“What?”
“Nothing,”Qylar said.
Kenji narrowed his eyes. “Why won’t simple do? It’s what Alex and Cryss requested, right?”
Qylar shrugged.
Kenji narrowed his eyes even more.
Qylar rolled his.
“Oh my god… you’re doing it for me.”
One of Qylar’s brows rose.
“You are,”Kenji said, inwardly gasping. “Please don’t go to all of this trouble for me. The tree ismorethan enough.”
Qylar looked unfazed. “No. It’s not enough.”
“If I implied that I wanted an over-the-top, everything-covered-in-Christmas, Hallmark movie holiday set, I swear I didn’t. I just want to spend time with you. You and the monster tree you just had to buy.” Kenji grinned.
“I want this Christmas to be special.”
Kenji wrapped his arms around Qylar. “It already is.”
Qylar squeezed him tight, and Kenji never wanted to let go of a man who’d go to those kinds of lengths to make him smile.
Qylar checked the screen over, reading Kenji’s test results. All of his human vitals seemed in order. The system alerted him to nothing out of the ordinary. He reread them, worried he’d missed something.
“Well?”
Qylar sighed. “I see nothing out of range.”
“I told you so,” Kenji said, too much triumph in his tone for Qylar’s liking.
“There’s still the messages that might be waiting for us,” Qylar said, not ready to lose so easily.
He didn’t like the idea of staying in Aspen without having Kenji checked over, but how could he refuse his mate’s plea to remain, either? The awe he’d already witnessed on the man’s face over simple joys like an empty Christmas tree awaiting decorations or a quiet a morning snowfall had shaken him to his core. He didn’t want to take that away from Kenji.
“Check your messages, then. Do your worst.”
Qylar shook his head, fighting a smile. He grasped his mate’s hand. He led him from the biolab and headed for the pilot’s deck. Qylar opened the subspace portal and was pleased to find four messages waiting for him. Hopefully there was helpful information within at least one.
His contacts had no news for him besides letting him know they would work on finding him something. The doctors, however, replied with something much more interesting.
To: Qylar of House Null
From: Dr. Njeri, Qlr Royal Academy of Science
Heading: Pregnancy Concerns
Message:
We were at first baffled by your partner’s odd symptoms and unsure of the cause for such a reaction. One member of our team, Dr. Zelif, suggested we reach out to the Academy of Antiquity for help deciphering its root. As you know, Prince Alizand displayed talents long lost to our species—namely his telepathy and emotional perception—and Dr. Zelif posited that Kenji’s recent behavior might be tied to our distant past, as well.
Dr. Alzgn, Head Historian, has suggested that it may be tied to a distant cousin to the modern Nefyrian. Our people were once two separate species—our early Nefyrian ancestors and the Nytidea. Though the Nytidea are now extinct, most modern Nefyrians have genetic markers for both species in our blood today. Early Nefyrian and Nytidea interbred in vast numbers. Nefyrian genetic material was largely dominant, wiping out many Nytidea characteristics, yet we still carry a bit of our extinct cousins into the present.
The largest percentage of Nytidea genetic material ever tested was roughly six percent. Until we tested Kenji’s blood. Of the third of him that is Nefyrian—nearly half that is Nytidea.
