Page 59 of Silent Lucidity

The realization of what she’d done suddenly struck her. She had sex with analien.

Fuck!

She’d had sex with an alienmultiple times, and not once before now had she considered any of the potential consequences. Her birth control implant had expired two years ago.

Couldhe impregnate her? They were from two different species, so there was no way she could conceive his child…right?

Abella dropped her free hand to her belly.

Though she would’ve expected the very notion of carrying a half-alien child to scare the hell out of her, she found herself surprisingly calm as she thought about it. She wouldn’t lie to herself—it was scary, but not for the reasons it should have been. Their child would have been the most protected little thing in the entire universe thanks to Tenthil, but what kind of life would that child know? Constantly on the run, constantly under threat of death, never having peace…

What the hell is wrong with me? I should be thinking about getting home!

Had she given in so easily? Had she given up?

She slowly turned her gaze back toward Tenthil. Was it wrong to want him, too? Why couldn’t she go homeandhave Tenthil?

Would he want to go with her?

He lifted one of the blasters off the table and slid a fresh power cell into the breech. When he closed the compartment, the weapon made a soft click. He met her gaze as he placed the blaster on the table again and tilted his head. “You okay?”

“Huh?” she asked, mentally shaking herself. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

He dipped his chin, glancing at the hand she held over her stomach.

She looked down and yanked her hand away as though it’d been burned. “It’s nothing.” She nodded toward the weapons. “Are we…expecting company?”

Shit! Bad choice of words, Abella.

His gaze lingered on her middle for a moment longer. “Always.”

“They’ll never stop, will they?”

“When we are dead,” he replied, his frown at odds with his upturned scars, “or whenheis.”

“Do…you intend to go after him?”

Tenthil’s silver eyes shifted to the weapons on the table. She’d seen him use them, had seen him take down larger, potentially stronger beings with only a knife, and didn’t doubt he was just as deadly with his bare hands when necessary.

Several seconds passed without an answer from him.

“Are you afraid, Tenthil?” she asked as gently as she could.

Tenthil sighed and averted his eyes. “I wasn’t, before. Even when I was young, I understood that my relationship with the Master would end with one of us dead by the other’s hand. Death never frightened me. But he knows who you are, Abella, and that…that is terrifying.”

Abella’s heart clenched, and something in her belly coiled tight. How could she remain unaffected when he said such things?

Setting aside the remainder of her food, she rose and walked toward him. He tilted his head back as she neared, and when she stood immediately before him, she cupped his cheeks between her hands and ran her thumbs over his scars.

“He can’t have me,” she said.

Tenthil wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “Never.”

Abella slid her hands up, combing her fingers through his hair as he rested his head against her stomach. “What are we going to do?”

“Supposed to be a forger in Undercity who can fool Consortium ID systems. We’re going to find him and get identification chips made.” He drew back and looked up into her eyes. “Then we will be able to clear the checkpoints and get off this planet.”

“Why don’t we just go to a checkpoint? Wouldn’t they help us?” she asked, though in the back of her mind she couldn’t shake the memory of the borian peacekeeper who’d refused to aid her.

---