We’d reached level twenty now, and I wasdonewith this climb. But talking made it easier to ignore the burning in my legs.
“Do you have siblings?” I asked.
“No. My parents… They tried for more children, but it didn’t work out.” He was quiet for a moment. “Destran fertility rates have been declining for generations. It’s part of why the mating marks are considered so important—when they appear, it usually means the pair will be able to produce offspring.”
That reminded me of something I’d been curious about but hadn’t quite known how to bring up. We were alone in an abandoned tower on an alien planet, possibly facing death,and normal social conventions seemed less important under the circumstances.
“Are you single?” I asked, then immediately wanted to take the words back. They’d just popped out without any preliminary conversation or subtle leading up to the topic.
Torven stopped climbing and turned to look at me with surprise. “What?”
“I’m sorry, that was random. I just…” Ah, shit. My face was heating up. “I was thinking about what you said about mating marks and fertility, and I realized I don’t actually know much about your personal life. Which is fine, obviously, you don’t owe me any personal information, I was just curious because—”
“Rivers.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes, I’m single.”
“Oh. Okay.” I tried to think of something intelligent to say and came up empty. “Good to know.”
He tilted his head, studying my face with an expression I couldn’t quite read, but his face was now tinged with pink splotches. “Destrans don’t date the way I’ve heard humans do. When we find our mate, that’s it. There’s no trial period or getting to know each other gradually. The marks appear, and you know.”
“Right, I’ve read about that, too. Maya and Rykar—well, just Rykar has mating marks. Human physiology doesn’t spontaneously deliver pigment to specific areas of the body based on emotional or physical connection to a partner.” I was babbling again, but I couldn’t seem to stop. “Though Rykar’s appeared later than usual, according to what Mayatold me. But they were under a lot of stress when their relationship started, with the whole awakened Sola situation and corporate interference and everything.”
“Stress can delay the marks,” Torven said. “Or sometimes make them appear more dramatically when they finally do.”
“Have you ever had marks appear?” I smacked my forehead with my hand. “Of course not. If you had, you wouldn’t be single.”
“True.” There was something almost vulnerable in the way he said it. “I’ve started to think maybe I’m not meant to have a mate.”
The idea that this competent, protective, undeniably attractive male might think he was destined to be alone made my chest ache. “Maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet.”
He grunted and made a movement that could have been a shrug. Either way, he was done talking about his love life. We started climbing again, and I found myself thinking about mating marks and what it would be like to have that kind of certainty about a relationship. To know without question that you’d found your person. It sounded both wonderful and terrifying. I, personally, had had little time or patience for relationships beyond professional ones. Cleo and Maya had become my friends because we had work in common. But I’d not met a professional friend who I liked spending time with and who I also wanted to get naked with, which made Torven’s next question easy to answer.
“What about you?” he asked as we approached level twenty-fucking-two. “Anyone waiting for you back home?”
“No.” I tried to keep my voice light. “I haven’t metanyone who has made me think about them more than atmospheric data. Or evenas much asatmospheric data.” Well, untilnow. I thought about Torven more than I should. And being eye level with his very fine ass as he walked up the stairs in front of me didn’t help. “Perhaps I’m also not meant to have a mate.”
He glanced back and raised one hot eyebrow. “Maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet.”
“Haha. Touché.” The way he said it sent a little thrill through me. “Maybe.”
We’d reached level twenty-four, and I was relieved when Torven stopped at the landing instead of continuing upward. My legs were definitely going to be sore tomorrow.
“This looks different,” he said, examining the door that led off the landing.
He was right. Where the other levels had featured simple metal doors with basic markings, this one was more elaborate, with what looked like security panels and additional locking mechanisms.
“Communications center?” I suggested.
“Let’s find out.”
The door wasn’t locked, but it took both of us working together to get it open. Beyond, was a room that made me catch my breath. Where the lower levels had featured equipment that was trashed or broken, this room contained technology that looked almost untouched, and it was extensive. It was old, but there had to be something in here that could help us get a signal to our crew, and just as importantly, to a rescue team.
“This is more like it,” Torven said, moving immediatelytoward one of the stations. “This equipment is intact enough that I might be able to boost the range of my scanner.”
I watched him work, impressed by how quickly he assessed the alien technology and figured out how to interface his device with their systems. Within minutes, he had one of the stations blinking to life.
