Page 56 of Monstrous Hunt
:Then fucking start talking,:Axxol growled. Snryx jabbed him with an implement sharpened into a wicked blade, and he added,:In between contractions, of course.:
She didn’t need to tell us. Her knowledge, her meeting with the drone, seeing the laboratory, all of it was on the grid, immediately accessible to all of us.
Her breath caught as the pain ramped again. “Everything you’ve been told about Myrm is a lie.”
“What the fuck is Myrm?” Snyder asked.
:Someone shut him the fuck up,:I snarled.
:Gladly.:Axxol opened his mighty jaws but froze. Blue eyes flashed toward Natalie, and she shook her head.:Fine.:
Our belligerent alpha with a temper hotter than Earth’s Sun tapped the annoying human on the head with the tip of his tail. Said human sat. Hard. Eyes bulging with terror.
:All this time, we’ve been eliminating the Mothers, the breeders, so they can’t generate more of their own cells.:Lohr shook his head, slowly moving closer to us while still keeping his shell angled as a shield.:We’ve nearly annihilated the entire species, without recognizing the threads of their DNA in our own.:
Snryx let out a shaking breath. “Each time we destroy a mrion deposit or kill a breeder, we ingest them.”
:Which incorporates new mrion cells for DSC use,:Lohr added.:No wonder they keep Sirian cells under such control, so no one will know the truth.:
Natalie gripped my arms hard enough that I caught a whiff of my blood. She’d never been able to penetrate my skin before. Panting, she pressed her forehead against me, her hair damp with sweat. “You were going to make a suggestion earlier.”
Snryx nodded ruefully. “I don’t like seeing you in pain when there is a completely painless option. However, I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about not delivering naturally. Riz provided references that indicate humans can be sensitive about such things.”
“Completely painless?” She lifted her head. “Sign me up as long as it’s safe for her.”
“I wouldn’t recommend anything that wasn’t safe for both of you.” He looked over at the wide-eyed female hovering just a few feet away. “If you have a weak stomach, you will want to look away.”
“Oh! I forgot.” Natalie turned her head toward her friend and smiled. “Hi, Holly! Um, sorry about…” Blushing, she inclined her head in a general circle. “All of this. I know it’s a lot.” She looked back over her shoulder, checking where Snyder was. She hadn’t had to tell any of us to make sure he couldn’t see her. Lohr’s shell made for an excellent privacy screen.
“I’m not squeamish.” Holly edged closer, her gaze flickering rapidly from one to another, her eyes progressively getting rounder. “Do you want to hold my hand?”
“Sure.” Natalie reached out and gripped the other woman’s hand. “Thanks. I’m ready, Sn.”
I shifted around to her back, making sure she was fully supported and lounging comfortably against my body. She reached back over her shoulder and curled her arm around my neck. I cradled her, breathing with her through another contraction. “You are so strong and beautiful, baby. You’re doing so well.”
Snryx slipped an implement between us, pressing it against her spine. “Administering a nerve block.”
Immediately, she relaxed on a deep sigh. “Ahhhh, thank you. Much better.”
“Sterilizing.” Laser focused, Snryx leaned over her, the tips of his implements moving quickly. “A little pressure.”
A small cut widened in her lower stomach across her pelvis. It didn’t bleed, and she didn’t cry out with pain, though even for me, it was unnerving to watch him reach into her body and pull out a little ball.
“Her head. Suctioning. You’re doing great, Natalie. Just relax. I almost have her out.”
The youngling’s eyes opened. Grey, like her mother’s—with rings of red. Just like mine. She squalled as Snryx gently worked her free and laid her onto Natalie’s chest.
“Oh, wow, hello, little one.” Crying, she ran her hands over the youngling, wiping away the fluids. The youngling looked up at her and stopped wailing, as if her mother’s touch was enough to soothe her.
:Me too,:I whispered on the grid.
The youngling turned her head and looked at me. She heard me. I felt her bright presence. The shock of breathing this particular mixture of nitrogen and oxygen for the first time. Grief and fear at losing the warm, cozy darkness of her growing place, even though it had been too tight and small for her to remain. She didn’t have words yet, but I felt the spark of intelligence in her mind. She would grow in leaps and bounds, just as she had developed in the womb.
A tug deep inside me tightened my throat. My heart expanded, straining against the confines of my ribcage. It was all I could do not to crush Natalie against me. So much emotion. I had never felt anything like this. So fierce. So overwhelming.
The squad pressed closer around our mate. Touching her. Touching our youngling. Letting her learn our scents.
Axxol tenderly brushed the youngling’s back with his snout.:What is this feeling?:
