The Breeding Experiment (Veslor Mates Book 3) Page 16
“I’ll show you. Is he okay?”
Gnaw was able to see the doctor. She still held the sphere in her hands but she’d shrunk the size of it back to a small ball.
“We still have a huge issue, besides Darla being pregnant,” the female said to Roth. “We all lied and swore Gnaw and Darla only pretended to have sex. These babies prove otherwise. But…I have a plan.”
“I need to go to Darla.” Gnaw didn’t care what the fleet did or thought. He’d take Darla away if they attempted to keep him from her and the cubs growing insider her womb.
“Hold him, Roth,” Dr. Brick ordered. “All our asses are on the line if you let him go when he looks that upset. He needs to get a handle on his emotions, and then go take Darla someone very public, where lots of people see them together. They can pretend they’ve just started dating. You know what that is, right? Everyone will assume they’ve just started having sex, and I can change the date on the scan to make it line up with a pregnancy occurring over the next few days. I can continue to do it all throughout her pregnancy, until the babies are born.”
“I don’t care about any of that. Darla is carrying my cubs!” Gnaw snarled. “I need to see her. She will be my mate.”
Dr. Brick clasped her hands together and the sphere in her hand disappeared. She began to remove the gloves. “This is why I decided it was best if I told you, Gnaw. I had a feeling you’d go all crazy. There’s a lot I don’t know about Veslors, but I’ve seen how damn possessive Drak over there is toward Abby Thomas. Guys even glance at her when he’s around, and he’s ready to murder them in a very bloody and painful way.” She placed her gloves on the med bed and approached them, but stayed far enough back that she must have felt safe.
“It’s not just about you and those cubs. Do you know what the fleet is going to do if they figure out we all lied? They will fire Darla and send her back to that fucking planet that treats women like shit. She told me they’d consider her a criminal because she’s pregnant and not married. Then mentioned something about being sent to some mines.”
“I won’t allow it!” he snarled. No one would take Darla and his cubs from him. He began to struggle again, but Roth and Drak still refused to let him go.
Dr. Brick stepped closer, glaring at Gnaw “You’re on a fleet vessel. You work for them. Do you think they’re just going to allow you and her to stay on this boat if they learn you lied, Gnaw? The answer is no.”
She glanced at Roth. “I grew up with the fleet. I’ve been with them since I was eight years old. Gnaw and Darla will get tossed off this ship faster than you can say ‘fuck this.’ You’re considered civilian workers, just like she is. They’ll shove her on a transport straight back to Radison, and Gnaw will be put on another transport right back to your king. I’m guessing you and the two others in your grouping might try to stop that from happening, but you can’t. That would be considered an act of war. You do realize that, don’t you? You can’t attack fleet security.”
Gnaw stopped fighting, her words finally penetrating.
Dr. Brick sucked in a deep breath and held up her hands. “So, this is what we’re going to do. Gnaw is going to pretend to date Darla. They are going to be seen flirting by the crew. He’ll take her back to your cabin or hers, just make sure lots of people see them, and then they’re going to stay together all night.” She shot a glare at Maith. “They should probably also pretend they’re mated, since that was the information your people gave ours. Only mated couples can have babies.”
“It’s true,” Maith snarled.
“Are they mated?” Dr. Brick put her hands on her hips. “Because Darla doesn’t know it, if they are. You’d think one of your kind would mention that to a woman.”
“She will become my mate,” Gnaw swore.
Dr. Brick tore her angry stare from Maith, and her expression softened. “Good. You take damn good care of Darla. You hurt her feelings when you didn’t contact her, but you didn’t hear that from me. Now make it up to her.”
“We did try to contact her. Abby sent her messages to ask her to see me,” Gnaw admitted. “She never responded.”
“Shit.” Dr. Brick sighed, letting her hands drop to her sides. “I thought you might have. She’s from a planet that has old technology. I had to explain a mobile com device to her when I asked why she didn’t respond to my message. She hasn’t figured out how to use the stationary one in her cabin.
“But she wants to see you, Gnaw. Again, I didn’t tell you that. It seems you’re both worried that the other doesn’t want to be reminded of what you went through while locked up together in that cell. Not true. She’s also happy about the babies. Scared shitless, too, because of the threat of being sent back to Radison, and the idea that you might not want anything to do with her.”
“I want her!” Gnaw tried to pull away from the males holding him yet again. “I won’t allow her to be returned to that planet.”
Roth jerked his head up, indicating they should stand. They refused to release him still, but all three of them got on their feet. Roth shifted his body to stand in front of Gnaw.
“Doctor Brick is rude, but correct,” his grouping leader said in their Veslor language. “We can’t attack the humans on this ship. It would start a war. The female came up with a good plan. Did you hear anything that she said? You can mate your female, protect your cubs, but it will require patience. It will be difficult, but we will help you. I can see how much you wish to rush to the female and claim her. Restrain your urges. Can you do that?”
Gnaw closed his eyes, trying to calm his turbulent emotions and instincts. He got a handle on them, mostly, and started thinking rationally. He’d scare Darla if he stormed her cabin and claimed her as his mate.
But Dr. Brick had said his female wanted to see him. She was also happy about the cubs. He was too.
His heart swelled in his chest with longing and love for the female carrying his cubs. So much so, it choked him up.
“Gnaw,” Roth rasped.
He opened his eyes. “I am calm.”
“Can you control your urges?”
“Yes.”
Roth studied him closely.
“Darla will not want to leave Defcon Red. Her sister is here. And our king and Abby will be furious if we start a war. He wants alliances and trade with the humans. Abby has family on Earth that she wishes to see often. I don’t wish to disappoint either of them. I will claim Darla and my cubs, but I can do it in a way that doesn’t put them at risk.”
“Please tell me you’re not plotting to do something really stupid, like grab Darla and steal a shuttle,” Dr. Brick stated. “Because I might not be able to understand what you’re saying but some of those words were in English, and mildly alarming. Like Earth, Darla, Abby, and Defcon Red.”
Gnaw stared at the female doctor and switched back to her language. “There will be no war. I am an intelligent male. I will take Darla to the cafeteria, where lots of humans eat, and I will smile at her, touch her hand often, and then take her back to my cabin. Tomorrow morning, I will escort her to her cabin to collect her things and inform Clark that we have mated.”
Dr. Brick gave him a tentative smile. “Sounds good. That should work. Then I can feed the fleet delayed medical files of her pregnancy to make it look as if you got her pregnant tonight, instead of last week.”
“You will not,” Maith growled. “That female is now a part of our grouping. You will not release any medical information to anyone. I am her medic now.”
The doctor’s expression changed to pure anger. “Get your head out of your ass. The last thing we want is rumors and another damn investigation. I need to give them something to avoid all that shit, once people learn she’s pregnant. That means giving them a copy of the scan I did on her, but with a changed date, to back up the story we told. I also don’t need every woman that you guys have fucked on this boat flocking to my lab to see if they’re knocked up, too. You know, since your people lied about that.”
“We didn
’t lie,” Maith yelled.
“Enough!” Roth snapped, using his commanding tone. “Veslors do not have cubs unless we are mated. That is fact. It is not our way.”
“Want to see the scan again?” Dr. Brick turned her glare on Roth. “So either it was a lie, or your guy mated my friend without telling her. Total dick move, by the way. Which is it?”
“I was so angry,” Gnaw rasped in Veslor language, thinking about his time with Darla in that cell. “The Elth kept demanding that I breed Darla over and over. It enraged me that they didn’t care about her health. They wanted to obtain our cubs to train them to become killers, to do their bidding. I didn’t lose control, though. I stayed in this form.”
Maith came back to him, switching to their language, too. “Were you angry enough to transform into battle form while you were copulating with her?”
Gnaw gave a sharp nod.
Maith reached up and cupped his face again, pressing their foreheads together. “That might explain how it happened. Rage induces us to transform. We’re fertile in battle form. You might have kept this outer skin but inside, your body must have been affected. It is reasonable to assume it made you fertile under those severe conditions.”
Gnaw closed his eyes. He should have thought of that. Forced his rage back before he copulated with Darla. He felt no regret though. She was carrying his cubs. “I am not sorry. She is everything to me.”
“Now I understand,” Dr. Brick said, her Veslor accent horrible.
They all gasped, and Maith released Gnaw, spinning to stare at the female.
She switched back to her English. “Is my pronunciation that bad? You guys speak in growls, which is hard to mimic. Humans don’t have the voice box for it. Did you really think when your grouping came onboard that I didn’t do my best to learn Veslor?” She smiled at Maith. “So that’s why I was told none of you could knock up human women. You have to be shifted. Few women would go for that.” Then she paled. “Shit. Vivian Goss agreed to do that, didn’t she?”
Gnaw walked toward her.
Dr. Brick took a step back and threw up her hands. “No judgements! Darla will be pissed at you if you kill me. I mean, yeah, it’s a scary thought to have sex with one of you guys when you’re shifted, and a little suicidal on the woman’s part, in my opinion, but what’s the big deal?”
“We were warned that your people would be highly disturbed over it. I am not going to kill you.” Gnaw stared down at the female. “It’s not just pregnancy that results when we copulate in battle form. It creates deep bonds. For both the male and female. Other races could force us to mate with them if they realized. Mating is sacred. We mate for life. You never want to see the result of a forced mating. My father did that to my mother. She hated him. He had to be killed to free her. He ruined―”
Roth clasped his shoulder and pressed against his side. “You don’t need to explain to this female.”
Dr. Brick surprised him when her brown eye filled with tears, leaking down her cheek. She reached out to gently touch his other arm. “I’m sorry. I won’t share what I’ve learned with the fleet or anyone else. You have my word. Curiosity has always been one of my biggest weaknesses. No one needs to know. You can trust me. I do have compassion and a conscience. Why else would I have lied during that investigation, or plan to falsify when Darla got pregnant? I’m on your side.”
Then she surprised him by taking a step back as she released him. She fisted her hand, placed it over her heart, and bowed her head. “My word.” She lifted her head as she let her hand drop. “I’m a fast learner.”
“I still don’t trust you,” Maith grumbled. “Or like you.”
Gnaw spoke before those two could argue again. “I do. Help me by telling me how to flirt with Darla, and what I need to do tonight in front of the humans to keep her and my cubs protected.”
“I can do that,” Dr. Brick said, wiping the tears off her cheek and smiling at him.
Chapter Fifteen
Darla sat hard on the couch in her cabin. “You told Gnaw?”
“I’m sorry.” Jessa went to her knees and sat on her haunches in front of her. “Please don’t be mad. You were terrified to tell him, and I didn’t want it to become a shit-show with Gnaw doing something crazy. You know? I had them come to my lab and showed them your scan.
“How did he take it?” She was afraid to know. “Wait—them? You told his grouping, too?”
“Yes. I figured they could help deal with him and how he might react. I was right. He lost his shit—but not in a bad way. He wanted to rush to you, Darla. Veslors are possessive as hell, from what I’ve seen of the mated pair on this ship. Drak and Abby are attached at the hip whenever they’re out in public. You’re having Gnaw’s babies, so I imagine he’s feeling it like ten times more. He would have blown our plan to hell and back if he’d torn through this boat to get to you. I calculated the odds of him taking you for his mate were at about eighty percent, once he found out you were carrying his babies. That would have freaked you out to hear, right?”
Darla was too stunned to respond.
“Exactly. I’m looking at your face right now, so I know I’m right. Prepare yourself to be mated, Darla. Which you should totally agree to. The guy is hot. And you got pregnant without, well, never mind. That’s something Gnaw can explain to you about Veslor birds and bees. Anyway, he’s onboard with our plan. That’s why I brought that dress bag with me. He’s coming to get you. You’re going out to dinner with him. And he’s over-the-moon happy.”
“He isn’t mad about me being pregnant?”
“No!” Jessa grinned. “A thousand percent no. He wants you and those babies. Did you hear me? He’s going to ask you to be his mate! Hell, he said he plans to pack up your stuff in the morning and move you in with him. Prepare for that, too.”
Darla just stared her, mouth wide open, as her mind tried to process what her friend was telling her.
“Look. I’m really bad at relationships. You don’t even want to hear my history with men. But I will say this. Gnaw told his grouping that he wasn’t sorry about knocking you up, and that you mean everything to him. He’s also tried to contact you. He didn’t want to just show up at your door in case you didn’t want to see him. He wasn’t aware that you don’t know how to work the communications console. The guy is crazy about you, Darla. Go on this date, put on a show for everyone, and then go home with him. Agree to be his mate.”
Jessa paused. “There’s something else I should tell you. Veslors mate for life, so, um…he’s all yours. Heart-and-soul kind of deal. I think he might actually die if you refuse him.”
“What?” Darla was stunned again.
“That’s not a bad thing,” Jessa quickly reassured her. “I can tell you’re crazy about him, too. It might be the most unique way that two people on this boat ever got together, but I think you’ll make an amazing couple. Oh, and bonus, Veslors don’t ever cheat. I got that tidbit out of Roth. You’re the only one that Gnaw will ever want. You never have to worry about him screwing any old bitch who flashes her tits at him.”
Darla closed her mouth and swallowed hard.
Jessa blushed. “Sorry. That was my past speaking. Not kidding about my bad history with men. The point is, he’s happy about the babies and wants to spend the rest of his life with you. You can stop worrying about your ass-backward home planet. No pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend, either. You’ll be the real deal. Just do the date thing tonight, put on a show, and by tomorrow, word will have spread that you’re moving in with him. The scan we took of you today, which I’ll upload in a week, dated as one I just finished taking seconds before, will cover your asses with the fleet.”
“This is happening too fast.” Darla didn’t know what to do or think.
“Look at me.” Jessa suddenly leaned forward and grabbed her hands. “Don’t overthink. Just say the first answer that pops into your head when I ask you questions. Ready?”
Darla squeezed her hands. “Yes.”
“Do you want to see Gnaw?”
“Yes.”
“Have you thought about him since you were rescued?”
“Yes.”
“Often?”
“Yes. These are easy questions.”
“Was the sex good?”
Darla blushed. “Um, yes.”
Jessa grinned. “Do you want to have sex with him again?”
Darla hesitated. “Yes…”
“Stop thinking. I’m not judging you. This is to clear up the bullshit happening in your head. Just blurt out the answer. Do you want to have sex with him again?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think he’d make a great daddy to your babies?”
“Yes. He’s a really sweet guy when you get to know him.”
“No explanations needed, Darla. Just keep answering me with the first thing that comes to mind. First word to pop into your head when you think about never seeing him again.”
“Sad.”
“Do you want to be a single mother?”
“No.”
“Do you think Gnaw would ever be abusive to you?”
“No! He’s not like that.”
“Give me one word that describes Gnaw?”
That was a tough one. Darla bit her lip. “Amazing.”
Jessa grinned and released her hands, climbing to her feet. “There you have it. We’ve cut through the doubts and second-guessing clouding your head. Just say yes to Gnaw and have lots of hot sex. Then you two can raise your babies together. Now get your ass up, Mamma-to-be, and let’s see if this dress fits. We’re close enough in size that it should. I bought it for myself last year but never wore it. It’s yours now. My gift to you.”
“I’m nervous,” Darla admitted.
“So is Gnaw. About the date part, anyway, because all he wants to do is take you home and sex you up. That’ll come later though. After you smile and flirt with him in public. I’m going to help you get ready.”
Darla halted. “My sister. She is going to freak out! And what happens when Gnaw and his grouping take another job? I can’t abandon Becky, and I’ll have to if I agree to become Gnaw’s mate.”