Chapter 47: Alexis & Drake – Part 2

ALEXIS

He turned, his eyebrows raised. “Of course,” he said. He nodded at them both. “I’ll be back shortly.”

Alexis hurried across the room and back into the laboratory.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her. “Is it Drake?”

Alexis raised her face. His reaction was exactly as she had feared: he stepped backward, eyes wide, mouth open.

“What is it?” she asked, touching the rash. “What’s wrong with me?”

He stepped toward her and reached out to touch it.

Alexis pulled back. “What are you doing?! What if you get sick?”

Miktar’s eyes were gleaming. He looked odd. If she could put a word to it, he almost looked…greedy. He looked toward the technicians.

Clearing his throat, Miktar pulled her over into a corner. “Does anyone else know about this?” he asked.

“People saw it as I came over here.”

Miktar twisted his mouth. “Does Drake?”

Alexis shook her head. Then her eyes widened. “Drake! What if he’s sick too?!”

“Not possible,” he said.

“Why not? We just—we’ve just been intimate.”

Miktar gazed at her. His eyes were no longer gleaming; they were blazing. She’d never seen a Zibon’s eyes so bright. “Yes. I suspect you did.”

Alexis felt her cheeks flush. “What do you mean?”

“If this is what I think it is”—he reached up, and this time she allowed him to touch her face—“it’s not contagious.”

“Thank God.” Alexis sucked in a relieved breath. “What is it then? Am I sick?”

“No,” he said, chuckling. “Definitely not. Will you permit me to do a blood test?”

She stared at him. His handsome face was beaming. He was so excited he was actually beaming! He couldn’t stop staring at her, his eyes tracing over the ugly little rash like it was gold.

“What is it?”

He shook his head. “I need to do a blood test.”

Alexis seized his wrist. “What is it?”

Miktar pressed his lips together, about to answer, then shook his head.

“~Miktar~.”

“It’s impossible,” he finally blurted. “It should be impossible! We are not the same species. At least… I thought we weren’t.” He stroked his upper lip. “If this is true, it could be the answer to all of our problems. To think that you saved our lives from the Wrilings. And now to potentially save our species entirely…”

He’d raised his voice without realizing it. His greedy look turned covetous as his eyes darted over her face. It was a little scary. The technicians at their benches were watching curiously.

Alexis’s heart started to race. “What are you saying? What the hell is this rash?” Though she knew. She could see it in his eyes, almost as though he was Drake and she was feeling the answer through their bond.

“That ‘rash’ for our species is a mark of pregnancy. You might be pregnant.”

DRAKE

Drake rubbed at his eyes with a sigh, then rolled onto his back. He glared at his I-Spy as it signaled from the bedside table. Alexis was gone, her side of the bed cold and empty. Drake stretched and sat up, clicking his tongue. His mouth was dry, and he didn’t feel like he’d slept enough.

There must be an emergency. With another sigh, he picked it up.

“What’s wrong, Miktar?” Drake grimaced at the throb in his temples. His heart was racing. An uncomfortable pressure was sitting on his chest. He felt a little sick. He clicked his tongue again.

“Something’s come up, Drake. I need you here.”

“Is it Halo?”

“It’s Alexis.”

Drake swung himself to the side of the bed. “Alexis? Is she all right?” But of course she wasn’t all right. He could feel it. He could feel it in his chest. He clutched at his stomach.

“Yes. She’s fine.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’d rather you be here to explain…”

“Just tell me!” He stood and started searching for his clothes.

“She has the mark, Drake.”

“What do you mean ‘the mark’?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, she doesn’t. Stop joking.”

“I’m not joking.”

Silence followed. Drake’s heart was racing so fast it kept skipping beats.

“You must be wrong.”

“Just get here. We can talk then.” The I-Spy signed off.

Drake rushed around the room, yanking his clothes on. His hands were shaking so much it took him three tries to pull on his shoes. He rushed down the corridor, zipping past his fellow Zibons. He hardly took notice of what he was doing or where he was going. Even as the disbelief and excitement brewed somewhere deep in his guts, the pressure on his chest wouldn’t relent. Alexis wasn’t excited. She was scared—and it made him scared.

The mark! It wasn’t possible. But if it were true… ~Could~ it be true? Miktar sounded so sure.

He reached the door to the infirmary. His hands continued to shake. His heart continued to pound. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he stepped inside. He looked around quickly. He didn’t see Alexis, but there was a small crowd gathered in the corner of the room—and he felt her. He felt her like a wall of warmth.

He hurried over. “Alexis!”

Heads turned. The small crowd parted. Miktar was standing beside the bench Alexis was sitting on. They both looked over, Miktar flushed with excitement, Alexis pale and wide-eyed. Drake’s heart leapt into his throat—the mark. It was undeniable.

He seized Alexis’s arm. “Are you okay?”

She didn’t respond, staring up at him, speechless and gray. She was getting paler by the second. Her eyes seemed to sink in her head.

“Alexis!” Seizing her shoulders, he laid her down on the bench. “Bend your knees. Take slow, deep breaths.”

Alexis stared up at the ceiling, her hands folded on her chest. Drake couldn’t pull his eyes away from the raised pale bumps around her eye. It was pretty in a way, like a design.

“It’s not possible,” Drake said.

“We’ve confirmed it with a blood test—and with a cellular ultrasound,” Miktar said, his voice trembling. “There is a life form in her womb.”

“And it’s alive?” Drake croaked.

“As far as we can tell. Though it’s very—very—early days yet.”

“You’ve done all this? Why didn’t you contact me immediately?”

“Alexis wanted to be sure. ~I~ wanted to be sure.”

Drake shook his head. “How is this possible? It can’t be right.”

He tried to think. “Perhaps…perhaps she was already pregnant from…back on Rictor 5.”

Miktar shook his head. “I don’t see how. The mark is unique to our species alone.”

“But what about the bond? Perhaps our bond affects whether she expresses the mark.”

Miktar looked around at the crowd. “Everybody get back to work. Our men need attending to.”

Miktar waited until they left. The Zibons were murmuring to each other, glancing back at Alexis in amazement.

Drake couldn’t stop staring at Alexis, his eyes trailing over the mark, equally amazed. There was still that pressure on his chest.

Miktar took his shoulder and steered him away from her so they could speak in private.

“Why are you so intent on denying this baby?” Miktar asked.

“I’m not denying it,” Drake snapped. “I’m trying to be rational. I don’t want to get…excited about something that may not be what we think it is.”

“It’s yours, Drake. It’s yours because I’ve already considered that possibility,” Miktar said.

He paused. “She hasn’t been with a man for years—she confirmed it. You’re the only one. This is ~your~ baby, Drake.”

Drake’s heart was pounding. Heat was rushing up his neck.

He staggered then bent over his knees, taking deep breaths.

“I don’t know where to begin with this,” Miktar croaked. “We’ll have to inform Captain Ream at the very least. He’ll then inform…~somebody~ on Zibon 8. Then we have to do more tests, make sure she’s okay. Regular blood work. Scans. Who knows what might happen? And the others! What if they fall pregnant? ~Will~ they fall pregnant? Or is it just something about you two?”

He clutched at his head. “There are so many unknowns. I don’t know where to begin, Drake. I know nothing of fetal health and development—that’s specialized. We need someone here who knows what they’re doing. A baby. A baby can’t be born here. She will have to go to Zibon 8.”

He shook his head in wonder.

Drake barely registered Miktar’s ramblings. His gaze locked on Alexis.

If it were true that they were expecting, it was nothing short of a miracle. It held the potential to change everything.

It could alter the entire future of his species. As for them as a couple, what more could he ask for? A family.

Was he about to have a family? And what if it happened again? More of them. He could have more!

Dreams that once seemed impossible were now becoming reality.

He suddenly envisioned them cradling a baby together, and a wave of emotion made his stomach drop.

Leaving Miktar to his thoughts, Drake staggered back over to Alexis.

She turned her glittering yellow eyes to meet his gaze. Her face was still pale.

Speechless, all Drake could do was lean in and kiss her, his lips trembling against hers.

Alexis didn’t kiss back. Her yellow eyes glistened with unshed tears.

End of Book 2