Invasion Earth (17 page)

“Within the first twenty-four hours usually.
Your physiology is a little different, though, so possibly
longer.”

Laney nodded. “Let’s find out then.”

Cilia smiled. “This way.”

She led Laney to a chair near a counter that
held an assortment of vials and hermetically sealed needles. She
tied a rubber band over the top of Laney’s arm, tapped the vein and
withdrew a small amount of blood. Laney looked away during the
process. Funny. Not much bothered her on a battlefield, but the
sight of her own blood had always made her queasy.

It was over in seconds, and while Laney stood
and held a small piece of white gauze over the puncture mark, Cilia
placed the vial in a metal box. She pushed a button and the box
whirred to life. Laney moved forward to watch. After a couple of
minutes the display screen on its top blinked, but the results
weren’t in a language Laney could translate. She looked at Cilia
for the answer.

“Positive.”

Her knees went weak and she hastily backed up
to the chair. Feeling light headed, she rested her elbows against
her knees and leaned forward, taking in deep breaths. She’d had a
strong suspicion, but confirmation was something else. God had a
fine sense of humor. She was
so
not mother material. Her
head swam with visions of all the things that could go wrong, that
she could do wrong.

She was well on her way to a full-fledged
panic attack when she felt Alrik enter her mind. He wrapped her in
warmth, in understanding and confidence. Her heart steadied from
its staccato rhythm and she got control of her breathing. She felt
his pride in her when her fear diminished and the irritation was
enough to snap her the rest of the way free of her panic.

The door opened with that soft
whoosh
she was becoming accustomed to, and she lifted her head to glare at
Alrik and Barak as they strolled in. Alrik looked entirely too
pleased with himself. She stood as they approached and with a
jerked nod to her, Jaxon excused himself to take up his station
outside the door.

“How long until you can determine the sex,
Cilia?” Alrik asked.

Laney frowned. “It’s a boy.”

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “I
agree.”

But Cilia frowned. “A few weeks. You can’t be
sure of that yet, Laney.”

Oh, but she could be. Just as sure as she’d
been that she was pregnant in the first place. Why did that disturb
Cilia so much? “I am.”

Cilia sighed. “We’d hoped ... well, you’re
just one woman.”

Ah, she understood. The Delroi had come
because they weren’t having daughters anymore. They’d hoped the
women of Earth would.

“I promise you a girl next time,” she said
dryly before she could censor herself.

Next time? She was insane. Once would be more
than enough. Alrik grinned, though, and she found she wasn’t as
worried as she’d been earlier. Desperate to get back on safer
ground, she changed the subject and turned to Barak.

“What did you find out?”

“No matches on the tattoos. We’re running
ID’s through the database.”

“How long will it take?”

“Several hours probably.”

She checked her watch. It was a couple of
hours till dinnertime. Enough time for her to walk over to the
hostage rooms and try to dig up some information on her own. She
eyed Alrik. He’d protest.

“Don’t you have something to do?” she
asked.

He raised both eyebrows. “Trying to get rid
of me?”

She grinned. “Just for a couple of
hours.”

He scowled. “I don’t want you further
involved in this.”

“A little late for that,” she said lightly,
edging her way past him and to the door.

She glanced over her shoulder. Almost there.
Just another couple of steps. He caught her arm as she walked over
the threshold. He was still scowling and his eyes were cloudy with
emotion. Was he going to refuse to let her help? She held her
breath.

“One hour, Laney and I come looking for you.
We’re having dinner with Daggar and Barak tonight.”

She almost sagged with relief when he spoke,
but kept a tight reign on herself. Living with Alrik was going to
be akin to an armed truce. She’d take what she could get without a
fight gracefully, without any kind of gloating or sense of victory,
because, God knew, it wasn’t going to happen often. She grinned
despite herself. On the other hand, life would never be boring
would it? Nodding, she turned on her heel and strode away,
uncomfortably aware of Jaxon’s pursuit and Alrik’s gaze boring into
her back until she disappeared out of sight.

She tried the common room, and when she found
it empty, knocked first on Eldridge’s door then Black’s. Neither
answered. Annoyed and concerned by their absences, she returned to
the common room and stared out the window. In the glass she saw
Jaxon looming behind her.

“Is there a way to find out if Eldridge and
Black are onboard?”

He stepped closer. “The General can find
out.”

She pressed her lips together. She wasn’t
ready to involve Alrik yet. She needed to contribute something, not
be relegated to the sidelines. Which reminded her of something that
had bothered her earlier. She turned around to face Jaxon.

“What’s your role here? Will you always be
the one following me?”

She couldn’t quite keep the sarcasm out of
her voice, and damn him, he just arched an eyebrow. Damn all Delroi
warriors and their lack of language skills. She growled, rested a
hand on the butt of her pistol and took an aggressive step forward.
He finally responded but his amusement was evident in his eyes.

“I’m the Captain of your Guard, my lady.”

She cocked her head to one side. Interesting.
“I have a Guard?”

Jaxon chuckled. “Yes. It’s a little
unusual.”

“Is it? Why?”

He shrugged. “Usually a
der’lan
is
protected by the household Guard. Barak thought it might be useful
for you to have your own.”

So Barak didn’t trust her after all. She
narrowed her eyes. How many men assigned to her worked for
Barak?

“And are you all spies?”

Jaxon snorted. “I told him it wouldn’t take
you long to figure that out. To answer your next question, my lady,
we aren’t here to spy on you. We’re here to help you where we
may.”

That gave her pause. What kind of game was
Barak playing? Until she knew, she would play her own. She checked
her watch. No time now.

“In that case, find out where Black and
Eldridge are. I want a report on all their movements in the
morning.”

Jaxon banged his fist against his chest.
“Yes, my lady.”

Without another word, afraid to trust herself
to say anything else, she stepped around him and returned to
Alrik’s quarters.

Cilia, Daggar, and Barak were all there,
along with several people she didn’t know. The two pregnant women
she’d seen in the garden with the same two warriors hovering
nearby, a couple of warriors she’d seen around Daggar or Alrik, and
two more men she thought she’d seen in the healer’s bay. Who she
didn’t see was Alrik and, frowning, she made her way through the
crowd to Daggar’s side.

“Alrik?”

He nodded at the door to the bedroom and she
turned to watch Alrik step through. His appearance had the usual
effect on her. How the hell was she supposed to make it through
this dinner when just looking at him and wondering what he’d do
with that vibrator later was almost enough to make her come? He met
her gaze and gave her a smile that could only be described as
wicked. Then he filled her head with visions as he walked over. He
led her around the room introducing his guests and all the while
the visions got kinkier and sexier. Finally the circuit was over
and she was again standing near Daggar. She struggled to keep her
face calm and expressional, to keep her breath under better control
than a pant.

“Are you okay, Laney?” the Overchief asked.
“You look a bit flushed.”

She glared at Alrik. “I wonder why.”

Alrik tried to look innocent, but Daggar
clearly knew what was up. He chuckled and had the good sense to
cover it with a cough when she transferred her glare to him.

“I think it’s time to eat,” he said.

***

The week was a blur of negotiations during
the day and Alrik’s sweet torture at night. After the first few
days when she thought she would crawl out of her skin if she didn’t
get him inside her
right now
, they gave up pretending
nothing was going on. She had discovered the joys of
almost-exhibitionist-sex, and was way too familiar with the inside
of many of the ship’s hideaway rooms. Closets were her personal
favorite—no choice but to get up close and personal there. His
people seemed to expect this as par for the course and hers saw it
as a sign she wouldn’t protest the upcoming marriage too
loudly.

But wherever she went, she heard whispering
that suspiciously ceased when she made the scene. Many of her old
friends were not quite so sociable and some were flat out cold. She
couldn’t dredge up enough interest to care about personal
betrayals. Sex—sex with Alrik—consumed her. Protecting her unborn
child was a damned close second.

She scowled and quickened her pace. Her
investigation was going nowhere. Every day she received reports of
Black’s and Eldridge’s movements, along with any deviation of the
Earth contingent. There was nothing there. No unauthorized
communications. No secret or even open meetings with enemies. She
made sure Jaxon gave copies of his reports to Barak, but the
spymaster hadn’t reciprocated. She had no idea if he was making
better progress and Alrik was maddeningly silent when she
questioned him.

He had been on the surface all day, but had
let her know an hour ago he was returning. He should arrive any
minute now. The first time he’d tried to go to the surface alone,
he’d rushed back. They couldn’t take the distance between them.
Today they had been fine. The bond was firm. Despite that, she
didn’t think they would get off the craft before she ripped his
clothes off. She grinned. Something told her he wouldn’t mind.

Coming up to the last turn, she heard furtive
whispers and skidded to a stop. She tilted her head to one side and
tried to distinguish the voices. Bob, General Scott, and the Prime
Minister.

“This is stupid,” Bob hissed. “You don’t know
Laney like I do. She won’t do it.”

“She will if you order her to,” General Scott
answered in a cold voice.

There was an abrupt silence. She heard
shuffling feet, and imagined Scott and the Prime Minister trying to
glare Bob into submission. She bit back a chuckle. She could have
told them not to waste their time. Once he decided to do or not do
something, Bob was as immovable as a mountain.

“Taking out Torfa is the only way for us to
be free of these people, and she’s in the best position to do it,”
General Scott finally added.

She held her breath. Here were her
conspirators. Or were they? Was this something separate from the
attack at the testing ground?

“They’d kill her and annihilate us.”

“Not necessarily,” the Prime Minister
answered. “Her initial distaste for the situation is pretty well
known. We just make it known she bided her time. She lulled them
into a false sense of security and took the opportunity when it
arose. They won’t attack all of us for the individual actions of
one woman.”

She blinked in surprise. Interesting. The
information about her pregnancy either hadn’t been leaked or they
didn’t understand the implications. There was no way she’d kill the
father of her child. He was her son’s only real protection. If
she’d ever doubted her own people posed a danger to him, that doubt
was now banished.

A plan took shape in her mind. She stepped
around the corner so she was in full view. When all three of them
turned to look at her, she stepped forward and smiled, knew it was
cold and savage and didn’t give a damn. Bob flinched, but the other
two didn’t seem to think anything was out of the ordinary.

“Gentlemen,” she said into the silence, not
even bothering to acknowledge the rank or station of any of the men
standing there. If her ties to Earth had mostly been broken on the
day of the attack, now they were irrevocably severed.

“Sergeant Major.” The Prime Minister nodded
at her. “You heard our plan?”

Still smiling, she answered. “The ninth
circle of hell will melt before I marry against my will. You don’t
need to worry on that account.”

The Prime Minister smiled, and there was
something ferocious and nasty in it that made her skin crawl. If
she didn’t come through, he had every intention of looking
elsewhere. She couldn’t let that happen.

“Odd how your plan so closely mirrors
mine.”

Bob looked sick, his eyes flashing knowledge.
They’d served together so long he knew she was up to something,
just didn’t know what, wasn’t sure what side she would come down
on. She could see the question, the confusion in his eyes. Would
she kill the Delroi general or was she stringing the Prime Minister
along? He really should know her better. Well, she’d deal with him
later.

“When?” General Scott demanded.

The tremor started in her hands and she
shoved them in her pockets before anyone noticed. Bob’s gaze
flickered. She met General Scott’s eyes with a hard glare of her
own.

“I’ll be in touch with General Darren. Under
the circumstances, I’m sure you’ll agree that the less you know the
better.”

Scott’s suspicion was easy to read. “Why
haven’t you already done it, then?”

“I’d prefer to get out alive,” she replied
dryly. That much wasn’t an act at least. And she was done talking.
She nodded to Bob, hoping there was a world of understanding in the
action and walked away. Once she moved far enough away to not be
observed, she let anger hasten her steps.