His Naughty Little Mate by Sue Lyndon

her blushes were adorable, but he needed her to say something, even if she rejected him. She opened her mouth to speak again, but the whooshing of the door opening drew both of their gazes to an approaching figure.
    Erik cursed inwardly and helped Carmen straighten her skirts as Nuemis entered the porch, a grim look on his slim, humanlike face. A knot tightened in Erik’s stomach, and when Carmen made to rise from his lap, he held onto her arms firmly, not allowing her to escape his embrace.
    “Erik. Carmen.” Nuemis nodded and pulled a chair across from them, his wild hair blocking out the suns.
    “Have you had any luck negotiating with the council on our behalf?” Erik rubbed a hand up and down Carmen’s back while keeping one arm wrapped around her. The alien had obviously come to deliver some bad news, and he braced himself to be strong for her sake.
    “The council has issued an ultimatum to you and Carmen.” Regret flickered in Nuemis’s eyes.
    Carmen stiffened. “What kind of an ultimatum?”
    The alien took a deep breath. “Our biology is so similar, many of our scientists think we share an ancestor. They are intrigued by the fact that humans mate in the old way as we once did, by natural procreation. It’s been tens of thousands of years since Blumerans have mated in the old way and birthed a live baby.”
    “Oh my God,” Carmen said, covering her mouth. “You can’t possibly expect us to…”
    “I’m sorry,” Nuemis said. “But it’s the only way you’ll ever see Earth again. The council wants to observe you mating until a pregnancy and live birth results. If you cooperate, in a few years after they’ve observed the child growing long enough to satiate their curiosity, you will all three be taken back to Earth. If you agree to these terms, after you conceive a child you will be moved out of this facility and into more comfortable and private accommodations. They are currently preparing a large, beachfront house for you, and you will live in luxury until the time comes for you to all return to Earth.”
    “This is crazy!” Carmen tried once again to stand up, but Erik kept a firm hold on her. He suspected she would have put up a bigger fight and started hurling curses at Nuemis if not for her sore bottom reining her in from a full-blown outburst.
    “You know the members of the council, Nuemis, while I have never met them. What is your opinion? Do you think there is any other way for us to leave Vella?”
    Nuemis sighed, his frown deepening. “It is my opinion that this is the only way you will be permitted to leave Vella. If you refuse, you will probably be kept in this facility for the rest of your lives. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more, but it’s the best I can do.”
    Carmen started to argue again, but Erik cut her off as he stood up with her still in his arms.
    “Tell the council we will think about it.” He nodded a good-bye to Nuemis and turned, carrying a protesting Carmen down the long, white hallway that led to her room. Their room. He hadn’t spent a night in his room in over two weeks. He had to get her alone and then he could talk some sense into her, make her see reason.
    The ultimatum issued by the council shouldn’t have surprised him. He should have seen it coming. The aliens had poked, prodded, and tested them enough to realize humans were so similar to Blumerans that they must share a common ancestor, but there were two major differences between their races. Their method of communication, verbal versus telepathic, and their method of procreation, natural versus… not so natural. It was still difficult for Erik to wrap his mind around the whole growing bodies and transferring a person’s consciousness thing, as well as the fact that the Blumerans viewed sex as archaic. At what point had they stopped doing it for fun? Or had they never had sex for fun? He suspected that information had been lost in the tens of thousands of years since the last Blumeran couple