Alien Morsels: Short Tales from Zerconian Warrior Series by Sadie Carter Page B

around,” Mila said patiently. “It’s a celebration of your mating. Everyone’s so happy that Darac found you.”
    “That’s me. Saving one Zerconian at a time. Taking one for the team.”
    Zoey snorted. “You planning on saving anymore?”
    “Hell no. Dealing with one Zerconian male is enough for me.” Willa’s mate Darac had been lost to the mating madness when he met Willa. She brought him back from the brink, although he still wasn’t completely free of the madness. Willa was the key to his sanity, and he adored her with an intensity that was almost scary.
    Mila snorted. “Plus, Darac would pull the head off any man who touched you. That man is crazy in love with you.”
    “And Koran’s not in love with you?” Willa asked.
    Mila blushed.
    Urgh. Zoey got it, she loved Dex, but right now she had to pee. Again. And she wasn’t certain if she wanted to vomit or eat. It was a fine line sometimes.
    She was not in the mood for lovey-dovey soppiness.
    “Look, it’s nice of you both to stop by. But I’m kind of feeling tired now.” So piss off and leave me alone. She congratulated herself on her politeness. She wasn’t impossible as the old bat liked to complain.
    Mila sighed. “Zoey, are you sure you won’t come to the ceremony? Might make you feel better.”
    “The only thing that can make me feel better is having this baby. I’m starting to think he or she is never going to arrive.”
    “Has Thor suggested anything?” Mila asked.
    Zoey crossed her arms over her chest or at least she tried to. Her boobs were swollen to the point of ridiculousness. Her body was no longer her own.
    Worry ate at her. What if she couldn’t love this baby? She felt little connection to it. Oh, she’d been filled with happiness when she found out she was pregnant.
    But now? She just felt tired and disheartened. What did she know about babies? Absolutely nothing. Plus, this was a Zerconian baby. Perhaps the next heir to the throne, if the baby was a boy. She was going to raise a ruler? How? She couldn’t even figure out how to be a half-decent Crown Princess.
    “No.”
    “What about spicy food?” Mila said. “Isn't that meant to induce labor?”
    “Or you could try sex,” Willa added in her frank way.
    “Spicy food upsets my stomach, and Dex hasn’t had sex with me in months.” Since she’d started to show he had refused to penetrate her, although he had still given her plenty of orgasms. But even those had dried up. In fact, he hardly touched her at all anymore.
    Could she blame him with how impossible she’d become?
    “Months?” Willa gaped at her. “That’s unbearable.”
    “He’s scared of hurting the baby.”
    “What rubbish.” Willa waved her hand through the air.
    “Dex is very protective.” Mila gave her a sympathetic smile. “All of our warriors are, but this baby seems to have made him extra protective.”
    “Screw that. If Darac thinks he’s going to leave me high and dry while I’m carrying his baby, he can just think again.”
    “Good luck with that,” Zoey muttered. “When you get pregnant, people tend to stop seeing you. Everything becomes about the little alien you’re carrying.”
    Literally, an alien. She had no idea how much of this baby would be Zerconian and how much would be human.
    Zoey yawned, deliberately drawing it out. She loved these guys. When she’d moved here, she’d longed for some friends. Zerconian females weren’t the friendliest bunch, and the fact that she was mated to the Crown Prince had rubbed some of them the wrong way. So when Koran mated with Mila, Zoey had been thrilled. Mila was sweet and kind. She would make an excellent ambassador.
    Then Darac mated Willa, who was everything Zoey wished to be. Competent, tough, a fighter. With five older brothers, Willa didn’t take any bullshit. When she’d met Darac, she’d been working as a mercenary, with a crew of men that included two of her brothers.
    Life on Zerconia had to seem pretty boring and tame