Alien Healer’s Baby (Warriors of the Lathar Book 4) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Also by Mina Carter

  About the Author

  Alien Healers baby

  Mina Carter

  New York Times & USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Also by Mina Carter

  About the Author

  1

  Laarn, if you ever fucking touch me again, I swear to god I’ll gut you with a blunt fucking spoon!” Jessica hissed to her absent mate as she waddled at a slow pace along the corridors between their quarters and the palace’s temporary healer’s hall. She’d been grumbling under her breath at the distance before she’d recalled the healer’s hall, the Lathar equivalent of a hospital, had been relocated for a very good reason.

  She’d blown it to hell.

  “Well, technically, little one,” she murmured, rubbing her bump as she walked, “I only blew up the lab. How was I to know it would cause a chain reaction in the power cores and take out the entire hall? And it was for a good cause… those asshole purists had it coming.”

  She skirted off that subject, a flash of pain warning her the memories weren’t good ones. Because of the purists, she’d almost lost the daughter she carried and her life. The second she could live with, but the first had almost broken her heart and reduced her to begging Laarn, her mate, to save the baby even if it killed her.

  “But you didn’t let that happen, did you, sweetie?” she asked with a smile down at her bump, pausing for a moment at an intersection on the way to the hall. “You helped your daddy save mommy… you were so brave and I’m so proud of you.”

  The burst of warmth through her heart and mind was like an all-over hug, and love for the baby filled her. She’d thought the way she felt about Laarn, her mate, was overwhelming, but this… the love of a parent for a child, was something else.

  “Do human females always talk to their unborn offspring?” A deep male voice broke into her musings and she turned to find Xaandril, the emperor’s Champion, standing behind her with a perplexed look on his face.

  Jess couldn’t help the pleased smile that broke over her lips at the sight of the tall warrior. Along with Daaynal, the emperor of the Lathar, Xaandril had been one of the first faces she’d seen at court. Although the big warrior was gruff and sometimes less than talkative, the last couple of months they’d both spent in and out of the healer’s hall had proven he was all bark and no bite… with Jess and the other human women anyway.

  “How’s it doing?” she asked, her gaze dropping to the arm in a sling over Xaandril’s chest. Severely injured in battle months ago, just before the purist attack on the palace, he should have been dead several times over.

  Xaan’s expression flickered a little, but he kept the mask in place. “It’s healing. Slowly.”

  Those three words and the control behind them told Jess everything she needed to know. Latharian warriors were not patient creatures—warriors of Xaandril’s level even less so.

  “But…” he carried on, looking at the bump that made her feel the size of a small whale. “You didn’t answer my question. Is it normal for human females to have conversations with their young before the birth?”

  He took two steps closer, offering his good arm so they could continue on to the healer’s hall. Her energy all but depleted by the short walk so far, she took it with a small murmur of thanks. She wouldn’t have for just any warrior. Latharian males were highly possessive, especially when mated, but Xaandril was one of the few males Laarn trusted without question. There would be no issue with Xaandril helping her. Which was Latharian shorthand for her mate wouldn’t try to kill him.

  No, there would be no try. Her mate was lord healer, only the highest ranking and most qualified doctor in the empire, and a warrior. And Jess couldn’t think of anything more dangerous than a man who knew how the human—or Latharian—body worked trying to kill you.

  “We do it a lot,” she answered his query with a small smile, noting how he’d shortened his stride to match hers. For all their bluster about being the biggest and baddest warriors in the universe, most Lathar treated women like they were the finest porcelain. “Normally the baby doesn’t answer back, though. At least, human babies don’t. A human-Lathar hybrid…”

  She let the sentence trail off and shrugged. Everyone in creation had to know how unique her pregnancy was. The first Latharian child to be born in decades, and the first ever human-Lathar hybrid, her daughter was unique.

  “The child speaks to you already?” Xaandril asked, shooting an interested glance down to Jess’ bump. “My mate… when she was carrying… reported no telepathic communication.”

  Jess shrugged. “Perhaps it’s something to do with the mixed genetics? Or because… well, Laarn says she’ll be a healer. And more powerful than he is.”

  Awe filtered over Xaandril’s craggy features. “It is in the bloodline. There were more than a few K’Vass Lord Healers. But a K’Vass Lady Healer would be something to behold.”

  Jess rubbed her bump again. After months on Lathar Prime, it was easy to decode the different terms and signifiers on the family names. She was now no longer Jessica Kallson, but the Lady Jessica K’Vass, mate to Lord Healer Laarn K’Vass, sister-son to the emperor himself. Her daughter would be a Princess of the Blood.

  She’d joined up to travel the stars and ended up married to an alien prince, her daughter fourth in line to a dynasty that spanned more years than human history.

  Holy and shit didn’t quite cover it.

  “Your mate… was she Xaandryn’s mother?” Jess asked as the healer’s hall came into view. She kept her voice light, hoping that she wasn’t venturing where angels feared to tread. Laarn had hinted that there was tragedy in Xaandril’s past, and the big champion wasn’t a talker.

  “No.” His reply was tight-lipped and for a moment silence reigned. Jess winced, convinced she’d blown it, and then he sighed. “Xaandryn was oonat born. I needed an heir.”

  She nodded. The oonat were a sentient, if dull-witted, race the Lathar often used as servants. Bovine-like, they were like hooded shadows, often ignored as the Lathar went about their business. With no females of their own, many Lathar used them as concubines and gestational carriers. Jess had been outraged when Laarn had explained it to her. That they’d altered the species genetics so that any child fathered by a Lathar would be pure Lathar.

  “Not far now,” Xaandril murmured, taking her silence and scowl as discomfort. His hand clenched as he looked at her with concern. “Do human females struggle with childbirth?”

  She laughed at that. “I wouldn’t know. This is my first baby. I’m told it’s no walk in the park though.”

  He looked confused. “Why would you want to walk in the park when you are so close to birthing your young?”

  She grinned, once again surprised by the literal way some Lathar took things. “No walking. It means that childbirth is difficult and painful for us. Sometimes it can be fatal for mother and child.”

  Xaandril’s expression changed to something near to panic. “We should get you to the healer’s hall. Laarn can call in all the healers to see to you in your confinement.”

  “One… humans have been giving birth for thousands and thousands of years and two, I’m not about to give birth right now.” Chuckling, she patted his arm. “So… why the sudden interest in human childbirth?”

  He went pink, his mouth opening and closing for a second before he said, “If the Lathar are to build alliances with humanity, t
hen as champion I need to know your physical capabilities.”

  She arched an eyebrow as they reached the entrance to the temporary healer’s hall.

  “And to do so, you need to know how human women give birth? Xaan, pull the other one, it’s got bells on. Are you sure it doesn’t have more to do with a certain lady marine…”

  At that, the pink tinge that covered Xaandril’s cheeks deepened. “No… no, not at all. Why would you think that?”

  “Oh, no reason,” she said lightly, her gaze sweeping the main hall. Large and circular with twenty beds arranged in a circle, it doubled as the triage area. Warriors occupied some of the beds, healers as big and heavily muscled moving between them. That had been the thing she’d struggled to reconcile in her head the first few weeks here.

  Latharian healers… doctors… were all trained warriors and didn’t wear white coats. Instead, they dressed the same as the men they treated—in leather and armor. All were armed. The only marks of their profession were the teal sashes a few wore and the scars that covered their bodies. Marks from their healer’s trials.

  The Latharian empire was the only place she knew of that you wanted your doctor to look like he’d survived a multi-vehicle pileup and an encounter with a slasher-movie level serial killer. The more scars, the higher the training of the healer.

  Her gaze caught on a familiar, broad-shouldered figure, and a burst of warmth spread through her as she recognized her mate. Laarn was busy treating a warrior on the other side of the room, his jacket slung over the hook at the end of the bed as he bent over to attend to what looked like a busted leg.

  Walking toward him, she looked away as she spotted the white of bone in the warrior’s thigh, bile rising as Laarn made a sharp movement. There was a crunch and a soft sound that could have been a muffled scream from the warrior on the bed. Then Laarn straightened, his lips set in a grim line as he looked at the healer with him. Younger, his impressive selection of scars looked barely healed.

  “Take over from here, Renza. Check the bone has fused correctly and close. Make sure you check the nervous feedback to ensure there’s no damage we need to attend to,” Laarn ordered.

  “Yes, Lord Healer.” The younger healer slid into place, and Laarn turned away, his face breaking into a broad smile the instant he spotted Jessica.

  “My love… what are you doing here?”

  It had been a long morning, so the sight of his mate in front of him was a welcome distraction. Laarn smiled for her as he stepped forward, instantly at her side to take her arm. She was heavy with child, his child, and he couldn’t help the surge of pride as his gaze swept her swollen belly in assessment. He’d done that, he’d given her that child. His daughter.

  “I wanted to see you,” she said, a small pout curving her lower lip as she caught the slight chide in his voice. She should be resting… he’d told her she should be resting. The other human women had told her she should be resting. Was she resting? No. Instead, she was making the trek from their very comfortable quarters to the healer’s hall.

  His gaze flicked to Xaandril for a moment, noting the light touch of Jess’ hand on the big warrior’s arm. Jealousy surged for a moment but he fought it back. Xaandril was an honorable male, one Laarn trusted with his life. With Jessica and the baby’s life. He would never act dishonorably toward Laarn’s mate.

  “Thank you, General,” he said with a small inclination of his head, knowing full well that Xaandril would have ensured Jessica took the walk at a sedate pace and didn’t overexert herself. “Itaal will conduct your checkup, if you would like to proceed to his station. I will check with you in a few moments.”

  “Of course. Lord Healer. Lady Jessica.”

  Xaandril took his leave with a small nod of his head, striding across the middle of the hall toward the indicated healer’s station. Itaal stood waiting, his hands behind his back in the classic at-ease posture. Laarn had been amused to find out it was something the human military also used. A common mannerism provided further evidence they were linked.

  “So, my love…” He turned to Jess and pulled her into his arms. That they were in the middle of the healer’s hall didn’t bother him one iota. Jess was the woman he loved, the woman who had called mating marks to life around his wrists, and if he wanted to show everyone how he felt about her, he would.

  “What was so important that it couldn’t wait for me to come to you?” He leaned down to graze a kiss over her lips. Even heavy with child, she fit against him perfectly. But he had noticed that, as her pregnancy developed, she leaned into him more, as if seeking his strength to bolster her own. Sudden worry spiked through him, and he spread a hand over her stomach. “Are you okay? Do you have any pain?”

  “There you go, right into healer mode!” she chuckled, reaching up to stroke his cheek and pull his head back down to hers for another kiss. “I’m fine, my love. I just needed to move. I feel like a marshmallow whale lying about in bed all day. And you’d think I was in danger of starving to death with the amount of food the servants keep bringing. There’s just so much of it…”

  “Well…” he said, picking his words with care. “You need the nutrition now. For you and the baby…”

  Since she’d started to show, Jess had become obsessed with her size and how much weight she was putting on with the pregnancy. He didn’t understand why. In his eyes she was perfect, and the changes in her body only increased his desire and need for her.

  “And… you ladies said it yourself. Our chocolate cake isn’t fattening,” he reminded her, pulling out his… what did humans call it… his ace in the hole.

  “Well, this is true,” she admitted, and the small frown between her brows faded under a brilliant smile as he leaned down to kiss her again. This one was deeper, hotter, and he couldn’t help driving his hand into her loose hair to hold her still as he plundered her lips. When he lifted his head, she was breathing raggedly, her eyes dark and her lips full from his kiss.

  “Laarn!” she complained, still clinging to him. “We’re in public… everyone can see!”

  “Let them look,” he growled. “And if you keep looking at me like that, they’ll have a lot to see.”

  “Laarn!”

  This time her gasp was near-scandalized and he couldn’t help his broad grin. “What? I am a mated man… It is my business when and where I show my appreciation of the gift the lady goddess has granted me.”

  He pulled her closer to plant a lingering kiss on her lips. She leaned into him, her body soft and her lips pliant as she surrendered to him. He didn’t get a chance to savor the kiss, though, because at that moment the double doors at the end of the hall opened, the sound of heavily booted feet and the shouts of warriors announcing yet more patients. He broke away with a sigh.

  “Hold that thought for later, mate of mine. I have work to attend to.”

  Remind me I need to find an alien hottie and get knocked up. Soon.”

  Kenna Reynolds sighed as she looked at the dining table in Jess’ suite. The servants had just finished laying out the light afternoon repast Jess had requested, which meant there wasn’t an inch of the wooden surface visible under mountains of food. She wouldn’t have been surprised to hear the legs groaning under the weight.

  “Another alien hottie? The general not cutting it for you these days?” Jess cut a glance sideways at her friend as she held out a fork, noticing that Kenna’s eyes had slid to the chocolate cake at the side. As they always did.

  Kenna took it, grabbing a plate and selecting a huge slice of the decadent-looking treat. But, despite its looks, the cake was a dressed up version of Latharian field rations. It was designed to kick a warrior’s metabolism into high gear to deal with the extra energy load.

  In other words, as Laarn had reminded her earlier, it was a treat that didn’t make you fat.

  Jess’ mouth watered at the gooey, moussey consistency but before she could cut herself a slice, the baby gave her a swift kick. She sighed, turning toward the platter of vegeta
bles and piling her plate.

  “Awkward little parasite,” she grumbled as she rubbed her stomach. “I’ll be glad when you’re out and I can eat what I want.”

  She flopped down into the sofa opposite Kenna with all the grace of an upturned hippo. Crunching on the alien equivalent of a carrot stick, she watched Kenna shovel the cake in with pure and utter envy. One upside of being pregnant, and the size of a house, should be the fact she could eat what she liked. Should. Instead, she’d been lumbered with a kid who knew exactly what was healthy for her and Mom to eat as well as a kick like a pit pony. One she wasn’t afraid to use when Mom, aka her gestational lackey, didn’t do what she was told.

  Kenna raised an eyebrow. “Kid still giving you jip?” she asked, between one mouthful and the next.

  “Always. She’s as bossy as her damn father.” Jess rubbed at a sore spot on her stomach again with a fond smile. She must have gotten a stitch or something when she was walking to the healer’s hall earlier. “I can’t wait for her to be born so they can butt heads. It’ll be epic. I should sell popcorn. But…” she said, “you didn’t answer my question about Xaan.”

  Kenna wrinkled her nose, the now empty plate held in her lap as she sat cross-legged on the opposite couch to Jess.

  “I dunno what’s going on there. Half the time he seems interested… the rest of the time he’s like a damn statue. The stone-cold general his men call him you know? I can see what they mean.” She blew out a breath, running her hand through her hair. Her expression was pained as she looked back at Jess. “Am I making a fool of myself over a guy who’s not interested in me? You would tell me if I was, right?”

  Jess snorted. “You’re asking me? I didn’t think Laarn knew what his dick was for other than pissing out of at first. I’m sure Xaan is interested. They just have a strange way of showing it.”