Tracking Trisha (30 page)

Cara plopped down between Abby and Trisha. “So, you’re having a boy and I’m having twin girls.” Cara said then turned towards Trisha. “So, what’s the story with you? Is Kelan giving you a hard time? You know, Abby and I can roast people. Do you need us to roast him for you?”

Trisha laughed. The thought of seeing Kelan running through the palace with his pants on fire was very tempting
, though
. “No, I think I can handle him. We just don’t see eye-to-eye. He likes to command, I like to ignore. It makes life interesting.”

She didn’t mention things were much different now than they were on board the
V’ager
. Now, instead of ignoring him, she couldn’t keep her hands off him. The only things they didn’t agree on were him not telling her everything that was going on, waiting to go get her dad, and when to tell everyone she was expecting. He was so excited about their expecting a child he wanted to shout it from the balcony of their living quarters. Trisha wanted to tell her dad first. If it was one way to motivate him to return to her planet for him, so be it. She wasn’t doing it just to be mean. She felt she owed it to her dad for all the love and support he always showed her. He stood beside her throughout all the doctor appointments and physical therapy after she kicked Peter out for cheating on her.

A loud roar pulled her out of her thoughts. Trelon stood in the doorway looking decidedly disheveled. His eyes were glued to Cara’s tiny form. Trisha’s lips curved as she saw the love and devotion in his eyes. The rest of them didn’t even exist for him; he only had eyes for Cara. Trisha’s eyes flew to the tall figure standing behind Trelon. Kelan’s gaze was fixed on Trisha. She could see the same emotions in his eyes. She stood up fighting the need to go to him. Trisha’s gaze swung to Cara as she talked out loud to herself about wearing only Trelon’s shirt while he wore only his pants so they could save on laundry. Yes, she thought, she was definitely feeling sorry for Trelon.

Cara looked at everyone and shrugged. “Well, a girl’s got to think about stuff like that when she’s going to have a family.” She said to no one in particular.

Trisha watched as Kelan reached out a hand when
Trelon seemed to sway on his feet again at the mention of the word twins. “Out! Everybody out now.”
Trelon roared.

Trisha’s gaze jerked over to Cara in concern.
Morian walked out from behind Trelon
,
shooting him a dark look before she walked over to Cara. Trish
a
stood aside as
Morian leaned close to Cara, giving her a hug and whispering in her ear
. Abby gave a small murmur of protest when Zoran wrapped his arm around her and started to pull her towards the door.

Trish
a
raised her eyebrow at Kelan when he came to grab her arm.
He was looking at her with a heated gaze telling her with just a look he wanted her again. Trisha couldn’t help the smirk that twisted her lips. Valdier warriors were a horny bunch! She shook her head at him in amusement.
Kelan threw his arms up in the air with a curse before he bent over and picked Trish
a
up in his arms ignoring her squeal of protest.
He let his hand slip down until he could rub her ass as he turned towards the door.

Yes, you
r
mate like you
r
butt.
Her dragon whispered in glee.

Oh, shut up.
Trisha giggled as she wrapped her arms around Kelan’s neck and pressed her lips against his throat.

Trisha smiled when she heard Trelon enter their living quarters. She spent the last two weeks hanging out with Abby and Cara, when Cara could sneak away from Trelon. She loved going down to the market with Abby. Trisha learned a lot about Abby and couldn’t help but admire her quiet strength. She reminded Trisha a lot of what Morian must have been like a few centuries before. Trisha couldn’t help but be stunned to learn the life expectancy of a Valdier was much, much greater then a humans. Perhaps that was why the males were able to decide when to have children. The fact it was difficult to have them with anyone other than their true mate was another bonus. It was a very effective way of maintaining the population, Trisha thought. Trisha sent Bio out earlier to play with several of the symbioses of the warriors. Poor Bio must be tired of constantly babysitting her, Trisha thought compassionately. Trisha spent most of her morning in the bathroom looking at the bottom of the toilet. She was having major morning sickness at some of the strangest times. Unfortunately, while a symbiosis could heal just about any injury, they were powerless against morning sickness. This was one thing she was going to have to cope with all on her own.

Kelan was a sweetheart. He would bathe her forehead and neck with cool water until the nausea passed. Then, he would carry her back to bed and feed her their version of saltine crackers until she felt better. The whole time she was trying to nibble on the crackers and keep them down, he would rest his hand over her belly murmuring words to the baby like it could understand him. Trisha was a little concerned about how fast the tiny spark seemed to be growing. She could already tell there was a slight swell to her belly.

Kelan finally talked Trisha into seeing the healer and talking to his mother. Trisha did fine with the healer, listening carefully as she explained that the baby was very healthy and her dragon was doing a good job of caring for it. She suggested a few changes in Trisha’s diet and encouraged her to eat more. It was when she and Kelan finally told his mom that she broke down in an avalanche of tears. Kelan promptly swept her up onto his lap and rocked her as she sobbed out how she wanted to tell her dad about the baby and how guilty she felt and she was going to be such a horrible mom because she didn’t know anything about raising babies. It took Kelan almost ten minutes to finally calm her down. Morian sat patiently throughout Trisha’s tearful outburst. When she finally calmed down to a pile of undignified sniffles and hiccups on Kelan’s lap, Morian handed her a cup of strong, hot herbal tea.

“It’s…it’s…the hormones.” Trisha hiccupped as she took a sip of the tea.

Kelan looked worriedly at his mother. “
Dola,
Trisha has been very sick. Is this natural?”

Morian chuckled. “Yes, but I believe it is slightly worse for a human female. Cara and Abby have also complained about the sickness…and being very emotional.”

“I’m already starting to show!” Trisha sniffed out. “I shouldn’t be showing this soon. I’m only about two and a half months. I don’t think I should even be showing until I’m about four or five months.” At least the few girls she knew didn’t seem to show until around then.

Morian leaned back in her chair and looked puzzled. “But, you will be almost ready to birth by then. A female only carries their young for six months. How long does a female carry on your world?”

Trisha paled as she thought she would be giving birth sooner than she expected. “Nine…” she cleared her throat. “Nine months.” She whispered.

Morian nodded as if suddenly understanding. “That may be why it is so difficult for you. Your body is not used to the changes in it so quickly. I will mention it to our healers and see if there is not something that can be done to help with the nausea. I’m afraid, though, it is something the females of your world will have to endure.”

Kelan’s mouth tightened as he thought of his mate’s discomfort. “There will be no more children until they find something.” He said stubbornly. He would not let his mate suffer through this again.

Trisha gave a watery laugh. “If you think this is bad, wait until the delivery. I expect you to be there through the whole thing, big shot. If you think this is bad, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

Kelan turned pale at the thought. “Valdier warriors welcome their children after they are born. They are not expected to be present during the birthing. That is for the females.”

Trisha looked at Kelan with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, you are going to be there, my Valdier warrior. If you can decide when to plant your seed inside me and be there for the fun part, you can be there to see the fruit of that fun.” Trisha’s mouth firmed into a no nonsense line as she glared at Kelan.

Trisha’s dragon rolled with laughter as she pictured the big warrior’s face.
Your mate going to be like Cara’s. Have big pillow ready when he pass out.

Morian chuckled as she watched her son and his mate. She was so happy to see a female who was just as strong willed as her son. She did not doubt that Kelan would be right beside his mate when their child decided to come into the world.

They visited for another hour before Kelan saw Trisha’s eyes drooping. That was another thing, she thought sleepily, she was always tired now. Trisha was asleep by the time Kelan carried her back to their living quarters.

Kelan carefully tucked Trisha into their bed. He didn’t bother removing her clothes as he didn’t want to take a chance of waking her. He could see the dark shadows under her eyes. He worried carry his child was too much for her slender frame. He shuddered at the thought of anything happening to Trisha or their child. It wasn’t often but there were times in their history where a female perished while giving birth. He needed to believe what the healer and his mother told him, that what his mate was going through was natural.

Kelan leaned down and pressed a kiss to Trisha’s forehead. He promised Zoran he would meet with him and Trelon this afternoon to go over some of the information they were receiving from Creon and Mandra. So far, his brothers were able to find out a few leads to what his uncle, Raffvin, was up to. Kelan gritted his teeth in frustration. He couldn’t wait until the bastard he once called family was dead. Creon discovered their uncle was behind the death of their father. His greed for power knew no end; nor, did his cruelty. Information coming in showed many of his elite army was forced to fight for him in order to protect their families. Mandra went to meet with Ha’ven’s brothers in an effort to discover where Raffvin was holding them. If they could secure the families, most of his army would crumble. Zoran had already killed one of his minions, Ben’qumain. Ben’qumain was Ha’ven’s stepbrother. Ha’ven and his brothers found out, almost too late for the two younger brothers, that Ben’qumain murdered their father and disguised it as an accident. It was only when he tried to have the two younger brothers killed and failed that they discovered the extent of his treachery. Now, with their spies deeply imbedded in Raffvin’s forces, they hoped to discover where he was and eliminate him once and for all.

Creon mentioned he might have a lead as to where the Sarafin King might have been taken. It was suspected that Raffvin was behind that as well. If Raffvin could cause a war between the Valdier and the Sarafin, he could undermine the strength of the royal family and attack when they were spread out across the galaxy. Creon was going to pursue trying to find and rescue King Vox before it came to that. It was always good if you were the one to rescue the leader of a warrior species even if it was one of your people who did the kidnapping. Neither of the brothers mentioned the females with them and Kelan could only hope they didn’t leave them on some out-of-the-way spaceport somewhere. He didn’t think Trisha would ever forgive him if her two sisters didn’t return in one piece.

Kelan instructed the two guards outside his living quarters to protect his mate at all costs. Each nodded respectfully. Kelan vaguely wondered if he should instruct them to have their symbioses with them but decided it wasn’t necessary in the middle of the palace. The security was tightened since Cara’s poisoning. Kelan frown as he thought of that incident. It didn’t make sense. No one else was harmed that night almost three months ago. His mind ran through possible scenarios trying to think of who would have wanted to harm Trelon’s little mate. He was so deep in thought he wasn’t looking where he was going when he turned the corner.

“Oh, my lord.” N’tasha said softly with a deep curtsey. “I am so sorry. I should have been looking where I was going.”

Kelan held onto N’tasha’s arms gently where he grabbed them to prevent her from falling. “My apologies…I was not looking where I was going. How are you, Lady N’tasha?” Kelan asked politely as he took a step back. Personally, he never liked his brother’s lover but who was he to complain considering his dragon and his symbiosis never liked any of his.