I shake my head. “All offspring is precious, regardless of class. No Ulfarri male would ever abandon his family, if he is lucky enough to have one.”
“Huh.” She blinks, lost in thought for a moment. “I respect that.”
A terrible thought occurs to me. “How do you prevent it? If you do not wish to breed?” I knew she was no virgin, but while I prefer not to think about the males who came before me, my curiosity about this particular issue is piqued.
“There are different methods. Pills. Condoms. Coils. Implants. Even operations.”
“Surgical procedures? Hoo-mans undergo medical alterations to prevent pregnancy?”
“Yep. Although, most doctors won’t do it unless you’re either older, or you’ve already had a child—or three.”
Sudden panic grips me in its iron fist, and my throat has constricted. “Emma…” I manage.
Another bitter laugh. “I’m only twenty-seven. No, Khan, I haven’t had a hysterectomy.”
I don’t know what that word is, but I assume she means the sterilization procedure. “And the other methods? You use any of those?” I realize I’m holding my breath.
“I was on the pill,” her tone has changed from matter-of-fact to despairing once more, “but came off it a few months ago. The hormonal methods never did agree with me.”
“So—”
“Yes, Khan, that means I can have babies. But—and this is very, very important—it doesn’t mean Iwantto.”
It feels like there’s a rock lying heavy in the pit of my stomach. I knew Emma was sad because she missed her home. Her family. Earth. It never, ever, ever occurred to me that she—any female, for that matter—would actively condemn and avoid motherhood. It’s a concept as alien to me as thecaramel lattesshe sometimes mentions with a wistful look on her pretty face. “Why not?” I croak, dreading the answer.
This would all be so much easier if I could only see her as a body. A vessel to impregnate without a care for her feelings. But she is my soul mate. I cannot bear her unhappiness.
And now I discover my greatest wish is her worst nightmare.
“For all the reasons I just said!” she says impatiently. “I wanted to be free to concentrate on my career!”
“That seems selfish,” I muse, almost to myself. To my absolute amazement, her small fist lands squarely on my shoulder. It doesn’t hurt in the slightest, but that doesn’t lessen my shock.
“So typical!” Emma has raised her voice again. The anger is livid in our bond. “Typical fucking male response! Any woman who chooses not to have kids is a selfish, dowdy, undesirable cat lady, right?”
I do not know what half of those things are, but I shake my head, taken aback by her vehemence.
“It’s absolutely not selfish!” she continues, sliding off the bed and beginning to pace. The tattered ribbons of the gossamer gown I tore in my haste to get to her beautiful breasts flap around her, but she doesn’t seem to even realize she’s essentially naked. “There are kids dying every day of starvation! Preventable diseases! Abuse! I don’t see any of the busybodies judgingmeformychoices lining up to take any of those children in. And until they do, they don’t get to tell me I’m not a woman if I don’t fucking breed!”
Her agitation is palpable. No doubt this subject is one she is very passionate about, and my first instinct—despite my shock at her confession—is, once again, to comfort her.
I must have stopped purring at some point during this conversation but I have no idea when. I take a deep breath, and start again.
Emma covers her ears with her hands. “Stop that!” she cries. “Stop fucking with me! Every time I say or do something you don’t like, you purr, knowing full well it’s like a sedative.Keep her quiet so she doesn’t protest? Christ!”
For the second time in the same evening, her outburst has made me speechless. All I can do is lie on the bed, my mind reeling. “I’m not trying to silence you.” I try to keep the hurt from my tone, but don’t know whether I was successful. “I’m trying to comfort you.”
“Well, stop it! I don’t need your comfort! I just want you tolistento me!”
“I am listening!”
Emma takes a deep breath, lifts her chin, and comes towards me. Her honey scent tickles my nose but for once, it does not make blood rush to my groin. She perches carefully on the side of the bed. “I’m sorry. Yes, you are listening. You also asked me what I want.”
I know what she’s going to say, and there’s a sudden band of steel around my chest.
It’s hard to breathe. No wound I ever sustained in battle was this agonizing.
She says the words anyway. “Khan, I want to go back to Earth. I want a promise from you—or King Aurus—that no human women will be kidnapped and brought here to be turned into Omegas. And I don’t want to breed.”
