Page 24 of Monstrous Baby
A faint shudder rustled my implements together. I loved hearing my shortened name on her lips. “I like snakes.”
The tips of my ears burned even though my chilled blood felt sluggish in my veins. Such a stupid, ridiculous comment. When had I ever even seen a snake before coming to Earth?
:I believe you might be referencing our deployment to Alpha Crucis with the infestation of parasitic nematodes,:Lohr said.:Incredible specimens. Their blood is acidic enough to burn through dyni hide.:
:I’m surprised HQ didn’t scrub that mission from the database,:Rizan said.:We almost didn’t come back from that one.:
“That’s right.” Kroktl took the comb from her and began carefully detangling the larger knots. “Someone ignored our xenobiologist’s recommendation to circumvent the den entirely and fell into a nest so dense neither Riz nor I could locate him. Lohr had to go in after him, using his shell as a shield, while Snryx used his spines to pry the layers aside without damaging the worms.”
Axxol rattled the grid with a derisive huff.:Tentacle implements and dick tongue for the win.:
:Jealous?:I retorted back.
Our alpha went dead silent again, and I realized the truth.
He was absolutely one-hundred percent jealous. Of all of us. Even me.
12
NATALIE
Ifiddled with the neck of my shirt and shrugged my shoulders in vain, trying to make a little more room inside the constricting cloth. My once favorite Hard Rock T-shirt was too tight, and not because my weight had changed. Well, my boobs were still huge after getting pregnant and feeding Akylla, but I felt like I was choking.
Had it really been that long since I’d worn regular clothes? Surely not.
I studied myself in the mirror, making myself focus on the actual changes in my body. I barely recognized myself. Even the way I stood was different. The tip of my chin, the way I held my shoulders, the spark in my eyes. Newfound confidence radiated from me, gained from seeing—and surviving—some crazy shit and coming out on the other side even better. My arms and legs were more muscular, my skin tanned and glowing with all the perfectly concocted smoothies I drank each day. My hair had never been so lustrous and shiny.
Sure, I hadn’t been to the salon for a trim in months. But that didn’t impact the fullness and sheer volume of hair I had now. Even the texture seemed different, each strand thicker andcurlier, tangling all the time and waving about my face like Medusa’s head of snakes.
Which made me do a double take. Nest of snakes. Snryx’s tentacle-like implements. Was my hair turning into something else entirely?
“Negative,” Snryx replied. “The composition of your hair is still primarily keratin, though yes, the average diameter has increased from sixty-five to over one hundred microns.”
I gave him a bemused smile, shaking my head. “It’s amazing that you know that.”
He blinked, a slow, deliberate veil over his glowing amber eyes. “We’re actively monitoring every cell in your body.”
“Why?”
He gave me another slow blink. Not a veiling, I realized. He wasn’t trying to hide anything. He simply needed a brief processing delay while he tried to find the most correct words to answer my questions. “To better understand our mate’s needs. If your nutrition is sufficient. If any organ is experiencing undue stress. If you have any pain or injury, no matter how small, that might need attention. The medbot is fully integrated with your Sirian cells, so the stream of data from every primary system is now constant.”
Whoa. Invasive and creepy in a way—but also touching. They were monitoring me constantly—so they could take care of me. That’s why I was never hungry or thirsty or overly tired or lonely. I didn’t have to express a need or emotion because they already knew, and more importantly, they seamlessly integrated caring for me into their squad duties without complaint.
Which included Akylla. They all doted on her, changing her diapers and playing with her every chance they got. Even more importantly, any time my fond appreciation while I watched them with her started to turn a little sad or yes, jealous, theyimmediately brought her to me, so I still felt like her mother. So I still had time to build my own special bond with my baby.
A mother looked back at me. AMother, the last of a nearly extinct alien race.
I wasn’t Natalie Whit, graduate student extraordinaire any longer. I carried ancient, lost—invasive—DNA. Tiny mrion cells marched through me now. Changing me down to the diameter of a single strand of hair.
“Am I still human?” I whispered softly, my voice trembling.
Kroktl’s eyes flashed red flares of secret symbols that I could translate without even thinking about now. Supreme confidence and loyalty. Fierce love. One hundred percent dedicated to keeping us alive, no matter the cost. “You’re still Natalie, as courageous and tempting as the first night I scented you in the jungle.”
“I think you’re more human than ever,” Snryx said, drawing my attention to him. “Myrm sent their fragments here for the sole reason of finding someone like you. They don’t want to replace or rebuild you. They’re simply strengthening and highlighting the traits that make you special.”
My hair, for example. Because none of the squad had a single hair sprouting anywhere on their bodies. The way my mind worked, making leaps that made sense to me—but might not be as logical and methodical as even our brilliant medic or xenobiologist.
Kroktl kissed the top of my head. “You’re one in a billion billion, Natalie Whit, and you’re our extraordinaire.”
