But when he moved forward to make sure she didn’t fall, she hissed, batting away his hands.
“Five years?” She repeated, looking at him like she was waiting for him to call it a joke and assure her that it wasn’t true.
But all he could say was, “It’s two years. We use Standard time out here.”
“Not the pointing!” She yelled at him. And it was beautiful. Her anger, her fire, her passion. It was wonderful to witness. He loved this. But he had to keep his expression clear as she went back to pacing, going back and forth between pulling her hair and touching her belly.
He waited until she came around towards him again and he caught her from behind, pulling her back against him. She waspractically vibrating with restless anxiety. He made a soft sound – one he didn’t even think himself capable of making, as he first smoothed back the hair she’d disturbed with her worry while cupping her belly with his other hand. Holding their wylp, keeping her close.
“Easy,” he rumbled in her ear. “It’s not as bad as all that.”
“Five years,” she stressed again, sounding near tears.
“Two.”
“Same amount of timing!”
He chuckled, holding her belly with both hands. “Yes. My species has one of the longer gestation times. The skin of our young takes a long time to fully form and harden to a point that they can survive in the harsh environment of my planet.”
“That’s not… No,” she whined, slumping back against him.
“Yes, it is true,” he nuzzled the top of her head. Taking a deep breath of her scent. Warm and comforting. “The wylp cannot be removed sooner, I’m afraid.”
“I don’t knowing that I can doing that.”
He stilled, his hands tightening on her. “Do you not want to have my wylp?”
“I don’t knowing!” She wailed. “I cannot imagining being pregnant forfive years!”
“Two.”
“I wasn’t even readying for being pregnant now.”
Vytln hesitated. He loved the idea of having his female bred and happy. But the happy part of that was vital. If she wasn’t content carrying his whelp, he wouldn’t force her to do so.
But that didn’t mean it didn’t feel like his chest was being crushed by the very idea of losing the vision of the future he saw. But in that vision, she might be waddling around and frustrated by her lack of mobility, but she was stillhappy. If she wasn’t happy, then the entire thing would be ruined. There was no point to any of this.
“I’m scared,” Haven confessed, her voice a whisper. “Pregnancy is hard. Most can’t handling it for nine months. How am I supposed to being handling it forfive years?”
“It’s not as bad as all that,” he assured her, unable to resist rubbing her flat belly. “For the first half, you won’t even notice. Females of my species say that only the second half is even noticeable. The first half, you just have to be more cautious with your diet.”
“That is still being two and a half years.”
“One year,” he corrected again. “And yes. It’s a slow process. From what I understand of our females, it’s actually a very smooth processbecauseit’s so slow.”
Haven was grumbling. Her fingers clenched on his arms. But she wasn’t vibrating in her barely restrained panic any longer. The shock of learning she was pregnant and what that would mean for her was finally starting to ebb. Which meant she could finally think about things logically and calmly without being overwhelmed by them.
He continued to hold her until she was relaxed in his arms, her delicate little claws releasing their hold on his skin, her head resting back on his chest.
“Are you better now?” He asked, perfectly content to wait here until she was ready.
And, sure enough, she nodded. “I am being better.”
“Good. Now, let me ask you, do you want my wylp inside you?” He cupped her lower belly. Holding onto his mate and young both. Hating to release either, but knowing that, if he had to choose, he would pick Haven over the concept of a wylp.
“I don’t knowing,” she said again, though it was softer this time. Genuinely confused, not panicked and uncertain. “I wasn’t thinking that we might… I mean, I am knowing it was possible, but I didn’t being thinking it was practically a certainty.”
“It is between us,” he agreed. “Though, I understand, human females are more cautious about when and how often they breed.”
