Perfectly Matched—Chapter 4

 

 

Alec’s face radiated surprise at her question.

 

“Pretty likely,” he answered.  “Did they teach you anything about heat before you left?”

 

Max shook her head, not allowing herself to look at him.

 

“Once they figured out it was likely that X5 females would go into heat, they started to regulate them,” he explained.  “There were a few times when they didn’t find out until afterwards…” he trailed off, knowing she wouldn’t like to hear what he had to tell her.

 

Max swallowed.  “What happened?”

 

“We never saw them again after that but the guards mentioned things.  They did a lot of tests, I think.  Apparently there were good results or they would have found another way around this.”

 

Not wanting Alec to know how terrified she was, Max closed her eyes.  She couldn’t let them have her child…if there was one.

 

“If, hypothetically, I was…” she didn’t say the word pregnant, she didn’t want to jinx the situation.  “What would happen?”

 

Alec grimaced.

 

“Well, apparently, we are a genetically superior pairing,” he started.

 

Max wasn’t surprised at this news and rolled her eyes.  “So they think we’d make beautiful children together…what genius came up with that one?”

 

“I think the lab rats went through a more rigorous DNA test than ‘look, pretty!’” Alec commented wryly.

 

Max shrugged.

 

“They want to get as much out of it as they can in a short period of time…” Alec continued.

 

“Wait,” she interrupted him.  “They have at least nine months before…”  Max’s voice trailed off as she saw the look on Alec’s face.  “What are they going to do?”

 

Alec ran his fingers through his hair.  “They…They’re going to transplant from you to a surrogate.”  He whispered finally.

 

Max’s mouth dropped and her eyes widened in horror.  Waves of nausea washed over her and she leaned over, holding head in her hands.

 

Alec leaned toward her, but hesitated.  “Are you OK?”

 

“You want me to be OK??”  Max stared at him.  Didn’t he get it?  They could be bringing a child into the world for Manticore.    

 

“Well, there’s nothing you can do about it.”  He shrugged, looking away.

 

“If there was, would you?” her doubt was evident.

 

Alec looked her in the eye.  “Maybe.”

 

Max narrowed her eyes, watching him.  Could she trust him?  Was there a choice?  Taking a deep breath, she plunged ahead, “Have you ever wanted to leave Manticore?”

 

He shrugged off the question.  “They’d put me back in psy-ops.”

 

Max frowned.  What had they done to him in psy-ops?  She changed the subject.  “How soon will they know if I’m pregnant?”

 

“They’ll probably give you a test at the end of the month, just to make sure you are.  We’ll probably both be taken in for testing if you’re not.”

 

“Then, how soon would they…” she didn’t vocalize Manticore’s plans for her potential child.

 

“Six weeks?”

 

Max’s mind was whirling with possible scenarios, but could she bring him in on them?  Did she have to do this on her own?

 

“So, six weeks.”

 

“Yeah…what are you going to do?” he asked.

 

“Depends on you.”  Max answered.

 

Alec stood up slowly.  “When you say it depends on me…does it depend on me doing something against the rules?”

 

“Maybe,” Max smiled.  “If you can handle it, that is.

 

His eyes narrowed.  “You’d be surprised what I can handle.”

 

“Prove me wrong,” she challenged.

 

“Nothing wrong with hearing the plan, I guess.”  He sat back down and smirked at her.

 

She rolled her eyes, but started talking.