Page 9 of BaOBy

But not everything.

Sitting in his lap, Cat reached up and laid her palm on his cheek. Baby tilted his head—touching her forehead with his. “Tell me the rest before you leave tonight,” he whispered before he drew back, giving her room to breathe. “Let’s get this out of the way, so you don’t need to think about it and we can go on to the next step.”

Keeping her voice low, she shared the horror her life had become. “Jacanas visits often to torture me with my death. He wants me to think about what it will be like. To worry about it every day during all the months I’m pregnant. He gifted me a re-breather years ago. That way, the drugged air wouldn’t affect me and I could be more efficient with my work. He didn’t take it away because he wants me to be aware and afraid—every second.” Cat fully understood that Baby thought there would be some way to fix this. She knew there wasn’t.

Baby reached out and retrieved her water tube. “Drink,” he urged. Handing Cat the tube and running his hand through her hair, moving it off her face.

She needed the water to soothe her throat. As his touch soothed her soul. “There are three other Earth women in that house across the street. All three are pregnant with raptizaer offspring. They don’t have re-breathers and in addition, he keeps all three well sedated. I don’t think they realize what is happening.” Catalina wasn’t sure she could finish the rest. But Baby tightened his arms around her, letting her know he was here… holding her. Better to get this part over with.

“The Andaran brings me videos of raptizaers slashing their way out of their mothers’ wombs. Forcing me to watch them with him. Then he reads statistics on what happens to the mothers and how. He framed pictures of the aftermath of these births and had them hung in my room, so I can never escape the reality of my situation. The female of this species can only give birth once. Less than two percent of their women survive pregnancy. There is a very lucrative market for what the Andaran termed throwaway wombs. They don’t care that the captive incubator won’t live through the experience. Implanting the embryo in another species ensures their females live. And the babies are still one hundred percent raptizaer.”

Her shoulders slumped, and she took a shaky breath. It was done. Cat refused to cry. Not here. Not now. She’d rather soak up the feeling of powerful arms holding her tight before he pulled away in disgust. She told him everything about her situation. Now he would realize he couldn’t save her. She couldn’t be his mate.

But he didn’t push her off his lap, or move his arms. Cat was shocked when he continued to hold her.

When Baby spoke, she could hear the rage in his voice. “The Galactic Alliance will ban the raptizaer and any other species that believes using someone else’s womb is a good idea. This might prompt research into the use of robotic wombs or some other medical option for them. But it will be too late to help you and the other women in that house across the street.”

Cat was glad he remembered them. Reluctantly, she scooted off his lap and stood. “The Midnight Moon is rising. Soon it will fill the sky with light, and I won’t be able to sneak back across the street.”

She let him take her into his arms. Allowing him to brush his lips over each of her eyelids. To ease down to her lips… and kiss her. The thought that she could now die happy… fluttered through her mind. It was meant to be a little sarcastic—and a little breathy—virginal amazement.

Catalina was absolutely both. A sarcastic virgin. She’d keep that little tidbit to herself.

Her knees buckled, and Baby supported her weight. When he brought his mouth down on hers for the first time, it was with exquisite gentleness. A soft whisper of his lips. Heat spiraled through Cat, and she needed more. His kiss—silenced all the crazy thoughts in her head. Her tongue teased the seam of her mouth and she opened for him.

Cat needed this. Melting into his body—she couldn’t deny that THIS felt right. She was destined to be his mate. His arms wrapped around her. Tight. Nearly crushing her as he offered her love and protection. The kiss went on. Both a little heaven and a lot of hell. She needed to get back to her room so she could dissect the wonder of her first kiss… and cry herself to sleep that it was probably her last.

Chapter Seven

BaOBy

Bao held on to his emotions as he helped Cat cross the street. The kiss had shaken him to his core. Her taste branded in his memory forever. Before, because the marking bands moved, he knew she was his mate. But now, after that soul-shattering kiss, every cell in his body recognized her as his one and only.

The light from the second moon—Bao noticed Catalina called it the Midnight Moon—was almost as bright as the midday sun. Before it rose, no one had been out and about, and all the houses and businesses were closed up and dark.

But now, a few men strode down the street. Several houses and the local bakery were lit from within. Bao had to ask his brother Jay, the Master of Illusion, to hide them from sight. He didn’t want to take her back. But he understood her need to return. Until the Andraran was dead—she would remain his prisoner.

Hiding places and things, people, was a simple task for his brother, and yet his help made Bao emotional. Catalina had gone her entire life without help from anyone. Now she had him. He just needed to make sure she understood the concept.

Before he said goodnight, Bao leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Thank you, Cat. For telling me your story. I know it was hard, and a horrific nightmare for you to live through. I ask that you do something for me?”

Her eyebrows pressed together, and she frowned at him. “What?” she whispered back. She had tears in her eyes, and she was in a hurry to get away from him.

Pulling her into his arms again, he bent his head until his beard scruff tangled in her blonde hair. “Don’t give up your life for anything. I know right now you feel as if your situation is hopeless. You might be tempted to strike out at the Andaran, entice him to kill you. Or risk your life to kill him. Please don’t. Let me think about what you’ve said. Study it from all sides. Promise you’ll give me some time?”

She tilted her head back. Green eyes studying his face. Bao could read her expressions. He’d been right. She planned to attack the Andaran in such a way—it would force the evil man to kill her. It would be a miracle if she managed to kill him. But that wasn’t the point of her actions. Cat wanted him to kill her. So, she wouldn’t have to go through with the Andaran’s nasty scheme.

Leaning in, Cat tightened her hold on him. “I can wait for a few days,” she promised him.

Bao let his breath out slowly. He understood this was hard for her, yet believed her promise. “Thank you. One more thing before you slip inside the house.” He followed her around the corner to the window hidden from the road by a tall, flowering bush. “I need to speak to someone on my ship. I’d like to have more of my brothers come down to help us protect those you’ve identified as the Andaran’s prisoners. The DoMicile is rotating this plant. Do you know where I can go to communicate with them so the Andaran isn’t alerted?”

Cat’s wide smile gleamed in the moonlight. “I definitely can help with that. The Andaran has an unmanned storage facility at the edge of town. It is actually a hidden spaceport, filled with his larger private ships and a few hovers. Each is equipped with physical cloaking, so the ship can’t be seen or tracked. They all have untraceable communication systems, too. Use whichever ones you want and disable the rest so he can’t escape the planet. All the information on where the building is and what is in there—is in the bag I left you. Including all the information on ways to get inside. The security on this planet won’t see the Andaran’s ships or any signal from them. He had them built that way. They are his escape route. Viant’s security force is focused on the town only. They don’t monitor the fields or outlying areas. If you took one of his ships and parked it in the middle of the Violetta field at the end of the street, the flowers would hide your coming and going. Harvest isn’t for a month.”

“He won’t know if we take one of his ships?”

Cat shook her head. “No. A maintenance team goes in every three months and makes sure there aren’t any issues. But he’s never left the planet. Not really. Once in a while, he takes a ship out to skim away from the city. He wants to make sure everyone sees him. Or he’ll shoot out into space and orbit the planet. Sending a broadcast message to the masses with some new law he’s devised to make them miserable. But that is rare. Be careful, there is video surveillance on the outside of the building. Unless he’s done something in the months I’ve been gone, that is the only hazard.”

Reluctant to let her go, Bao kissed her once more. Then helped Catalina slip through the window, back into her prison. He handed her the smaller of the two bags he’d collected. She hesitated for a moment before she closed the window and the drapes. Pain reverberated through his soul.

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