Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“Maybe there was something preventing him from getting back to you,” he said reasonably. “But that’s starting at the end of the story—I want to hear the beginning.”
“You want to know how I got pregnant?” Ketha asked, frowning.
“I want to know why you got pregnant,” he corrected. “All of it—I want the whole story from the start.”
This seemed like an odd request, but he owned her now so what could she do? Ketha thought about lying or making something up, but what was the point? She might as well be truthful—she had nothing more to lose.
So she started at the very beginning, telling her captor how her mother had slipped fertility drugs into her food to try and force her to go to the Conception Center.
“I didn’t want to go—it’s so cold and impersonal,” she said. “But the fertility drugs were making me crazy! I knew I had to…had to be bred. There was no other way I was ever going to get any peace.”
“Mmm-hmm.” He sounded thoughtful. “And how did you find someone to breed you? I thought that wasn’t allowed on Yonnie Six.”
“It’s not.” Ketha shivered. “Please—it’s really chilly in here,” she said, rubbing her arms to try and warm up.
“Forgive me. Here.”
Ketha felt him get up for a moment and then something warm and soft was wrapped around her shoulders. Some kind of a blanket, maybe. She pulled it around herself gratefully.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Now please—go on. Where did you find a male to impregnate you?”
“Ironically, the same place you just found me—at the Flesh Bazaar,” Ketha said dryly. “He was a Kindred warrior that the slaver was trying to turn into a bodyslave. My mother refuses to have anything but a Kindred serving her because it’s known that they won’t hurt women,” she added.
“Mmm-hmm. And were you attracted to him at all? Or was he just a convenient way to scratch your itch?” he rumbled.
“You don’t understand—I never would have dreamed of…of letting a male penetrate me if he hadn’t come along,” Ketha protested. “He smelled really good and he said the most outrageous things—things no bodyslave should ever say to his Mistress.”
“So what he said and the way he smelled attracted you?” he asked.
Ketha nodded blindly. She wished she could see him!
“Yes. And then once I got him back to my mother’s house in Opulex we had an…encounter.”
“Was that when you got pregnant?” her new owner asked.
Ketha shook her head.
“No. But it put the idea into my head. He escaped—the conditioning the slaver put him through didn’t work. But he gave me an idea of where to find him. So eventually…I went looking for him.”
“Because you wanted to be with him?” he asked.
“Not at first. To be honest, the fertility drugs were driving me crazy and I knew I needed to be bred—that’s why I went looking for him. But after it was all over, everything was…different.” Her voice caught on the last word.
“You mean after he bred you? How were things different?”
“We formed some kind of a Bond—a mental connection,” Ketha explained. “He tried to get me to stay with him, but I didn’t want to. I thought I had to get back to my life on Yonnie Six.” She shook her head. “I was so stupid! I should have listened to him.”
“Why? What did he say?” her captor asked softly.
“He said…he said we belonged together,” Ketha said. Behind the blinding patches, she could feel tears stinging her eyelids. “He said I would never be happy at home—he told me I should come with him and tour the galaxy. I wish I would have gone!”
She was openly crying now, the tears leaking under the blinding patches and sliding down her cheeks.
“So you miss him?” he asked softly.
“Yes. So much!” Ketha admitted. “But when we parted ways, I rejected him and I think he put up some kind of…of barrier between us. Because now I can’t reach him, no matter how hard or how often I call!”
“What would you tell him if he was here right now—the father of your baby?” he rumbled.
“I’d tell him I was wrong and that I was an idiot, going back to my mother. She only wanted me to have a baby to keep up with the trends in Opulex and so she could get considered for a spot on the Sacred Seven! When she found out I was carrying a son instead of a daughter, she gave me two choices—either get rid of the baby or get disinherited and kicked out.”
“And you chose to keep the baby.” A big, warm hand slipped down to rest lightly on her baby bump again.
“Yes.” Ketha sniffed. “I…I couldn’t give him up! My mother brought in a baby-view tech and the equipment she had showed what he would look like when he was all grown up. And he…he’s going to look exactly like his father!” She started to cry even harder. “I couldn’t give him up—I won’t give him up!” she said fiercely. “He’s all I have left of Styx!”