Read Online Parallel Fire by Deidre Knight - Free Book Online Page A

Congratulations. You must be having a splendid time of it.”
    Nevin blushed painfully. “I don’t understand.”
    â€œThe rare Refarian male makes a change—gets the silver hair like you’ve got there—but his body enters a sort of sexual hyper-zone. His drives intensify keenly, his fertility ratio goes off the charts…and it lasts for years. If you’ve been making love to any women lately…?”
    â€œJust one,” Nevin admitted, throat dry as he thought of Anna. Gods, if he’d gotten her pregnant, there’d be no hiding their lifebonding.
    â€œWell, if you coupled with her more than once, you might not be looking at just one pregnancy, but a second laid down on top of that one. Possibly a third.”
    â€œDoctor, are you trying to give me fucking heart failure?” Nevin barked.
    â€œI’m trying to explain the situation to you, young man. You are a fertility powerhouse right now—and if you’ve been spreading your seed around beyond that one woman, you may need to figure out just how many children you’ve sired.”
    â€œYou’re my doctor, you should have warned me about this. I saw you after my hair went silver.”
    The doctor shook his head. “And you were no longer fertile. Something brought this on.”
    â€œSomething—or someone?” Nevin thought of the absolute mating frenzy that Anna had put him in.
    â€œYes, high fertility like this can be induced by a particular partner. It’s nature’s way, you know, how newly mature men become so randy. Every now and then, too, it drives the male back into fertility. You might even go black-headed again,” the doctor volunteered with a jocular laugh.
    Nevin shot a look at himself in the sink mirror, and imagined himself with dark, unsilvered hair once again. Then he flinched, realizing that he might have seeded several babies inside of Anna. “I need to find that woman,” he said, still studying himself in the mirror.
    â€œShe’s not just any woman, now is she, Lieutenant Daniels?”
    He grinned at the wizened doctor. “No, doctor,” he admitted with a grin, “she’s my lifemate.”
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    When Nevin returned to the lodge, Anna was nowhere to be found, and he learned from her twin sister that she’d been working with several soldiers down at Base Ten. It felt as if she would never return, and although he retreated to the meeting room to study schematics and some battle strategies, he couldn’t bring his mind to focus. All he could think of was Anna being pregnant—maybe even with multiple babies. As much as he yearned for a family with her, it was the last thing either of them had really imagined.
    When nightfall came, he made an appearance at dinner, positioning himself at the table with Jared and Kelsey. He could only hope that Anna’s hurt and anger from his earlier behavior wouldn’t keep her gone all night. He’d been cruel, treating her dismissively with their king, and she hadn’t deserved any of it.
    Of course she wanted to share quarters with him—and of course she wanted the world to know. As the day had worn on, he’d realized what a ridiculous fool he’d been to even imagine that they could hide the true nature of their relationship, the depth of their lifebonding, from those around them.
    Beside him, Jared cleared his throat, explaining that he’d voiced some polite question three times now without a reply. Nevin blinked back at him, feeling dazed.
    He placed his right fist over his heart, and bowed deeply. “Apologies, my lord,” he said, feeling ashamed to have shown such dishonor to his king and commander.
    â€œRise, Lieutenant,” Jared told him impatiently. Nevin knew all too well that the king had little patience for his deeply held traditions, but he would as soon have resigned his position than treat his commander any differently.
    Again,