Page 15 of The Pregnancy Pact

Even as I toyed with the notion, a soft snore distracted me. I glanced back over at my human guest. She was asleep. Fully, deeply, completely. And snoring. I observed the situation with slight disgust.

A female? Snoring in my bed?

However, the longer I observed her, the more humorous the situation became.

Perhaps it is time to give up pleasure for rest, I decided, bemused.

Or, as the human saying went, If you can’t beat ‘em—join ‘em.

I was not much on human sayings. In this instance, though, it made sense.

Of a sudden, I realized I was weary. Weary of it all. Weary of the desperate need for entertainment to shield the hollowness inside. Weary of the burden of having to produce an heir on short notice, when I’d thought my duty of producing an heir had been accomplished many years ago. Weary of—

Well, simply weary.

Perhaps it was the lyven, but I was tired as I had not permitted myself to be tired in a very long time.

Divesting myself of my outer garments, I walked around the foot of my bed and to the opposite side. I glanced at the human female once more before sitting down on the edge of the mattress. It was a small bed, meant for one. If I were to lie down beside her, I would inevitably be touching her.

You were very much planning on touching her, my mind goaded dryly. Yet now you hesitate?

Touching her yes. Bedding her. But sleeping next to her?

It seemed so personal. How many females of various races had I bedded throughout the years?

My face screwed up in thought as I considered. Finally, I shook my head, admitting I would never be able to recall. How many had I slept next to?

“None.”

I said the word out loud.

“I suppose there is a first time for everything,” I muttered. Choosing to give up my contemplations, I lay down, drawing the sheets and blanket up over my chest. I turned onto my side, facing Lorelai, the human female. My chest brushed against her arm. She did not react. Except to breathe out another heavy breath. Mumbling a word in her sleep, she rolled away from me, onto her side.

A strange desire to be close to her, to be close to another sentient being, overwhelmed me. I wanted to snuggle up against her, press myself into her warmth, allow myself to wrap my body around hers. The yearning was not even fueled by lust, which was even stranger. Typically, I did not have desires such as this.

What under the stars was wrong with me?

My son Caide’s attachment to his human wife, his willingness to surrender everything for her, had filled me with doubts and questions I knew not how to reckon with. They were toying with my mind. Maddening. Frustrating. Making me wish I knew how that felt—to love a female that deeply. To love anyone that deeply.

No. I would not learn that tonight, nor would I learn it with this female. Instead, I willed myself to roll away from her, scooting myself to the edge of the mattress, as far from my bedmate as possible. Mere inches separated us, yet we did not touch. The weariness, and the lyven, took hold. Dismissing all of my problems, I slept.

Chapter 7

Lorelai

What pulled me from sleep, I didn’t know. Certainly, it wasn’t a bright, sunny morning with a fresh breeze and birds singing outside. There was light—which made me groan, throwing my arm over my face. I heard engines humming, metallic clanking, and soft knocking from somewhere in the bowels of a ship. Despite the headache that raged as soon as I reluctantly came awake, despite my arm over my closed eyes, despite the nausea in my belly, I recognized those sounds.

The ship’s moving.

I’d been travelling long enough on space ships to know. As soon as I realized the ship was moving, another thought pierced my befuddled brain.

I hadn’t gone to bed on my own ship. Memories of last night were hazy, to say the least. However, I did remember following the beautiful Asterion nobleman onto his ship and I did not remember getting back off it.

Which meant…

“Crap!”

The word exploded from my lips as I bolted upright in the bed. Bad decision. Lightning bolts splintered through my brain, across my vision. Sickness surged. I clapped a hand over my mouth, praying I wouldn’t throw up.

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