Page 12 of Monstrous Hunt
“Ah.” Lohr made a soft, low gasp of pleasure, as if he’d just solved the universe’s most complex problem. “I bet that doesn’t happen in the DSC labs.”
“What?” I looked from Lohr to Kroktl, trying to understand. The murderous glare in his eyes softened to smug, relaxed heat. If Axxol had found us, why weren’t they scrambling into a fighting position? If he tried to take me again… Kroktl could get hurt.
Thought he’d have to wait for the knot to go down first. As soon as I thought about it, it seemed to swell even more. He vibrated with tension, but it wasn’t as aggressive and urgent as I feared. He was ready for war—but calm and confident, even against his alpha.
“Evidently there’s a biological reason that Kroktl can’t keep his dick out of his smoking hot mate,” Rizan drawled.
“When I first connected to you, your blood pressure was below fifty, your respiratory rate was non-existent, and you were completely unresponsive,” Snryx said. “In addition, your body temperature was thirty-two degrees Celsius and falling rapidly.”
“In short, you were fucked,” Kroktl drawled, his lips curving into a smirk. “Now you’rereallyfucked.”
I blinked, not following. Yes, I got the double entendre. But notwhy—especially why they were so goddamned smug about me nearly dying, while the asshole who’d started all this evidently stood directly behind me.
“Your condition was of paramount concern, so I didn’t mention that the embryo was also failing,” Snryx continued. “I didn’t want to concern you.”
My stomach dropped, my heart aching so sharply I couldn’t hold back a small sound of pain. A week ago, I’d never in a million years have even thought about having a baby. Now… I’d started to think about the possibilities. What it would be like to hold my mate’s child in my arms. “I lost it?”
And no wonder. I’d been gulped down by a T-rex, broken a few bones, and nearly drowned. No early pregnancy—
“No,” Snryx replied quickly. “You haven’t miscarried. Its development had slowed down to the point I suspected termination was likely, even though I’d already stabilized you. But the second Kroktl came inside you, your stats improved far above what I’d been able to do, and the embryo stabilized as well.”
That didn’t even make sense. His cum somehow healed me? And the baby?
Thoughts clamored in my head, a jumbled mess of half-crazy assumptions and bizarre ideas. I had been shaking like an addict. Maybe I had been going through some kind of withdrawal. But could—
A low, fierce growl sheared through my jumbled thoughts. “What the fuck?”
Ozone burned my nostrils. Rizan, Lohr, and Snryx pressed tighter against me. Covering me against Kroktl. Shielding me with their bodies.
Axxol snarled, “The human’s fuckingpregnant?”
7
AXXOL
Of all the idiotic ways we could fuck up this mission even more, I’d never even thought to list“impregnate a human”on my strategy plan.
Not we. Me.
Ifucked up this mission.
I fucked upthis.
A warm, luscious, intelligent, annoyingly courageous mate pressed among my squad. Shielded and sheltered as she should be.
Fucking pregnant.
I leveled my fiercest glare on Kroktl. “You’re fucking unreal. You had her for what, a week? You couldn’t fucking wait to breed her until we get off DSC’s kill list?”
I wanted a fucking fight. My blood boiled, my stomach a vat of acid. A solar storm brewed inside me, and if I didn’t find a way to release it—or at least contain it—I was going to self-destruct. Leaving my squad even more fucked that we already were.
Stranded on a backward, inhospitable planet with no way back to HQ. A squad had already been sent to eliminate us. With that failure, they’d be even more careful next time. They’d send multiple squads with all the latest and greatest weaponry.
And they still wouldn’t have a fucking chance.
Not just against me, but the badass Tri-R who was actively evolving before my fucking eyes. Kroktl didn’t challenge me. He didn’t have to. He was fucking knotted in his mate. His fuckingpregnantmate.
Ourmate.
