Jade

JADE

I wake up, and for once, I don’t want to lose my most recent meal. Instead, after I’ve bathed and dressed, I feel relaxed, loose limbed, as if I could take on anything.

I haven’t felt like this since I was abducted. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt like this in my entire life.

It’s then I feel the kick. It’s a flutter, but it’s coming from within me. My hand flies down to my stomach, and I hold it there as the roll continues for a few moments.

At once, I’m elated. I don’t know what species my baby is going to be, but I know I’m going to love being a mum. Even if I did promise myself I’d never do this alone, the love and the home my mother provided for me is something I am going to pass on to my little one.

“We can do this,” I whisper to my bump. “I have to do this.”

Whatever my mum might have thought of my current predicament, I know she would have supported me regardless. And my sadness she isn’t here is tempered by relief her untimely death from cancer means she didn’t have to go through any pain of losing me to the aliens. It’s only a spark. I’d rather have her alive than anything else, if I had the choice.

Drekkan is, not surprisingly, missing. Why I thought the big red Sarkarnii would be anything other than as flaky as hell, I have no idea. He’s probably off having a good snarl at some unfortunate creature. Or eating again. His two favorite past times.

My face flushes at the memory of how he drew an orgasm from me without even trying. And how I responded to him.

Before I fell asleep.

I’m trying to work out which was ruder, my slumber or his disappearance, when there’s a knock at my door. This time, the thing doesn’t open until I reach it, but when I do, I’m confronted by Qrow and at least five other burly looking aliens, significantly taller than him, pale blue and with short horns poking out of their hair.

“Can I help you?”

“You’re moving out,” Qrow says with a grin. “You don’t need to pack. My friends will do all of that for you.”

“I don’t have much…what do you mean moving out? I’m staying here, on Kitchik. I don’t want to move.” I look at the door, wondering how I can get it to shut again.

“You’re not moving off Kitchik. The mayor has just assigned you a larger dwelling.”

“He has?” I shake my head.

“He has. When he heard about the young you are carrying, he insisted,” Qrow says, shoving his arm in mine, and with a strength his size belies, he levers me out of the doorway and down into the street as the others enter behind us.

“I don’t really need a bigger place,” I protest weakly.

“If the mayor wants to help you out, don’t push back,” Qrow says with a grin. “Anyway, while they get your new place ready, do you want to go meet Gelvira?”

“Gelvira?” I query.

“The Velvero clothes producer from the market, the one you spoke to yesterday.”

“Oh. Yes!” I brighten. “Gelvira.” I repeat her name.

So many things happened yesterday, including a massive Sarkarnii who blew more than just my mind. But of course the seamstress in the marketplace was interested in an assistant, and I was supposed to stop by today.

“This way.” Qrow steers me onto a side street which traverses the steep-sided hill in between numerous egg-shaped dwellings, all pastel colors.

We walk on for a short while before there are several sharp turns into passageways and through small open squares where there are food vendors, little cafe style places with outside seating, and aliens of all types enjoying a meal or a snack.

I probably shouldn’t think about “snack”…because it makes me think of a big, bad red and black grump.

“Here we are,” Qrow trills as we come to a halt outside a square rather than egg shaped building.

The place has a large window, and suspended inside are various beautiful outfits, which move and twist as if they’re being worn. I’m mesmerized for a second or two before Qrow ushers me inside.

The scent is the first thing which hits me, calming, sweet, and with a hint of patchouli. I inhale deeply.

“Ah, the little one is here!” The elf-like alien, Gelvira, appears from behind a screen. “Do you like the scent? I created it for you.”

“For me?” I put my hand on my chest. “That’s very kind, thank you.”

“I create a scent for all my customers,” she says with an easy smile.

“Oh? Oh, no, I’m here for a job, not as a customer. I don’t have much…credit.” I stumble over the words, embarrassed.

“But I do.” A familiar voice rumbles through the store as Drekkan strides towards me.

I look at Qrow who is grinning like an idiot as usual. Inside the shop, somehow Drekkan is even bigger than I remember him. And I certainly remember what happened when I saw him last. My treacherous lady parts clench as Drekkan slowly and deliberately licks over his bottom lip.

Annoying male!

“Well that’s lovely for you, Drekkan. I’m sure there’s something in your size here somewhere.” I give him my best smug smile.

He’s immediately in my space, as if Qrow and Gelvira don’t even exist. His smoky, spicy scent surrounds me and continues to do very bad things to my body which my brain is not consenting to. He lifts an arm, and with one claw he picks over the fabric on my shoulder.

“Your beauty deserves to be shown off, not hidden away under rags,” he rasps, all sin and velvet.

“I’ll have you know I made these garments myself,” I say, filled with indignation.

“And you did a good job hiding your true nature, but now I want you to show it off,” Drekkan says. “There’s nothing better in this galaxy than a female filled with young.”