“Skyla!” Dax caught her as she stumbled. A wave of pounding pressure hit her middle like a sucker punch. “Honey, what...? I’m getting Marcus.”
“No! No, no. I’m not going to wreck his night. It’s something simple, and I’ll be fine. Soon. I’m hot. And dizzy. And I’m... Just uncomfortable.”
“Hot?” Dax turned her hand palm side up and pressed his fingers into one of the places where her fur was thinnest, on the palms of her hands. “You feel like fire! My God, Skyla!”
“I’m fine!” she protested, struggling to stand up. Her tail had certainly gotten the memo, standing straight up and swirling around Dax’s waist, trying to pull him towards her, trying to wrap him to where she was soaking.
“You are not fine. When did this happen? You were okay at breakfast!” Dax was going into medical assistant mode, and it warmed her heart.
With a grunt, he lifted her, jaw jutting and muscles rigid under her legs and against her back as he carried her out of the office area and into one of the small partitions in the med bay that would occasionally house a patient. The second he put her down, his eyes started raking over her, assessing symptoms—and Skyla knew she would have to spell it out because healthy Canid behavior probably wasn’t in his medical training modules. Not yet. Not at his early level and with a concentration in Felids. He’d either panic and misdiagnose her with something crazy or he’d feel like a failure when he couldn’t pinpoint it. Both would lead to him calling Marcus, who would roll his eyes and scold her for not taking her shot or for not being brave enough to tell Dax the truth. Or both.
“I’m not sick. I’m... Felid and Canid females go into heat cycles several times a year. There is a heat control shot you can take, but I need the Canid-specific one, and since the Felix Orbus Galaxy is still pretty isolated after the Queen Fever, it’s not like there are Canids and Canid-specific medicine everywhere. I thought Bastet Mercy would have some, but they didn’t, and so... I skipped a dose. I’ll be in heat for a few weeks, that’s all.”
Dax stood still at her bedside, skin pale and eyes wide. “You’ll be sick for weeks, baby?”
Baby?
Her heart squirmed in her chest, mimicking the way her tail wagged against the bioliner on the bed. “N-not sick. Not exactly. I can make it feel better.”I can masturbate back in my quarters,thinking about you. Three times a day, giving myself enough relief to make it through a shift like a normal being before I need it again...
“Well, I want to help! What do I do? What can I do? If you miss a shot, what’s—what’s next?” Dax swallowed hard, holding her hand in between both of his.
“Don’t worry. It’s hormone spikes and surges. Big ones. That’s all. I’ll be fine.”
SHE’S NOT FINE.
Heat.
Heat is like horny, but medically horny. So, should I offer a medical solution to horniness? Does that cross a line?
I want to cross all the lines.
Dax dropped Skyla’s hand guiltily. “Okay. You said there’s a way to make yourself feel better. What if I help you? Is there a shot? Something that numbs it? Delays it?”
She shook her head, a sad, pitying sort of smile on her face. “I wish. Nope. Just basic biology. Need to breed. It’s primitive, and even humans have it... But it’s a shorter window, three or four days at the most. If you can cover communications for a minute—”
Skyla stopped, making a helpless gesture towards the entrance to the med bay, the other hand tugging on the neckline of her uniform.
Dax’s mouth moved before his brain could fully catch up to it. “Y-you always help me. Teach me. Do... Do everything for me, Skyla. I could help you. It doesn’t have to be weird—I mean, I wouldn’t let it be weird. You need help. You’re my... You’re my best friend, and I would do anything for you. I could be like... like a heat surrogate?”
The Dholian Canid stared at him, wide, entrancing eyes wider than usual, ears swiveling, flattening, and then perking up. So adorable, oh, God, why was it so adorable? And her tail was swaying, a long, languorous sweep from side to side, speeding up—and then stopping.
“Sky, I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I mean, I did think, but I was only thinking about you. And how much I want to help and make you better. Please don’t hate me? Don’t be mad at me?” Dax babbled, insides swimming in anxiety. Had he just suggested having sex with a colleague? A friend? Well, that was dumb. And gross. And she was probably so freaked out that she would never speak to him again. She could rip his throat out.
That was better than living with her disappointment in him.
“The lines blur around here,” his babble continued, “maybe? Because a lot of our colleagues are married or dating each other. Or should be. Jax and Kylie, man... She just looks at him like he’s everything she ever dreamed of.”I know the feeling.
Skyla opened her mouth, nodding slowly. “Yeah. Yes. And Abigail was going to be Marcus’ surrogate, because they were friends. Shipmates. The lines blur. People fall in love. So... Thank you, but no. I... I’ve never wanted to have a surrogate “relationship.” Never wanted to ask someone to let me... need them. Not fair. Not mutual.”
“W-well. I’m not a Canid, so the heat thing couldn’t be mutual. But it wouldn’t have been one-sided,” Dax admitted with a shrug, eyes now studying the toes of his shoes. “You would have gotten your heat taken care of. I would have gotten my heart taken care of. I could have pretended that part wasn’t one-sided,” he admitted.
Then cursed himself. You just told her you wanted to pretend she wanted you. You told her you love her in the most backwards, horrible way. Dax looked at Skyla with sudden panic. “I gotta go!”
SKYLA FELT LIKE ALLthe primal instincts in her ancient bloodlines were suddenly leading her. She sprang, like a nimble huntress, blocking her prey—in this case, a mortified, muttering Dax. “What did you say?”
“Nothing!” he yelped.
Her tail stroked around her hip and curled itself seductively across her chest. She could smell the sudden rush of desire in the man in front of her. Her friend. Partner in hijinks, work, and games of Goats vs. Knights. The man who had helped her bring people back from the brink of death and helped bring new lives into the world, lives that were sorely needed and that science claimed were impossible—without Marcus. Without them.
