Page 17 of Darik's Quest

“What passes for goats on the ancestors’ planet anyway. They sure kicked and butted heads like goats.” He rubbed his hip as if remembering a previous encounter with the feisty animals.

Dr. Garrison accepted the bottle with a smile. “I’ll certainly analyze it for the key components right away but if it sets your mind at rest a bit, Sandara and I worked out a baby formula before Hope was born, in case she wouldn’t nurse or there wasn’t enough milk. I’ve already ‘pathed the chef to mix up a batch of it immediately and send it to the hospital. She’ll probably deliver it personally to satisfy her own curiosity about what’s going on and where a new baby came from.”

Darik’s face was bright red and Nicolle wondered what on earth he was about to say. “I’d even considered asking Hainn and Jezari if Mia could have a bottle of her milk, to get us by until we could get formula.”

“Not a bad idea,” Megan said with no trace of embarrassment. “In fact if we do get a baby boom after I synthesize this water, we probably should establish a breast milk bank for emergencies.”

Knowing her mate was extremely uncomfortable with the topic, Nicolle gave him major kudos for bringing it up but it was time to shift the conversation. “All right then, shall we get ourselves and Mia to the hospital for her bath and checkup?”

Darik checked with Aydarr and Jamokan, who’d been conferring about the logistics of having an all-pack meeting for him to take everyone through his adventure. The Supreme Alpha immediately gave Darik permission to leave the stone circle. “The child’s welfare must be our highest priority of course. Do what needs to be done for your daughter and we can make plans with you later, telepathically if necessary.”

* * *

Hours later Nicolle collapsed onto the couch next to her mate in their private quarters. “She’s finally asleep.”

“A full tummy, a warm bath and cuddles did the trick?” he asked. “She usually wakes up two or three times in the night.”

“Good to know. The com system MARL fixed up for us earlier will let us know if she stirs at all. Otherwise I’d insist we have her in the bedroom with us.”

“Thank goodness Mateer and Megan were fine with lending us Hope’s baby things and the crib,” Darik said. “I have other plans for the bedroom tonight.”

“I’m in awe of you, rescuing her and doing the single parent thing for the last days of your quest,” she said.

“Mia’s a sweet kid and there was nothing else to be done.” He rolled his shoulders and got to his feet, extending a hand to her. “I know we need to talk about all kinds of things but?—”

“But not tonight,” Nicolle interrupted, taking his hand. “Promise me you won’t do any more solo trips to ask the goddess for help and I’ll promise you I won’t take any coms from the office when we’re on family time. Unless it’s Aydarr with an emergency.”

“Agreed.” He pulled her close for a kiss. “But we do have to talk sometime. Not talking was the start of our problems after we lost our baby.” Darik studied her face.. “I love Mia but I hope you know nothing will take the place of the dreams I had for our first child, fleeting though her possibility was. Mia and our future children will bring their own dreams with them to my heart.”

“Well said. I thought we were going to have a boy though.”

“I’ll defer to you on the point. Any healthy child will be a blessing from the Great Mother, in due time.”

Hand in hand they strolled into the bedroom. Nicolle looked around, surprised to find it unchanged from a week ago, when she’d rushed out to go to work and Darik had headed off to steal a flyer. “So much has happened in seven days,” she said. “It’s like time stopped in here though.”

He stripped off his tee shirt, which she always found incredibly sexy to watch, as his six pack of tight abdominal muscles came into view and the vee leading below his belt. “Keep going,” she said.

“You have too many clothes on too.” Bare chested Darik came to her side and pulled on her tee shirt. “Let me help.”

In a short time she stood in her bra and panties, which Darik admired with open appreciation as his arousal tented his gray sweatpants. He slipped one hand into the lacy cup of the bra and eased her breast out, thumbing the nipple. “So pretty, all rosy and perky for me.” An instant later he had the bra off and placed her on the bed. He divested himself of the pants and joined her, commando as usual.

Gently she ran her hand over the jagged red ridge of the scar on his upper thigh. “This must have hurt.”

“Like the seven hells,” he agreed. “The goddess completed the healing for me but said she wanted me to keep the scar as a sign of where I’d journeyed and what I’d accomplished. A badge of honor, she said.”

“Do you mind?” Badari didn’t usually scar except for the force whip marks on their backs from punishments in the labs when they’d been captives. She and Darik had their matching scars from being taken over by the parasitic neoChimmer for a time, until Darik had freed them, although since the marks were on her back she tried not to think about them.

Darik considered the question briefly. “No, since the Great Mother decreed I should have it. I don’t need reminding—I’ll never forget the fight with the predator. It’ll appear in my nightmares for years I’m sure. But if anyone else needs reminding where I was and what the stakes were, the scar is there. Aydarr said being marked was my punishment for stealing the flyer and causing all the uproar, so I was glad to get off so easily.” His laugh was deep.

“With what you did for the packs, he ought to have been grateful and nothing else,” she said, anger creeping into her voice.

“I love how you defend me, mate, but I did do wrong, taking the flyer and causing the Alphas to come find me. Aydarr has to maintain discipline. Have we talked enough for now?”

Now he extended one massive talon and hooked it into the side of the panties. Raising one eyebrow, he waited.

Nicolle sighed. “All right, I know how much you enjoy ripping them off my body. I just hate mending them all the time but we don’t exactly have a place here to get new ones. Kelli at Stores only has so much stock.”

“It satisfies the predator in me,” he said with a grin as he sliced through the strings, careful not to hurt her. He took a sniff before he tossed the lingerie to the floor. “Your scent has always made me hard, even since the first time we met.” Next minute he spread her legs and was putting his tongue to excellent use while Nicolle squirmed and tried in vain to fight off the orgasm he was working so hard to provoke. The longer she delayed the more the pleasure built until she couldn’t stand it any longer and allowed herself to go over the edge and ride the waves of sensation.

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