Striker by Lexi Ander Read Free Book Online

offspring from the races we have been blended with." Zeus felt his face warm with his embarrassment. He shared much with his brothers but to discuss his sex brought out an awkwardness he had not experienced since he reached puberty.
    Mestor pushed back his plate. "The humans are part of the Valespian Pact. Not to be insensitive or crass, but why did their attempts to impregnate Athena fail?"
    Alpha supplied the answer. "When the ancients approached the humans about donating their genetic material and participating in the pact, they were a young race on the cusp of designing a space program. The Terrens attempted to confiscate the ships and other properties of the ancients. When the ancients easily took back what had been stolen, the human leaders offered up their shunned ones as the genetic material in recompense. They were accepted by the ancients and later became the Fal'Amoric race. The humans were found to be deceptive, dishonest, and greedy. The Terrens signed the Valespian Pact, but the ones who were offered up to represent the humans evolved. With their consent, the ancients sped the Fal'Amoric's evolution, not only designing them to be a blender species, but causing them to become genetically different enough to make them and the Terrens incompatible. When the Chtichlians engineered you to become the decoy for Prometheus and then placed you in a position to be caught by the Terrens, they were unaware they handed over someone who could replace him no matter what they did."
    "But we found you instead," Sohm'lan said.
    Zeus read Azaes's anger in the tremble of his upper lip, as if he struggled to keep from baring his teeth in fury.
    "Yes, and now I am to be a father. I do not want to risk Dargon and Alpha being captured, or our child stolen." Just the thought had Zeus both terrified and enraged. He mastered the outward appearance, but the turmoil continued to roil in his gut. He desperately needed to take Dargon and Alpha home, where he could protect them and the kit. The urge to nest threatened to overpower his more logical thought processes.
    "Any who dare steal your mates or your youngling will answer to the Mar'Sani." The Monticore salute confirmed Mestor's declaration.
    Humbled by the display, they reminded Zeus he was not alone. "Thank you," he rasped.
    "You will need to be careful of everything you say on the hypernet. We discovered the hard way that a psionic monitored communications in and out of Valespia, searching for information on the Oethra 7. I have not dared contact Prince Malek since," Dargon warned Zeus’s brothers.
    "Good. Then you will not argue when I ask you not to appear on screen." Zeus grinned widely as he watched Dargon open his mouth to argue, only to snap his jaws shut.
    "I would stand by your side and meet your parents, not hide in the shadows." Zeus understood Dargon's aggravation. He would have Dargon next to him when he spoke to his father; if not for the danger it would place Dargon and Alpha in.
    "And you will. When we arrive at Haven, you will meet my father. I would not willingly hide either of you," Zeus soothed, stroking Dargon's cheek, Dargon's defensive posture melting away.
    Alpha sighed. "I apologize. The emotional fulgurations are my fault."
    "I am not emotional." Dargon lifted his lip in a snarl.
    " Normally, I would be able to shield him from the excess hormones, but this pregnancy has hampered my abilities ."
    "Is there a problem with the kit?" Zeus’s heart skipped in alarm. How could he protect them from something he had no control over?
    Azaes and Mestor stepped closer. He knew they responded to his rising panic and he appreciated their tacit support.
    "Nothing is wrong. I only recently realized I carry two kits, which explains the drain I have had on my energy the last few days."
    Suddenly, he felt lightheaded. Zeus’s legs wobbled underneath him, his mouth silently forming the word 'two'. Azaes and Mestor barely caught him as his knees gave out, grasping his elbows