Chapter 18

"That oughta do it!" Zyair stepped back to survey his work.

"What?" Layla spoke the entry.

"Oh, you're out already! Good. Nothing serious, I hope?"

"Serious? Um, no. I guess not. I mean… Well…" Layla laughed nervously.

Must be female problems."That's okay. You don't have to tell me. Look!" He swept his arm across the dash, polishing it one final time with the rag in his hand. "It took almost an entire can of cleaner, not to mention a good amount of air freshener and a bucket, but I think we can put this little episode behind us!"

He looked back over his shoulder to garner her approval of his efforts but was met with a pale, dazed complexion and a far-off look in her eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked, suddenly a little queasy himself. Finally clueing into her tone, he realized that her anxiety might not have anything to do with whether or not she wanted to talk about what the doctor had found.

He led her to her seat and knelt before her, patting her hand and trying to meet her gaze. Instead, she persisted in staring off into the distance. She pressed a hand to her belly and responded to his repeated requests for information with nonsensical monosyllables.

"Are you okay?"

"Mmm."

"What did the doctor say?"

"Yeah. Yeah."

"What?"

"Huh?"

Understanding that he was getting nowhere, Zyair found a bottle of water in the galley, wet a clean rag, and gently held it to Layla's forehead. Snapping her eyes to his, they widened and filled with tears.

Zyair wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close and murmuring sympathies. "Hey, hey, it's okay. Whatever it is, it's okay. Shhh." After a few moments of holding her while she cried, he handed her the rag to wipe her face. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I think we should," she managed to say.

Zyair nodded. "Good. Words. Okay, I can work with words. What did the doctor say?" He tried to keep his tone gentle and even, but Layla's eyes filled with tears again, and when she opened her mouth, all that came out was a whimper.

Sighing and rubbing his forehead, Zyair closed his eyes and tried to think of a plan of action. He couldn't just go ask the doctor what he had said. He wasn't a relative and had no authority to demand answers.

He could probably fly her home. It wasn't apparent whether she had been cleared to travel, but it wasn't far and he had procured a bucket in her absence in case she had a repeat of earlier. But then what?

What did one do with a sick human? Throwing up had made her feel better, but he didn't want to clean up much more of that. He wondered if he could ask someone at the estate to take care of her while he finished his investigation, but he doubted it.

Frustrated at coming up empty, Zyair rubbed the back of his neck and opened his eyes, but something obscured his field of vision. Focusing, he realized Layla had shoved a pamphlet in his face. He tried to read the title, but her hand was trembling so badly he had to take it from her.

"Preparing… for baby," he read slowly, failing to comprehend the words for a moment. "You're pregnant?"

She nodded.

He sat back on his heels, stunned. "You're pregnant!"

She smiled through her tears as she continued to nod vigorously. "That's amazing! Why are you crying?"

Layla laughed, shrugged, and shook her head. Zyair pulled her into a hug and kissed her. "This is great!"

"You're… really… happy?" Layla squeezed out between chuckles and sobs.

"Of course, I'm happy! This is fantastic news! We're going to have a baby!" Strange emotions washed over him, one right after another. He recognized a few of them and why they were happening now. Relief, for one, that she was all right and nothing was seriously wrong with her.

He understood now why she had hedged before when he had asked if it was anything serious. It was certainly serious, but it was also wonderful. Joy followed the relief in such a surprising, overwhelming flood that he had to take a moment to compose himself.

Zyair buried his face in Layla's hair for a few moments and breathed her in. His heart took off at a gallop when he thought of her growing with his child. He wondered if this was how his brothers felt when they discovered their mates were pregnant.

Mates! Now it all makes sense. In a flash, he understood why everything with her had felt so different. He understood the magnetism and the immediate fire that combusted when the two of them were around each other as well as why it had happened from the very beginning.

Zyair realized he had found his mate. He was so young he hadn't even thought of it as a possibility. Even before he'd had a chance to wonder if he'd ever find his mate, she arrived. She was here, and he knew with more certainty than anything he'd ever felt that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She was pregnant with his baby, and nothing could be better.

Pulling back from her, he cupped her face in his massive palm and smiled into her eyes. "Our child will be so beautiful if he takes after his mother," he said.

Layla hiccupped and wiped her face with the rag in her lap. "I think our baby will be gorgeous if she looks like her father!" she emphasized, smiling wryly.

"I'll be happy no matter what we have." Zyair grinned from ear to ear.

"Me, too!" Layla insisted. "But I hope she… or he…" she added, giggling, "has my people skills." She winked and pinched Zyair's nose, laughing as he huffed in mock offense.

"What? You mean you don't want them to be taciturn and grouchy?"

"I know! How surprising that I don't want my children to bite my head off all the time!"

They laughed as he took her to a lounge seat and tucked her under a blanket. When Layla patted the cushion next to her, Zyair shook his head. "You need rest. The pamphlet says overexertion can aggravate the morning sickness."

Layla rolled her eyes and moved to sit up. "But I feel fine! I'm just hungry. Pamphlets be damned!"

Putting a hand on her shoulder to still her, Zyair insisted that she stay put. "Then I'll bring you something to eat. Wait here and I'll get you something before we go."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you home to bed! You've got to get some rest! I'm serious!"

Layla raised an eyebrow. "Relax, Zy. It's not like I'm dying."

Zyair raised both of his eyebrows back. "And I'm not joking. I'm sure you could do all the things you want to do, but there's no reason you should have to. I'm taking you home. You will get into bed, and you'll get some rest."

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Layla pretended to pout. "So demanding!" she grumbled as Zyair rummaged around for something for her to munch. Handing her a snack, he turned to take the controls, but she caught his arm. "Hey!"

He looked at her lovely face and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "What?"

"We're gonna have a baby." She beamed up at him from her place nestled beneath the blanket. Zyair grinned.

"We sure are. Get some sleep."

As he took the controls and directed the ship back toward Layla's temporary quarters on Kona, the feeling that had overwhelmed him earlier, the feeling he had not understood, returned. A burden of anxiety washed over him, and the cause became altogether too clear.

Zyair had been thrown into responsibility for the helpless little life growing in his mate's belly—all of this just in time for a weapon of desolation to fall into the hands of the very creatures bent on destroying the whole of his race.

He shook his head. Whatever the outcome, he knew he would give life and limb to protect his child. They could deal with the storm tomorrow.

For now, it was enough just to be happy with Layla.