Page 93 of The Protector
“And she lets you come inside her?”
“Yes. At first it was a mystery to me why she would risk it, but now I think I know why.”
“Why?”
I lowered my voice and leaned closer to him. “The other day, Christina was talking about the clinics women go to when they want to become a mother. Did you know that they have parenting units where adults who want to raise children live together?”
Khan didn’t confirm it, but I knew he had more insights into the culture in the Motherlands than any of us; after all, he and his father had gone there for peace meetings on occasion.
“According to Christina, a child always has a primary mother, but beside that there’s a number of people that love them.”
“So?”
“So, apparently, men no longer have sperm strong enough to impregnate women. That’s why they go to clinics.”
“Ahh,” Khan nodded. “And she thinks you can’t impregnate her either.”
“I assume that’s what she thinks, and I’m sure as hell not going to tell her that women here are impregnated the old-fashioned way.”
“Good.”
“Anyway, she was commenting that it was lucky for Laura that she hadn’t been to a clinic yet because pregnant women aren’t allowed to train in martial arts.”
“Christina thinks Magni can’t get Laura pregnant,” Khan mused.
“Yes. And maybe she’s right. I mean, they’ve been living together for almost a year.”
“My brother can impregnate his wife just fine.” Khan defended Magni. “These things can take time.”
“Right.” I backed down. “But Christina thinks he can’t and that I can’t either.”
“Interesting!”
“Why do you think their men have such low sperm counts?”
Khan shook his head. “I can’t be sure, but I’ll bet that being oppressed by women and downplaying your masculinity isn’t healthy. Men in the Motherlands look and behave so feminine it makes you wonder how much testosterone they even have left.”
I shuttered. “Thank fuck that I was born a free man.”
Khan looked thoughtful. “Yeah… now all we have to do is liberate all the other men.”
“You think we can make them real men again?” I asked.
“Maybe not, but hopefully we can work on raising the next generation to be more masculine.”
“I like the sound of that,” I said and raised my arms. “And talking about less feminine, how about I kick your ass a little to get you into shape? I think you’re starting to get man boobs.”
Khan resumed circling me. “Say that again and I’ll knock your teeth out, pretty boy,” he retorted and winked. “Have I told you, you look like a girl without your beard?”
“Fuck you!”
He grinned. “Let me give you a piece of advice. Next week when you go to visit your mine, don’t bend over. It’s dark there and the engineers might confuse you with a woman.”
Smack!I landed my first clean hit and he stumbled back.
“Shaving is a small price to pay if it makes Christina stay. You have no idea how addictive sex with a real woman is.”
Khan rolled his jaw and raised his arms again. “No, I don’t,” he said grumpily. “But I’m considering it.”
