“Yes.”
Roth studied him closely.
“Darla will not want to leave Defcon Red. Her sister is here. And our king and Abby will be furious if we start a war. He wants alliances and trade with the humans. Abby has family on Earth that she wishes to see often. I don’t wish to disappoint either of them. I will claim Darla and my cubs, but I can do it in a way that doesn’t put them at risk.”
“Please tell me you’re not plotting to do something really stupid, like grab Darla and steal a shuttle,” Dr. Brick stated. “Because I might not be able to understand what you’re saying but some of those words were in English, and mildly alarming. Like Earth, Darla, Abby, and Defcon Red.”
Gnaw stared at the female doctor and switched back to her language. “There will be no war. I am an intelligent male. I will take Darla to the cafeteria, where lots of humans eat, and I will smile at her, touch her hand often, and then take her back to my cabin. Tomorrow morning, I will escort her to her cabin to collect her things and inform Clark that we have mated.”
Dr. Brick gave him a tentative smile. “Sounds good. That should work. Then I can feed the fleet delayed medical files of her pregnancy to make it look as if you got her pregnant tonight, instead of last week.”
“You will not,” Maith growled. “That female is now a part of our grouping. You will not release any medical information to anyone. I am her medic now.”
The doctor’s expression changed to pure anger. “Get your head out of your ass. The last thing we want is rumors and another damn investigation. I need to give them something to avoid all that shit, once people learn she’s pregnant. That means giving them a copy of the scan I did on her, but with a changed date, to back up the story we told. I also don’t need every woman that you guys have fucked on this boat flocking to my lab to see if they’re knocked up, too. You know, since your people lied about that.”
“We didn’t lie,” Maith yelled.
“Enough!” Roth snapped, using his commanding tone. “Veslors do not have cubs unless we are mated. That is fact. It is not our way.”
“Want to see the scan again?” Dr. Brick turned her glare on Roth. “So either it was a lie, or your guy mated my friend without telling her. Total dick move, by the way. Which is it?”
“I was so angry,” Gnaw rasped in Veslor language, thinking about his time with Darla in that cell. “The Elth kept demanding that I breed Darla over and over. It enraged me that they didn’t care about her health. They wanted to obtain our cubs to train them to become killers, to do their bidding. I didn’t lose control, though. I stayed in this form.”
Maith came back to him, switching to their language, too. “Were you angry enough to transform into battle form while you were copulating with her?”
Gnaw gave a sharp nod.
Maith reached up and cupped his face again, pressing their foreheads together. “That might explain how it happened. Rage induces us to transform. We’re fertile in battle form. You might have kept this outer skin but inside, your body must have been affected. It is reasonable to assume it made you fertile under those severe conditions.”
Gnaw closed his eyes. He should have thought of that. Forced his rage back before he copulated with Darla. He felt no regret though. She was carrying his cubs. “I am not sorry. She is everything to me.”
“Now I understand,” Dr. Brick said, her Veslor accent horrible.
They all gasped, and Maith released Gnaw, spinning to stare at the female.
She switched back to her English. “Is my pronunciation that bad? You guys speak in growls, which is hard to mimic. Humans don’t have the voice box for it. Did you really think when your grouping came onboard that I didn’t do my best to learn Veslor?” She smiled at Maith. “So that’s why I was told none of you could knock up human women. You have to be shifted. Few women would go for that.” Then she paled. “Shit. Vivian Goss agreed to do that, didn’t she?”
Gnaw walked toward her.
Dr. Brick took a step back and threw up her hands. “No judgements! Darla will be pissed at you if you kill me. I mean, yeah, it’s a scary thought to have sex with one of you guys when you’re shifted, and a little suicidal on the woman’s part, in my opinion, but what’s the big deal?”
“We were warned that your people would be highly disturbed over it. I am not going to kill you.” Gnaw stared down at the female. “It’s not just pregnancy that results when we copulate in battle form. It creates deep bonds. For both the male and female. Other races could force us to mate with them if they realized. Mating is sacred. We mate for life. You never want to see the result of a forced mating. My father did that to my mother. She hated him. He had to be killed to free her. He ruined―”
Roth clasped his shoulder and pressed against his side. “You don’t need to explain to this female.”
Dr. Brick surprised him when her brown eye filled with tears, leaking down her cheek. She reached out to gently touch his other arm. “I’m sorry. I won’t share what I’ve learned with the fleet or anyone else. You have my word. Curiosity has always been one of my biggest weaknesses. No one needs to know. You can trust me. I do have compassion and a conscience. Why else would I have lied during that investigation, or plan to falsify when Darla got pregnant? I’m on your side.”
