THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

want to wake up in the night and be able to reach for you.”
    His hands tightened on her waist. “We can move back to St. Cloud as soon as my house repairs are finished.”
    She turned her attention to his throat again, this time at the juncture where neck met shoulder. “I’d like that.”
    “And would you like children?”
    Her roving mouth stopped and she leaned back in his arms. “Children?”
    “That would be one of the consequences of my reversal. I’ll be fertile again. Well, theoretically.”
    “Oh, my God.”
    “Or not,” he said quickly. “We can change that whole fertility thing if you want. I know there’s a surgery. Just so we’re clear, I want you for you , not for any little Bowens you might produce.”
    Her heart thudded in her throat. Did he know what he was saying? “Del, our children … they’d have the Merzetti blood. They’d be in danger from the moment they were born.” Her throat tightened. “I don’t know if I could stand that.”
    “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, my sweet. They’ll be in no danger, or at least no more than the average child. Because by then, we’ll be into mass production of the vaccine. Their blood won’t matter.” He smiled down at her. “They’ll just be adorable girls, hopefully with their mother’s beautiful hair and violet eyes.”
    “Girls.” She chewed her lip. “We’d have to tell them about the Merzetti Effect. They’ll need to understand. If we don’t, they’ll do as I did. They’ll get pregnant and reject their daughters.”
    He smoothed a hand over her hair. “We’ll tell them, my love. And we’ll tell them about the fearless exploits of their mother and their half-sister Devon and their Aunt Lucy.”
    She blinked rapidly. “This could really work, couldn’t it? I could have a baby. I could keep my baby. Our baby.”
    “You absolutely could.”
    Then, because it seemed far too long since he’d done it last, he kissed her mouth. When he lifted his head, there were no more tears glinting in her eyes. But they glinted with something else.
    “We could make a little Bowen right now, couldn’t we?” Her hand went to the placket of his trousers. “Theoretically.”
    He groaned, hardening beneath her touch. “Theoretically, yes.”
    “Then let’s put your theory to the test.”
    A moment later, he lay on their hastily-shed clothing with her straddling his body, the heat of her core pressing against his erection.
    He gritted his teeth, trying to hang on to reason. “Are you sure, love? I’ll be just a regular guy. A human. No special powers.”
    “Oddly enough, human is kind of what I always had in mind for the father of my children.”
    He laughed, wishing the state of his ribs would allow him to curl up and pull her down, but as though sensing his need, she bent to him, capturing his laugh with her mouth.
    “I love you,” he said when she let him breathe again.
    “I love you, too,” she said, and proceeded to show him how much.
     
    # # #
     
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    TIME TRAP
    by
    Micah Caida
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
    GLOSSARY
     
    ANASKO (uh – NAS – ko)
    Be’tallia (Beh – TAHL – ya)
    K’ryan (KRY – ahn)
    C’raydonians (krah – DOE – nee – ahns)
    croggle (KROG – ul)
    dugurat (DO – gah – rat)
    furkken (FUR – kin)
    G’ortians (GORE – shuns)
    Hy’bridt (HY – brit)
    Komaen Sphere (KOE – main)
    Micah Caida (MY – kah – KAY – dah)
    MystiK (MISS – tick)
    Neelah (NEE – lah)
    Phen (FEN)
    prantheer (pran – THEE – er)
    Rayen (RAY – un)
    Rustaad (ROO – stad)
    TecKnatis (tek – NAH – tee)
    V’ru (VROO)
    Zilya (ZEEL – ya)

CHAPTER 1
     
     
    Painful starbursts exploded behind my eyes.
    I clawed awake, tumbling forward, bouncing against a rough surface. Heat scorched my arms and