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“Youforbidit?” she exclaimed, outraged.
I didn’t respond. Dropping to my knees before her, I pressed my nose to her stomach and inhaled deeply. Joy and wonder coursed through me as I received confirmation of my assumption.
Mercy gasped, her fingers slipping hesitantly through my hair. “Ravik?” she asked, her voice uncertain.
“My mate,” I whispered rubbing my face against her flat stomach, before looking up at my woman. Her chin trembled as she gazed at me. “Twins,” I said, in response to her unspoken question plainly written on her features.
Rising to my feet, I pulled her into my embrace. One hand still in my hair, Mercy slipped the other between us to lay her palm on her stomach.
“You… You can smell it?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yes. In the days following the first month of pregnancy, a pureblood is able to recognize the change in scent. You’re at least four or five weeks in, and you’re carrying a pair, boy and girl. That threw me off at first. Boys smell woodsy, while girls smell spicy. The mixed scent confused me. Braxians don’t have twins.”
“Twins,” she whispered, rubbing her stomach with an air of wonder.
I kissed her. She returned it with fervor, full of love and tenderness, and then we rested our foreheads against each other’s. Mercy wrapped both hands around my back, holding me tight. Moments later, I felt her mood shift.
“These twins, I will not fail. Promise me, we’ll keep them safe,” she said, looking back at me, a haunted look in her eyes.
“Nothing and no one will harm these children,” I said with savage conviction. But just as I spoke those words, I realized she was thinking about more than what Lorik had done to our previous child. “You did not fail your sisters, my love. You may not have found your brother’s clients list, but youwillfind your sisters. Your father promised your mother as much. In due time, when your Goddess wills it, you will be reunited.” I caressed her horns before cupping her face in my hands. “The Fates never meant for you to find that list. They sent you here to find me, to save me, and to save Braxia.”
“And for you to save me,” she said, looking at me with adoration. “For Braxia to free me, and finally let me be Mercy.”
I caressed her hair that had grown a few more inches in the three months since that terrible ordeal.
“I love you, Mercy,” I said, my heart full to bursting.
“I love you, too, my beast,” she said before burying her face in my neck.
“I mean it,” I said after a beat. “No more fighting for you until they’re born.”
She stiffened and pulled back to glare at me. I smiled, a little smug. Mercy grimaced, the urge to do something unpleasant to me plain to see.
“I’m so going to kick your ass when it’s done,” she said.
“Bring it on, my love. Bring it on,” I said before kissing her again.
MERCY
Ravik had not been kidding when he said Braxians could smell pregnancies. You would think a switch had been flicked on as that very morning, no one had paid me any mind. But that evening, for last meal, every Braxian who got a whiff of me first had the same confused expression plastered on their faces before it turned to shock and disbelief. Ravik preened and swaggered at having his superior virility thus confirmed by being the first Braxian to have planted twins in a woman’s womb. I could have kicked him.
A few days later, I received a vidcom from my baby sister Aleina who had just delivered her first-born son. Naturally, she wanted to know when I’d be coming back to Xelix Prime to introduce my husband to the rest of the family and meet my new nephew. In my response, I revealed my own pregnancy. As expected, she demanded I return home at once so the Veredian healers could keep an eye on the health of the babies and me. When I politely declined, she threatened to get on one of her battlecruisers and bring me back kicking and screaming if needed.
So much for me being the oldest sibling…
Although I agreed with no more combat training for me, it annoyed me to no end that he would put his foot down about it. Anyway, the women took care of that, going into protective overdrive with me. They wouldn’t allow me any type of exertion, strictly watched how many hours I worked, and ensured I ate properly. Even that damn racer Dajia wouldn’t cut me some slack. Just like the Braxians, one whiff sufficed for her to know my condition. While she allowed me to ride her for the following four weeks, she refused to go at anything faster than a walk. Whenever I tried to urge her on, she’d knock on my horns with her tail.
At the end of those four weeks, the middle of my second month, she refused to let me ride her at all. I still visited her, though, or she’d throw hissy fits for being neglected.
By the third month, I stopped complaining about being mothered by all the females. My baby bump had swollen overnight. I couldn’t see my toes anymore, even when stretching my neck to look over my stomach. My feet and ankles kept swelling, a discomfort only relieved by the wondrous creams made by the fishermen’s wives of Clan Podek.
By the fourth month, regret at not obeying my sister’s demands started settling in. My belly had grown to the size of a small moon. Working was no longer possible. Standing or even walking around for more than a few minutes proved too much for my back. I would never admit it, but as the fifth month creeped in on me, the underlying fear the Braxian females tried to hide from me echoed my own. Braxian babies were massive, thus the absence of multiple pregnancies. With my smaller frame, worry that I wouldn’t carry them to term gnawed at me.
Despite his brave front, Ravik’s face, too, showed concern for both the children and me when he thought I wasn’t watching him. Thankfully, Veredian pregnancies only lasted six months. In the first week of the fifth one, a Tuurean ship landed on Braxia, bringing my mother and her mate, Dr. Minh. I blubbered all over her, relief and joy mixing in equal measure. I didn’t know whether to kiss or punch my mate for keeping her impending arrival a secret from me. With her being one of the most powerful Veredian healers alive, and her mate being the top medical doctor from Xelix Prime who had helped solve the Veredian infertility issues, I no longer feared for the welfare of my babies, or myself.
The Tuurean presence further increased my prestige and, by extension, Ravik’s standing. That Admiral Lee’s second in command, Kamala, personally escorted my mother spoke volumes about the esteem the Tuureans held me in. Sexy as hell, covered from head to toe in her celesium armor, and her face covered by a shiny, black visor, Kamala was sex on legs. Despite her synthetic voice, she had every man drooling and speculating about her and the Tuurean race as a whole. I knew what hid beneath that armor, but it wasn’t my secret to share… not even with my mate. I hated keeping things from him, but soon enough, all would be revealed.
Mother naturally freaked out at finding my hair so short. She berated me for being ashamed of it once I gave her the watered-down version of what had happened. And then, she berated me some more for not letting them know how serious things had gotten here, and for not asking the Tuureans and Xelixians for help.
