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  “No,” I argue. “We are not Kevins. I would never.”

  “No one physically violated you,” Avrell assures her. “I was the one to inseminate the females.”

  She turns her fury back to him. And as he rattles off all the specifics of what he did, she seems to deflate. Where Jareth and I are unknowing about medicines and biological code, this female seems to understand him clearly.

  “Come on, Grace,” Emery says. “Just us. Let’s go. I’ll take you somewhere, so you can eat something and catch your breath. I’m so sorry.”

  This time, Grace seems to see reason. She allows Emery to tug her away. But before she gets past us, Grace stops to narrow her eyes at me.

  “I may have your alien bastard baby inside me, but I’m not a monster. I can feel it kicking.” Her hard eyes seem to flicker with a softness before it’s chased away again by anger. “The poor thing is innocent. But don’t think for one second that I’ll let you be some deadbeat dad. If I’m forced into this, you will be too. Got it, freak?”

  All I can do is nod.

  Because what the rekk else am I supposed to do?

  She’s pregnant with my mortling.

  Mine.

  Pride and mortification war back and forth inside me. I’ll allow myself time later to understand what this will mean and how it will impact my life.

  Now is not the time.

  Jareth storms out of the lab, and I shoot Avrell an apologetic look before trotting after him. It’s not until we’re within his quarters that he reveals what’s going on inside that nog of his.

  The door closes behind me, and I slowly approach him.

  “Jareth…”

  He turns and glowers at me, but I don’t miss the hurt glimmering in his black eyes. “These aliens have ruined everything.”

  I shake my head vehemently. “No, they haven’t. They’ve given our people hope.”

  He winces. I soften the blow of my words by tenderly touching his cheek.

  “I can father this mortling, but I won’t ever mate with her,” I vow. “I already have a mate.” Reaching into my pocket, I pull out his cock ring. “And if my mate is done pouting, I’d like for him to show me his cock that’s clearly missing its ring.”

  His gaze drops to my mouth. “I’ll feed myself to a sabrevipe if you willingly bed her,” he says dramatically. “Go to The Eternals without you.”

  I chuckle and grip his cock through his suit. It’s hard and strains against the material. “You’re not going anywhere without me. You’ve been my mate—albeit in secret—for six revolutions, Jare. You think I’m going to give you up now?”

  He lets out a hiss of air when I rub at him more forcefully, his hand that’s always cut from working with metal grasping my wrist. “If they find out—”

  But they won’t. They never do. We’re careful.

  What we’re doing with each other is unheard of among our people. Something so taboo, it cannot be voiced. But when you’re hopeless and lonely, sometimes your heart gives you something you desperately need. With Jareth, we fill a void in each other I certainly don’t intend on interfering with. I need him, and he needs me.

  “Our secret.” I run my lips along his, our breaths mingling together. “We’re solid. This female can’t change that.”

  His hand slides to the back of my neck, and his nog rests against mine. “I really wish I could believe that.”

  “Jareth…” I growl.

  The argument is no longer up for discussion because he silences me with his mouth. And then later, from my knees, I make him bellow with mine.

  Nothing will tear us apart.

  Especially not some alien female.

  Even if she is carrying our future in her womb…

  Keep reading with the next installment...

  THE UNCERTAIN SCIENTIST!

  The Uncertain Scientist

  Book 4

  I had everything I ever wanted.

  I was brilliant, successful, esteemed.

  Alone.

  But I didn’t mind. I liked being alone.

  Until they stole me.

  And I wake up, captive, pregnant with an alien baby—and still a virgin.

  For a race of freaks nearing extinction, there seems to be far, far too many of them.

  Everywhere I turn, one of the morts or their human mates wants to comfort me, make me feel welcome and safe. But I don’t want to feel welcome or safe. I want the life they stole from me.

  None of them pay any heed to my angry tirades, least of all the father of the child I carry. There’s no doubt he wants the baby, but that isn’t all he wants.

  In fact, I’m beginning to think if some of the morts had their way I’d never be alone again.

  1

  Grace

  An hour earlier…

  Hiccups.

  Why would I have hiccups?

  I come awake slowly, my head aching, and wonder if I did it again. Every night I try to go to sleep at a reasonable hour so I’m more rested the following day, to no avail. I can’t ever sleep and the only thing that keeps me sane is my work. Losing myself in it keeps me from thinking about how hopeless my circumstances are. So I spend each night at my desk, going over test results and reams of data until I simply pass out on top of it all and sleep until the cycle repeats itself.

  Except, I’m not sleeping on the top of my desk, I’m standing. Standing? That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

  There it is again. The repetitive sensation of a hiccup…except it feels…odd. As though it’s not my own, but somehow inside me at the same time. Which doesn’t make any rational sense, either. How could I feel a hiccup if it wasn’t mine?

  I want to open my eyes, but it feels like they weigh a ton. Even when I manage to lift them a crack, my vision is so blurry, I can’t make out anything but shadows. If my eyelids weigh a ton, then my arms weigh two. I can barely move my fingers. My pinky finger trembles a little, but the others are still, as though they belong to someone else entirely.

  Something alerts me to the presence of someone else in the room. A rustling of fabric, the rise and fall of breathing or the ghost of a movement. I still, though the hiccups inside me do not. For all my extensive education, I can’t make sense of what’s happening.

  Which frustrates the hell out of me.

  If there’s one thing I hate, it’s not having the answers.

  “Don’t worry, you’re completely safe,” comes a voice from immediately in front of me. A woman’s voice. My heart quickens. No one should be in my office. It’s a secure location.

  I can’t move, but if I could, I would have jolted backward. If there’s a second thing I hate, it’s people being all up in my personal space and that voice sounded too close for comfort. I try to speak, to tell them to get away from me, but all that comes out is, “Unnnnnghh.”

  “It’s all right.” This voice is a man’s and accented, which sends my heart rate through the roof. “She’s in shock. Her pulse is spiking. Maybe we should give her a sedative?”

  My eyes flutter open, from panic or sheer will, I’m not sure, and I’m greeted by a woman and two hulking monstrosities behind her. Giant, pale white skin, black hair. Creepy as hell. Certain my vision is playing tricks on me, I squeeze my eyes shut. Could this be a caffeine-induced hallucination? I’m not sure.

  They don’t go away when I open my eyes again.

  The hiccupping sensation flutters again in my stomach.

  My stomach?

  I glance down and find not only am I nearly naked as the thin gown I’m wearing has fallen off some, but my stomach is bloated and grotesquely round. My first response is fear. Am I sick? Some diseases cause distention in the abdomen, parasites, even, if the case is severe enough. God only knows what I can catch from the studies I’ve been conducting recently.

  Then I see my stomach move, feel the hiccup again, and realization dawns.

  But I don’t believe it at first, because there’s simply no way. No medical, scientific way.
>
  I can’t be pregnant.

  I’m a virgin.

  * * *

  Despite my screaming, my threats, and my vicious insults, it doesn’t stop the seven-foot-tall albino with obsidian hair from removing me from the cryotube, and transporting me to another location inside the prison where they’re keeping me.

  “Let me go!” I shout at them, angrily yanking on my gown to protect my nakedness from them.

  But they don’t seem to hear me. It occurs to me that maybe they’re deaf. I’ve never seen creatures like them before, but as a scientist, I’ve seen too many awe-inspiring things to discount them as figments of my imagination.

  “Hey!” I shout to the woman with blond hair, who seems to be human. “I want answers. Why won’t you let me go? You can’t keep me here.”

  The woman comes to my bedside. She has a kind, gentle face, but I don’t trust it. She’s trying too hard to placate me. I don’t want to be calmed into a false sense of security. I want honesty. “Hello. I’m Emery. My mate, Calix”—she gestures to a male who’s wearing glasses—“is the contagious disease specialist here. We mean you no harm.”

  Contagious disease?

  I’m putting a pin in that one to come back to later.

  “That’s nice and all,” I retort bitingly, “but you haven’t answered my question. Why won’t you let me go? What am I doing here? Answer me.”

  “We can’t let you go until Avrell runs tests to make sure you’re okay. You’ve been in cryosleep for some time now and we want to ensure there haven’t been any”—she pauses and frowns, then continues—“complications.”

  My limbs are still heavy, but sensation is beginning to return. “So as soon as this Avrell runs his tests, you’ll let me go?”

  She nods. “We don’t want to hurt you. And I know this is a lot to take in, but I’ve been there. You don’t have anything to be afraid of.”

  There’s a great shifting sensation inside and then something jabs my stomach. I have visions of giant tapeworms. Their eyes are drawn to the movement.

  I scoff and point to my distended stomach. “You’ve been here?” I say, my voice heavy with derision. “Tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”

  She and her monster mate share another look. I want to smack it off their faces. I want, more than anything, to be on my feet and at least twenty yards away. I chose my assignment in part because of its uniqueness, but mostly for its isolation. I don’t want to be near people. Now, I’m stranded with what seems like the most patronizing woman on the planet, and her over-sized protector whom she claims is her mate. And, unless I’m wrong, I’m carrying another life. I’ll never be alone again.

  If I had the energy, I’d be sick.

  Before they can answer, a door to my right slides open and a second white-skinned—there isn’t any other word for it—freak marches in. He’s dressed in some sort of lab coat with a pen stuck behind his ear. His black hair is buzzed where the other one has messy hair.

  He comes immediately to my side and ignores my responding flinch. “My name is Avrell. I’m a doctor.”

  “Well, thank God for that. You can tell me what the hell you things did with me and then you can let me go.”

  “They’re not things,” the blonde corrects. “They’re morts. Aliens. They look intimidating, but they’re really nice.”

  I don’t have time for her simpering. I don’t care what she thinks. I want answers and then I want to leave.

  “Well?” I demand when Avrell doesn’t respond.

  “There’s no easy way to explain, but I’ll try to be as succinct as possible. Our race was facing extinction. Until we discovered a ship with five alien women on board. The decision was made to attempt to save our people by breeding with the females. At first, the implantation process was unsuccessful. Our first trials indicated we must mate with the humans in order to create viable young.”

  The woman nods. She has her hands clasped over her belly. My own belly quivers and I try not to jump out of my own skin.

  “Our aliens—Aria, Emery, and Molly—decreed the remaining two females be roused to decide their own fates. You are the first to wake. The other still sleeps. We would like you to join our females in the faction here. It is safe here. We have food and protection.”

  He points to a sleeping woman on a table to my side. She’s dressed identically in a barely-there medical gown, but I note she isn’t swollen around the middle like I am.

  My brain—which has so often been a point of pride—can’t seem to grasp what he’s saying. I lift a hand, which finally seems to move at my command. I place it on my belly. As though whatever is inside me can sense it, I feel movement under my palm.

  My eyes shoot up to Avrell, who is now preparing some sort of device. He waves it over my body and considers an image on a screen. Avrell looks both trepidatious and triumphant.

  “I wasn’t certain before, as we’ve been busy delivering mortlings recently, but the evidence is undeniable. Though we were unable to implant Emery, Aria, and Molly with mortyoung, it appears your implantation has been successful.” When I don’t seem to understand, he adds, “You’re pregnant. About six months along, adjusted for the different growth rates for mort-alien breeding.”

  Moments pass, how long I can’t be certain. Fury floods me as I come to understand. “No—hell no! Hell no, freaks. This is not happening!”

  They try to repeat Avrell’s comments. I’ll be safe in the sub-faction. They mean me no harm, but I stop listening. All I can seem to focus on is the movement low in my stomach. I’d never wanted to be a mother. My lab had been my home and my experiments my children. My work had always taken precedence over everything else.

  Now my life, my future, and my very identity have been stolen from me and they act as though I should be grateful, or thankful.

  A third male shows up, his face so white he appears to be trying to disappear into thin air, then a fourth behind him. Their eyes are so wide, I fear they may swallow up their faces. I ignore them and jab a finger in Avrell’s direction.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in,” the blond woman attempts. “But if—”

  “No,” I cut her off. “I heard this three times already. You want to take me to something called the sub-faction. Everyone is nice. Who cares if they’re big fucking freaks because you all want to have their babies. Yeah, got all that. The part I’m not getting is how this one”—I poke Avrell in the chest—“says I’m fucking pregnant!”

  “Listen, honey,” she starts again.

  Just hearing her voice is enough to send the rage inside me bubbling over. “Grace. My name isn’t honey or alien. It’s Grace Miller. AND I AM A FUCKING VIRGIN! My name isn’t Mary and this guy here isn’t God! This is not happening!”

  “She’s pregnant,” one of the freaks who’d stormed in last whispers.

  The one behind him meets my eyes and he’s so awestruck, reverent almost, I look away.

  “She is pregnant,” the one who’s apparently mated to Emery agrees. “And the mortling belongs to you.”

  Oh, God. I am pregnant. And the father is an alien. My body roils with revulsion. What else have they done to me while I was asleep?

  The alien in question seems to echo my sentiments. His large hands have dropped to his sides and he’s choking out the same thing over and over. “Rekk no. Rekk no. Rekk no.”

  It doesn’t take an expert in linguistics to realize what he’s saying. “Yeah, you’ve said that,” I hiss. “Three times.”

  He winces.

  I leverage myself to my feet and ignore the helping hands of the others. Stalking to him, I bite out, “You did this to me?”

  He blinks at me. “I, uh—”

  I want to smack him and before the thought finishes, my hand collides with his cheek. The alien next to him growls and there’s an odd sound, like the cracking of fingers, but louder. Emery’s mate tries to grab my arm, but I evade him, grateful my reflexes are at least quick enough to do that. The father of the baby st
eps in front of the angry one to stop him from attacking me.

  “We ought to toss you in a reform cell,” the angry one shouts.

  I want to dig my nails into his face. I wonder if they bleed red. “Toss him in while you’re at it! Where I come from, we don’t allow rapists to walk free!”

  The rapist sputters, “No. We are not Kevins. I would never.”

  “No one physically violated you,” Avrell steps forward. “I was the one to inseminate the females.”

  “What?”

  Avrell’s tone is measured and calm. “The females were inseminated. I placed genetic samples from our males into the females in cryosleep. We do not mate with females without their consent. Ever.”

  “So you just impregnate them without it?” I demand.

  “Come on, Grace,” Emery says. “Just us. Let’s go. I’ll take you somewhere so you can eat something and catch your breath. I’m so sorry.”

  The fight inside of me is still there, but I need time to think. I want time away from these…people…to come to terms with what has happened. Later, I’ll insist on seeing all the data, doing my own tests, but for now, I need the basics. Food, distance, time. I allow myself to be pulled away by the blond woman, but I see the man whose baby I’m carrying and stop.

  “I may have your alien bastard baby inside me, but I’m not a monster. I can feel it kicking. The poor thing is innocent. But don’t think for one second I’ll let you be some deadbeat dad. If I’m forced into this, you will be too. Got it, freak?”

  He nods, but I don’t plan on letting him get off so easily.

  2

  Sayer

  It’s been two solars since Grace woke up and I was informed she was carrying my mortyoung. Two solars where I’ve tried to come to terms with this news. And two solars trying to calm Jareth before he explodes.