Whalien 52

Chapter 32

Sky ordered Joon soup, which was the softest thing on the menu, and the beans and vegetables practically melted in your mouth. But he still made weird faces the entire time he was chewing. Scotty continued to ignore Joon for the most part and asked Sky a million questions about her trip. Joon laughed at some of her responses; she made it sound like they had a fantastic vacation and saw lots of things when, in reality, for most of it, she was being bred for their young in the medical room.

"It's been real, Scotty, but we must go. Call off the dogs, please, and if you can't get ahold of me, chill. I'll be really busy, but I promise to call at some point or if I need anything."

The guy didn't want to let Sky go, which made Joon extremely anxious. When they got back, Hobi and Jin were waiting for them. "How did it go?" Hobi bounced around her, ensuring every part of her was intact and unharmed.

"It was fine, Hobi; he saw me and knows I'm alive. That's all he cared about. Did you get a hold of that admiral guy?"

Hobi frowned. "I did. I bought us some time. But I'm not sure how much." When he saw her frowning, he started to smile. "But it's okay. I'll figure something out, I promise. Now I could read you a story from home and maybe hold you until morning."

That seemed to brighten her up a bit, "sure, that sounds fabulous."

"Great, go get cleaned up, and I'll do the same. I'll meet you in your room in twenty, okay?" When she told him yes, he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead; then, he walked her to her room before running off to find a book that would work. His options were limited, and he did not want to enter his mate's rooms. He didn't want to give them the idea and steal it from him.

Once he was clean, he walked into her room and held up three books. "Alright, we have three options." He held up the first book and frowned a bit. "This is Joon's. He's the only one dull enough to willingly read history about wars that happened before we were even born."

"Yeah, I'm not a history buff; I'd love to learn more about your planet at some point, but not right now."

He held up the other and laughed, "This one is Yoongi's; it's about breeder reproduction."

She perked up, "Not right now, but I'd love to go over it at some point since I'm carrying your young."

"We can do that for sure." He waved the last one in the air. " This one is either Jins, Taes, or Jimins, but I think you might like it."

"Oh, and why is that?"

He hopped on the bed and settled against the headboard. He patted his lap and pulled her over so she had her head on his thigh. "This one is a romance novel."

"Oh, is it spicy?"

"We don't eat our books on 52; is that common on Earth?"

She snorted so hard, "Never mind. What's it about?"

He flips the book over to read the back, "Lance and Palmer have been mated for five years; since Palmer is a lower-level mechanic, the hopes of getting a breeder were low. But a miracle happened, and they were awarded Oakley; it was Oakley's first time since he had just come of age. Palmer was over the moon, but Lance was not. He didn't like that they had to wait so long or got an inexperienced breeder." Hobi clenched his jaw; there were people like this back in 52.

"This is a story about Palmer and Oakley falling in love, while Lance does everything in his power to murder the poor innocent breeder." He looked down at Sky, "sound good? Want me to read it?"

"Sure, but if Palmer cheated on Lance with Oakley, I'm going to be pissed. I don't care if Lance is being murdery; cheating isn't okay."

"No, it's not like that. Lance didn't like being mated to Palmer; he'd been trying to escape him for years. But he stayed to have the young first when they got a breeder. Even though it was supposed to be Palmer's seed, he told Lance they could use his instead."

"What an ass," she gasped.

"Yeah, he planned on stealing the baby and leaving with it. But Oakley was just too precious, and Palmer fell in love."

She rolled over onto her back, "does that ever happen in your world?"

"No, never. We meet the breeder we won, and then if we agree to it, they are taken to the facility where they are inseminated, and then they stay there until they give birth. Once they give birth, the young return to their mates, and they go back to the boarding house to rest for a few months before being put back in the lottery."

"That..." She sighed deeply, "sounds absolutely terrible. No wonder they don't have breeders on your planet."

His head cocked to the side, "what do you mean?"

"They are struggling; they probably hate their existence, so why would they want to have more breeders and keep the cycle going? Their stress levels probably affect the gender of the young. Just like on Earth, in times of war and poverty, more girls are born since we need women to bump up the numbers. But during the good times, more boys are born. You aren't at war on your planet or anything, right?"

"No, we aren't."

"And no one is starving?"

He shook his head no, "We have no famine on our planet."

"Then it makes sense; you'd have more boys. Plus, add in the fact that they are literally prisoners, and it makes even more sense. If I were them, I'd pray every day that I didn't have a breeder but a Whalien. It's sad, really. If you guys treated them well, your population wouldn't be an issue."

"I don't understand."