Adaptation: book I (13 page)

He grimaced at the memory of the wolf.

Though exhausted and wanting to roll over and return to sleep, he was more curious than he was interested in resting. He sat up on the couch and looked around.  It was quiet … too quiet. Where was the human?

He placed his hand on his injured shoulder, surprised that it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it did before. He lifted the corner of the tape holding down a bandage. He peeked at the angry red wound and grimaced. She had sewn his flesh together with thread. He pressed the tape back into place thinking that she had done a fine job—and happy that he had been asleep when she did it.

He examined his forearm next, sure that it was fractured, but there was nothing to be done about that. The bone would mend without any help from him. He also didn’t bother trying to unwrap the bandage and ran his fingers over the bandages on his chest and belly. He winced slightly and felt a bit disappointed that he had allowed his human skin to become marred. He was happy to be alive, but he also had to live in this body. Though he might not live to be as old as a pure Centaurian, he could live longer than the average human and it would be a shame to wreck it so soon.

Bilal pushed the blanket back and stood. As soon as he was standing he grew lightheaded and had to sit. He tried standing again, and this time held onto the edge of the couch. He took a tentative step toward the window. When he felt that he wouldn’t fall, he continued until he could see out into the yard.

The human was hanging freshly washed clothes on a clothesline. His eyes lingered on her swollen belly. With a frown he wondered if she would give birth earlier than he had anticipated. He wanted to examine her but knew that she wouldn’t like that.

Bilal caught sight of the big black wolf lolling a few feet from her. He nearly jumped back from the window. With a frown he closed the curtain and looked around. The fireplace held a small fire that kept the room pleasantly warm. There was a solarium with French doors beside it where he could see more wood for the fireplace.

The house was immaculate and tastefully furnished. He moved into the kitchen and saw a pot of something simmering on the stove. Curious, he lifted the lid and saw broth. His stomach grumbled. He also had to relieve himself.

He walked to the back door, worried the wolf would hear him opening the door. It was a good thing he had a penis. He could aim it and pee without leaving the porch, and if he had to, he could dart back into the house.

Bilal opened the door and sniffed the air for anything amiss. He reached into his waistband, gripped his penis, and let lose a stream of urine over the edge of the porch. He sighed, relishing the feel of pissing. When the stream ended, he shook it the way he had seem Raj and Lawrence do it then tucked his penis into his pants. 

He closed the door behind him and entered the kitchen. He saw bread on the table and snatched a slice, eating it quickly while returning to the living room. He was about to head upstairs when the door opened. He swung around and saw the wolf enter the house ahead of the human, who was carrying a basket of folded clothes. Bilal’s knees went weak, and he stopped breathing. He gripped the banister, prepared to dart up the stairs.

The wolf growled.

“Wolf! Sit!”

Bilal saw that the wolf listened to the woman, and the wolf sat at her feet. Bilal let out a relieved breath, and the woman lowered the basket with a grimace and a soft grunt.

She reached down and rubbed the wolf’s neck and pointed out the door. “Outside, Wolf. Outside!” When he didn’t move fast enough, she gripped his scruff and gently nudged him out. “Sorry, boy. You can come back later.”

Once the door was shut and the animal was on the other side, Bilal relaxed.

The two watched each other more curious than wary.

“I didn’t expect you to be awake,” she said. “Your fever just broke last night.”

He touched his shoulder. “Thank you for helping. You sewed the wound close, and there is no infection.”

“Not now.” She folded her arms and rested them on her belly as if it was a shelf. “You nearly died. I didn’t know if you would wake up.”

Bilal frowned, and when she reached to pick up the basket, he rushed forward.

Carmella jumped back.

Bilal reached down and hefted the basket for her. “I’ll carry it for you,” he said.

She blushed. “Oh.”

“Where?”

“Upstairs.”

He trudged up the stairs and waited for her at the top, concerned that she seemed out of breath by the time she reached him. Was the child pressing against her lungs? Maybe it was growing too big. This was his first time creating a child, and the mother ship had much to do with what resulted. He wasn’t completely sure it would turn out the way that was optimum.

Carmella gestured down a hall lined in closed doors toward her bedroom. She watched his naked, muscled back and the way his pants hung low on his hips. She knew what lay beneath those pants. She’d had to clean him, and yes she did look. The sight of a naked man had unsettled her.

Not that it stopped her from looking. 

Bilal glanced around the neat room and placed the basket on the bed. His shoulder throbbed, but he hid the pain and turned to her. “I don’t know what to call you. In my mind I call you ‘the human’ or ‘the woman.’ But that’s not right.”

In her mind she wanted to complain that she was his baby’s mama, but at the last minute she bit back the retort. She stared at him. “Carmella.” 

A smiled touched his lips. It was so perfect. Carmella. She was Carmella.

Carmella’s eyes widened at the look on his face. She reached for the clothes in the basket and placed them on the bed to sort his from hers. She pushed some pajamas in his direction. “I found these in the house when I moved in. I just put them in the basement. I should have thrown them out but couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was too much trouble, but it didn’t seem right to get rid of them. They ought to fit you. There are more clothes in the basement if you want to sort through them. There’s a coat and maybe some shoes will fit.”

“Thank you. I was making plans to go into town for clothes and provisions before winter.” He looked at her belly. “The child will need provisions as well.”

Carmella frowned. “What … is it?”

“It is a baby.”

“No,” she said. “Is it going to be like you were before? A Centaurian? An alien?”

“No,” he said softly. “I tried to give you a gift. A child.
A human child. He’s a boy.”

She sucked in a sharp breath and fingered a folded piece of clothing that lay on the bed. She shook her head. “My son died …”

“Yes. But this child will be your son as well.”

Carmella’s eyes stung as she picked up some of the clothes and put them away in her chest of drawers. 

“And I suspect that the infant will come sooner than I expected.”

She stared at him. “What? When?”

“I don’t know.” He looked at her belly. “I won’t know unless I can examine the baby.” He met her eyes. “I need to do that.” He rubbed his shoulder and looked at the clothes designated as his then picked up a shirt and slipped it carefully over his head. “But first, I have to go. I have to get provisions.”

“Go into town? You’ve been out cold for three days. And my wolf nearly killed you. There are more wolves out there, wolves that won’t be talked down by their angry mother. Besides …” She moved to the door, silently willing him to follow her.

Bilal followed her into the hallway, and across the hall from her bedroom was a closed door. She opened it and stepped inside, and Bilal followed. He looked around, his mouth dropping open.

It was a nursery. It wasn’t an old nursery of cobwebs and torn wallpaper like he’d seen in other abandoned homes over the years. No, this nursery was new. He looked at Carmella. She had prepared for this baby. He felt elated as he stepped inside and studied the crib, the rocker, and the wall hangings of colorful alphabet letters and pictures. She did want this child, or at the very least, she was preparing to care for him.

“Do you have everything that a baby would need? Is there anything else that the child will need?”

For some reason she couldn’t meet his eyes and the room felt too closed-in. She didn’t like the feeling and fiddled with the mobile hanging above the crib. She shrugged. “I don’t know if the powdered formula is any good anymore, but I got tons of it. I got bottles and diapers and … I have everything I need.” She looked into his eyes. “I was kind of worried about how sick I might be afterwards. I guess … that’s all.”

“I’ll be here, Carmella. I do need to check the baby. May I?”

She folded her arms defensively in front of her body and looked away. Eventually she nodded.

Bilal moved to her, deliberately not making any sudden gestures as he gently touched her elbow. He led her to the rocker. “Sit, please.”

She did, tensing at his proximity and watching him warily.

“I’m going to touch your belly with my fingers. Is that okay?”

She nodded.

He placed his palms flat against her belly. He met her eyes when he felt the child moving actively within her.

“It … he moves a lot,” Carmella said. “Kicks and stretches.”

“Are you in any pain?”

She shrugged. “I’ve been pregnant before. Nothing I’m not familiar with.”

He concentrated on the feel of the baby’s movements. “Carmella, do you remember when I placed my tentacles against your wolf? When I was in my previous body and healing him?”

She nodded.

“Within my tentacles are sensors, filaments that burrow into the body. It doesn’t hurt, and it’s barely noticeable. They allow me to manipulate cell development, to heal, and to see inside.”

She had known that the tentacles were doing something like that, though she had not known the extent of his ability.

“I don’t have tentacles any longer, but I still have the sensors.” He opened his mouth and showed her his tongue. It was pink like any other tongue.

Carmella gasped. From the tip of his tongue slipped a thin filament that waved in the air like the tongue of a forked snake. Two more joined the first, and it looked as if thin gray worms were pushing their way out of his tongue. She wanted to get up and run. It was horrifying!

He closed his mouth. “Carmella, I need to connect with you through those sensors. I need to connect with the baby.”

“Uh … what? How?” She thought about those filaments traveling up her vagina, and she wanted to bolt out of her seat.

“I only need to touch your belly. That’s all.”

She studied his face and nodded her consent.

He knelt and lifted her shirt until her brown flesh was exposed to him. It was stretched tight, nearly too tight. He placed his hands against her flesh, fingers splayed. After giving her a quick look, he lowered his head and placed his lips against her belly button.

Carmella grimaced and gripped the arms of her rocker. He was kissing her. Oh my God! She was being kissed for the first time in years and didn’t know what to think or how to feel. She stared down at his lowered head, his face obscured by dark hair. She closed her eyes to block out the sight of it. She thought about Jody. Oh God, Jody. She wanted to cry, and she wanted to scream, but she stayed as still as she could.

Bilal’s lips pressed against her warm brown skin where her bellybutton had once been. It had disappeared over her stretched flesh weeks before. He held her firmly in place and pressed the tip of his tongue against her. The sensors pushed into her belly, so thin that they were barely there.

But she felt them. It didn’t hurt, and strangely it didn’t cause any pain.

Bilal closed his eyes and “saw” through his sensors as he allowed them to connect through her nerve endings and travel through her umbilicus to her unborn child. In this way he got to see his son for the first time since he had implanted him within his mother’s womb. Bilal connected to his son, and his son recognized him. It pleased him. He tested his son’s blood and found that it was rich with the necessary nutrients, and his body functioned normally though his lungs were still not fully developed. He took a few more moments to transfer information to his child before he allowed his sensors to retract and return to his own body.

Bilal lifted his head, leaned back on his heels, and looked at Carmella.

“Well?” Carmella asked.

“He is good. He is comfortable and well-fed. He is anxious to meet the world. But I told him it’s not yet time.” Bilal smiled. “I believe he is impatient so he may kick and toss and turn, but he is quite comfortable despite the tight confines. He rather enjoys it.”

Carmella widened her eyes. “Are you shitting me?”

Bilal shrugged. “No. Centaurians communicate through means other than words.”

“You were
talking
to him?”

“In some ways, yes. But without words.”

Carmella pushed down her shirt and covered her stomach with her hands. Somehow it made her feel strange knowing that the two could communicate. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the baby, but she was sure she didn’t like the idea of the two of them bonding.