Free ThirteenNights by Sabrina Garie Page A

warrior races face
extinction. Infertility accelerates every generation and our Elders are in
denial. She needed proof to club them over the head with, and hoped you could
provide it. But it wasn’t enough. Her findings were squelched.” Tai placed the
bag on the table. “Our hope was you could look through this and find ways to
strengthen it. Provide us with additional irrefutable evidence that we could
take to our Councils.”
    “Why do you need this? Why did Phoebe never inform me that I
had fathered a child? I had tried to get in touch but all my attempts were cut
off. How have supernatural beings remained hidden? I have so many queries.”
Turning his discomfort into a series of research questions, Sander seemed to
pull himself together—using what he knew to handle the shock that they’d thrown
at him.
    They quickly detailed the warrior rites and rituals that
prevented them from creating their own family, the impossibility of escape from
the reach of the Elders and what happened when Phoebe tried. Sander’s eyes
softened, his body hunched as if drained of energy when he grasped that Phoebe
had attempted to contact him, to bring Tai to him. Exploiting the moment, Tai
pushed the bag of research toward Sander, the cheap plastic crackled against
the table. “Help us to stay together and raise our child.”
    Sander expelled a breath, then reached for the bag, dug out
the contents and arranged the materials systematically in piles on the table.
He took reading glasses out of his jacket pocket, put them on, then opened the
top document. He skimmed page after page, almost supernatural in speed. Humans
who mastered their skills could come close to the supes, and Alexander Xenos
excelled in his discipline. Annie sat on Tai’s lap, pressed close against him.
The tick-tock of the grandfather clock a drumbeat in her ears, a warning that
their time was running out. She buried herself into Tai’s warmth, not wanting
to lose a precious second of nearness, the sound of his heartbeat, the tattoo
of his pulse against her lips.
    Putting the papers aside, Sander stood and paced in front of
the table. “To fully analyze this would take me a few weeks, but at first
glance, the work is first-rate. Her evidence is ironclad—there is a rapid trend
toward infertility—her recommendations, which are based on my research, are
spot-on. They are the only chance your race has to survive. I’ve gathered more
evidence that supports these recommendations but it’s not different from what
you have here, only more of it. Since none of my data comes from supernatural
peoples, it would be easy for your Council to discount it again, just like they
did with Phoebe’s original paper.”
    “You can’t help us then?” Tai’s hand caressed along Annie’s
thigh and then tangled in hers. He needed touch as much as she did.
    “No, I’m sorry. I can’t add anything that will make a
difference. May I make copies of these to take with me?”
    Annie glanced at Tai, lids heavy, skin stretched tight
across his bones—disappointment woven through concern. “The public can’t know
about us. What do you want with it?” she managed to ask, her chest constricted
in frustration.
    A flush crawled up Sander’s cheeks, he glanced down, to
break eye contact.
    “We’ll keep the papers but we can give you Phoebe’s direct
contact information—it wouldn’t be rerouted by pantheon authority,” Annie said,
compassion lowering the cadence of her voice. “I think she’d welcome hearing
from you again.”
    “What will you two do?”
    “Don’t know but we still have a few months before the
pregnancy shows,” Tai said.
    “Can you show the research to someone else, someone with enough
clout to make your Elders change their minds or overrule them?” Sander looked
at his feet, shuffled a bit, and blew out a breath. “If I can be of more help,
please, call me. I would like to know you better, Tai, and if you succeed, to
know my grandchild as he or she