On the narrow delivery bed, Lyra gripped the cold alloy rails. Her knuckles were translucent white. "No one is coming," she said, her voice flat and dry.
"Warning. Female vital signs unstable. Gene tearing pain exceeding level eight."
The mechanical alarm droned as the overhead holographic display flickered to life.
The galaxy's top trending headline flashed across the screen: Commander Kaelen Vane Bids Ten Million Star Coins for Spatial Ring on Capital Star for Swan Maiden Sylvia Nova!
In this interstellar beast era, a female in labor desperately required her bonded male's pheromones.
Without wolf soothing, every contraction ripped through genetic marrow like live dismemberment. Freezing sweat soaked the sterile sheets beneath Lyra's trembling body.
"Recommendation," the AI repeated through the sterile air. "Inject Commander Vane's stored pheromones immediately for bio-stabilization."
"Access denied," Nurse Vance said with a cold sneer. She adjusted the nutrient line with deliberate roughness. "Commander Vane never authorized pheromone quotas for E-grade dependents. Stop wasting high-tier resources on trash."
A second nurse stepped forward, offering a neural sedative to dull the shock. Lyra turned her face away, refusing the injection. She kept her trembling palm pressed firmly against her swollen belly instead.
A devastating spasm tore through Lyra's lower abdomen. The sharp, metallic taste of blood flooded her mouth. A cruel memory flashed behind her closed eyelids.
One year ago, Kaelen had dropped her genetic profile to the marble floor with pure disgust.
"An E-grade cripple?" he had scoffed. "The Interstellar Marriage Bureau is truly producing garbage to insult my rank."
On the holographic screen, the live broadcast continued. Kaelen's sharp, handsome profile softened with rare tenderness. He personally draped a luxury fur wrap over Sylvia Nova's pristine white swan wings.
"Look at how he dotes on Miss Nova," the second nurse whispered, smirking maliciously. "Meanwhile, this useless burden dying in here cannot even beg for a single drop of her husband's soothing scent."
"Commander Vane has not visited her in months," Vance replied, tapping the monitor with clinical indifference. "Once the cub is out, she will not even possess the right to breathe his air."
Another violent contraction struck like a hammer. Inside Lyra's womb, the infant thrashed in primal panic. The unborn child was shivering in agony, suffering from the complete absence of a father's calming aura.
Feeling that desperate, trembling struggle within her body, Lyra's heart broke into bleeding pieces. Don't be afraid, my baby, Lyra whispered in her soul.
Tears mixed with cold sweat on her pale cheeks. Mommy is here. Even if the whole world abandons us, you are my life. You are my only treasure.
Refusing to let her child suffer another second, Lyra gathered every remaining ember of her mental strength.
She wrapped her infant in a warm, protective cocoon. She bore down through the agony with the last ounce of life in her bones.
A sharp, fragile infant wail pierced the chaos of the delivery pod. The mechanical cradle gently lifted a newborn baby girl into the light.
The tiny cub had delicate silver wolf fuzz and wet, twitching ears. She shivered in the cold air, reaching her miniature fists into the empty space.
Lyra stared at the fragile little life, her chest tightening with an overwhelming ache.
She reached out with a trembling, bloody finger to brush the baby's soft cheek. A faint, mysterious golden shimmer flickered beneath the infant's skin before vanishing.
Nurse Vance glanced over and casually dimmed the surgical lamp overhead. "Just an optical glare from the lighting array," Vance muttered, wiping down the cradle console.
In that tender moment of skin-to-skin touch, looking at the precious daughter who now belonged solely to her, something deep within Lyra's soul snapped.
An unyielding maternal instinct surged forth. It violently severed the one-way psychic bond that tethered her heart to Kaelen, casting the cold connection into the void forever.
The phantom tug in her chest went utterly dead. A vast, glacial silence rushed into the hollow space where a year of desperate longing had once lived.
Drenched in sweat and blood, Lyra drew a deep, ragged breath. Her physical weakness transformed into an impenetrable shield of ice.
She was no longer a discarded dependent waiting for crumbs of mercy from a heartless mate. She was a mother.
She looked up at the holographic screen. Kaelen was smiling down at Sylvia Nova, sliding a diamond spatial ring onto her delicate finger before billions of cheering citizens.
Lyra's cracked lips curved into a cold, relieved smirk. Her hoarse voice cut through the alarms like a sharpened blade. "AI, connect directly to the Interstellar Tribunal."
The two attending nurses froze in absolute shock. The datapad in Vance's hand slipped, clattering loudly against the reinforced metal floor.
"Submit an emergency application," Lyra commanded, her dark eyes locked on her sleeping daughter with absolute, fearless devotion. "Mandatory Termination of the Matching Contract. Right now."
Her wrist terminal chimed with a crisp, electronic pulse. A stark notification flashed across the dark glass:
[Filing lodged. Tribunal liaison notified.]
/1/127356/coverbig.jpg?v=8cf548c7db140755b10daef60acafb2d)
View More Comments on App
/1/124574/coverbig.jpg?v=7c151a66e01d6b62d2d807115e2e1230)
/1/116505/coverbig.jpg?v=4667aebbdb9bf01a04c109b5729baf72)
/1/114885/coverbig.jpg?v=49448aba95354e5d9d4cd41a7f2287f2)
/1/110818/coverbig.jpg?v=ac50f554f4ed9569be28904e7049b6ad)
/1/107841/coverbig.jpg?v=e5bbff948358e90da3b522209e5a1995)
/1/103817/coverbig.jpg?v=783f8ca3e57eb7f32c6800041e509e6a)
