“Well, we never actually had sex, although we did, er, fool around a lot.” Christine could feel her cheeks getting hot at the admission.
“So you never formed a soul-bond and a telepathic connection? That is to say, you can’t hear each other’s thoughts?” Emilia asked.
Christine shook her head.
“I’m afraid not.”
“Oh, that’s too bad.” Emilia looked disappointed. “If the two of you had bonded, there’s no way they could send him away to Tiberius Four. It’s against the Monstrum code to separate bonded mates, no matter what crime one of them might have committed.”
“But Roarn didn’t commit any crime!” Christine protested. “He was protecting me! He probably followed my scent up to Mike Fenster’s trailer and heard the awful things that bastard was saying he was going to do to me! Roarn ripped right through the metal of the trailer to save me!”
“Let me convey all that to my husband,” Emilia told her. Once more she closed her eyes and this time she almost seemed to be arguing mentally with her Monstrum mate—at least, if the expressions on her face were any indication.
But at last she opened her eyes again and shook her head.
“No good?” Christine asked, her heart sinking.
“I’m afraid not. Roarn killed a human so he is subject to punishment under the Monstrum code. If the two of you were bonded, they would have to mitigate his sentence. But since you’re not—”
“But we couldn’t get bonded,” Christine protested. “His equipment was too large to, uh, fit in me, you know? And besides, I didn’t want to risk getting pregnant and being a single mom again.”
“Well, there’s no way to prevent pregnancy during bonding—if it happens, it happens,” Emilia said practically. “But as for his equipment being too large, I know it might seem like that, but all Monstrum produce bonding compounds in their saliva and precum that help a female stretch to, er, accommodate them.”
Christine felt a rush of regret.
“Roarn said something about that but I didn’t know what he meant!” she exclaimed. “Oh, I wish I’d listened a little closer! I just thought it would be impossible to fit all that inside me. Especially that part down near the end.”
“You mean the Bonding Knot?” Emilia raised her eyebrows. “Yes, that bit does look daunting, I’ll admit. But believe it or not, every bit will fit inside you if you’ve been properly prepared first.”
Christine thought of how often Roarn had gone down on her. Was that what he had been doing—preparing her? If only she had realized that at the time!
“I wish I would have known,” she said sadly.
“I wish you had too,” Emilia said gently. “But I’m afraid my husband says that if you’re not bonded to the prisoner—to Roarn—then you cannot speak for him.”
“I see.” Christine nodded. But she wasn’t about to give up yet. “I understand the Monstrum have rules,” she told Emilia. “But please, can’t I at least just see Roarn one more time? Maybe when he sees me, he’ll come back to his right mind and he can speak for himself.”
“Let me ask.” Emilia closed her eyes again and concentrated. After a moment, she opened her eyes and nodded.
“He said yes?” Christine asked breathlessly.
“He said yes,” Emilia confirmed, smiling. “Come on—let’s get you dressed and get you over to the Monstrum Mother Ship. We only have a few hours before your warrior is supposed to be shipped out.”
At that moment, Dr. Liv came back into the room. Looking from Emilia to Christine and back again she said,
“All right—what did I miss?”
The two of them explained rapidly and Emilia ended,
“I hope it’s all right to take Christine with me to the Monstrum Mother Ship? Is she ready to be released?”
“Let me do a quick final exam, but she seems perfectly healthy to me and all her tests have been coming back normal,” Dr. Liv said, smiling. “And I’ll ask the staff to bring your clothes,” she added to Christine. “Now, let’s get you examined so you can go save your Monstrum!”
FORTY-TWO
“Thank you so much for these beautiful clothes.” Christine looked down at herself and swished her hips back and forth to make the deep red skirt swirl around her.
“Well, we couldn’t have you going in the ones you’d been brought in,” Dr. Liv said, frowning.
Which was true—when Christine had passed her final health check and the clothing had been produced, it was found to be absolutely filthy—probably from the time she’d spent lying on the dirty carpet of the Fensters’ trailer, Christine thought. It smelled foul too—the disgusting chemical reek of the drugs they had been “cooking” had completely permeated the fabric.
Christine had been dismayed until Dr. Liv had thoughtfully called her friend, Kat, who apparently had a machine that made new clothes almost immediately. After hearing the story of why Christine needed something to wear—so she could go to the Monstrum Mother Ship and save Roarn—Kat had hurried right over. She had taken Christine’s measurements and then returned with a beautiful deep red wrap dress and a set of white lacy underwear and a bra to go with it.