Page 71 of Hot Zone

Seventeen

“What?” Tessa squawked, outraged.

He retorted with rising indignation, “I am a potent male. I have never failed to impregnate a female when I wished to.”

She spluttered, alarmed, “But human biology doesn’t work that way. We—I—am only fertile for a very small window of time each month. Even if I were to have sex with a man during that time, I still might not get pregnant. It can take months or even years for human females to achieve pregnancy. I’m not even sure you and I could create a viable offspring.” Her voice continued to rise as her agitation increased. “We’re different races, for goodness sake—”

He pressed a finger over her mouth, stilling her incipient tirade. “Keep your voice down. These hills are far from deserted and sound carries forever out here.”

“I can’t possibly be pregnant,” she hissed. Frantically, she was casting back in her memory for the first day of her last period. It had been nearly four weeks ago. In fact, her period was due to start in another three or four days. Even if her birth control pills didn’t work on aliens, the timing was all wrong. Whew. Some of her panic abated.

“Nonetheless, you are with child,” he said certainly.

“You don’t understand my biology. I have these things called ovaries. They store my female genetic material. They release an egg only once a month and the egg survives for just a day or two. That window of opportunity has passed for me this month.”

He sighed. “Do you recall that first night when I stroked you with my hand…until you felt a series of deep spasms inside you? If you’re built like a female of my kind, it would have been low in your belly, between your hip bones. I’m not talking about pleasure feelings. It would have been deeper within you, where your reproductive organs lie.”

Her cheeks began to heat up. More than a little taken aback at this turn of conversation, she nodded cautiously. She did, indeed, recall the sensations he described. She’d been kneeling before him with her knees spread wide, while he’d played her body like a fine violin.

“Those spasms you felt were me drawing forth an egg from within your…what did you call them? Ovaries?”

Her jaw dropped. “But eggs have to mature. They need exposure to the right hormones. It’s a terribly complicated sequence of events….”

“And you think a race capable of star travel can’t learn to control a simple biological sequence?” he asked easily, his voice laced with humor.

“You didn’t.”

He nodded at her solemnly. “I did. I drew forth one of your eggs and prepared it for my—I’m sorry, I don’t know your word for them—seeds?”

She interjected quickly, “I get the idea.”

He continued patiently. “Of course, I prepared your body to accept a child, as well. Given that your race is directly descended from mine to more than a small degree, that, too, is a process I can and did control.”

Her jaw dropped. “But…implantation depends on certain proteins being present. My body has to be producing them at the right time….”

Although she made the argument, she had a sinking feeling that he was trying to tell her that her body’s chemistry didn’t matter a hell of a lot. It sounded a great deal like he was trying to tell her he was capable of completely overriding her body and hijacking the entire process of impregnation.

“If I so choose, you have no choice chemically or biologically but to accept my seed. Trust me, my dear. You are pregnant even now.”

Somehow she didn’t doubt for a moment that he was telling her the truth. “You…you…son of a bitch!” she exclaimed.

He leaped to his feet, clearly offended. “What’s wrong with you? Do you have any idea what an honor it is to carry one of my offspring? To bestow that upon you, an alien woman? I risked everything—my political standing, my rank and status as commander of the Fifth Centauri Star Regiment—”

“Ohmigod. And you’re Centaurian to boot?” The news just kept on getting better. She was pregnant. The father was an alien. And to top it all off, he was a hostile alien!

“You…you…” She stepped forward and punched him as hard as she could in the gut. Of course, her fist barely dented his rock-hard abs, but it made her feel a whole lot better.

“What’s gotten into you?” he demanded furiously. As she flailed her fists at him again, he captured them and forcibly held them at her sides.

“You didn’t ask me if I wanted to have your precious offspring, you arrogant bastard! I have a career, dammit! I don’t have time for a child. And we’re not even married. And as I understand it, you don’t get married. You just collect whatever females happen to catch your fancy and force them into your…your herd of broodmares.”

He reared back, mortal insult etched on his face. “I do not. Mount. Common. Broodmares.” He snarled each word individually. “I only breed with women from the very best lineages, from the greatest of the noble families. Their daughters fight for my attention. They throw themselves at me in hopes that I’ll gift them with my child! I even stand a fair chance of becoming the Primus if my career continues on track. Kentar himself has hinted that I might replace him when he steps down.”

Her fury was unappeased. “I don’t care if you’re the king of the universe. You had no right to foist a child on me without my consent.”

He yanked her against his chest, hard enough to rattle her teeth. “You did consent. You agreed to be my consort.”

“I hadn’t the slightest idea what it meant. You can’t possibly hold me to that.”

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