Aliens Hijacked My Heart (Awakened Womb Book 2), page 13
I took deep breaths and released them steadily. It wasn’t agonizing by any means, but the labor had barely begun. Part of me was morbidly curious to see how bad it could get.
Then again, I wasn’t sure I’d experience the full agony of childbirth—not with Linn’ar hovering over me, sucking out all the bad feelings and injecting me with calm. His brow was furrowed in concentration. How much of it was he counteracting? I didn’t want him to be in pain, either.
I put my hand on his strong arm. “You don’t have to take all of it away.”
He grunted. “What do you mean?”
“I won’t die if I feel a little bit of labor pains,” I pointed out. “I mean, how bad could it be?”
In the background, Levi and Paz exchanged a look.
Linn’ar also shot me a pointed look. “That is a bad idea,” he stated firmly.
“Come on, Linn’ar. Just for a few minutes,” I argued. “I’d like to experience it fully. I need data.”
Linn’ar made a face like he’d eaten a lemon. Then he closed his eyes. “Fine. I will concede, but only because you asked.”
He lifted the feelers off my body.
Agony drenched me. Cramps like hell itself seized my lower half. I shrieked at the sudden pain, tossing against the bed. The contractions were indescribable. It was like a giant grabbed my organs and squeezed them until they popped.
Holy fuck.
Was Linn’ar experiencing all of this by himself just to make me comfortable? That was the nicest thing anybody had ever done for me. And also the craziest.
The pain evaporated.
I gasped, lying flat against the bed, panting and sweating as I stared at the ceiling.
Linn’ar’s feelers were back on my body. They pulsed with alternating rings of red and teal-blue.
“Is this the second time somebody gets to say ‘I told you so?’” Paz asked.
“Hey, give him a break, he’s literally giving birth right now,” Levi said. “Let’s see you push a baby out of a magical ass chamber.”
Paz crossed his arms proudly. “As a matter of fact, I have that on the docket, thank you very much.”
Ignoring their chatter, Linn’ar arched his worried face close to mine. “Are you all right?”
“I am now,” I mumbled, then ran a hand through my sweaty hair. “Sorry. I didn’t think I’d be humbled quite that fast.”
He trilled, fondling my cheeks in his typical doting fashion. “I only want you to be comfortable.”
“But what about the pain? You were just... taking that all by yourself. It’s not fair to you.”
“Maeleons have a higher pain tolerance than humans,” he explained. “Your kind is delicate, squishy, and fragile. Please, Jaeyoung. Let me take care of you.”
I sighed and flashed a weak smile. “All right. Even though you’re always doing that.”
He nuzzled my face.
“Hey, not to break up your cute moment, but there’s, uh, something you might wanna see,” Paz called.
With Linn’ar absorbing my agonizing contractions, I was able to sit upright.
And then I saw it.
Something was coming out of me.
My eyes widened. I blinked a couple times to make sure it was real.
A glistening, undulating tube emerged from my rear. Its fleshy walls were green-gold, and strangely beautiful.
I recognized the structure. The same one had come out of Levi during his delivery. But it was different seeing it come out of me.
Speechless, I flexed my fingers in the air, silently begging for my notepad. Levi handed it to me. I wrote down everything. The shape, colors, texture, sensation—anything I could think of. As far as I knew, the Maeleon birthing chamber was only seen twice by human eyes. This was priceless information.
“Oh, how wonderful,” Linn’ar said, observing the tube like it was an adorable puppy. “And look. It’s expanding.”
I sat further upright, thanking all the crunches I did during training, and gasped. Linn’ar was right. The fleshy walls swelled with each undulation. The tube grew right in front of my eyes.
Despite the feeler connection, I still felt dull labor shocks. Each pang occurred in time with the tube’s convulsions.
Something moved within me.
I held my breath, then remembered the age-old adage to breathe. But it was fucking hard to breathe normally when a large object creeped closer to the exit.
Anxious sweat poured down my temples. My heart pounded a mile a minute as the base of the birthing chamber swelled to the size of a football.
That was my baby in there.
My hormones kicked in at full force. A starburst of oxytocin told me to push, so I did. I clenched my teeth and my muscles and pushed.
I heard Linn’ar’s excited voice. “It’s coming.”
The tube quivered and oscillated, feeling tighter than ever.
Then all the vibrations stopped.
A huge breath was expelled from my lungs. I was flat on my back, too exhausted to sit up anymore. My ears rang from all the pushing and sweating. Through the ringing, I heard eager voices clamoring over each other.
I groaned. “What happened?”
My sweet mate appeared in my vision. His magenta eyes sparkled like fireworks. He radiated indescribable happiness.
Whenever I imagined our baby in my mind, it was dark green, just like Linn’ar. But maybe that was my lack of creativity at play again.
The fresh bundle in his arms wasn’t green at all. Our baby’s hide was a mix of gorgeous colors—deep pink and light blue.
Emotion washed over me as I stared at our child. Tears pricked my eyes. I reached out wordlessly, too overwhelmed to speak. Linn’ar carefully placed the little Maeleon in my grasp.
Before crashing on Eukaria and meeting Linn’ar, I never thought I’d be a parent. But now, holding my baby, I knew this was my destiny.
“You did wonderfully, my filum,” Linn’ar murmured, hugging us close. “Look what you brought into this world.”
As if on cue, our baby lifted their head and opened their eyes. They were black as night—just like mine.
My heart squeezed. I may not have been an artist, but I recognized something beautiful when I saw it.
Speaking of creativity...
“So, Linn’ar,” I said, glancing up at my mate. “What name did you choose?”
He tilted his head. “Kiir’an. It’s our word for purple rice plant flowers. Do you like it?”
It was music to my ears. “I love that. It’s perfect, Linn’ar.” I smiled at our baby. “Our sweet little Kiir’an.”
Kiir’an yawned and snuggled against my chest, using me as a pillow. My heart felt full.
“Now that is the cutest thing I have ever seen,” Paz said, sniffling and wiping away tears. “Along with newborn Dai’zee, of course.”
Levi nodded. “I’m pretty sure all newborn babies share the ‘cutest thing ever’ award.”
He was right.
But at the same time, I secretly thought my baby was the cutest.
18 / Epilogue: Linn’ar
“I’ll try my best, but you have to promise not to make fun of me,” Jaeyoung warned. Today, we decided to paint together as a family. Kiir’an was growing every day, and they were finally old enough to hold a brush. Unlike Levi and Zat’tor, we chose to use gender neutral pronouns with Kii’ran the traditional Maeleon way. If our child wanted to change that when they grew up, that was their choice to make.
A blank piece of parchment lay in front of Jaeyoung on the table. Armed with a wooden brush dripping with pigment, he frowned at it gravely.
Kiir’an sat beside him, wriggling in the seat and clutching a brush. It was upside-down. I reached over to flip it the correct way.
“I would never make fun of you,” I promised, patting Jaeyoung’s head with my tentacle. I held a third brush in my hand, poised over the parchment. “This is for fun. You cannot fail at painting.”
Jaeyoung didn’t look sure. He eyed the blank parchment warily, like it might bite him.
Kiir’an didn’t share their father’s uncertainty. Shoving the brush tip into the pigment, they smeared a bright blue streak across the page. They trilled happily at the result.
“See? Kiir’an has the right idea. Look at this wonderful color and shape,” I praised.
Jaeyoung smiled at Kiir’an’s brushstroke. “Well, it’s different when our kid does it. Anything they create is beautiful.” He grimaced at his brush. “Me, on the other hand... I deal in numbers, not paint.”
“Would you like my help?” I offered.
He blushed. “Maybe...”
I set my brush down, then sat behind Jaeyoung so I could assist his movement. I placed my hands on top of his and used my tentacles to support his upper arms. His body heat sank into my chest.
“Now, hold this position, take the brush, and do this...”
I eased his hand across the page. The pigment on his brush flowed, leaving a lively green streak in its wake.
“There. Isn’t that nice?” I asked.
He sighed. “It’s just a green line.” He glanced over at Kiir’an’s page, now dotted with shapes and colors galore. “My four-month-old is doing better than me.”
“Your four-month-old has unabashed whimsy,” I pointed out.
Jaeyoung snorted. “Are you saying I’m not whimsical enough?”
“I’m saying Kiir’an doesn’t judge their creations—they just create.” I gave him an encouraging kiss on the cheek. “Come. Try again. I want to see what your hands make.”
“Okay...”
I didn’t assist Jaeyoung this time. I let him pick the colors and whisk the brush across the page by himself. After a few moments, I felt a change in him. He abandoned his ideas of perfection and simply let himself have fun.
When he sat back to view his creation, he said, “Huh. That’s not half bad.”
I leaned over his shoulder to see the page. My heart lifted. He painted a simple rainbow, but it was his touch that made it shine. The colors were vivid and rich, the brush strokes authentic.
“I love it,” I cried. “See, Jaeyoung? You’re an artist after all.”
He blushed deeper, grinning at the page. “Well, it’s no collector’s piece, but it’s passable.”
I growled at him. “Nonsense.”
Before he could object, I snatched the parchment off the table and strode to the wall.
“Hey, come on, what are you doing?” he demanded.
I placed the parchment on a dull thorn sticking out high on the wall, then stepped back to examine it. “That’s lovely. Don’t you think?”
Jaeyoung groaned. “Now you’re embarrassing me.”
Seeing their father’s work on display, Kiir’an grabbed their paper and ran up to me. They thrusted the parchment into the air with a grunt.
“Thank you, Kiir’an,” I said, taking their art piece and placing it next to Jaeyoung’s. Anyone could see that the vivid, heartfelt paintings complemented each other.
Kiir’an squealed with joy, bouncing up and down.
“Oh. It’s a family art wall,” Jaeyoung said softly, tilting his head at the two paintings side by side. “That... looks kind of nice, actually.”
I chuckled. “What was it Paz said? ‘I told you so’?”
He snorted, flashing a grin. “Yeah. Fine, you win. I guess I can be an artist, too, if I try.”
I looped my tentacle around his waist and pulled him close. “That’s the spirit.”
“But only because you supported me, like you always do,” Jaeyoung said, smiling.
I pressed the tip of my snout against his soft human lips.
“And I always will,” I promised.
THE END
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