All Novel XO
17
“You can make it up to me later,” she grumbled, her expression swinging between cross and lustful. She left a clean towel in his lap to cover up the distraction.
Jack’s eyes swung over to Leffera and saw the bundle in her arms. He blinked. Since when did Leffera have a child?
Elissa walked back into the room. She was dressed again and her face absolutely glowed with happiness. “Let me hold my grandson!” she smiled, taking the bundle from Leffera.
“Grandson?” Jack thought. “Did Karrel have siblings?”
“Come meet your father, little one,” Elissa crooned to the baby as she walked towards Jack.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
His eyes went wide with shock and his jaw dropped. Elissa looked at him with surprise then looked at her daughter. “You didn’t tell him? You said you were going to tell him when you went to the hospital yesterday.”
“That can’t be! Humans and Altarians aren’t genetically compatible!” he blurted. He looked at Karrel. “You were away for months!”
“Yes, after I discovered I was pregnant with your child. I went home to be with my family and the royal physician. This has never happened before. My pregnancy had to be carefully watched and in complete secrecy. Once the baby came to term and was found to be completely healthy I was able to come back. This was the other genetic change you underwent which I was going to mention yesterday. You are compatible with Altarians. I’m sorry, I don’t know if you are still compatible with Humans though,” she said with a sad expression.
The sweetness! The doctor said it was a sign of peak ovulation. His head jerked to look at the Queen and his jaw dropped again. She smiled sweetly back at him.
“Yes, I’m going to have your baby too!” she said blissfully.
“MOTHER!” Karrel yelled. Her face showed she’d just realized her mother had planned this interlude with Jack, including sending her to see Leffera with the baby while she waited in Jack’s apartment.
“I’m sorry but when I held this darling baby in my arms the first time I knew I had to have another child. With Jack! I immediately stopped taking my contraceptives,” she said fiercely.
The baby became restless from all the loud voices.
“He’s healthy? Does he look like an Altarian or a Human?” Jack whispered, frightened. He’d fathered a child! A cross species one at that! What had he done to the poor baby? What kind of life would it have?
Elissa set the bundle down on his lap and opened the blanket. The baby was so much smaller than a human baby but considering the size of Altarian mothers he thought that made sense. He saw its chocolate brown fur (like his mother) and Altarian features (beautiful and perfect like his mother). Absolutely perfect features. Their eyes, nose, lips, ears, fur, two finger-two thumb hands, and cloven feet. There were no human features at all. He sighed in relief! The child would fit into Altarian society perfectly. Then he looked closer. He saw the tiniest little bumps on its forehead. He looked at Karrel. “Horns?” he whispered.
She beamed back at him. “He’s perfect!”
He smiled back at her. “He is,” he whispered in awe. Jack redid the bundling as the baby was beginning to get cold. Then he lifted him up to his face and gently rubbed his face against his son’s. He kissed his forehead. The baby cooed and they all chuckled.
“I want a baby too,” Leffera said quietly from the side.
Jack looked over at the young female and held out his arm. She immediately tucked herself up against his body. Jack scented her and took in the spicy heat. So it wasn’t her time or she was on contraceptives. He looked at Karrel whose smile told him everything he needed to know.
“I’ve always wanted a big family!” he grinned.
Jack Danner flopped back on the pillows of his sleep platform as he tried to catch his breath. He felt his mind returning to his body and he was still tingling. As he tried to recuperate he threw his arm over his eyes to hide the wincing from his oversensitivity as Leffera ‘cleaned’ him after their latest romp. This was a new post-sex behavior Leffera had recently adopted. She was rather insistent and Jack decided he could handle a few jolts with the wonderful sensations her prehensile tongue gave him.
While the more xenophobic members of Earth might find what he’d just spent the better part of an hour doing with the alien female highly offensive, Jack found Altarians to be one of the most beautiful races to inhabit the known universe. They were certainly one of the most sexually adventurous having no real issues with cross species attraction. Cultured, inquisitive, gentle, friendly, and optimistic were also excellent terms to describe them.
Physically, they weren’t imposing like the hulking armor skinned Grellians (dull racists) or the tall black robed and hooded Allsa Komanae (menacing bastards). Altarians were generally slim and petite in stature, adult females ranged in height between 4′ 10″ and 5′ 8″ at their tallest. Adult males were typically at the lower end of that scale. Their bodies were covered with a felt like fur which ranged in color from blond to chocolate brown. They resembled Satyrs of ancient Greek mythology with cloven hooved feet and hands with two strong fingers and opposable thumbs on both sides. Their heads were humanoid but their eyes were twice as large as a human’s, had diagonal pupils, and the lids had long lashes.
Jack had a fondness for their ears which were long, pointed, expressively mobile, and typically projected horizontally. They had slim noses, wide, black lipped mouths with amazingly dexterous tongues like Leffera’s which was doing amazing things to him at the moment.
There was a definite sweetness to her musk which Jack now understood to mean she was fertile. That was something new he’d learned about Altarian females. When the hot spicy musk turned sweet, they were ready to make little Altarians. As most females took contraceptives Jack hadn’t been exposed to this second ‘flavor’ of the musk until Karrel, the Altarian Trade Commissioner he worked with, had sex with him several months before. The outcome of that liaison was a son, the first ever between a Human and an Altarian.
Technically that shouldn’t have been possible. Humans and Altarians were not genetically compatible. End of story. Complete stop.
However, there had been extenuating circumstances involving extended exposure to female musk over time, ingesting certain hormone laden fluids from fertile females, a rare and normally innocuous Altarian virus, and Jack’s unique genetic reaction to all of the above. Jack’s genetics had been altered and compatibility for fertilization was just one of the ‘gifts’ he’d received.
Karrel had explained to him that she’d stopped taking her contraceptives on her doctor’s orders due to some routine medical tests she was having done. She’d been told not to have unprotected sex with Altarian males until she returned to using the contraceptives. She had no concern with having sex with Jack because, well, Humans weren’t compatible. When she’d discovered she was pregnant, which for Altarians is only moments after conceiving, she made immediate travel plans to go home and be under the care of the royal physician.
That was the other little detail Karrel had kept from Jack. She was the daughter of Queen Elissa, head of the royal family which ruled over the entire Altarian Empire. Surprise!
Jack hadn’t seen Karrel for the two month gestation period and she only returned after the birth of their healthy and completely Altarian child. The only genetic contribution Jack seemed to be responsible for was a resurgence of an ancient and normally dormant gene. Their son was born with the tiny beginnings of horns on his forehead.
Karrel had agreed to let him name their son and he had chosen ‘Alex’ after his late father. Karrel found the name to be very suitable as it didn’t match the sound of any existing Altarian words and felt unique, which they both agreed their son was. When she discovered that Alex was short for Alexander she was overjoyed by this ‘hidden expansion’.
Jack was drawn back to the present as Leffera had finished her cleaning and had begun kissing him down there in the hopes of inspiring a third tumble in the sheets. Jack pulled her up onto his chest and she gave him a sweet moan of disappointment. She immediately looked up at him impishly and reached up to run her hands over the second genetic ‘gift’ he’d received.