The Uncertain Scientist: The Lost Planet Series, Book Four, page 6
Grace
Most of the time, I have all the answers.
But being frozen after having sex with my alien baby daddy isn’t one of those times.
I try to move, try to scream, but for some reason I can’t do either. It’s the not knowing that terrifies me as much as being paralyzed. It doesn’t help that Sayer, who’d been so gentle, so much better than I’d ever imagined, has fallen asleep beside me.
If he ever wakes up, I’m going to rip him limb from limb.
Footsteps and then another person comes into view. Jareth. I’d almost forgotten about him. How could I have almost forgotten about him? If I had the ability to shiver, I would have.
He crouches down in front of the bed where I’m stretched out beside Sayer and for the first time since I woke up from cryosleep, his eyes aren’t hard and flashing with anger. They seem…gentle. They don’t burn, they simmer. In them is a heat I understand. I thought he’d be mad about seeing me with Sayer, but he’s not mad at all.
He’s turned on.
I push that to the back of my mind. I’ll deal with everything that’s happened later. Way later. Maybe even never.
Right now, I want answers.
Jareth reaches out a hand and I can smell myself on his fingers. They brush over my hair and his voice is a smooth rumble in his chest. “I see you’re scared, but you have nothing to fear. When we mate, a paralytic agent we call toxica is released once we reach completion. Sayer would have warned you, but he’s been distracted as of late.” A wry smile twists his lips as he pulls his hand away.
I’ll say.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he says, his thickly muscled arm stretching out again, to caress my cheek this time. His touch is tender, so unlike him it stuns me almost as much as the toxica threading through my bloodstream. He pulls a chair from a nearby desk covered in bits of metal and scraps of paper and situates it on the bedside.
I’ve never been the type of woman who enjoys being vulnerable and I can’t imagine a more vulnerable—or conflicted—position. The last person I’d imagine would be at my side is Jareth.
“The effects of the toxica should wear off after a time. I’m afraid Sayer is out for the night. He doesn’t last long after a good—fuck, I think is what you aliens call it.”
It must already be starting because I can feel the thin flesh around my eyes wiggle as I narrow them at him in anger.
He chuckles a little. “Don’t worry, I’m not upset with you…much. Or at least I’m not anymore. Since you’re not going anywhere anytime soon, we may as well get things straight where he’s concerned.” Jareth nods at Sayer, who is snoring, sprawled out across most of the bed without a care in the world. A flush of affection spreads throughout my body. If I had the ability to frown, I would.
As though he can read the emotion in my eyes he says, “Yeah, I get the feeling. It would be a lot easier if he weren’t so easy to like.”
At least that we can agree on.
Much as I’d like to clarify this…relationship, for lack of a better word, I want to do it on my own terms. Preferably while I’m fully in control of my body. Scratch that, preferably never.
“You know, I was a lot like you when Sayer and I first became mates.”
The effects of the toxica must be wearing off, because I find myself able to sigh heavily and roll my eyes. No way in hell he’s been through what I have. He didn’t wake up in a strange place pregnant with someone else’s baby and unable to do anything about it.
Jareth relaxes into his chair and props an ankle on the opposite thigh. “I didn’t say we were exactly alike and I’m not oblivious to your plight, but I never wanted to like Sayer, let alone love him.”
I wiggle my newly unfrozen eyebrows in a signal for him to go on. If I’m going to have to listen to him, I may as well get answers. The more information I have about Jareth and Sayer, the more prepared I’ll be when I have to deal with them.
“We were friends before The Rades took most of our people. We grew up together as mortlings.”
The thought of the two of them as kids makes me want to smile. No doubt they inspired terror wherever they went, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. I wonder if the little one growing inside me will be like Sayer, strong and gentle. Quiet and fierce.
Jareth continues, “After—” His eyes grow misty and his voice roughens. “After, Jareth and I grew closer than ever before. Near the end, when we knew Breccan had no other options at his disposal, we morts knew we were facing the extinction of our kind. I can’t describe to you how hopeless we all felt. How alone.” He smiles, causing the tips of his double fangs to glint in the half light. “I remember we’d been arguing. I was trying to convince him to live without me. He’s always been the stronger of the two of us and I’ve always been exceedingly fatalistic.”
My hands twitch by my sides, but Jareth doesn’t seem to notice, lost as he is in the memories.
“He was trying to convince me to keep fighting, but I was so tired of it. Not to survive, I’ve never minded that, but I was exhausted trying to hide how I felt about him.” Jareth’s eyes refocus on me. “None of our kind have ever mated with their own sex before. After The Rades, the notion was unthinkable. Knowing none of us would ever find pleasure or love destroyed me. And it made me angry. So angry. Of course, I took it out on Sayer.”
He notices my hand fluttering and he leans forward, crouched over me in such a way that blots out the light around him. Jareth takes my hand between his two massive ones. “Just like I’m taking out my anger now on you.”
The way his eyes soften makes me want to run. It was one thing to have sex with an alien—it’s another thing altogether to feel something for them. Let alone two of them.
Things couldn’t possibly get more complicated.
“I’ll do anything to make this work—to keep Sayer in my life. Even if it means sharing him with you.”
This isn’t what I want. This was only supposed to be a one-time thing to sate the burning hunger inside me, but even now I can feel the heady thrum buzzing beneath my skin at Sayer’s mere presence by my side. Will this need for him continue until I bear his child? What about after?
I hadn’t thought about the consequences when I bolted to Sayer’s room. I’d only been concerned with making the ache go away. But it’s not just Sayer’s life I’m affecting by having his child, not even just my own. It’s Jareth’s as well.
And he’s handling it a hell of a lot better than I would if a stranger invaded. An alien stranger at that.
The muscles in my neck have regained enough feeling that I’m able to nod at him to continue. We may as well figure out what we’re going to do about this now, while I can still think somewhat clearly and Sayer’s not conscious to distract me.
“You didn’t choose this life, which makes it much harder to hate you for coming in between us. You didn’t choose to have his mortling or to mate with him. I know that, but it’s been hard coming to terms with it. I hope you’ll forgive me for taking it out on you. For a long time, it’s just been the two of us. He’s everything to me.”
I move my hand from underneath his and reach up to touch his anguished face. Wetting my lips with the tip of my tongue, I search for the right words. When I speak, my voice is rusty from disuse. “Now it’ll be the three of you,” I say, though the words are hard to get over my chapped lips, and not only because of the after effects of the toxica on my system.
Before he can react, I take his hand and press it against the swollen slope of my belly. As it has been for the past few nights, the baby—mortling—is awake and kicking up a storm. Jareth’s eyes widen in delight and a smile breaks out over his handsome face. How had I not realized how beautiful he was? His features are blunter than Sayer’s, but he’s no less attractive.
The baby kicks the space covered by Jareth’s wide palm and Jareth exclaims in delight. “He’s so strong!”
“He?” I tease. “What if it’s a she?”
“He, she, I wouldn’t care. They’re a treasure.” He places his other palm on my stomach, studying my bare skin and making me realize I’m still completely naked.
Having his hands on me as we feel the life moving underneath them is almost more intimate than any sex act. His eyes lock on mine as though he realizes it, too, and we share a long, deep look. Feeling has come back to most of my body, so it can’t be the toxica that’s keeping me from moving away, breaking his gaze.
The baby begins to quiet down, no doubt as lulled by Jareth’s touch as their father is and soon the kicks stop, leaving Jareth and me still staring at each other, the weight of his hands inspiring a soothing warmth that radiates over my body.
He’s the first one to break away, although he seems reluctant. “You should get some rest,” he says. I start to get up, but he pushes me back down to the bed and draws and blanket over my body. “No, don’t get up. You may be sore tonight and you should be here when Sayer wakes up. You two will have a lot to talk about.”
“You don’t want to stay?” I can’t explain it, but I feel closer to him now. I don’t want him to go.
He shakes his head and gets to his feet. “I should be in my quarters.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, but I’m already yawning.
Jareth’s expression is clouded, unsure, then he’s crossing back to me. My heart does a quick thump-thump in my chest as he leans down to press a kiss to my hair.
“I’m sure. Sleep well, little sabrevipe.”
“Sabrevipe? What’s that?” I ask.
“An animal that hunts The Graveyard outside the Facility. They’re fierce beasts with three heads and long claws. Their growls can shake your bones.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to be called,” I say.
“They’re fierce, but they are also quite loyal to their kind. And very protective of their mates and their young. Your eyes flash like theirs do when you’re angry. Or when you come. Your screams sound like them, too. I imagine it won’t be long before I hear you screaming like that again.”
He’s gone before I can respond, leaving my skin feeling electrified, like the pheromones from Sayer, except there are no pheromones this time.
Nope.
There’s no excuse.
The only thing turning me on now is Jareth.
8
Jareth
I pace outside of Breccan’s chambers, panicked and weary. Everyone is asleep. Everyone but me. My emotions are bouncing around inside my nog, reminding me of a time when Sayer and I were sorting out the way we felt about each other. Both of us knowing it was wrong for two males to be together, yet we couldn’t stop it from happening.
“Again,” I taunt, faking to the right before charging left.
I catch Sayer off guard and knock him to the floor. I’m gloating about how easy it is to overpower him when he surprises me, rolling us over until he has me pinned. We’re both breathing heavily. He makes no moves to climb off me, but instead, wedges his thigh between mine.
“Sayer,” I growl in warning.
Someone will see. We’ll earn a trip to the reform cells.
But it’s late…
All the morts are sleeping…
He leans forward, wildness gleaming in his eyes. I hold my breath when he drags his nose along the column of my throat. Heat floods through my body straight to my cock.
This is wrong.
He’s not a female.
But there are no females anymore. We can’t reproduce even if we wanted to.
His forked tongue slides out, tasting my flesh near my ear. He doesn’t say a word and I’m afraid to move. I don’t want this moment to end. When I do move, it’s to gently run my fingers through his long hair. My claws rake against his scalp in a claiming way.
I want him.
I want him so rekking bad.
His hand slides down over my minnasuit. A sharp breath exhales from me when he cups my erection. Hot breath tickles my ear.
“I want to make you feel good,” he breathes.
I groan at his words. “I…I…”
“Tell me what you want, Jare.”
My mouth seeks his. It feels natural. Like if I taste him, it’ll make all this more real. His lips are warm and soft against mine. We rub our lips together, both of us liking the contact.
“I want you,” I murmur.
His forked tongue licks along my bottom lip and I growl. I like the way he tastes. Like forbidden secrets and an unbreakable bond. He rubs on my cock, making me hiss in pleasure.
“W-We can’t…” I trail off.
“Can’t what?” he groans, nipping at my bottom lip. “What can’t we do, Jare?”
“Mate,” I utter, bitter tears burning in my eyes.
“Are you sure?” he challenges. “You could put this”—he squeezes my cock—“anywhere you can make it fit in my body.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to argue his words. His mouth devours mine. I thrust my hips up, needing more from him. He pulls away to look down at me, fire brimming in his dark eyes. As he slides down my body, I gape at him in wonder. With hasty movements, he works at my minnasuit and manages to slide it down my thighs, freeing my cock that seeps with a tease of my seed.
“It’ll fit here,” he murmurs, running his forked tongue along the underside of my shaft. Pleasure crawls up my spine and feels as though it’s melting my sub-bones.
“I want it there,” I agree, rocking my hips up.
His full lips wrap around my crown and my eyes roll back. So many times I’ve brought myself to climax with my hand. Never had I imagined someone else could bring me such pleasure. A loud hiss escapes me when he slides down my length, the tip of my cock begging for entry in his throat.
“Sayer,” I whisper. “This feels so rekking good.”
He smiles around my cock, intensifying his efforts. When I feel my seed about to spill, I groan and grip his hair tight, keeping him right where I need him. A slurping sound echoes in the room and then he’s swallowing down my spill. Because of the toxica in my seed, he slumps off to the side, momentarily paralyzed. I run my fingers through his hair, silently praising him for his efforts.
I should feel ashamed or worried about what we’ve done, but I feel the opposite. I crave more.
“I want to taste you, too,” I say when he stirs, regaining his movement.
Emotion shines in his eyes as we reverse roles and embark on a forbidden journey together.
“Jareth.”
The deep timbre doesn’t fit Sayer and I snap my attention to find Breccan staring at me with a worried expression.
“Everything okay?” he asks, yawning, his hair messy from sleep.
I rub at the back of my neck and frown. But it’s not okay. The mort I’ve loved for many revolutions has been crazed by this pregnancy. I was jealous that Grace was taking something from me. Crushed even. Until…
Rekk, I’m losing him.
I’m losing us.
I can’t explain what I feel right now.
“Let’s take a walk. Somewhere private.” Breccan ushers me down the corridor to the stairwell. We take the passage down past the reform cells to the underground cells.
It’s been ages since I’ve come down here. It’s cold and echoes. Hadrian tends to love it down here, hence why I don’t come down here much. He’s a mortling trapped in a mort’s body. Winds me up every time. Thankfully, he’s not here.
Breccan squats by the shimmering blue-green water and runs his fingertips through it, creating a ripple. I stand beside him and look at the giant pool that continues to provide us with pure water deep from within the planet’s core. Something swims by and I take interest that we’re finally growing yaxout. It only took five revolutions for those eggs to finally hatch.
“How are Emery and the mortyoung?” I ask, not quite brave enough to discuss what I really want to.
Breccan smiles. “Calix is a proud father to his new son. The mother is doing well. They named him Hophalix. He’s not as big as my Sokko was at birth and he’s quieter too, but he watches with an intelligence that reminds me of Calix.” He rubs at his neck. “His hair is strange, though. Yellow like his mother.”
“Does he look more human or mort?”
“His skin is the same pale color as you or me and his eyes are like ours too.”
We both nod because it pleases us. Our kind is strong and fierce compared to the humans. If they grow to be fine males one day, they’ll need our strength.
“I know you didn’t come here to discuss Calix and Emery’s new mortyoung. Something is bothering you,” Breccan says, not meeting my gaze. “Want to talk about it?”
I let out a sigh and find a rock to sit on. It’s cold and freezes my rump, but I like the biting chill. Anything to stave off the heat burning through my lower region. My mind drifts to the way she was spread over his cock. Her juices were smeared along his cock and I thirsted so rekking badly to taste them. To the point of madness. I should have left them alone and allowed them to mate to deal with their problem, but I had to involve myself. I wanted to be a part of it. The craving to bring her pleasure as she rode my mate was sick and mad, but a craving nonetheless. It was selfish, but I did it anyway.
“It’s about Grace,” Breccan says.
I jerk my nog up and find him watching me with a knowing stare.
But he doesn’t know. It’s too complicated and wrong for him to even guess.
“Breccan,” I start, and then scrub my face in frustration. “I don’t know where to begin.”
He stands and walks my way. “Start from the beginning.”
With a heavy sigh, I admit what’s weighing so heavily on me. “It’s about Sayer.”
His brows furl and he crosses his massive arms over his chest. Ever since he found Aria, he’s been calmer and at peace. I’d been at peace with Sayer…until Grace. Now my mind is at war.
“Sayer’s my mate,” I blurt out. I lift my chin in defiance against my commander, ready to take on whatever punishment he feels like delivering, but also hoping desperately he’ll come at me with advice instead.
