Page 3 of Serpents of the Night

A sense of excitement and wonder filled him. Even in the shinara, if he had been selected as a mate for a female of his own species, he would have had little access to such things. He knew that there was a screening method used by the mid-mother assisting in the prenatal care and birth, though he’d never seen it. The mid-mother was trained in how to emit a certain frequency that bounced the highly specialized sound waves into the female’s womb from which they were recorded by special sound frequency technology. As far as he knew, however, it did not provide anything close to the clarity and detail that human medics utilized.

He had been in shock during the last visit. Their offspring had still been very small at that time but seeing them curled up in their little sack had made his heart warm and patter affectionately in his chest. He was quite obsessed with his nestling already. A chance to see the little one again was very good news.

“Will Daskh be meeting us?” he asked.

Part of him selfishly wanted to keep the experience to himself and enjoy it with Lori, though he immediately felt ashamed of the feeling. In such a short time, those males that he had taken to calling his nest brothers had become closer to him than those with whom he had truthfully shared a nest. He barely remembered the latter, but he had come to find a certain level of comfort and joy in the presence of Daskh and Kehtal. They provided additional safety and a safety net of love and affection—and their shared intimacy with their mate drew them all closer to each other. He should want to share this special moment with them—and in his hearts, he did. The growth of their nest excited him.

But he also wanted something small for himself—as all males desired when they never had anything after coming of age. He had no doubt that his nest brothers felt similarly. Though for all that he had in his youth, which was considerably more than many males, he perhaps felt that loss even more keenly and it added to his struggles and inner turmoil where other males within the colony seemed to have adapted to the mate-sharing with ease. It frustrated him that he could not be so blissfully pleased, and that he could not help but feel a measure of disappointment to share the moment with his nest brother—for he knew the male would also be thrilled to be present—when Lori nodded in affirmation.

“I told him the time and he registered it his comm.”

Slengral glanced at his own comm fastened around his wrist. Another useful thing that came with their new alliance with the aliens. Although Seshanamitesh could communicate simple messages a long distance with a series of shrieks, the comms made long distance communication not only easier, but it had other uses, such as the ability to set alarms and verbal notations. The comms had the Seshanamitesh script, but like most males, he could not read it beyond a few words that had been necessary to memorize.

“He will be there,” he acknowledged. Expelling a sharp breath, he snapped his gavo and turned on his tail toward the door. “We shall go then.”

His ashlava, the queen of his nest, gave him a warm smile. “Yeah, I’m ready. It’s too bad that Kehtal can’t join us, but he asked that I comm him a copy of the captured images so that he can see them once they are finished hunting.”

Slengral’s gavo twitched. “He will get much pleasure from them. They won’t be out too much longer. The suns are climbing and soon the prey will go to ground to wait out the scorching hours.”

Lori shook her head and laughed softly to herself. “It seems so backward to talk of the earliest and latest hours of the day as the most productive with the night filled with dangerous predators and the midday possessing a particularly killing heat for those stuck above the surface. I’m still not used to it.”

“And no Seshanamitesh can understand how a human can slumber for so many hours at night when there are plenty of opportunities to rest through the day,” he teased as she strode past him.

He chuffed and followed his mate out of their nest, his gavo lifting alertly as he glanced around and scented the air. Lori barely even paused before walking at a brisk pace down the hall. Slengral grumbled to himself but glided after her. As much as she struggled adapting to life on Seshana, he struggled like the other Seshanamitesh with understanding that they were safe within Raza colony. While there were often little skirmishes, there were no life-threatening dangers that could descend upon them from out of nowhere and no deadly rivals who would kill for a female. Males of that proclivity were banned from Raza and stayed away because they knew that the Seshanamitesh dwelling within the colony would kill them on sight.

That did not stop him from remaining alert as they made their way down the corridors or from stiffening very briefly when Lori’s comm suddenly went off. He glanced over at her, but she did not seem surprised. She expected it. She tapped on her comm, and Eddie’s holographic image rose from it. The male did not look like himself. He bore a noticeably haggard expression that stirred a small amount of sympathy within Slengral for him.

“Hey Eddie, how did it go?” Lori asked as she turned down another corridor with Slengral keeping pace at her side.

The male rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. “About as well as could be expected, I suppose. As we were warned, she not only came with a small contingent—which she considered a paltry and insulting limitation—but she also refused to allow any of our Seshanamitesh to escort her. Nor would she accept anyone we simply had available. I had to round up a bunch of ladies for her to choose from to make up for the loss of her personal escorts and see to her comfort. It took us the better part of an hour just to get her to her quarters with a particularly colorful and much smaller Seshanamitesh that she ordered around like a servant.”

Slengral chuffed. “Her mate,” he supplied, and Eddie’s holographic eyes widened as they turned in his direction in surprise. Slengral was outside the holographic sensor, so Eddie could not see him, but the look of shock turned in the direction of his voice was understandable all the same. “A mated male travels with his female and sees to all of her needs. A hashara is always a mated female as an unmated male will not approach and attempt to claim a female who scents of being mated. There is also the matter that her guard is always made up of males who are mates belonging to other females within the shinara and females would not so quickly trust their mates around one who was unmated.”

Eddie shuddered. “Fuck. That explains a lot about what’s going on with you poor bastards. It doesn’t help that she was absolutely huge. It would have been halfway sexy if she weren’t scary as fuck.” He sighed heavily. “Regardless, that part is done, and she will be ready to receive you in two hours, Lori. And I can’t say that I’m envious. She doesn’t appear to be particularly happy to be here.”

“Great,” Lori muttered in turn. “I guess it was too much to hope that this would be a trip to foster relations.”

“I wouldn’t count on it. Good luck, kid,” Eddie imparted, his hologram winking out.

Lori groaned unhappily, her hand falling once more to her side as she quickened her pace. Slengral gave his mate a worried look.

“Do you wish for me to deal with the hashara? I am a mated male and of no threat. Nor am I absolutely without experience in such things. It would be considered a grievous insult if I took your place, but I do not particularly care if she is insulted or not. I do not wish for her to create too great of a burden for you.”

His mate smiled over at him but shook her head in the human way. “That’s a really sweet offer, but no. Whatever brings her here must be important and I don’t wish to start our first official contact with the shinara with insult and ill-will.”

Slengral grunted, his gaze sliding over to the human script that marked the medical unit. With a hashara involved, and one already displeased at the outset, he did not hold much hope for it ultimately going in any other direction. Despite Lori’s best intentions, the hashara would find a way to be justified in some insult or in perceiving some shortcoming. He was also certain that she was there to spy. Did his mother wish for her to investigate his situation? He hoped not. He would have to be on watch. He felt fortunate that Daskh would also be at their side to help shield their mate and serve as additional protection. They would not allow the hashara to do anything to upset Lori or treat her poorly in any way. He would speak privately with Daskh at the first opportunity.

Chapter 3

Lori wasn’t a fool. She knew that Slengral was anxious about her meeting with the hashara. She wasn’t particularly thrilled about it herself and had been working on Vi most of the day, trying to change her friend’s mind. Hell, Vi would likely be looking forward to the meeting and find the entire thing amusing if she hadn’t been so stubborn about not assuming any position remotely associated with authority. With what awaited her, Lori looked forward to her appointment as the perfect opportunity to de-compress and set aside the dreaded meeting to focus on what was important first—their family. Even though Kehtal wasn’t there sharing it with them, she felt like he was in a way as she made the recording for him.

“Oh my—look at him,” she whispered to her comm as the arm of med-bed suspended over her belly projected a perfectly clear image of the baby coiled on himself, his small tail twitching and twisting as he moved about restlessly in her womb.

“He’s looking very good,” Medic Jasper replied, his face lighting up with a smile.

The medic was young, perhaps younger than some of the miners preferred to trust their medical care to since he had apparently arrived two years ago upon achieving his medic licensing. He had been immediately assigned to assistant medic by Raza colony’s chief medical officer. In Lori’s opinion, those complaining needed to get over themselves. He was young and still pretty inexperienced, but he was also the only one who had volunteered to stay behind and remain on Seshana when Darvel pulled out.

“Growth seems to be good. Of course, we don’t have anything to go by on what is normal for Seshanamitesh since the shinara has refused to respond to any of my inquiries for even the most basic information regarding Seshanamitesh health and anatomy. But, in comparison to what is observable in human development and my projected estimates, I would say that this looks normal. And look here,” he said pointing to what appeared to be two small sacks on their baby’s back with a thin lining attaching to the tiny body. “I believe that these are a sort of membrane sac that contains the developing wings, and this is an additional mucus membrane securing it to the infant’s body. You can just make out the skeletal structure of the forming wings inside. It’s nothing like anything I’ve seen before,” he added enthusiastically.

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