“Well…then I guess we have no choice but to leave the Eye of Ten’gu here, though I wish we could have brought it back to the Mother Ship and destroyed it.” Sylvan sighed and shook his head.
“It’s safe enough,” Granny Two-two assured him. “Safe in the shadow of the ship—‘ent nothing going to get to it there.”
“I hope you’re right.” Sylvan had been bending over, examining the monitor. “Well, I guess we’d best be getting home.” He looked at Penny and V’rex. “Have the two of you decided if you’re coming with us back to the Mother Ship or not?”
“Oh, well…” Penny began, looking up at her new mate uncertainly.
“We’ll come,” he said. “But we might need to take a wormhole instead of folding space. If…” He cleared his throat and looked significantly at Sylvan. “If you know what I mean.”
“Ah, of course.” Sylvan nodded, and Penny suddenly remembered that pregnant women couldn’t safely fold space. She felt her cheeks heat with a blush. Of course, she didn’t know if she was pregnant or not, but it was probably better not to take a risk.
“We’ll see you at the Mother Ship soon,” V’rex promised. “Though we might take a side route and pass by Rageron on the way.” He smiled at his two uncles, who had accompanied him and Sylvan to the Service Room. “I seem to have a lot of catching up to do.”
Penny felt a warm glow in her heart as she watched her mate connect with his long-lost kin. True, her mission hadn’t exactly gone as planned, but everything had worked out in the end. She was ending her time in the Yown System without the distinction of bringing home the Eye of Ten’gu but with a new mate she would love and cherish forever.
And it was all because she had been Stolen out of her own life and put on a course she never would have picked for herself by the Goddess herself.
Chapter 118
“Okay, I’ve gotten all of the nanites out of your system,” Liv said, bustling into the Med Center room where Penny was sitting. After a lovely week-long trip to Rageron, she and V’rex were aboard the Mother Ship and she was getting a much-needed physical.
“See, doll? I told you she could do it.” Kat, who was there for moral support, squeezed Penny’s hand.
“Oh, thank you!” Penny breathed a sigh of relief. Even though the Glorious Leader was now floating in a puddle of space poo and couldn’t spy on her anymore, she still didn’t like the idea of his microscopic nanites infesting her system.
“So that’s the good news,” Liv said briskly. “But I’m afraid it still won’t stop you from producing the nectar.”
“It won’t? Why not?” Penny exclaimed. It wasn’t that the nectar was that bothersome, she supposed, and V’rex certainly had no problem sucking it out of her breasts whenever they made love—or anytime she asked for help, for that matter. But it was irritating to be dripping all the time and she’d thought that ridding her body of the nanites would certainly take care of the nectar problem.
Apparently not, though.
“I’m afraid that the fertility herbs and chemicals you were exposed to have convinced your body you’re lactating,” Liv explained. “They’ve kind of, uh, turned on a switch inside your breasts, if that makes any sense.”
“Well, isn’t there any way to turn it off again?” Penny asked desperately. Was she going to go through her whole life with her breasts repeatedly filling up with nectar?
“Actually, there is,” Liv said brightly. “You need to carry a baby to term and give birth. That will switch your body over from nectar production to milk production. And after you wean the baby, your breasts ought to go back to normal.”
“So I have to get pregnant in order to stop the nectar?” Penny exclaimed.
“No, I didn’t say that,” Liv said gently. “I said you have to carry a baby—or in your case babies—to term.”
“What?” Penny shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Well, remember the blood I drew from you?” Liv asked. “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of running a few extra tests and, well…” She held out her hand, palm up, and opened her fingers. Lying there were three perfect little flowers—two blue and one pink.
“Twin boys!” Kat breathed. “Oh, Penny—you’re going to have twin boys and a little girl to go with them!”
“Oh my goodness!” Penny took the three little flowers carefully from Liv’s palm. “But…but multiple births don’t run in my family,” she protested, looking up at the doctor. “Nobody ever even has twins, let alone more.”
Liv fixed her with a stern look.
“Considering all the fertility hormones and drugs you have running around in your system, it’s a wonder you’re not carrying quintuplets! Thank the Goddess for small mercies.”
“Oh, my…” Penny shook her head. “I don’t…don’t know what to say. Three all at once!”
“Look, you’re in shock right now, doll, but everything is going to be fine.” Kat squeezed her hand again. “Trust me—I know all about having multiples. Sometimes you want to pull your hair out, but you’re going to make it—you’ll see.”
“Wait until I tell V’rex,” Penny murmured. She still couldn’t wrap her head around what was happening.
“Tell me what, sweetheart?” Just then the big Hybrid appeared in the exam room door. “Hope you don’t mind, ladies,” he said to Kat and Liv. “I felt like something was wrong with my mate so I came to see what it was.” He looked at Penny. “Are you all right?”
“Liv ran a pregnancy exam on me,” Penny blurted, not sure what else to say.
“And?” V’rex looked at her, his face hopeful. “Is it a boy or a girl?”
Mutely, Penny held out her hand with the three perfect flowers.
V’rex’s
