Grace Goodwin - Her Mate's Secret Baby

“Yeah, about that. Sorry, but it was… God.” I couldn’t even explain it.

“Yes, I understand.” The warden’s name was Egara. I remembered that now. But was that her first name? Or last? It was a weird name for a woman, but then, I’d heard rumors from some of the others being processed in the center the last few days that Warden Egara had been mated to not one, but two warriors from a planet called Prillon Prime. And they’d both died. She was a double widow.

Sad. It sounded so sad.

Warden Egara looked down at the tablet in her hand, one it seemed she always carried, and nodded briskly. “Excellent. You have a ninety-nine percent match.”

“I do?” Yes, that pathetically hopeful voice was mine. My mother would scowl at the unnecessary display of emotion. But screw her, screw my billionaire banker father and their decision to have a child simply to conform to societal expectations. I’d been raised by nannies and housemothers in boarding school. I’d learned to keep a stiff upper lip from the age of three, and I wasn’t even British.

As of today, my mother’s opinion no longer mattered. I needed to remember that. I was getting off this stupid planet. I was going to have a real life, with a man, an alien, mate, whatever, that was ninety-nine percent matched to me. I didn’t care what he was called, as long as he cared . For once in my life, I wanted someone to put me first.

That one simple characteristic wasn’t my ex-fiancé’s or my parents’ nature. Hell, their consistent lack of interest in their only daughter probably meant that they wouldn’t even realize I was gone until Christmas, which was four months away.

“Yes, Natalie. You’ve been matched to Trion.” The warden’s eyes warmed slightly, and I relaxed back into the examination chair. I felt like I was at the dentist, but I wasn’t going to bring that up. And I wasn’t getting a filling, I was getting a man. A mate. A life.

“Okay.” I didn’t know anything about the planet, and I didn’t care. Anywhere had to be better than Earth, because when my parents and Curtis paid attention, they noticed everything and dictated what I did, what I wore, who I socialized with.

I’d pulled up my big girl panties and rebelled a few times, but that had never worked. It was a new boarding school or a first-class ticket home from wherever I’d run to. Just last year, I’d gone on an Alaskan cruise and was met in Juneau by a Montgomery lackey to retrieve me. It had been a fucking cruise, but that wasn’t allowed.

The only way to break free was to leave the planet, to go in a way that they couldn’t get me back. I glanced down at my left hand, at the oversized diamond engagement ring still on my finger. When I looked up, it was to see that Warden Egara had been watching me. “Can you take it off?”

With my wrists restrained, it wasn’t like I was going to do it. But I wasn’t going into space matched to an alien from Trion wearing Curtis’ ring. It was big and gorgeous and I didn’t want it. I wanted my matched spaceman. “Will you help? I can’t reach it.”

She nodded and walked to my side. She set the tablet next to my knee and carefully worked the ring from my finger. The moment it was off, I felt a bubbling, giddy sense of freedom. Was I really going to do this, leave everyone and everything?

Yes. Yes, I was. I wiggled my fingers and sighed. “Thank you.”

She held the ring and raised a brow. “What do you wish me to do with it?”

“I don’t care. Sell it. Keep the money. Give it away. Throw it in the trash. Whatever you want.”

“All right.” She slid the ring into her pocket and I worried she might actually throw it away.

“It’s worth well over thirty-thousand dollars. Don’t take a penny less.”

Nodding, she reached for the tablet again. She didn’t seem impressed by the ring and I liked her all the more for it. It seemed she wanted love over objects, just like me. The ring meant nothing because I meant nothing to Curtis. I settled back against the chair.

“For the record, Miss Montgomery, are you now, or have you ever been married?”

“No.” These were the same questions I’d been asked before, but I knew this was the last time. Now I had a mate. A match. A man who was supposed to be paired to my psychological profile perfectly. Knowing that my mate waited for me only made the questions seem much more real.

“Have you produced any biological offspring?”

“Hell, no.” And before today, I’d never wanted to. Curtis had never inspired me to want a child, and my own upbringing had left me cold. If I ever had a baby, I’d need to take mothering classes or something. I’d have to do all the things my mother never did, like learn all the little songs and games little ones played. The ABCs. I knew the ABCs.

Did they even have an alphabet on Trion? Suddenly, I couldn’t wait to find out. I bet it had its own special children’s song. I’d learn it right away, and sing it to my baby. Maybe even before it was born. They could hear in there, right? Maybe I’d sing both songs, English and Trion.

Wow. I wanted a baby. That was a new one. Had they given me something during testing to wake up my ovaries?

“Natalie?”

I blinked up at Warden Egara. “Yes.”

“I know it’s difficult, but try to stay with me. We’re almost done. Do you accept the results of the matching protocol?”

“Yes.” Oh, hell yes, gara accepted. I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Elation washed through me, hot and heady. I felt… happy. For once, I had something to be excited about, and I’d done it by myself, for myself. “Sorry, I’m kind of excited.”

The warden patted me on the shoulder and walked to the opposite side of the room, her form-fitting gray uniform reminded me of that sexy, alien character, Seven of Nine on Star Trek . Curtis had always pointed out how sexy that stupid, blonde actress looked in her sparkly, super-tight, silver spacesuit. She was a cyborg on the television show. How was a machine woman sexy? I didn’t get it, but Curtis drooled every time she came on the television screen, even if I was sitting right next to him on the couch.

Well, I had the last laugh. Curtis was stuck here, on Earth, paying his escorts to suck his dick and living inside that bank eighty hours a week like a robot. I was the one going off on a sexy adventure in space.

God, I hoped my Trion mate was hot. Smoking hot. Drench-my-panties hot, just like the dream.

A bright blue light appeared in the wall to my left and the chair lurched sideways.

Startled, I looked up to see Warden Egara smiling at me. “Try to relax. All planets have specifications for their mates. All modifications for Trion will be made as part of your processing. When you wake up, you’ll be on Trion. You will no longer be a citizen of Earth. Your new mate will be waiting.”

I leaned back, ready for whatever insanity was about to happen. Actually, I was simply trying not to throw up.

I was leaving home. Forever. I’d read the handbook. I knew what I was getting into and knew I couldn’t come back. But thinking and doing were two separate things.

When the giant needle thing came at me, I flinched. When it stabbed me just behind my ear, near the temple, I tried to ignore the pain as the warden explained they were implanting neural processors to help me learn the Trion language.

Cool.

The chair lowered me into a warm, blue bath and a feeling of calm settled over me. I figured they were drugging me and I didn’t care. At least I wasn’t about to lose my cookies all over this glamorous hospital gown.

“Your processing will begin in three… two… one.” Warden Egara gave a little wave as the wall slid closed behind me.