Crystals Three Chosen Mates by Suzanne Graham

was as high as when there’d been a nutrishake shortage.
    Her stomach rumbled with hunger, reminding her she was supposed to be eating for two. She had to take the baby into consideration as she decided what to do about Henri, Stepho, and Fisher. Any one of the men could be the father. In the old system of assigned mates, it didn’t matter who the biological donor was. All three males worked together to raise the child because offspring were rare.
    But now, with the breakdown of the old ways, Crystal had the opportunity to choose her mates. How could she choose, though, if she didn’t know who was the father? What if she picked the wrong man? She couldn’t leave the biological parent out of the relationship.
    In the ancient days of Earth, there had been a test that could be performed on a pregnant woman to determine paternity and a number of genetic anomalies in the unborn child, but that knowledge had been lost through the generations as fewer and fewer pregnancies occurred. There hadn’t been a need for that type of medical testing. Any child produced was a welcomed child.
    She thought of Stepho’s dark complexion. It would be obvious once the baby was born whether he or she belonged to him. And that would crush him to have a child with her but not be in her life to help raise the child. But how would Fisher and Henri feel about fathering a child that wasn’t their own?
    How the hellitude was she going to make this work?
    She tossed the fresh noodles into the boiling water, making it splash back onto her arms. “Shiitake!” She rushed to the sink to rinse the burns under cold water.
    Sammy stood at her side with his hands on his hips. “That’s it. You’re out of here.” He pointed one finger at the kitchen door.
    “You can’t banish me from my own kitchen. I’m your superior.”
    “When you make mistakes that put your safety at risk, it doesn’t matter if you’re the Standing President of Profortuna. You are not to come back to work until you have a lengthy discussion with Henri, Stepho, and Fisher. Get your life sorted out, Crystal. You’ve got a baby to consider.”
    Damn, he sounded a lot older than his chronological age. She wondered what had made the change in him.
    He handed her a clean towel. “Now, go and find your men.”
    She took the offered cloth and blotted at the red marks on her forearms. So far, none of them looked like they would blister.
    “Stop dragging your feet.” Sammy gave her a gentle shove on the shoulder.
    “Fine. Fine. I’m going.” She set the towel on the counter and pulled her apron over her head. “And I’ll be back tomorrow.”
    “Don’t rush. Hopefully, those men will give you a reason to sleep in tomorrow.”
    She glared at him before stepping out of the kitchen. That Sammy, he’d definitely been picking up too many bad personality traits from the military men he usually worked around in Fourth Quadrant.
    She walked slowly down the corridor to her pod. She felt sweaty and wilted, absolutely in need of a shower before she faced the men. And yeah, she knew she was procrastinating, but why rush now when she’d been putting this off for over a week?
    She gathered her supplies from her room and took them to the communal bathing room. She and Fisher had been assigned to the smallest of the pods when they arrived, and neither had private bathing rooms.
    After dressing in a clean uniform, she combed her shoulder-length wet hair and wrapped it up into a twist with a clip. Then she carried her personal stuff back to her pod and realized she had nothing else to do that would legitimately keep her from having this confrontation with Henri, Stepho, and Fisher.
    The worst part was she had no answers for them. She didn’t know who the father was, she didn’t know how they’d ever manage to work together in one relationship, and she didn’t know how she would choose between them, if any of them even wanted her anymore. Maybe Henri and Stepho had come to the cafeteria