Serpent of the Abyss by S.J. Sanders

Epilogue

Lori stood surrounded by her mates as she watched Eddie purse his lips, scanning the datapad in front of him. The first transport train to the mines had left that morning, the very first shift since Darvel and United Earth pulled out, and everyone, especially Eddie, was nervous. Although there had been no hostility from the shinara, the miners were still going in and prepared to evacuate at a moment’s notice if their Seshanamitesh guards instructed them to.

Over the course of the last few months, despite some squabbles, the species had slowly learned to cooperate with each other, which was the only reason that they had even entertained opening access to the mine again. Corp had already begun negotiations offering fair trade credit through a third party employed by the coalition for any material dug up by the colony. She had initially been surprised by the offer and suspicious, but Eddie had laughed and pointed out that they were only eager to cooperate because they needed the ore.

It was nice to be in a position of power for once.

A smiled curled the corners of Eddie’s mouth, and he nodded to himself. Not for the first time, they lingered on her males as if he still couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that she was mated to three males. All three of whom possessively guarded her from any other unmated male with a pulse, and were currently glaring daggers at him.

And they liked Eddie.

For whatever reason, that didn’t comfort him much.

Vi, on the other hand, found the entire thing amusing. She was less amused by her own personal stalker who was “ruining her nightlife” by running off every male she attempted to flirt with, which was probably why she was hanging out with them in the office instead of getting ready to go out.

“Any trouble?” Lori asked conversationally, her hand settling over her small baby bump.

The corners of Eddie’s eyes crinkled, and he shook his head, letting out a deep breath. “Nope. Looks to be all clear. They have a team working to take apart the excavator, and the Seshanamitesh are working one per assigned team to keep things safe. By all accounts, our productivity should be high despite the restrictions we are now using to lessen our impacts on the Aglatha.”

Slengral nodded. “Good,” he hissed. “As long as Seshana’s integrity is preserved, the Seshanamitesh will have no reason to attack.”

Lori was just grateful that they no longer had to deal with attacks from rogue groups. It happened only a few more times before word spread that Seshanamitesh were now residing at Raza. A few of those initial conflicts had caused mass upset and panic due to how savage they sounded, but it had gotten results that no one could argue against. Equipping everyone in the colony with translators, including the Seshanamitesh, helped a lot of that progress, since everyone showed a higher likelihood of trusting each other and a willingness to work together.

In the end, it got results, and everyone liked results. They were just now seeing the fruit of them with the reopening of the mine.

Eddie rubbed his fingers across his mouth. “Corp will be sending a shuttle in about two months’ time to collect what harvest we have. They are also inquiring about your pregnancy. What would you like me to tell them?”

“Ideally, that it’s none of their damn business.” She sighed. “But in the spirit of cooperation, let’s just say that everything is normal. Whatever that is. I’m pregnant and dealing with all the typical pregnant lady stuff,” she clarified.

“Better you than me,” Vi grinned. “Not that I plan to get knocked up by anyone. No offense to your serpents. Give me an old fashioned human who I can still imagine being with after a few months and then maybe I will reconsider the kids and picket fence,” she said, a lazy grin stretching across her face.

Lori shrugged. “All of my symptoms are typical of any human pairing, so I can’t imagine the experience changing that drastically with a human partner,” she teased.

Morning sickness, swelling, indigestion. She had it all. And worse, as far as the medics who recently relocated planetside under an ironclad nondisclosure agreement could tell, there was no way to predict just how long her baby would be cooking. About the only useful thing that they could tell her was that she was carrying it as a fetus rather than an egg forming inside of her. Good thing too, because the idea of birthing an egg gave her nightmares. Her mates, however, found the idea of a livebirth to be something caught between fascinating and horrifying.

The medics were the ones really excited, and that made her mates all the more suspicious, especially Kehtal, whose experience at the hands of the last ones employed at the colony didn’t make him trusting of those of their profession.

Unfortunately, being the first woman carrying a Seshanamitesh hybrid meant that she was going to regular visits. Kehtal set aside his dislike enough to remain by her side, often growling as he scrutinized the medic’s every move.

Lori yawned and rubbed her belly. “You’ll give me an update if you hear anything more from the mining crew?”

Despite being trained as a spa attendant, Eddie had soon discovered that she had an aptitude keeping logs and working the ledger programs that earned her an immediate promotion. With this being the first day out on site, she wanted to make sure she had a clear count for everything coming out of the ground, what the comparative quantities were, if any injuries sustained, and so on. She hated not being there to see the initial reports, but she was already tired, and her mates were looking at her in a way that suggested that they were prepared to haul her back to their nest if she didn’t go willingly on her own two legs.

Eddie nodded. “Get out of here. I need to talk to Vi about a new construction project she’s been wheedling me about anyway.”

Lori sighed gratefully but didn’t get more than a step before Daskh hauled her up off of her feet.

“Come. It is sleep time,” he rumbled with a suggestive, panty-wetting hum.

Lori’s cheeks heated as her males hummed softly around her, letting everyone in the room know exactly how they would be resting. Once they understood that mating didn’t hurt the baby, they were insatiable and didn’t know the meaning of quiet sex.

To her further embarrassment, Vi caught her eye, her grin growing wicked as she mouthed two words. “Have fun.”

Little did her friend know that her males were very much committed to that and more.