Pregnant by the Alien Healer

Chapter 1-2

Laarn hated social functions. They were pointless. A waste of time that could be better spent elsewhere, doing something productive or in the training arena.

He sighed as he looked up at the sounds of a fight. Seemed like some warriors had decided to bring the training arena here. A small group hovered around a pair who were going at it hammer and tongs. The betting had already started. By the looks of the combatants though, and the quick glances they kept shooting across the other side of the room, they were less interested in the winner’s cut and more interested in catching the eye of one of the human women.

Bloody show offs, Laarn snorted to himself, but he couldn’t resist a quick look that way himself. There were nearly twenty of them at court now, and all delightfully feminine in a way the Lathar, without women of their own, hadn’t seen in decades. The fact that they were the descendants of a Lathar colony team only added to their allure.

Even he could see the appeal. They were tiny but intelligent, and some were as fierce as any warrior. Not that all males found that kind of fierceness attractive. Some did. His gaze fell on the tall figure of his lifelong friend, Karryl.

From the same clan, they shared blood on their father’s side and had grown up together. The big warrior had his arm wrapped around the slender waist of his new mate, the human warrioress, Jane Allan. Laarn had seen her in battle, and she was as ruthless as any Lathar. He’d heard tale that she’d shot the warrior who’d poisoned Karryl and tried to claim her point blank between the eyes, not a shred of mercy in her body. Karryl beamed with pride as he looked down at his mate, obviously head over heels in love, with his wrists bare to show off his mating marks.

But, for all that he’d been brought up a warrior before going down the path of healer, Laarn didn’t want such a warrior woman for himself. His gaze slid to the side a little, to a slender woman standing between Karryl’s mate and his brother’s mate, Cat.

Jessica Kallson.

For a moment, he was frozen in place, watching in fascination as she turned to place her empty glass on the tray of an oonat, a waitress. The light conspired and highlighted the slender curve of her neck and jaw, his gaze riveting to the luscious line of her lips as she smiled at something Karryl had said.

Jealousy ripped through him in an instant, his fists clenched at his side as he glared across the room. The only man she should be looking at, smiling at, was him.

“She’s a pretty little thing. Isn’t she?”

Laarn turned slightly to find Daaynal standing next to him. Slightly taller and heavier than Laarn himself, he had the same green eyes Laarn saw in the mirror each morning.

“She appears to be attractive for her species, yes.”

He returned his attention to Jess, immediately tapping down his reaction to the little human female. Daaynal might appear to most to be a big, dumb warrior, but Laarn knew better. His uncle was as ruthless as the day was long and far cannier than he appeared. He’d survived countless assassination attempts since he’d been on the Imperial throne, and many before that, when he’d been a crown prince. There were even rumors that he’d killed his first assassin before he was ten cycles old, saving both himself and his sister, Laarn’s mother, in the process.

“Attractive for her species?” Daaynal snorted, burying his nose in his tankard and taking a deep swallow. “Have you heard yourself? Attractive? She’s beautiful. They all are…” He lifted his head to look across the room at the group of women, warm appreciation in his eyes.

When he looked back, his gaze was sharp. He looked over Laarn’s shoulder for a moment, pointedly, and then back again.

“Careful that the prize you want isn’t stolen out from under your nose while you’re not looking, sister-son,” he advised in a low voice. “Now, tell me of your research.”

Laarn groaned inwardly. He’d hoped Daaynal wouldn’t ask, but he kept his expression neutral.

“So far the genetic material confirms that the Terrans are descendants of the lost exploratory mission. There is some deviation, but after so long that’s to be expected.”

“They’re still close enough genetically to us though?” Daaynal asked.

Laarn nodded. “Yes, they are. Procreation between human and Lathar is more than possible, expected even. In fact,” he mused, looking across the room to where the two human-Lathar couples were standing, “since the bonded males can’t keep their hands off their mates, I’m surprised we haven’t seen a pregnancy yet.”

He managed to keep the frustration out of his voice. Just. As the premier healer in the Latharian empire, he was leading the research project into the condition that caused all female young to die in the womb. Because without women of their own, they were doomed as a race. Even with the influx of human women, there was always the possibility that the same thing could happen to any human-Lathar children. If it did, gaining human mates for their warriors was at best simply a stay of execution. In less than a generation, they would be facing the same problem.

And that wasn’t the worst of it. He’d been tracking the problem with their DNA for years, and it was speeding up. If his suspicions were correct, before too long it wouldn’t just be the female fetuses that were affected. It would be any viable fetus. And shortly after, the ability of any warrior to get his woman pregnant would be eradicated.

“I just don’t get it,” he added. “It’s not progressing like any disease I’ve ever seen before. If I had to guess from the raw data, I’d say we were looking at more of a bio-genetic agent at work, but on a massive scale with no clue as to the method of infection.”

He sighed, running his hand through his hair in a rare display of agitation. He was a good healer, a damn good one. Probably the best in the empire and, some said, better than even his grandfather, the last, near-legendary lord healer. Some said, but not all. More said he wasn’t as good as his grandfather, that the K’Vass line was muddied by the fact the lord healer had married a commoner. Never where any K’Vass warrior could hear, of course—no Lathar was that suicidal—but he knew what they said.

He couldn’t heal them.

“You’ll find something,” Daaynal said, belief in his voice. “Although, wouldn’t it be easier if you had a mate of your own… for close observational purposes, of course. You’d be able to monitor any possible pregnancy in real-time, wouldn’t you?”

Oh, his uncle was good. Laarn almost found himself nodding in agreement before he stopped dead. Even the flicker of an eyelid might be taken by Daaynal to mean he agreed, and thus seal his… and Jess’… fate. He allowed his gaze to flick over to her. She was so tiny and delicate compared to him. When he was around her, he ached to claim her. But he couldn’t. And he couldn’t allow Daaynal to remove her choices either and make her mate him.

He’d seen the looks on the human women’s faces when he’d removed his jacket during the journey to court. The shock and then the careful looks away. Or if any of them had to look at him, they ensured they looked him directly in the eye, no quick glances down to his body.

For the first time in his life, he’d been concerned about how others viewed him. How Jess viewed him. Did she see the strength it had taken to endure the marks he carried? Or did she see him as a scarred monster?

His jaw tightened. From the way the humans acted around him, it had to be the latter. He was under no illusions. He wasn’t pretty to look at. And, if their species treasured physical appearance so much, why would she want him when there were better looking warriors around?

“Think about it,” Daaynal ordered, clapping him on the back and then moving away to circulate.

Laarn stood where he was a few moments longer and then turned with a sigh. He should make an effort and talk to a few people. Then, at the first opportunity, he would make his escape and return to the lab.

He had work to do if he was going to save them all.