Chapter 48 #2
“It's bringing up a full list. That's incredible. Oh, but it's shrinking fast, huh? Sixty percent and we're already down to only a handful of potential fathers.”
Donivi said nothing, but Peony's entire body was tense as she waited. She had lost track of her counts as she focused completely on the First Healer and his slow dawning realization.
“Impossible,” he whispered, stunned. “It must be a... a fault in the machine... Or maybe interference from his genetic material from their mating or...”
“Her cervix is closed and sealed with a mucous plug, Donivi. His, er, 'genetic material' isn't getting up that high anymore.”
“No. No. It can't be. I'm re-scanning. That's absolutely impossible.”
Peony wanted to groan at the idea of being stuck here even longer, but Donivi had already wiped his console and was convincing the ring to shine even brighter as he began again. She didn't want anyone to doubt her baby's paternity, so she laid there and took it.
And sure enough, an excruciating ten minutes later, Donivi was mumbling something about 'impossibility' and 'it can't be'. Scarlet smiled at Peony from beyond the holo screens and her own stomach untwisted.
She had no doubts that Atem was the father, but hearing it confirmed just set something wonderful off in her belly. He was going to be so excited.
Although, apparently, he was going to have competition for the title of 'most excited' because, as the shock wore off, Donivi was like a kid locked in a toy store.
He was talking so quickly, Peony couldn't keep up.
Scarlet was nodding along, adding her thoughts every now and again, so his technical words must make some sense despite it sounding like they were tripping over each other in his haste to get them out.
“This is incredible!” He declared as he helped Peony sit up. He reverently touched her belly. “I get to have my name on the research data of the very first documented hybrid. Scarlet, you and I are going to be famous in the scientific community!”
Scarlet looked surprised, pointing to herself. “Me? You want me to be on your research paper? I'm just a nurse, Donivi.”
The First Healer chuckled “You humans and your modesty.
I do not understand. You are the only expert around on human physiology and anatomy, Scarlet.
I am going to need your input. This pup is half human, after all.
Of course, your name will appear beside mine on the data.
We are going to have to increase your lessons though.
You need to become an expert in domini physiology and medicine quite fast. Hope you don't mind.”
Scarlet lit up, smiling brighter than Peony had ever seen.
It made her laugh to see. She was happy for her friend.
Even if she and her baby did just become science experiments.
She was going to have to talk to Donivi about making sure he didn't forget that her baby was a person first, but she otherwise welcomed the intense scrutiny.
Well, she told herself that she welcomed it.
How else would she know her baby was safe and healthy?
“You should be scanned every few days,” Donivi was saying, staring at her with complete and total adoration, like she was every one of his dreams come true.
“Every three or so? I'd scan you every day if I could. Anytime you think you need one, of course, just tell me. Or if you begin to feel strange. Or if you just want to see the pup again. Whenever.”
Peony giggled, charmed by his enthusiasm. “I'll talk to Atem about it first, but I'll be sure to remember that. Thank you, Donivi.”
“No, thank you,” he stressed, a dreamy smile across his face.
Scarlet chuckled, touching his arm to get his attention as Peony hopped off the table. “Can we talk now? I'd like to talk to you about domini pregnancies specifically.”
“Yes, of course! We must compare notes.”
“I'll just head home,” Peony said, gesturing towards the door as she grinned while watching them. “You two have fun. Don't forget to eat or use the bathroom.”
“I can take you back,” Scarlet said, some of her excitement falling.
Peony shook her head. “No. You two stay. Enjoy yourselves and the scans.”
Scarlet, also from Earth, wanted to insist that it was safer to travel in pairs.
Donivi, however, was fully accepting of her decision because he was confident in how safe Calvitorum was.
Peony was equally as confident. She even made a joke of it, promising that even if something happened, she had Temnavi with her.
The young boy took it completely seriously and he struck his chest out, promising that Peony would be perfectly safe with him.
The young boy might not understand the true gravity of the situation, but he was clearly excited about the baby as he beamed at Peony.
After promising Donivi that she'd drink at least half a glass of blood – the compromise they reached considering they didn't know how long-term blood drinking would affect her yet – she left the healing center and found the hover Atem had ordered.
She told the servant that Scarlet was remaining behind as Temnavi bounced happily on his seat.
He took off as Temnavi babbled on about showing the pup all his favorite, secret places and teaching him all the fighting moves he knew. Peony smiled, adding to the conversation every now and then, but mostly content to let him express his excitement in his own, innocent, childhood way.
She spent most of the conversation imagining how excited Atem was going to be.
She should have told Donivi to let her be the one who told him this time, but she had been so wrapped up in what was going on, she forgot it in the moment.
Patient/doctor confidentiality apparently wasn't as big a deal here, or Atem was exempt from it as her mate.
She wasn't sure which was true. Either way, she wanted the chance to give him the good news first.
She was so focused on her thoughts that she didn't pay attention to where they were going until, suddenly, shadows fell over the hover. She started in surprise, focusing on her surroundings again to see that they were beneath the canopy for some reason.
“Why are we down here?” She asked the driver, confused but not concerned.
“Sorry, Adassani, but there's an issue with the usual platform. We're diverting to a lower one.”
“Oh, okay.” She shrugged, rubbing her belly.
Not because of the baby this time, but because she was hungry and she was wondering what she was going to eat when she got back.
The bloodshake was going to be replaced with hot, fresh blood, which was a thought she found simultaneously mouthwatering and viscerally disturbing.
This was going to take some getting used to.
She was so focused on what she would have for lunch that she didn't notice the strange, pinched look on Temnavi's face for a long minute. When she finally focused back on him, he was looking around at their surroundings, a concerned frown on his face.
She immediately gazed around as well. It took her a bit longer to realize what he was seeing because she simply wasn't used to flying below the canopy.
But she caught on after a few seconds. They weren't going towards the palace. In fact, she didn't even recognize this part of the city.
“Erm, excuse me?” She called out, not trying to be rude, but her voice going up in pitch as unease settled heavy in her stomach like a hot stone.
He said nothing.
“Excuse me!” She tried again louder, still attempting to be polite.
But the moment she got to her feet, the male turned and leveled a weapon at her.
She didn't recognize it, but the hard look in his three, glowing green eyes left her in no doubt that it was dangerous even without Temnavi's soft gasp and sudden stillness.
The device was a bit bigger than a handgun, but with a smooth and rounded, probably ergonomic design for his grip.
It didn't have a trigger that she would recognize, but she stared down the slit of the barrel and her body locked up.
“Sit down,” he ordered, the pleasant, customer service voice from before replaced with an unrelenting edge.
She obeyed without thinking, her eyes trapped on the weapon.
“You, boy, go sit beside her,” he said, gesturing with his head without taking his gun off Peony.
Temnavi hastened to obey, and Peony grabbed him, putting him on the seat behind her, turning her body so that she was between this unknown man and him. The young boy clung to her skirt, his head pressed against her back.
“Who are you?” Peony asked, surprised by how steady her voice sounded. “What do you want?”
“Shut up,” he snapped, annoyed, as the hover continued forward, automatically dodging trees and always returning to the forward path he set it on. “You sit there silently, or I kill you and the boy behind you, understand?”
She nodded but that meant nothing to him, and he snarled.
“I understand!” She yelled before he could move towards them.
“Peony,” Temnavi whined softly behind her.
“Sh,” she reached behind her and, a bit awkwardly due to the angle, stroked his back, her eyes not leaving the male.
He turned back to the controls, but he kept the weapon in hand.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she considered how successful she might be if she jumped up to wrestle it from him.
However, when she shifted her weight, just to test to see how he would react, she stilled when he immediately turned, the weapon on her again so fast she almost didn't see the motion.
He might not be one of the high-ranking warriors she was used to being around, but he was still a warrior from a species that built their entire culture around fighting and combat.
She was a pregnant woman defending a child with at least five to ten feet between them.
There was no way for her to close that distance before he turned and shot her.
One hand still kept hold of Temnavi, but the other reached up to guard her belly.
She had to two lives to protect here. Both young and precious. Her brand new not-son and her miracle baby.
The male turned back to the console and began adjusting the controls.
They were going fast. Much faster than Peony was used to traveling.
The trees of the Home Forest sped past them so rapidly she couldn't focus on any individual one.
The hover was specifically designed for that, however, and it neatly swerved around them.
“You know you won't get away with this, right?” Peony asked. Her hands might be shaking, but her voice remained strong. Almost confident.
“I told you to shut up,” came the response.
“Atem will hunt you down. He'll kill you.”
The male chuckled, turning. “Good. Then, I'll finally get the chance I was denied at the Hortii Kristivar.”
“You were a challenger?” She asked, surprised. She didn't recognize him.
His smirk turned into a disgusted snarl. “No. Apparently, according to First Healer, I wasn't compassionate or learned enough. I could easily defeat that weak male. I don't need compassion or understanding to be a superior warrior.”
“That's why you're doing this?” She asked, surprised it was something so petty.
“No.” He turned forward again. “It's just a side benefit.”
“Then, why-?”
He whipped his head around, glaring at her. “I told you to shut up.”
Peony clenched her jaw, not saying a word. But he must have seen the defiance in her eyes because he lifted his gun and aimed.
“No!” She yelled, reaching back for Temnavi.
The weapon discharged in a short flash of light that preceded the inky blackness of unconsciousness, her body falling over in the seat. The last thing she heard was Temnavi's yell quickly cut off as he, too, was hit with that light.