Kaitlyn O'Connor (21 page)

She roused toward the surface of consciousness some time later when Kael moved away from her. Still too deeply asleep to manage more than a complaining noise, she shifted over to the spot he
‟
d left warm and began drifting again. He roused her up again when he returned to the bed and slid in beside her but as soon as he
‟
d coiled his big, blanket warm body around hers she dropped into the abyss again.

Warmth of a different kind filtered through her when she woke the next time. She was still wrapped up in him. She rubbed her face against his chest appreciatively and then kissed the depression between his male breasts. “Don
‟
t be angry with me anymore,” she said cajoling. “I didn
‟
t mean it when I threw your gift at you. I was just…upset.”

He stiffened for a few moments and began to stroke her back. “Mean you take back?”

Dakaar asked huskily.

93

Loren
‟
s eyes popped wide open. Fortunately, he was holding her too tightly to allow her to give away the fact that she
‟
d thought she was talking to Kael.

Not that she hadn
‟
t intended to apologize to Dakaar and Balen, as well, but it was highly disconcerting to think she was talking to Kael and discover it was Dakaar—especially when it meant that she wasn
‟
t any closer to mending her fences with him than she had been the night before.

Thank
god
she
‟
d just said „gift
‟
instead of naming it!

It was unfortunate that it occurred to her just then that trying to apologize before she
‟
d told them she was ninety-nine percent certain that she was pregnant was going to negate any benefits of apologizing. They were bound to think, once she did tell them, that she
‟
d been devious, that she
‟
d wormed her way back into their graces without telling them because she
‟
d expected them to refuse to take her back otherwise.

She considered that for several moments and finally realized that she needed to know that they wanted her back just as badly as they might think they needed absolute honesty. If she told them first and they took her back, how would she ever know whether they
‟
d done it because they were so damned noble or because they actually cared?

Of course, the alternative sucked. They might be so pissed off, either way, that they dumped her. They hadn
‟
t wanted to get her pregnant. They
‟
d said it was because they were slaves and it had sounded completely reasonable, but although she knew they
‟
d been telling the truth as far as it went, that didn
‟
t necessarily rule out that they hadn
‟
t wanted to get her pregnant at all.

In fact, although her personal experience wasn
‟
t vast, she
‟
d gotten the distinct impression that most men were prone to get really pissed off if their fuck buddy turned up pregnant.

She wasn
‟
t just going to be miserably unhappy if that happened. She was going to be in serious trouble. This situation went way beyond single parenthood back in the good old USA on mother Earth. She
‟
d had a damned good income before she
‟
d become a sex slave. Now she didn
‟
t have anything…and she couldn
‟
t go back to Earth if she was pregnant. She might not be able to anyway, but she certainly couldn
‟
t if she was. The baby might look just like her and it might not.

She supposed there was some possibility that they might find a world she liked where her skills in designing „alien technology
‟
might be worth money, but it was daunting prospect, a hell of a lot scarier than just moving to another country when you couldn
‟
t speak their language.

Dakaar dredged her from her dark thoughts by slipping the hand he
‟
d been lightly caressing her back with along her cleft. He
‟
d been inching ever closer to the glory hole for several minutes.

She supposed her lack of a negative reaction had encouraged him.

She decided she didn
‟
t want to discourage him and reciprocated with a little petting of her own. At least, she
‟
d intended to. The slight move brought unpleasant memories back with a vengeance. She sucked in a sharp breath from the twinge of pain, mostly from surprise, but Dakaar heard it and leaned away to investigate.

His face went completely slack with surprise for a split second and then darkened with rage she hadn
‟
t seen on his face before. He caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tipped her head up. His gaze moved over her face for several moments and then he shifted further away and lifted her arm. She winced. She couldn
‟
t help it. Her wrist, elbow, and shoulder felt as if the joints had been twisted—which they had, when she was trying to fight the men off.

He released her arm and sat up, pushing her garment up to look at her and then scanning her 94

legs. Loren sat up to see what he was looking at and discovered she was black and blue all over from the attack. Dakaar found a row of small round bruises on her upper thigh and very lightly matched the tips of his finger to them.

Loren met his gaze warily when he finally looked up at her again.

“Dey do dis?” he demanded, his voice tight with rage.

Loren blinked at him.

“Dem mens?”

Loren nodded uneasily, trying to decide if he was just angry because she
‟
d been hurt or if he was angry because she
‟
d been raped—angry with her. “I tried to fight them off.”

His lips tightened. Abruptly, he swung his legs off the bed and sat up on the edge, staring at the floor between his legs. Loren studied him a moment and finally sat up and touched his back lightly. “Dakaar?”

He shook his head and surged to his feet. “No can. Am angry.”

She gaped at him in dismay when he stalked across the room toward the door, jumping all over when he slammed his fist into the wall so hard in made a round, fist-shaped dent. Relieved when he kept going, Loren settled back, still trying to decide if he was angry with her about it or just angry.

Her throat closed as it slowly dawned on her that she had a lot worse problem than she
‟
d realized. She
‟
d been pregnant before the rape, but they were never going to believe that now.

The bastard hadn
‟
t even had the chance to finish and now she was going to be blamed because he
‟
d tried and none of them were going to believe the baby was theirs!

* * * *

Loren was too miserable to notice everybody else was until Karen broke down and cried all over her.

They
‟
d all met up in the control room for the bad news and the worse news. When the men had gone through the ship the day before to make certain there was no lurking threat and to gather whatever supplies they could, they
‟
d discovered that the trader had had time to fully stock the ship while he was in port—but he
‟
d only stocked supplies for himself since he only traveled with a robotic crew. The worse news was that the food he no doubt considered delicious wasn
‟
t something any of them were going to be able to eat without forcing it down.

The men had very carefully gone through the supplies and determined that they had enough to sustain everyone on board for a maximum of three months if they only ate one meal a day—half that if they ate two.

The „good
‟
news was that there were people stowed in the pods on the third level that had obviously been destined for the slave market. They were being fed intravenously and, if worse came to worse, they could unplug the poor bastards and take their food.

That being the case, Loren had told the computer to simply retrace the trader
‟
s route backwards. None of them knew whether the ship could make it to the next port before they all starved because none of them understood the time frame the computer quoted to get to the port, but since the computer had also supplied them with the wonderful news that it was the closest they realized they didn
‟
t have any choice. They had to go there and hope they could trade for 95

food or hunt for food if that failed.

Then the men had disappeared and left the bridge to the women.

Loren couldn
‟
t help but notice that not only would Dakaar not look directly at her, but neither Kael nor Balen would either. That made it unanimous and although her first reaction was anger that Dakaar had gone straight to the others and told them, she realized he hadn
‟
t had to.

She didn
‟
t have anything to wear to hide the damned bruises and she
‟
d managed to get enough of a look at her reflection to know her face looked almost worse than the rest of her body.

“They
hate
me!” Karen wailed when she finally managed to catch her breath.

“Hates me, too,” Shara said, sniffing.

It occurred to Loren that she ought to try to think of something to say to offer solace, but she couldn
‟
t think of a damned thing.

“And the worst of it is, I
‟
m
pregnant
!” Karen cried.

“An
‟
I not!” Shara seconded her.

Karen blinked her tears back and stared at the other woman. “How could that possibly be worse than being pregnant?” she snapped indignantly.

Shara sent her a resentful look. “‟Cause I want baby and no have!”

Karen
‟
s chin wobbled. “They
‟
re going to think it isn
‟
t theirs because I didn
‟
t tell them and those bastards raped me and now they
‟
ll think it belongs to the bastards that raped me!”

Loren
‟
s wobbled. She sniffed. “Me, too. Not that they weren
‟
t already angry with me! And that
‟
s
why
I didn
‟
t tell them and now I can
‟
t.”

Karen blinked at her. “Don
‟
t you think they
‟
ll notice? I mean, eventually?”

“Thanks a lot for helping my feelings!” Loren snapped.

Karen stared at her for a long moment and burst into tears again. “Everybody blames me for everything!”

Guilt smote Loren. She reached for Karen after a few moments and hugged her and let her cry all over her a little longer.

“What are we going to do?” she asked after a bit.

“We can
‟
t go home even if we could
find
home!” Loren wailed, abruptly bursting into tears herself.

When they
‟
d finally calmed down and begun trying to mop up, Karen glanced at Loren curiously. “Why were they angry before?”

Loren felt like bursting into tears all over again. “Because I told them I couldn
‟
t get pregnant. I thought I couldn
‟
t.”

Karen frowned. “Then you did tell them.”

“No,” Loren said, sniffing. “I
‟
d forgotten all about it. I asked them what the spawning was all about and…I was just so surprised. And then they asked me how often we spawned and I told them we could pregnant any time.”

Karen stared at her. “Uh oh.”

Loren sniffed, nodding, but then resentment flickered through her. “How was I supposed to know they could? Get me pregnant, I mean.”

Karen looked uncomfortable. “I didn
‟
t think so either, but I didn
‟
t stick my foot in my 96

mouth.”

“Well! Thanks a hell of a lot!” Loren snapped indignantly.

“Why no?” Shara asked curiously. “Gots dicks. Nice dicks.”

Karen and Loren shared a look.

“Ok,” Loren said, “so that
‟
s very succinctly put, but I get the idea. I guess you
‟
re right. I should have thought they were so much like us there might be a chance but isn
‟
t as if it was something I wanted to worry about under the circumstances…or something I could do anything about.”

“So…stop feeling guilty,” Karen said. “It was a misunderstanding. You can explain it.”

Loren looked at her unhappily. “That should go over well,” she said sourly. “Sorry! You
‟
re an alien. It never occurred to me you could get me pregnant!”

“Well, don
‟
t say it like that, stoopid!” Karen said irritably.

“I don
‟
t know any way to say that and not sound like a bigot!”

Karen lifted her brows at her, but she apparently decided they had enough race issues to deal with at the moment. Sighing, she thought it over. “I
‟
ve got it! Lie! Tell them you desperately wanted their baby and you lied so they
‟
d get you pregnant!”

“That isn
‟
t going to fix it! They were angry because they didn
‟
t want me to get pregnant and they thought I
‟
d lied and gotten pregnant…or just lied and
might
have gotten pregnant.”

“Because of the spawning?”

Loren nodded.

“Well!” Karen said indignantly. “It isn
‟
t as if you could
‟
ve fought them off! Believe me, I tried….” She stopped, looked uncomfortable and blushed. “At least I did at first, because I wasn
‟
t sure what they had in mind.”

“They
know
you did! And they know I didn
‟
t.”

“I did also,” Shara put in helpfully.

Loren looked at her irritably. “Fight? Or not fight?”

“Fight. Scary mens.”

Loren covered her face with her hands. “Could I possibly have screwed up any worse?”

“I don
‟
t know. That seems like a pretty thorough fuck up,” Karen said helpfully.

Loren dropped her hands and glared at her.

Karen smiled faintly. “You don
‟
t have any sense of humor. Anybody ever tell you that?”

“I don
‟
t feel like laughing. I feel like crying.”

“Well, don
‟
t do that anymore. Right now you
‟
re red, white, and black and blue.”

Loren
‟
s mouth curled downward. “In other words, I look like shit—besides everything else.”

Karen studied her for several moments. “Do you
know
you
‟
re pregnant? I mean positively?”

Loren was about to inform her that she did know, positively, but it occurred to her that she actually didn
‟
t. “I
‟
m way past starting.”

“You
‟
ve never been late before?”

“Not like this.”

Karen shrugged. “Ever been kidnapped by aliens before, packed in a pod, and shipped 97

across the known universe?”

Loren smiled faintly. “This is my first time.”

“Well! There you go. All this breast beating might be for nothing.”

For a handful of seconds, Loren felt her spirits lift. Then they plummeted again. “I was actually starting to get used to the idea,” she muttered. “I mean, kind of, sort of starting to like it…in an unhealthy, self-destructive kind of way—because I
‟
m totally fucked if I am!”

Karen and Shara exchanged a look and Karen surged to her feet. “I think what we all need to do is find something to take our minds off of our problems. Let
‟
s go explore the ship.”

Loren got up from the floor when Shara did and then glanced at the control console doubtfully. “Do you really think it
‟
s a good idea to leave the bridge? I mean…what if something happens?”

“This thing has a fantastic computer!” Karen said dismissively. “Computer—we
‟
re going to explore the ship. If there
‟
s any problem, please locate us in the ship and alert us.”

“Affirmative.”

“Voila!” Karen said triumphantly. “Let
‟
s see if we can find something to cheer us up. I honestly think the guys just didn
‟
t want to find us any clothes. Those creepy machines took mine when I got here. If the trader made a habit of that, and we know he did, there must be all kinds of things. We
‟
ll go shopping! That always lifts my spirits!” She halted uneasily when they reached the lift. “Uh…what did they do about the creepy robots?”

Loren frowned at her thoughtfully. “They didn
‟
t say anything. I guess they didn
‟
t see them.”

Karen uttered an angry snort. “I expect he put them in storage after he used them to get us over to the slave auction. The guys said there were people in pods somewhere on the ship. I don
‟
t guess he needs the robot bullies until he lets them out again.” She paused when the three of them got on the lift, her finger hovering over the control panel. “Bottom to top? Or top to bottom?”

“Let
‟
s just start at the next level down. I don
‟
t want to get too far from the bridge. It still makes me uneasy.”

“Good thought!” Karen pressed the button.

They heard meaty thuds and grunts as soon as the door opened and the three of them exchanged wide-eyed looks of alarm.

“Fight,” Shara said in a low, uneasy voice.

“But about what?” Karen muttered.

“I don
‟
t think we should get off here,” Loren whispered uneasily, but Karen was already heading off the lift. She followed her, grabbing her arm. “I
‟
m serious. I think this is a really bad idea. Let
‟
s just leave.”

Karen looked at her irritably. “Don
‟
t you want to know why they
‟
re fighting?”

“No,” Shara and Loren both answered at the same time.

Karen gave them both an irritated look. “Well, I do! I like to know if I
‟
m in trouble before it comes looking for me.”

Put that way, Loren and Shara decided she might be right. The three of them tiptoed along the corridor, pausing to listen every few minutes as they tracked the fight by sound. They finally found them in what looked like it might have been a gathering area before that was used for storage now. Enormous crates had been pushed back to make a clearing in the center. The 98

moment they peered around the edges of the open door, however, they saw the three red-skinned aliens, their hands on their hips, their feet planted in a wide-legged stance that made it clear they were itching to join the fray.

Loren couldn
‟
t actually see much more than flying arms and legs. She could see that there were six men paired off, though, and clearly trying to pound each other to death. All of them were already bloody from flying fists—either theirs or their opponent
‟
s. She finally managed to catch a glimpse of two of the men fighting closest to door. She sucked in a sharp breath when she recognized Kael.