Asteron

ASTERON

I want to mate her, stall or no stall. I don't care if we're surrounded by guards and the crew of my royal surface flyer, my Ginny needs mating given how she wears only one of my shirts, the middle wrapped around with a colorful belt, cinching in and showing off her curves.

It's hardly the attire of a queen, but my cock cares little for such niceties. As soon as she's been checked out by a medic, I will mate her, and then I will clothe her.

I hate that the fact we should go back to my palace is hanging over me. Phinade has been dropping heavy hints I need to show my face there, show off my new queen who is the source of all gossip in the court and beyond. I know I'm putting off the inevitable, but the longer we stay at the royal lodge, the longer I can pretend I don't have to be king.

Ginny is gripping the arms of her chair rather hard, her face pale.

"Are you okay, my queen?" I murmur in her ear.

"Not really. I'm feeling sick," she says, her voice far too quiet.

"How far to Mazos?" I bark at my captain.

"Ten nova-minutes, your highness," he responds.

"Can you hold on?" I ask her. "We'll be among the medics in no time, and they can help."

"Probably not," Ginny says. "Where's the sanitary facility?" she adds with a note of urgency.

I guide her out of the bridge and down the passage. As soon as the door opens, she's inside, slamming it shut on me.

"Sire, we will be docking shortly." The captain's voice comes over the comm.

"Did you hear that, Ginny?" I ask through the door.

There is silence.

I do not like silence at the best of times, and I do not like it from my mate.

"Ginny?" I knock on the door.

Nothing.

"Ginny?" I say louder.

Still nothing.

I slam my horns into the metal. "Ginny, open this door, NOW!" I bellow.

A red mist descends, and it lifts only when I can see her tiny form, curled around the san, her red-rimmed eyes looking up at me.

"It wasn't locked, ," she whispers.

It's only then I see the rended metal all around, the ache in my horns where they've punched through in order to get to her. My queen.

My wife.

I gather her up in my arms without a word and stalk through the ship, now docked and out into the heat of Mazos.

As per my instructions, we are next to the medic-center, and I carry my Ginny through while Xnosson medics fuss around us, showing me the way through to our private suite.

"Your highness." A Xnosson female medic holds a screen and has an unimpressed expression on her face.

"See to my mate. She is unwell," I growl.

"Please, place your mate on the bed. I will get an orderly to see to your injuries," she says through gritted teeth.

"I am not leaving the queen."

"I did not ask you to. Please, allow me to assess her condition."

Ginny lifts her head from my chest and winces. "You look like you've been in a fight with something solid," she says weakly. "Like a door."

I gently and slowly place her on the bed as indicated. "There might have been a door between me and you. I wouldn't know."

Ginny smiles weakly, but she doesn't move from where I have put her.

"Please," I say to the Xnosson medic. "Please take care of my Ginny."

"I will, your highness," she says, clipping a diagnostic bracelet on Ginny's arm, similar to the one Phinade put on her arm when she arrived. "If you will seat yourself over there"—she points to a chair in the opposite corner—"we can get you cleaned up."

It's then I see the blood streaking my chest, and I touch my hand to my forehead, where it comes away bloody.

"I think out of the two of us, you're in the worst shape." Ginny laughs and coughs. "Given that I'm probably just pregnant."

A good sized Xnosson bull orderly approaches me with a tray of medical items. I growl at him because I'm not keen on having him near my mate, but common sense manages to trump my innate desire to kill him and instead I allow him to carefully clean my wounds.

The medic hooks Ginny up to a number of different diagnostic bots, none of which I can read from across the room. My little queen looks tiny in the bed, and far too pale for my liking.

"It is early, my queen, but I can confirm you are pregnant," the medic says, checking over her screens.

I'm not sure I hear anything else over the rushing of blood in my head or the sound of the tray crashing down next to me.