Page 80 of Fighting Gravity
“Gathea. Yes.”
“So they’ll just give you one? Because you’re an urok or whatever?”
The corner of his mouth quirked. “Yes.”
“That’s impressive. Must be the god thing Veron told me about.”
“I am prioritized. I am of noble blood. Sought after for my services and… other things.”
“What’s other things?”
He turned to face me completely.
“My genetics.”
It took me a hot second to understand what he was saying, but once I did, my eyebrows shot right up.
“Oh,” I said, my gaze darting involuntarily toward Rhone’s groin for half a second. “Gotcha. I guess your military service is more important, huh? Considering you’re out here chasing valerians and kidnapping humans.”
“I’ve already sired a litter.”
“You have kids?”
“Somewhere. I will likely not meet them until they are older, but yes.”
“And their mother?”
“I only met her once during our brief coupling. She was strong.”
“Are all gek women big like Veron?”
“They are not petite. Sometimes they are larger than the men. A long time ago, females chose their mates based on whether or not they could best them in a fight. It was a great honor to be bested. And they must be strong to protect their young. Most males do not help to raise children. We help to train them later in life, but our duty is to our people as a whole.”
“But you didn’t do that with the mother of your children? Fight her, I mean.”
“No. The situation was impersonal, as most pairings are nowadays.”
“So you don’t raise your own young. Got it.”
“Do humans?”
“Most of the time.”
“Did your parents raise you?”
Immediately, I felt my throat close a little.
“Sort of. Until I was pushed out.”
“Pushed out?”
“It’s complicated. The short story is that I didn’t fit in with my family so I left.” I cleared my throat, the bullshit emotions trickling back in from my past. I didn’t like it. Rhone didn’t seem like the type to want someone getting emotional around him and I wasn’t the type to like getting emotional around others. Yet there I was…
“Parents on Earth are supposed to be there for their kids. My dad found another woman and pushed my mother away and because I didn’t like it, he pushed me away, too. Not without the help of his new wife. That bitch turned everyone against me and I let her because I was angry. Angry no one stood next to me. Angry no one believed me. Angry my own mother didn’t stand by me and instead let the anger and grief get the better of her.” I paused, the pain reminding me that it was still there and would never truly be gone. “It got the better of her until it ended her.”
I shook my head, thinking back on it all like it was a tender wound still festering after years of neglect. “That probably doesn’t make sense to you at all. Point is, I have no one on Earth.”
Rhone took a deep breath and turned back to look at space. “Human family dynamics seem quite different. I met my parents only once. Otherwise, my brothers and sisters are all I’ve known.”
