Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Lilly came slowly awake her, head throbbing and feeling like someone had hit it with a baseball bat; everything hurt, even her hair. Blinking grit from her eyes, she cautiously looked around to see that she was in the med center, lying on one of the healing beds. Across the room, Cahir was sleeping on another bed, and past him was Lars, his left arm and shoulder heavily bandaged.

“Ah, you are awake, the treatment worked.” Arnal came into view and gave her a fleeting smile. “Ronan will be pleased he was here with you, but was called away to the overseer’s office. Now, how do you feel?”

“Like someone slammed my head into a wall, how are Cahir and Lars?” Lilly asked as Arnal ran a small scanner over her and then frowned.

“They are mending; I can give you something for your head. Do you hurt anywhere else? I have been working on refining the healing bed to match your biology and genetics, but it still needs a little work. It mended your broken bones, but you still have bruises and torn muscles. It would be best if you lie still for a time.” Arnal shut off the scanner then looked her over. “No other pains?”

“Sore and stiff but nothing horrible.” Lilly lied, though in truth she felt like she’d been run over by a bus;, now that she was fully conscious, everything seemed to be throbbing worse. She’d kill for some aspirin.

“Very good, no pains in your abdomen, no cramping?” Arnal asked, giving her a questioning look.

“No, why the last thing I remember was seeing Ronan break down the door, and then I hit my head, and I must have blacked out,” Lilly said. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m concerned you took several hard hits. When I scanned you, it said you are pregnant. It is still early yet, so you must be careful and watch yourself closely.” Arnal replied softly.

Lilly blinked, not sure she’d heard correctly. “I’m pregnant, but that’s impossible. Ronan and I aren’t from the same planet, we aren’t the same species.”

“True, but you share DNA; you share a lot of DNA. All that is truly different between your race and mine is skin, eye, hair color, and the number of hearts. Your world, your people were obviously seeded by the Founders, the same ancient race that created my people.” Arnal gave her another fleeting smile. “It is, of course, a miracle, and Ronan shall be pleased; it is also the answer to my world’s problem. If you can become pregnant naturally, that means other females from your world could also bear children for Gilesean males.”

Lilly frowned, not sure if that was a good or bad thing, but if all the men from Gilese were as good-looking and attentive as Ronan was, perhaps the women of Earth would be happy about being prospective mates. “Perhaps, but I don’t know where my planet is, I don’t even know where I am now.”

“Do not worry, my people would be able to find your home world in time, and you don’t know what it would mean to my world to find compatible females. Gilese is dying, and the few females on my world are weak and unable to bear children. The males of my world would happily do anything the females of your world asked for a chance to continue our race.” Arnal gave Lilly another fleeting smile. “I left my world to seek a mate, but I was never as lucky as Ronan. Now rest.”

Lilly wasn’t sure how she felt about being pregnant, while she knew Ronan loved her, being pregnant while a slave at a settlement that resembled a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas wasn’t ideal. Ronan and his men needed to focus on escaping and getting home safely; if Ronan knew she was pregnant, he could become distracted and do something foolish.

“Ronan can’t know, at least not yet. It is still early, if I lost the baby and he knew about it the loss would crush him; he has so much to worry about.” Lilly caught Arnal’s hand, startling him as she gave him an imploring look. “Please, he can’t know at least not yet.”

“Very well, I will keep quiet but only for a little while,” Arnal replied. “But only if you are careful and rest and try to eat more you need to put on weight, now I’m going to get food for you and Cahir. Ronan should return soon.”

Lilly managed a nod that seemed to placate Arnal for the healer nodded then turned to walk from the med lab leaving Lilly to ponder her fate. Her life was like some bad tabloid headline, pregnant by an alien. What was she going to do, under normal circumstances pregnant and married to the man she loved would have been a blessing but being pregnant now was a nightmare. She and Ronan were both slaves, with little to no control over their lives. Ronan needed to focus on escaping, on freeing himself and his men; his freedom was all that mattered.

Lilly knew Ronan and his men were keeping a secret from her, a big secret about who he was. The way the men always deferred to him told her that he was their leader and that he was important. Ronan had promised he would take her home with him, but from the way his men had reacted to her she knew that would cause him nothing but problems. Ronan said he cared for her, but that was here; would he still want her away from this place? She didn’t want to make his life miserable once he was free; he’d told her he didn’t regret their union, but what if he was lying just to be kind? But no Ronan had always been truthful with her.

“What am I to do?” Lilly said out loud as she felt tears threaten.

“I would tell Ronan, he will be beyond happy to learn he is to be a father. It is all he has wanted for many cycles; in fact, it is what every male on my world dreams of.” Cahir said, startling Lilly.

Lilly turned to see Cahir lying on his side his head propped on his hand and watching her.

“You heard? You can’t tell Ronan, I beg you.” Lilly turned to look at Cahir as tears slid down her cheeks.

“But why, it is a joyous announcement,” Cahir asked, shaking his head in obvious confusion.

“Because of where we are, if Ronan discovered I’m pregnant, then he will be even more protective, and he might do something stupid that would put him in jeopardy. He can’t know, he has a chance to you know, you all do, you just have to be patient.” Lilly didn’t want to state out loud about their plans as she didn’t know if the med center was being observed.

Cahir frowned, then, after a moment, nodded. “I will keep your secret for now, but you must tell Ronan soon,” Cahir said as the door to the med bay opened and Ronan stepped inside.

“Tell Ronan what?” Ronan asked, stepping into the med center and smiling in relief at seeing that both Lilly and Cahir were conscious.

“That she found more servos that could be of use, but she has to go to the dump to retrieve them. She knows how you hate for her to go there, as it is dangerous.” Cahir lied smoothly.

Ronan crossed to Lilly to kiss her forehead and give her a smile before walking to Cahir and giving him a rough hug before stepping back.

“Thank you, I saw the security vid, you fought bravely to protect Lilly, I won’t forget that.” Ronan knew his men hadn’t been thrilled with his choice to mate and marry Lilly, but that Cahir had risked all to protect her was a load off his heart. Cahir and the others were like brothers to him, and it had wounded him to know they disapproved of Lilly.

“You are welcome, I have come to admire Lilly and think of her as a friend now, besides, I would have done the same for any female,” Cahir replied, pushing himself to a sitting position.

“All the same, thank you, I won’t forget this,” Ronan said, then returned to Lilly and cautiously sat on the edge of the bed. He looked Lilly over, frowning when he saw the tears in her eyes.

“What is it, you weep, are you in great pain?” Ronan took Lilly’s pale hand between his before placing a gentle kiss on the back of it.

“I only hurt a little, but I am afraid. What happened, I saw you come to save me, and then I lost consciousness. I know you fought for me, are you in trouble, will you be punished?” Lilly asked, afraid that Ronan would be punished or worse.

“No, far from it, the male who tried to take you is called Zardo; he has been fined heavily for what he did and banned from the dome. He is not likely to return; he and his men caused damage not just here but at several of the domes. They also tried to take away other females; I will be surprised if they aren’t off the planet by nightfall.” Ronan deliberately didn’t tell Lilly that Zardo had wanted to buy her; the information would only upset her. “I saw how hard you fought. You are truly meant to be my mate. I could ask for no better female; you are brave, cunning, and as beautiful as you are brilliant.”

Lilly felt Ronan squeeze her hand and some of the fear that was gripping her heart eased, she had let her fears make her doubt Ronan’s love for her. “That is good news,” Lilly replied.

“You’re back.” Arnal stepped into the med bay, holding a tray laden with fruit, and holding a pitcher and two glasses. He nodded to Ronan before setting the tray on a table against the back wall and then poured two cups of juice, which he took.

“How are they?” Ronan inquired as Arnal stepped over to him and held out a glass.

“Cahir is well, another day and a half of rest, and he should be fully healed. The bio beds are old and not as efficient as home.” Arnal turned to take Cahir a glass of juice before turning back to Ronan.

“Lilly will need a little more time, as I said before; she is also in pain, though she denies it. I can tell from the sensor readings that she is. Two to three days of bed rest, then light duty for several days.” Arnal pointed to the cup in Ronan’s hand. “She needs to drink that; it has something in it that will ease her pain. You will also have to see that she eats more; she is still underweight and needs the nutrients to heal.”

“Of course, her health is all that matters to me.” Ronan turned to slip a hand under Lilly’s back and help her sit before pressing the glass into her hands.

“Good, she will be fine; she is stronger than she looks. You are lucky to have found such a female.” Arnal said as he walked back to Ronan with a plate of fruit that he set on the bed beside Lilly.

“Yes, I am. What I’d cursed before I now thank for it brought me to her. All will be well soon, Lilly, you just have to believe and it will.” Ronan took the empty cup of juice from her and gave her a smile. He meant it for his misfortune had brought Lilly into his life, and with her help, he would soon be free. His father would be delighted that he’d found his mate at last, and perhaps if fate, was kind they would be blessed with a child; if not it didn’t matter for his hearts were full of Lilly. She had ended his loneliness and brought light into his dark life, she had given him hope for the future.