Tor.com has a rather magnificent story by Ben Burgis, called Contains Multitudes (yes, that's a Walt Whitman quote) online for your delectation.
It plays in a world where humanity fought, and nearly (?) lost a war with a cosmic invader (some kind of yellow squid, it appears). The peace/cease fire conditions were that a generation of children would serve as breeding vessels for the next generation of aliens (again, see the title...).
But.
The relationship turns out to be less parasitic and more mind-meld, human and Other co-joined, talking more "we" than "I"...
Go read the story, it's worth it.
The illustration is by Jeff Simpson.
