal charges. More like misconduct. They just punish us for that. You’re a civilian, though. They’ll probably fire you and send you back to your home world. Maybe ban you from ever working for the fleet again. I’ll just get yelled at, probably have to deal with around-the-clock supervision, and I’m sure they’ll tack on more time to my contract before I can resign.”

  “What about Gnaw?”

  She bit her lip and shrugged. “He’s a Veslor. I mean, I’m ninety percent sure they won’t bring up the prospect of sexual assault charges again, but he could be banned from working with the fleet. That’s why I said his ass is on the line, too. That should motivate him to be your new boyfriend.”

  Panic stirred as Darla thought about what would happen if Gnaw said no. The authorities on Radison would arrest her for what she’d done by leaving in the first place, as soon as the fleet sent her home. The babies she carried would be proof she’d had sex before marriage, and once they were born, they’d take them away from her. Law breakers had no rights. Including being able to keep their children.

  She shuddered at that thought. She couldn’t see the leaders on her planet doing anything good with Veslor children.

  Gnaw needed to know, either way. Worst case, if she was sent home, Gnaw could petition the planet to give him the babies as soon as they were born. He was the biological father. Men, even aliens, had rights on Radison. The fact that he wasn’t a citizen could force her planet to comply or face backlash. They wouldn’t want to risk a huge scandal by keeping alien children from their father and his people. That might stop tourists from visiting.

  “I’m afraid to ask what’s going through your head right now, because you have an expressive face. Your emotions appear to be all over the place.” Jessa glanced down at Darla’s stomach to indicate her pregnancy. “What are you going to do? Have you decided?”