“It must not be a girl again,” Evan said happily, “we have not bonded to Ciara. The women said that only happens with girls. It must be a male offspring. Which of us is the Daddy, then?”


    I stood fuming as they ced bets with one another. It wasn’t Christof, they were certain. Kein had made a son they knew of and Bane had made one too. No one was sure what Evan had made, he was an unknown in this.


    “What if it’s not a boy?” I hissed, still mad as Hell. “What if it’s a girl with no wings or strength?”


    “Unlikely it is a weak woman,” Christof said frowning, “they would not breed you just to make more human women. Obviously the women know you make Paterian offspring.”


    My temper threatened to spill over, but Tyle’s family was approaching. I was forced to school my features as Damien’s family greeted them heartily. Bane pped his son on the shoulder and then hugged him. The young man was taken aback by the greeting, but he reciprocated. Bane happily exined the Earth tradition to the boys as we started.


    We really should not have stayed tonight. At least, I should not have stayed. I couldn’t focus on the training, because I couldn’t calm down. I couldn’t stop making mistakes and I snapped at Bane several times. Considering my supposed position in thepound the young boys found it very odd.


    When we finally left the stadium, I refused to speak with my family. They tried to soothe me, but it did not work.


    “Why so upset?” Christof finally asked. “You adore your children and look forward to contact with them. Why fight what you love so dearly?”


    “They-are-taken-from-me,” I said through clenched teeth. “I am not permitted to see them when I like. If this is a boy, after they take him, I will never see him again.”


    Damien snorted at my ‘obvious confusion’ as he called it. Hannah was a fine member of the family, so was Kennedy. They would take the boy for me once they saved us. It was so simple.


    Kein dropped us off at our rooms and I stalked in ahead of Damien. I brusquely moved to shower by myself, cleaning my body before they had a chance to join me. Once I was done I grabbed the pad Kennedy had sent and stalked into the bedroom. Christof tried to follow and I wouldn’t have it.


    “I want to be alone!” I shouted and closed the leather drape, leaving them to their dinner.


    I wrote long notes to both Hannah and Kennedy. I told them everything. My anger and fear poured out to the two girls who knew me best. It felt wrongining to my young daughters, but I really had no one else.


    Kennedy’s response was instant. She wrote to stand by and wait for her transmission.


    A few secondster lines wiggled across the screen until I was looking into Kennedy’s concerned face. Her Sisters stood with her. They wanted to know what had happened.


    “The men,” I whispered harshly, “let my contraceptivespse. When Nu-reeh forgot they did not remind her. Damien and his Brothers wanted this to happen. They want more family,” I cried almost breaking down. “I have no connection to the men. It’s a boy.”


    “Mama,” Kennedy soothed, “it will be okay, we will take this little one away as soon as we can. You mustn’t stress yourself.”


    “What if it is a weak woman?” I asked petting my belly, “What if she is like me? Will the women destroy her?”Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    My voice wasced with fear and dread. If this baby turned out more human than Paterian, I wasn’t sure what would happen. I wasn’t sure my mind could withstand the destruction of my child.


    Dara spoke up and did the soothing then, “Mama,” she addressed me, “That will not happen. We have learned much over the years and forgotten none of it. The human… I believe Kennedy would use the word ‘genome’ is very flexible. Every single offspring from mixed Paterian-human pairings has taken the best of both species.”


    I nodded and wiped away tears. That was relieving to know.


    “We believe thispatibility is rted to the portals,” she continued. “Early in our history there were numerous natural portals between this world and several others, including Earth.”


    “Mama knows that,” Kennedy reminded her.


    Still, this was quite an interesting and distracting conversation.


    Dara continued to exin how creatures developed and grew sometimes wandering into portals and being deposited in different realms. Some creatures on this world still resembled their Earth ancestors. Women here actually vaguely remembered the giant asteroid that hit Earth and nearly destroyed it. Something about that urrence had closed many portals, but not all. Things still came and went freely for many eons after that.


    “Dinosaurs, Mama,” Kennedy said happily, “still exist in a form here.”


    Eve interjected and told me some women even surmised that the portals had shifted the living cells around that originally had seeded both Earth and Pateria. There was no proof of that, but it was a theory the scientists sometimes yed with. It was hard to tell because the portals had allowed creatures toe and go so freely between the worlds for so long.


    I wasn’t crying anymore and just sat looking at my girls. They had done quite a wonderful job distracting me. I had not even noticed as my men came and sat on the bed around me. Christof sat next to me and looked at our daughter on the pad.


    “You were deceitful, Daddy,” Kennedy said harshly. “You should have told Mama what you were allowing to happen. Family does not act that way.”


    He agreed with her. It had been wrong and they were ashamed. They thought it would be better to just let it happen. There would be less stress this way. I had been so upset when they bred mest time. My men worried about the sadness affecting me again.


    “No more secrets, Dad, promise me,” Kennedy demanded. “Family does not keep secrets. Mama can deal with the truth. What you did is not protecting her; it only hurts her more. She put her trust in you all and look what you have done.”


    I nodded sadly and looked at my daughter. Doing this only proved that the men still thought of me as less than them. They thought my life had to be arranged and protected. I looked sadly at Christof.


    “I am not family when you do this to me,” I said looking around at the men. “I am only part of you when you allow me to be. You all have kept me apart in this and that is not helping me.”