Exiled Read online

  “In where? What are you talking about?” Her voice sounded terrible—so hoarse and deep. Was she getting a cold? That was all she needed just when the baby was about to arrive.

  “In there,” the person beside her in bed said. “In my body.”

  “What? What are you talking about, ‘your body’?”

  Liv looked down at herself. Even in the dim lighting it occurred to her that something was wrong. Then she realized what it was—her stomach was completely flat.

  “Oh my God!” She began feeling her abdomen frantically. “The baby? Where’s the baby?”

  “It’s in me! I can feel it kicking—ow!”

  Liv looked at the ceiling and bellowed, “Lights, bright!”

  The resulting brilliance nearly blinded her but when her eyes finally adjusted she looked at the person who was sharing the bed with her and saw…herself.

  “Who…who are you?” she demanded, staring at the doppelganger.

  “It’s me—Baird,” the person who looked exactly like her said. “And you’re me—just look at yourself, Lilenta.”

  The use of his pet nickname for her finally convinced Liv that it really was her husband in her body. But then if he was in her, where was she?

  She was almost afraid to look down at herself in the bright light but she had no choice. Reluctantly she pushed back the covers and looked down the length of her tall, muscular body. Broad shoulders, washboard abs, and…

  “Oh my God,” she said aloud. “I’ve got a cock. And it’s hard.” She looked up at Baird. “I’m you.”

  “And I’m you,” he whispered and burst into tears.

  “Oh no—no, don’t do that! It’s all right…everything will be all right,” Liv tried to comfort him by clumsily putting one long, muscular arm around his slender shoulders. It felt weird to touch herself from the outside but no matter what was going on, she couldn’t stand to see her mate so upset.

  “I…I’m sorry,” Baird gasped at last. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t…can’t seem to stop crying.”

  “It’s the hormones,” Liv said, realizing it was true. “You’re super pregnant, which makes you super emotional.”

  “But I don’t understand—how did this happen? Is it some kind of bad dream?”

  “If it is, we’re both having it.” Liv hopped out of bed. “Come on, let’s see if we can get some help. Maybe Sylvan will know what’s going on. Uh…this isn’t some kind of a weird Kindred thing, is it?”

  “Of course not!” Baird was trying to get out of bed too but in the extremely pregnant body he couldn’t manage it. “Uh—help me out, Lilenta. I can barely move!”

  “Here you go.” Liv came around the side of the bed and pulled him to his feet. “Wow, it feels great to be able to move again. I can even touch my toes—watch.” She bent down quickly and rose with no problems. Her new body was big and a bit ungainly and so tall she felt like she was looking down from the top of a step ladder, but just being able to move with ease felt wonderful.

  “Good for you, touching your toes. I can’t even see mine.” Baird grumbled. He put a hand to the small of his back. “Goddess, this is terrible. Everything aches and I have the worst indigestion—how do you stand it?”

  “It’s not easy,” Liv admitted. “In fact, I’ve been pretty much miserable all the time for the past month.” She sighed. “I don’t know what’s going on but I kind of hate to trade you back.”

  “You—ow! He kicked me again.” Baird pressed a hand to his rounded belly.

  “Yup, he’s an active little guy,” Liv admitted. “Kicks all the time.”

  “All the time?” Baird winced. “Really?”

  “I’m afraid so.” She sighed. “Look, we need to get to the med center and get this taken care of. Come on.” She took a few steps and stopped. “Uh…”

  “What is it?” Baird came waddling over, one hand pressed to the small of his back and the other cupping his belly.

  “Your, uh, equipment.” Liv looked down uncertainly at the bulge tenting the front of her sleep pants. “It’s still hard. How do I make it go down?”

  Baird sighed. “You probably just need to piss. If that doesn’t work, try jerking off.”

  “Really? That’s what you’re doing every morning in the bathroom? I thought you were just taking an extra-long shower.”

  “Well, I didn’t want to bother you, Lilenta. As you say, you’ve been so miserable this past month.” He looked sheepish and Liv couldn’t help thinking it was strange and surreal to see his facial expressions being made by her own face.

  “Yes, well…” She sighed. “Okay. Let me go in the bathroom and see what I can do.”

  “Not until I get in there.” Baird winced. “My bladder is bursting! It feels like he’s resting right on it.”

  “That’s because he’s head down now—he’s ready to come out any day,” Liv reminded him.

  Baird went suddenly pale. “Gods, you’re right! This baby could come at any minute.” He began waddling as fast as he could toward the bedroom door.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Liv demanded. “The bathroom’s that way.”

  “Forget the bathroom.” Baird was already panting with exertion but he showed no signs of stopping. “We have to see Sylvan and get ourselves switched back now.”

  * * * * *

  “But there’s no switching back—at least, we haven’t found a way yet,” Olivia, who met Saber and Lissa at the docking bay, explained. Of course, she was wearing Baird’s body but Lissa had gotten to know her well enough to recognize her speech patterns. Also, she moved like a woman. It was strange to see the massive warrior’s body walk with a sway in the hips and even stranger to watch as Olivia forgot her hair was short and tried to sweep it back over one shoulder.

  “No wonder you’re worried,” she said. “This must be so frightening for you.”

  “It takes some getting used to,” Olivia admitted, in her deep, growling voice.

  “Liv—there you are.” Sylvan—or rather Sophia in Sylvan’s body—came mincing up to stand by her sister’s side. “Baird said you were here explaining everything to Lissa and Saber.”

  Lissa couldn’t help staring again—it was so strange to watch the blond Kindred doctor’s face making his mate’s facial expressions.

  “They just got in, as you can see.” Olivia gestured at the two of them. “What’s up? What does Baird need now?”

  “He says to find out if anyone is going down to Earth so they can bring him back a gallon of Ben and Jerry’s Brownie Batter ice cream—not the yogurt kind, the real ice cream.”

  “Got it,” Olivia muttered. “The real stuff. But it only comes in pints—not gallons.”

  “He knows that.” Sophia nodded. “He says he wants at least eight of them—a gallon.”

  “God,” Olivia shook her head. “All right, tell him I’m on it. Anything he wants, he gets. After all, he is twelve months pregnant.” She looked over her sister’s broad shoulder. “Oh, and speaking of pregnant, here’s your better half.”

  “Sylvan!” Sophia turned and Lissa watched as the Earth girl’s mate—who was, of course, wearing her body—came striding across the docking bay. Once again, it was strange to watch him walk. The small feminine body moved with masculine purpose and for some reason, he wasn’t wearing any shoes.

  “Sophia, sweetheart.” Sylvan reached up to give her an awkward embrace. Sophia tried to hug him back but it looked to Lissa like she wasn’t quite sure what to do with her long, muscular arms.

  “I thought you were in the med lab,” Sophia said, looking down at her husband. “Is something wrong?”

  “I had something important to tell you but now I can’t remember what it was.” Sylvan looked irritated. “Damn it, I can’t think in this body.”

  “It’s the pregnancy hormones,” Olivia said. “Did you know that you lose ten IQ points with every baby you have?”

  “Yes, the pregnancy hormones!” Sylvan exclaimed. He looked up at his wif