Claimed (13 page)

Bavric stared at her open mouthed for a minute before he seemed to notice all the other males standing around them. He waved Sorvar and Tina into the room behind him and pulled the door closed after them.

Sorvar walked into the Medical room and it was as if Tina had come home. It was like dozens of other exam rooms she’d been in before, with a Medical bed with a scanner over it, a console, and display monitors on the wall. The only difference was the size. The Morgath were a big species, and their rooms were built accordingly.

Sorvar set her down on the padded examination bed and hovered over her as Bavric bustled around the room. Tina tucked the cloth around her tighter, watching him as he came to stand in front of her with a blood extractor in his hands.

Sorvar, it’s all right. Everything is going to be fine.
She tried to ease some of the panic she could feel swirling through him. Their gazes met and she could see the worry in his yellow eyes.

Tina, this isn’t right. We shouldn’t be able to do this.
His voice in her head was hesitant, quiet, almost like he was afraid of using this new gift. Because that was what it was.
A gift.

She reached out and took his hand, being careful of her claws.
I’m sure Bavric will discover that it is perfectly normal for the combining of Human and Morgath DNA.

“I think the best place to start is with a full set of scans and tests,” Bavric said. “Can you lie down for me, Princess? Please?”

With Sorvar’s help and a few grunts of pain, Tina managed to lie on her back, her wings stretched out on either side of her. It wasn’t comfortable in the slightest, and when Sorvar straightened her wings out, she wasn’t too proud to let out a small cry of pain.

Tina watched the metal frame descend from the ceiling, and the attached scanner started to run over her body. Bavric took blood and skin from her neck and rushed off as the scanner slowly moved over her.

When the scanner paused over her pelvis for long, tense seconds, Tina wanted to reach for Sorvar. Oh, god. A baby. Why did that freak her out so much? Sure, she wanted kids... in some distant far flung future. She’d thought she’d have years before she would get around to having kids.

As if he understood, and of course he did, because he could feel everything she felt, Sorvar slid his big warm hand onto her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. “It’s all right,
pavri,
hatchlings are born all the time. Our young will be fine, you’ll see.”

Wait. Did he say hatchling? No, surely he’d been mistaken. He meant baby. It must have been an error of interpretation. Hatchlings weren’t born... they... hatched, from eggs, and she was a mammal, a human, and humans had babies.

A sharp noise of excitement came from Bavric on the other side of the room, and Tina’s heart froze for a second.

“What?” she almost shouted at the same time Sorvar demanded, “What is it?”

“My Prince, your mate is carrying
three
developing young.”

There—see, Bavric said
young.
It must have been an interpretation problem. Sorvar’s hand spasmed on Tina’s shoulder. It took a moment before she fully comprehended what Bavric had said. Overwhelming shock filtered through the bond she shared with Sorvar. At least she wasn’t the only one struggling to accept what Bavric had just revealed.

When Sorvar took two steps towards the medic, Tina growled, “Don’t you fucking leave me here, Sorvar! Help me up, god damn it.”

Her very distracted mate scooped her up off the table, ripping a pained cry from her, and carried her over to Bavric and whatever he was looking at on the screen of the console. Tina stared at the screen, blinked and stared some more.

“What the fuck?” she breathed as she looked at the very clear image on the screen.

Bavric pointed at the monitor. “Embryo one, embryo two, and embryo three.”

Tina shook her head, her mind spinning around and around. She dug her claws into Sorvar’s shoulder.

“That’s not... I see the babies. I get it.
Triplets.
Multiple births are quite common on Earth, but Bavric, there’s something wrong. That’s not what my reproductive organs are supposed to look like.” Tina’s voice trembled as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing.

Bavric looked at her, and she could almost feel his pity. “Of course not, Princess. When you went through your transformation, your reproductive organs were changed to be able to produce Morgath young. We are a reptilian species, Princess, and most of us lay eggs.”

Eggs?

Reptiles?

Lay eggs?

The words echoed through her mind. Blood rushed to her head, and her ears went strangely warm.

She could cope with being bitten and transformed into the mate of another species. She could cope with temporarily losing her dream of being a medic to aliens. She could even cope with her five-day vacation in the dungeon. Wings, claws and funky chompers? No problems. Triplets? Multiple births made up almost five percent of all births on Earth, so sure, she could do that, too.

Lay eggs?

It was too much.

So this was why Doctor Tragesh wouldn’t let her look at her medical file. She really wasn’t human any longer.

Dizziness washed over Tina as blood roared in her ears.

“Tina, are you all right?”

Sorvar’s voice sounded like he’d spoken through a wad of fibre balls.

Tina had no response. She’d already fainted.

Tina bit back a groan. For god’s sake, she’d fainted! She never fainted. Heat burned up her neck and spread across her cheeks.

Warm amusement tumbled through her.

“
Pavri.
”

Sorvar’s voice was even filled with amusement.

A gentle hand stroked through her hair, and Tina sighed. That actually felt... nice. But she still didn’t want to open her eyes and look at him. He’d probably have a big stupid grin on his face, and she’d have to be cross with him for being a jerk. He was a jerk anyway, laughing at her for passing out. A low chuckle brushed across her skin, warm and sexy as sin.

“Stop laughing at me,” she demanded, her eyes still closed.

This time he laughed outright. “But you make it too easy,
pavri.
”

Tina opened her eyes and turned to glare at Sorvar, only to find a huge smile on his face. She let out a huff and shifted on the bed.
Oh.
The pain was gone. She could move without agony shooting through her body. Bavric must have given her something.

“How long have I been out?” She was still in the Medical room, so it couldn’t have been that long, and she still had nothing on except the towel Sorvar had wrapped her in in his bathroom. She wasn’t cold—the air in the Medical room was warm—but she felt naked and vulnerable.

Sorvar stroked her hair again, another wave of his amusement washing through her. “Long enough for Bavric to complete all the scans and tests he needed to and heal your infected arm, which you’re going to explain to me later. He also gave you some shots to help with muscle development and pain relief.”

That long? That would have been hours, and Sorvar had stayed with her the whole time? Tina’s heart started to pound, her lips trembling. Oh, god. Maybe she couldn’t do this, couldn’t be in this kind of relationship. He could be just like her father, and she’d end up hurt or worse. Sorvar’s hand tightened around her hair for a brief second before relaxing.

“Do you know you make the cutest sounds when you sleep,
pavri?
”

She heard amusement in his voice, but it was a little strained. “I wasn’t asleep. I was unconscious. You don’t make sounds when you’re unconscious,” Tina said, frowning at him.

“And how would you know that?”

Oh, so much curiosity. Tina rolled to her side, relishing being able to move without pain, and looked at Sorvar. They’d been too busy fucking each other to talk about anything on the ship. He knew almost nothing about her, and she knew very little about him.

“Because I’m a medic, Sorvar. I know the difference between sleep and the state of being unconscious, and besides, even when I’m asleep, I do
not
make noises.”

His amusement swirled inside her again and his eyes flashed as he leaned down close to her. “How do you know? Have you watched yourself sleep? Have you fainted so many times there’s documented proof you weren’t making noises?”

“I never faint.” He was being an insufferable jerk, making fun of her.

“But, Tina, you just did.”

Laughter filled his voice and she wanted to punch him.

“So what was it,
pavri?
The fact that you’re gravid, or that there are three babies? Or is it because you’re going to lay eggs?”

Oh, he could laugh all he wanted, but the joke was going to be on him when he found out humans had a ridiculously short cycle. That was, if the change hadn’t altered that, too.

“Stop teasing me.” She wasn’t really angry, more hurt that he was finding so much amusement at her expense. It was a fundamental change to her body. Was it any wonder she’d freaked out?

He stared down at her, the amusement slipping from his eyes, his face shifting into a serious expression. “
Pavri,
it is not my intention to hurt you, and I’m sorry if I have.” His gaze became intense, and Tina almost looked away. “I love you, Tina. I would never do anything or say anything to hurt you. Not on purpose.”

Her heart stopped, she was sure. It just went completely still in her chest before starting to pound so hard it wouldn’t surprise her if Sorvar couldn’t hear it.

Oh, God!
He loved her. Did he expect her to say it back? She wasn’t sure she loved him yet. In fact, she was pretty sure she didn’t. She hadn’t
let
herself fall in love with him, because falling in love terrified her, but she had to say something, she couldn’t just leave him hanging.

“Sorvar I... I... we’ve only been together...” The heart she’d protected for so long was pounding in her throat, and her palms were clammy and damp.

“Tina, it’s all right. I don’t expect you to feel the same yet. I just wanted you to understand it wasn’t my intention to hurt you.” He stroked her hair again, his touch so gentle Tina felt cherished for the first time in her life.

No. It wasn’t good enough. She’d decided she wanted to try a relationship with him, to see where it could go. She wasn’t going to let fear control her life and her happiness.

“That’s not it, Sorvar. It’s not that I don’t have feelings for you yet.” She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm the fluttering in her stomach, but it didn’t work. “I’m afraid of being in love with someone. I’m afraid of being vulnerable and getting hurt. Letting another person have that kind of power over me terrifies me. It’s crazy, I know, but I can’t help it.”

A hot ball of anger surged in her chest, and Sorvar demanded, “Who hurt you,
pavri,
for you to be so afraid of love?”

She looked away, up at the scanner hanging from the ceiling. She’d gone into medicine because you could heal sickness, cure disease, fix broken bones, and save people’s lives. It was about logic and science. You made people better, but emotions were messy. They were much harder to understand and fix, and she knew that first hand.

“My father,” she whispered. “My mother loved him, and he used to beat her.” Sorvar’s hand trailed across her shoulder and down her arm to her hand. He linked his fingers with hers, giving her silent strength. He didn’t say anything, but he was there, and it was enough.

“He would lock me in this tiny cupboard, and I’d hear him hitting her. I’d hear her begging him to stop and telling him she loved him, but he never stopped. He used to fuck other women as well and taunt her with them when he was hurting her, telling her how much better at sex they were than her.” Tina gasped in a breath, struggling under the weight of Sorvar’s anger and her own memories, but she’d started, and she had to finish it.

“I was twelve when he almost killed her. I called the police, and they locked him up, but my mother never forgave me for what I did.” She was cold, so cold that she was shaking. She’d never told anybody about her father before. She’d always been too embarrassed about her childhood.

Tina squeaked as Sorvar dragged her off the examination bed onto his lap. He remained silent, just holding her tightly against him for so long that she would have wondered what he was thinking if she couldn’t feel the welter of his emotions roiling inside her.

He pressed his forehead against the top of her head. “I’m sorry you went through that, Tina. No child should ever have to live with something like that.” He gripped her chin in his hand and angled her face up. His bright yellow eyes gazed down at her, the pupil blown wide.

“A male who hurts his mate or any female is not worthy of a female’s love. He does not deserve her devotion and loyalty,” he said, and his conviction was apparent in his voice.

She stared into his eyes and her breath caught, but he didn’t wait for her to respond.

“Tina, I will never hurt you, and I will cherish you regardless of how long it takes for you to love me in return. I will earn your love because I am a worthy male,
pavri,
and I will spend every day proving to you that I deserve it. I promise, you are safe with me, your body, your soul,
and
your heart.”

The heart he was talking about seized for a moment, then started to pound in a fierce wild rhythm, and she was
sure
this time he could hear it. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.

What he was really saying was he wanted her to trust him. Oh, he hadn’t said those exact words, but it was there when he told her he would never hurt her.

Trust me, I will never hurt you.

That was what he’d really said.

But Tina hadn’t trusted a man with her heart since she was eight years old and had started to understand what her father was saying to her mother when he hit her. But what kind of relationship would they have if she didn’t try? If she refused to open her heart and try, his love would turn bitter and resentful and eventually drive them apart.