The Spawning (24 page)

It didn’t bear thinking on what had become of them—the elders and young

children, the sick and injured—when the warriors among them had been snatched away, but it wasn’t something he liked to dwell on. It was useless to do so when he could do nothing about it.

He
could
do something about the current situation, though, or had thought he could. Now, he was no longer certain. As hard as they had tried thus far, it seemed to him that the flower women were only growing weaker as time went on. They were not people of the sea and couldn’t be brought to the village in the sea where they wouldn’t have to deal with such harsh conditions.

The only way they could care for them as they needed would be to build a village on the land—which would be more vulnerable to attack by any who were hostile toward them—and he wasn’t certain they would survive long enough for the Hirachi to build one. The strange structure they’d built for themselves hadn’t seemed to help them a great deal—primarily because there was little of comfort or protection to it. But it would take far longer to build anything that
would
offer what they needed.

Scrubbing his hands over his face to try to push away the thoughts, he stood and began to pace his bed chamber as if by doing so he could outstrip them.

It didn’t help as much as he’d hoped. Miranda had become the constant

companion of his mind almost from the very first and his weakness in yielding to his urges had certainly not helped.

He had known it wouldn’t, but like everything else, he had convinced himself that it would ease the strain, make it more bearable, give him breathing room to act with reason and not upon instinct and desire.

He could not
fathom
why she appealed to him so strongly that he hadn’t been able to think of much else from the time he’d set eyes upon her. Even when his mind had been hammering at him that she was strange, a complete contradiction to everything he’d always thought he considered beautiful and most appealing in a female, the blood had THE SPAWNING Kaitlyn O’Connor 107

been pounding through him in direct conflict of what his mind had been telling him.

Actually, not a complete contradiction to what he thought of as feminine beauty, he reminded himself wryly. No woman he had ever bedded had had a more beautifully womanly form. It was almost
more
appealing that she was a miniature woman and looked so fragile, though he was damned if he could figure out why when that only meant that she was totally unsuitable for a man of his size. He had only to look at her to see that he was liable to break the tiny thing if he yielded to his impulses.

He sure as hell couldn’t convince himself she was big enough to accommodate his cock—and that had been
before
it had occurred to him what his seed was liable to do to her, growing in such a little thing.

Actually, trying to imagine driving his cock into such a tiny body had led

inevitably to imagining his seed growing in her belly, which hadn’t been nearly as pleasurable a thought as the first. He could see without touching her that he could span her tiny belly with his hand. No infant of his breeding was going to be comfortably housed there. It was, in point of fact, almost as horrifying an image as trying to imagine her
birthing
any child of his.

The cock—there was some possibility of. As tiny as she was, the woman’s body

was certainly designed for expansion, and hers seemed particularly so when she looked so soft and pliant. Even if she couldn’t take all without injury, he could fit well enough to find pleasure.

A babe, though—unless her own genes prevailed, or her body wouldn’t allow for

more growth than she could safely handle—she would die horribly.

He had been against that notion on principle in the beginning. The more he came to know her the less his principles mattered and the more she did. He would not have felt right before. Now it wasn’t just a matter of not being ‘right’. He wasn’t at all certain that he could bear it. In fact, the prospect of it terrified him.

Not that she was unique in that particular respect. It seemed to be a universal trait with her species. None of the women were much sturdier looking than Miranda and quite a few were even tinier.

Not that he had any interest in any of the others beyond the fact that it was against everything they had ever been taught and that he personally believed to injure, or cause to be harmed, or fail to protect the innocent.

Realizing after a few moments that his mind had returned to the very subject he most wanted to avoid thinking about, he stopped pacing his bed chamber and headed into the main living area. Dropping into the pool, he swam out the entrance tunnel and left his pod. The water cooled his heated body somewhat, but it wasn’t nearly cool enough to bring his blood from a slow simmer to comfortable temperatures.

There were others out similarly occupied in trying to cool their heated blood—

most in point of fact. It did not make him easy in his mind that fully a quarter of the men were fully erect already and having problems taming the beast. That didn’t augur well for their resolution to stay clear of the women that so many were in trouble and already having problems with control. He stayed until the need for air was burning his lungs and finally returned through the entrance tunnel and propped his folded arms on the edge of the pool, allowing himself a few minutes to recover, breathing deeply until he’d fully oxygenated again.

When he emerged the second time, he saw that those having control issues

THE SPAWNING Kaitlyn O’Connor 108

seemed to be doing better with the water to cool them, but he still wasn’t completely easy in his mind. After a little thought, he went in search of Gerek, his second, and signaled for him to follow when he returned to his own pod again.

Gerek’s expression was grim and his countenance already showing strain when

they emerged. Heaving themselves from the pool, they merely sat on the edge, waiting for the water to drain from their skin.

“I think we need to gather everyone in the nursery,” Khan said. They had always called the gathering room that even though they, themselves, had never had cause to use it as such, or any likelihood that they would, simply because it was an integral part of the construction and that was the only term ever applied to the area. It said a lot for the focus on his own thoughts that the term, used regularly without any thought given to what its ultimate purpose was, caught in his throat. For a few moments, he considered whether it was a wise choice or not, but it couldn’t be avoided that it was the only area that was really large enough for the entire group to gather.

In a typical city, on land or sea, the lowest level was the safest, and because of the venting and the large pool, also the most constant in temperature—which was why it had always been the nursery—although it also insured that the remainder of the city was kept at a fairly constant, and comfortable, temperature. Once the young were old enough to handle the swim to the cities in the sea, they spent most of their time there. The large pool made it easier to train the young in their breathing and swimming so that they could gradually learn to take in enough air to stay beneath the water for longer and longer periods of time. Having them all together also made it easier to teach them the knowledge they needed to acquire and to protect them from any attacks—so long as the city itself wasn’t compromised.

Pushing thoughts of nurseries from his mind, he gathered his wits again. “Some of the men are already having problems and we’re a gods damned long way from the peak. It’ll be easier for the strong to monitor the weak if we’re all together and hopefully prevent a full scale raid on the … compound.”

Gerek’s lips tightened, but he merely nodded. “At least they’re more likely to still be reasonable. I’ll enlist Adar and Kurt and Teron if I see them to help round everyone up.”

“Adar was one of those I spotted who was already having trouble,” Khan said

dryly.

Gerek scowled. “In that case, I’ll find Adar first and send him to the nursery and then tag the others as I come upon them. It will still be done faster if I had several men to help.”

Khan agreed. “Circle north from this side. I’ll go around the other way, just in case some of them have already strayed a little further than they should.” Waiting until Gerek had disappeared, he dropped into the pool and took the alternate route around the city that he’d agreed to. He wasn’t really surprised nor particularly pleased to find that he’d been right. At least a dozen men had wandered in that direction already and were trying hard to pretend they were interested in nothing more than swimming off their excess energy.

Two bowed up at him, however, when he ordered them back. They backed down

fairly quickly, but it didn’t bode well that they were already becoming belligerent.

It had been a mistake, he realized grimly, to think they could take lovers so close THE SPAWNING Kaitlyn O’Connor 109

to their time without repercussions. He’d thought at the time that it would help to ease the strain, but it seemed to have had the opposite effect.

He wasn’t sure that
not
allowing it would’ve helped matters. The men had been antsy to court the women from the moment they discovered that they were unlikely to endanger them by breeding on them—because it had begun to seem impossible that they could. Unfortunately, they’d had nothing to court with and had had to work longer hours besides making up their quota—and a little more for such gifts as they had no skills to make. He was fairly certain if sheer desperation hadn’t been driving them they would never have managed to fashion gifts for courting at all in the length of time they’d had.

Fortunately, he thought wryly, he hadn’t been able to get a great deal of sleep—

and he supposed the others hadn’t either.

And they had
still
been skating the fine edge when they’d finally been ready to court and try to tempt the women’s interests by displaying their skills and thoughtfulness in the gifts they chose and fashioned.

It could’ve been worse, he supposed. The lot of them had been so anxious by that time disappointment wouldn’t even have begun to describe their feelings if the women had rejected both them and their love tokens. At least now they’d had some appeasement and they knew that the women would accept them as lovers. As soon as they were through the spawning period, and knew they could safely indulge their pleasure, they had something to look forward to.

He wasn’t sure, now, that that would be enough, but there was never any

certainty, with any of them, without containment.

It took him so long to round up the stragglers, his skull was pounding from the need for air by the time he emerged in the nursery pool. Gasping for breath, he treaded water until the dizziness passed and then surveyed the assemblage. When he finally accepted the impossibility of a head count from where he was, he climbed out of the pool.

He met up with Gerek on the far side. “Someone is missing,” he ground out.

“Adar and Teron,” Gerek responded tightly.

“Gods damn it!” Khan snarled, instantly certain where they were headed. “I

would’ve thought Teron, at least, would have a cooler head.”

Gerek shrugged. “I think he went after Adar. I’ll go after them.”

Khan’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t think so.”

“I suppose you mean to?” Gerek growled, instantly displaying aggression.

Khan considered it and dismissed it. “No. I’ll send one of the others—someone not sniffing at Miranda. Adar and Teron are more likely to see reason if they aren’t confronted by a rival.”

Looking somewhat appeased, Gerek surveyed the possibilities. “Malek?”

Khan frowned. “Mayhap—his woman, Carol, spurned him. I do not think he has

recovered enough from that yet to feel the rise.” Striding toward Malek, he pulled him aside and explained the situation. Nodding grimly, Malek strode to the pool and leapt in, disappearing. He wasn’t gone long before he reappeared with both Teron and Adar.

Adar looked a little the worse for his excursion.

Teron was livid.

“You sent Malek after me?” he snarled the moment he met up with Khan.

Khan contained his anger with an effort. “You and Adar were both gone.”

THE SPAWNING Kaitlyn O’Connor 110

“Because I went after Adar!”

“Which put both of you far closer to … the compound than you should be right

now!” Khan snapped.

Teron seemed to wrestle with his temper. “I have myself in hand,” he said

finally.

He hadn’t needed to say it. If he hadn’t Malek would’ve been gone longer and

both Adar
and
Teron would’ve been showing signs of having been in a fight when they returned, not just Adar.

It was just as well their fighting skills went down when their blood rose and

reason went out the window, Khan thought wryly. A cooler head could still prevail simply because they could outwit their opponent, a very good thing since rage tended to increase their strength even though they were less able to draw upon their skills.

Khan let it go, instead drawing Gerek and Teron into a discussion about building a land village. It wasn’t a completely safe subject since it still directed their thoughts toward Miranda, but he wasn’t currently in any condition himself to come up with a subject that didn’t involve Miranda in some way.

* * * *

“There’s something blocking the gates,” Miranda said, desisting finally from shoving at them.

Deborah and Mary Jane stopped pushing, as well. Deborah frowned. “We

haven’t had a storm lately. What could be blocking it?”

Miranda couldn’t think of a thing. Anger surged through her, though. They

hadn’t seen a sign of any of the Hirachi in two days. As far as she could tell, they had maybe two more days worth of meat, but they would be out of the roots with their next meal … and they weren’t sure the meat wouldn’t spoil, for that matter. She still didn’t like going beyond the compound, but she’d decided it would be a good idea to find what they could to eat, now, instead waiting to hunt something when they’d run completely out and were hungry.