It had been almost eight years now. Or was it nine? How...
When she died, he thought he’d never survive, let alone smile again. Or think of love again.
He knew Alana wouldn’t expect him to mourn her forever, live alone and miserable while they couldn’t be together. Rupex was giving him the nudge to start dating again, and if Alana’s proud, fierce brother was okay with it, well, that was a big green checkmark from the universe.
But the universe took Alana, and almost all of the other Felid Queens.
“I’m pretty sure some of us only get one shot at happiness, at the real thing,” Jaxson sighed, eyes front again.
“Maybe,” Lycen’s calm, pleasant voice, always capable of soothing a Canid in crisis, was just a whisper. Then she cleared her throat and coughed. “You know who ought to get together? Dax and Skyla. If those two were any more obvious—”
“Yet clueless? I don’t know how many more signs Sky can throw the boy without tackling him to the ground,” Jax chuckled.
“Oh, my God. Humans. I’m going to find a nice Wolfi guy when I go home for Sirius Feast. Someone in one of the Packs my parents like.”
“Oh, Lycen. You and your Packs.”
“Felids have their Prides, Jax.”
“True, true. So, what do you want to do tonight to escape the dripping hormones? Wanna watch something on the big media viewer in the crew rec hall? Or maybe go see how the terraforming is going in the ‘farm’ bay?”
“I think... I think I need more distraction. There’s nothing more distracting than trying to have a romantic evening with a baby bursting in during the middle of it. I think I’ll offer Layla, Jade, and Wendy a couple of hours of free babysitting in the nursery.”
“You’re a saint. Four cubs? Alone?”
“I can handle it. Maybe Skyla can help me.”
“Help with what?” Skyla jogged up to them, her long red and white plume of a tail waving.
“Watching all the cubs in the nursery tonight.”
“Ooh, no can do. I’m covering Marcus’ shift. He got so excited about the holiday that he forgot that we have to have someone on call in case the immunology and fertility departments at Bastet Mercy have questions about the blood work and genetic workups of the surrogates and applicants. We get our first trial in a few cycles.” Skyla hugged herself with excitement.
“You’re a dedicated medic, kiddo. A credit to the Corps,” Jax said, ruffling her silky mane of hair. “And to all Canidkind.”
“Well, don’t put me up for sainthood just yet. Dax is the one who thought of it and volunteered first. But, you know, he’s justa med tech assistant, and if there were a call, he’d have to get me or Marcus anyway, so...” Skyla shrugged, dipping her head.
If she didn’t have all that fur, she’d be blushing bright red, Jaxson thought. Out loud, he exclaimed, “He’s a good kid. I like that boy.”
Skyla’s tail swooped and swirled. “Yeah. He’s sweet all right,” she sighed.
“Holy Anubis. Paging Dr. Cupid,” Lycen whispered as Sklya practically swooned herself down the corridor.
Jax nodded. “You’re not wrong.”
Paging Dr. Cupid
“Like... They’re not going to... We wouldn’t have to... You know, in humans, men don’t have to do it this way if they want a surrogate to carry their babies. How is this supposed to ‘work’ when the surrogates from Sapien-Three arrive?” Dax hurriedly closed the tab on this obstetrics and gynecology coursework when Skyla came and sat next to him.
It was hard enough to talk in intelligible sentences when she was across the room from him. Why did she have to be so close? So temptingly, deliciously close?
Marcus said she liked him. He said Canid mating cues were flying from her, fast and furious.
How come everything he studied was silent about that stuff? Maybe he needed different course materials. He wondered if he was missing cues because his human nose and eyes—his whole humaneverything—were just no match for Canid or Felid senses.
“Hm? What, Dax?” Skyla normally would have launched into an animated, yet factual medical explanation whenever he asked a question, always inspiring and helping her mentee.
My mentor. One of my best friends in an alien world, in a new life.
