“A boy! A son—I’m going to have a son! Rone’s son!” Kate exclaimed, unable to hold back anymore. And then she burst into tears.
“Oh, no!” Sophie looked upset. “Oh, Liv—we’ve made her cry! Oh, Kate, we’re so sorry!”
“Look, hon, we know this is kind of awkward news, especially with the two of you splitting up and everything,” Liv said, staring at her anxiously. “So if you’d like to come back to the Mother Ship so we can talk about it and find a place for you to stay…”
“Because you can stay up here with us,” Sophie put in earnestly. “And we’ll introduce you to everyone. Liv and I will be with you every step of the way. We—”
“Kate isn’t going anywhere.” Suddenly Rone was standing right behind her, his big hands on her shoulders. “She’s staying aboard the Finder with me.”
“I’m sorry…” Kate sniffed and somehow managed to get a grip on herself. “I’m not…not crying because I’m upset. I’m crying because I’m so surprised and happy. And Rone and I aren’t splitting up.”
“You’re not?” Liv and Sophie asked together.
“No.” Kate shook her head. “Because I remembered—I remembered everything! My past, the three years I lost—everything! And even better, our bond is back!”
“Back and stronger than ever,” Rone growled, squeezing her shoulders.
“Wow,” Liv said. “How did you manage that?”
“We, uh…” Kate blushed. “Well, remember how the Goddess said I should, uh, feed my appetites?”
Sophie laughed delightedly. “I’m guessing she wasn’t talking about your appetite for pizza or brownies or any other kind of food, was she?”
“Nope.” Kate grinned, despite her red cheeks. “Anyway, everything just kind of…came back while we were…well, you know.”
Liv cleared her throat. “You know, you might want to be a little bit, uh, careful there. Sylvan told me that due to Wulven Kindred anatomy, their mates are actually able to get pregnant twice, if the second, uh, breeding occurs within a solar week of the first. They call it ‘twice expectant’ or a double conception. So if you don’t want twins…”
“Pregnant twice? Twins?” Rone looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh—you don’t know yet!” Kate exclaimed. Turning back to the viewscreen, she gestured at Olivia. “Show him, Liv! Show him the flower!”
Obligingly, Liv held the small, perfect blue flower up to the viewscreen.
“Here you go,” she told Rone. “Looks like you’re going to be a daddy.”
“Gods!” Rone gripped the back of the seat Kate was sitting in so violently she nearly fell out of it. “Are you serious?” he demanded of Olivia. “Is this really true? Kate is pregnant?”
“She absolutely is.” Liv nodded decisively. “And Sylvan would really like you to come back to the Mother Ship so he can run some more tests and make sure everything is going just right.”
“We’ll come right away,” Kate promised. She looked at Rone who nodded.
“Yes…yes, of course.” He still looked stunned.
“All right then, we’ll be waiting for you in the med center,” Liv said.
“And don’t worry,” Sophie added. “Sylvan says he’s sure everything is fine—he just wants to do a more thorough checkup.”
“See you soon!” Liv added and then the viewscreen went blank.
For a moment Kate just sat there, soaking in the news. Then she looked up at Rone. The big Kindred still had the back of her chair in a death grip.
“I can’t believe it,” he muttered. “I just can’t…I can’t believe it.”
“It’s true, though.” Kate looked at him hopefully. “Are you happy?”
“Happy? Of course I’m happy—this is what we’ve wanted forever. I’m just…just stunned.” He shook his head. “It must have happened when my Beast—”
“When I tamed your Beast,” Kate said quickly, not wanting him to start feeling guilty all over again. “And listen, honey—this is what I was trying to tell you earlier, before the girls called. I had to meet and tame your Beast for just this reason.”
He shook his head. “What do you mean? What are you talking about? I thought you said you had something to tell me that you hadn’t gotten a chance to say before you lost your memories.”
“I do.” Kate looked at him intently, wondering how he was going to react to what she had to say. She took a deep breath. “Do you remember how the statue of the Goddess came to life during Emily and Tragar’s joining ceremony?”
“Remember it?” Rone gave a short, barking laugh. “How could I forget it? I’d never seen the Goddess in person before. It was…amazing how she manifested herself.”
“I was amazed too,” Kate said quietly. “Remember how afterwards, when everyone was leaving the Grove, I told you I had to go back because I had forgotten something?”
“Yes, and…?” he prompted.
“Well, I just wanted a minute alone with her—alone in the presence of the Goddess,” Kate admitted. “I mean, I thought she had left but I went back and knelt at her feet anyway—at the feet of the statue. And I prayed—prayed so hard for what we both wanted so badly.”
“A baby,” Rone said softly. “A son.”
“Or a daughter,” Kate whispered. “I told the Goddess I wasn’t particular. I just wanted a baby to love and I didn’t care what it took.”
“And what happened?” Rone asked in a low voice.
“She came back to life. Or, well—the statue reanimated or whatever you want to call it,” Kate said. “And she told me that the desire of my heart was within reach but I would have to go through terrible hardship to get it.” She looked down at her hands. “I told her I didn’t care—that I would do whatever it took if you and I could just have a baby.”
“Then what did she say?” Rone’s voice was little more than a hoarse whisper.
“She told me my prayer had been heard and that it would be answered.” Kate looked up at her husband. “And then I went to tell you and walked right into that damn trap by smelling the bouquet that was meant for Emily.” She bit her lip. “Are you angry with me? I think…I guess all of this—everything we just went through—is my fault.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Rone shook his head. “We nearly lost each other, Kate. I was going to avenge you or die trying. Then I was going to go to the Desert. To—”
“To Corith al Cruthe. Oh my God!” Kate put a hand to her mouth. “The second destination in the navcom—now I remember where I’ve heard it before! Your aunt told me about it!”
Rone frowned. “Tante Corii has a bad habit of saying more than she should. I bet she’s the one who gave you a copy of the Volume of Submission, isn’t she?”
“Of course she is, but Rone…” Kate got up and went to stand in front of him. “How could you? How could you even think of doing that? Of going into the Desert of Death and letting your Beast take over your mind forever?”
“I thought I’d lost you,” he said simply. “And after what my Beast did to you I felt I deserved no better than the Living Death.”
“For the last time, what your Beast did was necessary.” Kate pressed his hand earnestly. “Listen to me, sweetheart—we were trying to circumvent the natural order of things by using my Knowing to get around taming your Beast. Without a whole and complete bond, I never would have been able to get pregnant. The Goddess knew that and she also knew you’d never let me meet your Beast willingly.”
Rone frowned. “Are you saying she used that sick bastard, Two, to bring you to my Beast on purpose?”
Kate nodded. “I am. I believe there was a reason for everything that happened to us. If I hadn’t lost my memory and been taken away from you, you wouldn’t have spent six months looking for me while your hunger grew. And you know what iron control you have—if you hadn’t been deprived of my touch and taste for so long, your Beast never would have had a chance of coming out to meet me. To breed me.”
He nodd
ed slowly. “I guess I can see that. But Kate…as much as I want a baby, I want you more. I’d rather have you and be childless than lose you.”
“I understand.” Kate stood on her tiptoes and put her arms around his neck. “And I’m sorry, Rone—so sorry I put you through all this. Can you forgive me?”
“I’ll try.” He leaned down into her hug and then gathered her into his arms. “Oh, baby…oh, Lalli,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck. “I can’t believe I came so close to losing you forever. I’m never going to let you out of my sight again.”
His deep voice was hoarse and broken and Kate felt his tears wetting her cheek. Tears of her own stung at her eyes and she hugged him harder.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” she whispered. “I feel the same way. I’m never leaving you again—especially if I’m ‘twice expectant.’ Because you have to help me raise this baby—or these babies if there are two now—I can’t do it on my own!”
“Don’t worry,” Rone whispered through their newly restored link as he kissed her gently on the mouth. “You won’t have to. I’ll be with you every step of the way, Lalli.”
Kate knew it was true. She had finally come home to the man she loved and they would never be parted again.
The End
Epilogue #1
“Well…here we go.” Commander Sylvan stared at the small, coffee-cup sized machine. He had just inserted a new vial of Kate’s blood into it and now he was fiddling with the controls. He’d asked Olivia to do the actual blood draw since his bandaged thumb made him clumsy. There was nothing to do now but wait for the results.
Kate squeezed Rone’s hand excitedly. They were back at the Mother Ship at last and sitting in the med lab. Actually, they had arrived the day before but decided to spend the night on the Finder before coming back aboard the huge Kindred vessel. After their emotional reunion and Kate’s newly regained memory, they had needed some time to re-bond all over again. In fact, they had spent most of the night in the Breeding Chair, just rocking and holding each other with Rone thrusting deep and slow inside her.
It had been beautiful and perfect and now Kate felt closer than ever to her mate. She squeezed his hand excitedly as they waited for the test results.
“I still don’t understand,” Sophie complained. She and Liv were waiting breathlessly too. “How can it show after such a short time?”
“Doesn’t the fertilized egg need time to implant?” Liv finished her twin’s thought.
“That’s the thing—it implants immediately with Wulven Kindred.” Sylvan was still staring intently at the machine. “They have difficulty conceiving so the Goddess made them in such a way that the moment an egg finally does get fertilized, it begins to grow. That is why females carrying a Wulven’s child typically only have an eleven month pregnancy—not a twelve month one.”
“Whoo-hoo,” Kate said dryly, trying to hide her nervous excitement. “Shaving a whole month off.”
“Listen, hon, after you’ve been pregnant for almost an entire year, one less month is going to sound mighty nice,” Liv told her.
Sophie snorted. “Try being pregnant with twins. And Kindred babies are so big.”
“I know!” Liv said. “Baird and I want another one but I don’t want to have to go through all that again.”
“You didn’t have to go through all of it,” Sophie reminded her. “Remember, it was poor Baird who actually had to have little Daniel.”
“Huh?” Kate looked at the sisters. “Am I missing something? Did you say that Liv carried the baby but someone else had it?”
“My husband, Baird,” Olivia explained. “We happened to swap bodies for a while at just the wrong time.”
“You switched bodies?” Rone asked, frowning. “Is your mate a Switch Kindred? A Trader?”
“A traitor to who?” Sophie asked.
“No—he means a Trader as in one who trades,” Sylvan explained, still fiddling with the small machine. “As in a Kindred who is able to trade bodies with his mate from time to time. There used to be quite a number of them but they interbred with another race—a people who considered the ability shameful and suppressed it somehow.” He shook his head. “It’s a pity—I’ve always thought it was a valuable experience. It gives a male a better understanding of what his female is going through and thinking to spend some time in her body and vice versa.”
“Oh yeah?” Sophie raised an eyebrow at him. “I don’t remember you finding it a ‘valuable experience’ when we swapped! You were mostly crying and upset all the time and you threw away my best pair of Jimmy Choos!”
“They hurt my feet,” Sylvan said, in a dignified tone. “And I couldn’t help feeling emotional—you were pregnant at the time and I was bearing the full brunt of your hormones.”
Kate shook her head. “It sounds like you guys have had some wild adventures up here on the Mother Ship.”
“Oh, you don’t know the half of it.” Olivia grinned at her. “The stories we could tell…”
“And we will too—especially if you stay with us during your pregnancy.” Sophie pressed her hand. “Please say you will! We have a lot of good girl friends up here that are dying to meet you and we have so much fun together.”
“Well, I don’t know about staying on the ship but I’m certain we’ll stay close,” Rone said. “Wulven pregnancies tend to be difficult so we’ll want to be near Commander Sylvan. Not to mention that pregnant females can’t fold space.” He looked at Kate. “Thank goodness we took a wormhole back here instead of asking the Mother Ship to fold for us!”
“The Goddess was watching out for you, all right,” Sylvan said. Just then the little machine he’d been watching so intently made a soft, ding! “Ah, here we go…let’s just see…”
Kate tensed up as she watched him reach into the machine’s slot. What if that first test they had run on her had been wrong? What if the results were some kind of a false positive? What if…?
“Here you go.” Sylvan handed her a flower—a pink one.
Kate looked at him blankly.
“I don’t understand—what does this mean? I thought you guys said I was having a boy. But this—”
The machine dinged again. “And here’s another,” Sylvan said, giving her another flower—a blue one this time.
Kate breathed a sigh of relief.
“Uh-huh.” Olivia shook her head. “I knew it—twice expectant.”
“So…twins?” Kate asked, smiling a little. “Goodness, I don’t know how I’m going to manage that!”
Just then the machine dinged a third time. This time Liv looked at it.
“Uh, Kate, hon?” she asked, reaching into the small slot. “What exactly were you and Rone doing last night that made you too busy to come and see us right away?”
“I…well…” Kate felt herself blushing but then Olivia handed her the third flower—a blue one this time.
Kate looked it in dismay.
“Are you serious? Triplets?”
“What would that be? ‘Thrice expectant?’” Sophie asked.
“It’s not completely unheard of in Wulven couples,” Sylvan said. “But since the period for conception is an entire solar week starting from the time of the first breeding, I must advise you not to have any more—ahem—intimate relations until that time period is up.”
“Unless you want to wind up with a whole bouquet,” Liv said, grinning.
“No, we don’t want that,” Kate said hurriedly. “That’s what started all this in the first place—sniffing that damn bouquet that was meant for Emily!”
“Well this is a different kind of bouquet.” Rone took the three small blossoms from her carefully. “One that will bring us joy.”
“I’m happy too—don’t get me wrong,” Kate said. “This is just…scary. Three at once?”
“Just wait until you meet our best friend, Kat,” Sophie told her, laughing. “She had three at once so she can give you a full breakdown of what to expect.”
“Well, I guess w
e’re definitely hanging around now,” Kate said. “There’s no way I’m getting too far from a doctor when I’ve got three buns in the oven!”
“I’d say that’s a good choice,” Sylvan said. “You can tether the Finder to the Mother ship for the duration of the pregnancy. That way you can either stay aboard your ship or move into one of the guest suites.”
“That sounds perfect,” Kate said gratefully. She looked at Liv. “Do you guys really have a friend that has triplets? Because I’m definitely feeling in need of some advice right now.”
Liv laughed. “Come on—Kat’s been dying to meet you and so has everyone else.”
“I’ll Bespeak Lauren and ask her to bring cupcakes,” Sophie said. “If you’re anything like the rest of us, you’re going to grow a serious sweet tooth now that you’re preggers with a Kindred baby—babies, I mean.”
“Mmm…” Kate smiled. “Actually, a cupcake sounds really good right about now.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Rone asked and she felt a surge of protectiveness come through their link.
“No, honey—I’ll be fine. This sounds like a girl thing so why don’t you and Commander Sylvan work out the details of our new living arrangements?”
Rone nodded. “All right. I love you.” “Should I tell him?” he added through their link.
“I love you too.” Kate smiled at him. “Yes—now’s the perfect time.” Standing, she gave him a peck on the cheek and turned to her new friends. “Okay, lead the way and I really hope one of the cupcake choices is chocolate.”
“I’m pretty sure it will be.” Sophie hooked her arm through Kate’s. “And let me tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve tasted our cousin Lauren’s deep, dark, Devil’s Food chocolate cupcakes.”
Kate smiled back at her, feeling a little guilty. But the knowledge she needed Rone to impart was for Commander Sylvan alone. Shooting her mate one last significant glance, she left the room with Sophie and Olivia.
* * * * *
“Well…let’s see what kind of accommodations we can offer you,” Sylvan said as soon as the females were gone. “Personally, I’d rather have the two of you as close to me as possible. Kate is very small and carrying three Kindred babies…well, it probably won’t be easy.”