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Pel makes a face. “Also kin. Not for breeding.”
“Breeding?” Krista asks quietly. “Why are you—oh. No, surely not. Can Humans even—”
Can Humans breed with Harkurians? Is that what they want in exchange? There were always naughty rumors, of course, but Krista never gave them much credence. Aren't rumors just a safe way for pious people to play with unsafe ideas?
Pel’s close-mouthed grin confirms it, though. That’s the plan here. Oh Gods, that is the real, actual plan.
“People would say things about—I mean, they would talk about how Harkurians carry women off into the woods. That never happened though. I never saw it happen to anyone I knew. That hasn’t happened, has it?”
Noss scowls, but Pel starts laughing, throwing his head back and filling the night with his abrupt mirth. Krista nearly jumps out of her boots and around them, the forest goes quiet.
“Sometimes!” Pel crows.
“But not as you imagine,” Thon corrects with a heavy glower. It does nothing to stop the youngest brother’s deep guffaws, but Pel does cover his mouth to muffle the volume. “My people have made similar bargains before. Two of them before this one. We do notstealpeople.”
“So you’ve seen it work?” Krista lays a hand on her abdomen, noting a bit hysterically that all three Harkurians track the movement. “How? You’re aliens. Or I’m an alien. We’re completely different species?”
Thon shrugs a heavily muscled shoulder and the ink ripples fetchingly beneath his skin. “Red blood likes red blood. The pups are always full Harkurian. Same size, same strength. I have seen them.” He finds Krista’s eyes across the fire and she has no idea what color his pupils are, but she can see the desire in them as clearly as she would in broad daylight. “It works.”
Krista lurches to her feet before she even realizes she’s done so. She isn’t sure if she had intended to leave or if she only needed to move her restless body, but it makes no difference either way because her ankle has stiffened up and she collapses back to the log with a soft grunt. Her breathing is strange—too quick, too shallow.
No one is laughing now.
“Sorry. Just. I. Hold on.” They really want to—but they’reasking. It’s everything she feared from Harkurians, from Human men, from all the would-be husbands, but it also isn’t. Not at all. Because they’reasking. These Harkurians have given Krista the option to say no—an option that her civilized Patriarch and the civilized blacksmith never gave her.
Krista squeezes her thighs together, covering the motion with a small shift of weight. They’re all watching her struggle through this weird personal crisis with heat in their eyes, the air charged and carnal. Any of them would happily sink one of those monster Harkurian cocks into her right now if she allowed it, even Noss, though he would probably sneer at her the entire time. This is heady knowledge, wicked knowledge. Itdoes thingsto Krista that she should firmly ignore. She should walk away from this. They want a child from her—an alien child. She would become one of the most hated concepts in the Patriarch’s imagination.
That last part sounds kind of hot, actually. Hopefully, the firelight casts odd colors over her face, concealing the luscious heat that blazes beneath her skin.
“This is a big ask. You’re asking me to experience pregnancy. To grow a whole new person.”
“I know what I’m asking,” Thon answers quietly, a low roll of sound that Krista can feel with her rib cage. “I know how significant it is. I offer you the galaxy in exchange. My clan will prepare you for the stars. We will use our connections to find the right place for you among them. Safe. Stable. There are many good beginnings to choose from. We will keep your accounts full. You will want for nothing.”
It’s a good deal. It’s a preposterously good deal. Krista could be okay. For once in her life, she could even be more than okay. She could behappy. What is she willing to do for that? What is she willing to give up?
“I would have to leave a child here. My first child.”
“Our first child,” Thon corrects quietly, causing an odd little panicked catch in Krista’s throat. “Leaving would be your choice. Staying also. Or visiting. If you settle close, visiting would not be an issue. But you don’t have to decide now.”
“No, I should think not!” Krista snaps. This is madness. It’s too much to even consider. She nearly stands up again and leaves right then and there, ankle be damned. Her muscles tense in preparation for it, but then she catches the look on Noss’s face—expectant, contemptuous, like he thinks he knows exactly what she will do. Her eyes narrow in his direction. His eyes narrow back.
She settles stubbornly back onto her log. The Patriarch would hand her to the High Priest for this. The High Priest would have her flogged, probably to death, and then they would nail her naked corpse to the gate. She would be the ultimate disgrace. But those people have washed their hands of her, haven’t they? They told her that she’s the Gods’ responsibility now and it’s pretty damned clear that the Gods don’t give a single shit about her whatsoever. So why should she give a shit about any of them? It’s a good deal.
Could she lie with one of these brutishly huge aliens, though, with all the scars and ink and harsh metal piercings? They’re the perfect opposite of everything she’s known and everything that she’s been taught to call ‘acceptable.’ They’re the perfect, sexy opposite.
Comfort zone: nonexistent.
“What if I don’t conceive?” Krista asks shakily, scarcely believing that she would consider this seriously enough to ask clarifying questions. Truly, she must be insane.
“It can take many attempts to put a pup inside a Human. I would ask for one year. If one year passes and there is still no pup, then we will honor your end of the bargain, pup or no pup.” Thon’s eyes are laser-focused. He returns to that position where he props his forearms on his knees, leaning his bulk forward until his leather pants creak. This … matters to him, and it matters quite a bit.
“Who would it be? Not all of you, right? You don’t intend to pass me around the entire clan?”
Thon’s lip lifts, showing a brief flash of sharp teeth. “No.”
“Unless Kristawantsentire clan.” Pel smirks at Krista when she jumps, her eyes widening at thefilthymental image this offer conjures. Her face feels like it might combust. Seriously, how is there still any blood left in the rest of her body?
But Thon wrinkles his nose. “We wouldpreferto know who the father is so that we can place the pup into the correct house. But if you—”
