Page 56 of The Thren's Fated
“My pheromones are no different from the ones that I sensed from you,” he said, squeezing her hand. “It is difficult to resist when a Thren feels the pull of a… compatible mate.”
“Mate? Threns can mate with other species?”
“It is possible, though not common.”
“Even humans?” she asked with a gulp.
“Yes. Even humans.”
She shot him a sharp glare.
“You brought me here to mate with you?”
So that’s what he’d meant by all the talk of claiming and joining. Well, he would be in for a rude awakening when he learned that her implant made her sterile.
“Of course not. It is… more complicated than that.”
A pressure weighed on her chest like a boulder. It was getting difficult to distinguish between the conflicting feelings of horror and joy, and his evasive answers weren’t helping the matter.
“How? How is it more complicated? Do you want to mate with me or not? Why am I here?”
Screl grabbed her shoulders, looking down into her eyes with a serious expression.
“Please remain calm. Just because we are compatible mates does not mean that we must reproduce. We have safe medical procedures that can terminate a pregnancy if necessary.”
“Oh, uh, I already have an implant. I don’t want kids,” she said, grateful that he didn’t seem eager to use her womb for his alien offspring.
When she was younger, she had thought she was interested in having children because that seemed to be the path everyone she knew took. Get married, buy a house, have kids. But as the first step evaded her year after year, she came to realize that none of it really attracted her all that much.
“I am not allowed to procreate at this point in time. My sister is the only heir allowed to create her own progeny, since she will rule after my father. The lesser heirs cannot reproduce until the first of us becomes Sovereign. There are many rules we must follow compared to regular Threns. Besides, you are the first compatible mate I’ve encountered.”
Well, that last statement certainly sent a jolt through her.
“What do you mean?” Lena asked. “You… really haven’t experienced this with anyone else?”
Hope clung to her, more desperately than she’d ever felt it before. Though she’d had her crushes, had drowned her despair in a bottle of wine more than once, this felt different in a way she couldn’t explain. There was a passionate energy surrounding them like a whirlwind, and the thought that he felt it just as strongly bolstered her.
“Never. Mating bonds with non-Threns are quite rare.”
Lena swallowed hard, desperate to change the subject, unwilling to let herself think about what this all meant.
“Do you want offspring? When you are able to?”
Screl paused, weighing his answer.
“I do not. Growing up with my father was difficult. My mother… she passed away when I was quite young, but even so, I remember how poorly he treated her. How poorly he treated all of us. I don’t think I would be a very good father even if it were something that I wanted.”
“My parents weren’t very nice either,” she said, surprised by her own candor. “Actually, they were terrible. Our house was so chaotic all the time, so much yelling, so much fighting. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. And after a while, I decided that I didn’t want to have a kid of my own.”
Screl’s eyes glistened, and she wondered if he were about to cry, but he pulled her into a hug instead, the warmth of his body replacing the chill of hurtful memories. He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin, and a wave of calm hit her, reminding her that she was safe in his arms.
When he pulled away, his eyes were still wet, but there was a smile on his face. She was about to ask him about the strange glow from earlier when he looked off into the distance, taking a few deep breaths and composing himself, but not before she saw a flash of something… Anxiety? Fear?
“We must go. The shuttle will be returning soon, and I have urgent business to attend to.”
He turned, leading her back to the pool and the waterfalls. In the distance, she saw a gray shuttle heading their way.
“Will you drop me off on the ship?”
