She rolled her eyes. “They don’t help against things like accidents.”
“There are so many ways you humans can die on your planet. Many of them are the result of bad luck or poor choices.” He hoped his words would ease her mind. “Bad luck has been largely stripped away thanks to the careful planning of our ships.” He cocked his head, trying to discern the bemused expression on her face. “I can calculate the likelihood of my demise, if you would like.”
“That will not be necessary,” she said. Amusement shone in her eyes. “What about poor choices?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said humans die of luck or choices. Are Baylans prone to bad choices?”
He raised one eyebrow, unsure if she was joking. “Some Baylans are. I am not.”
“Really?” she said dryly. “So you’re perfect?”
“Baylans believe perfection itself to be a flaw. It denotes a finality, or a ceasing of growth, that is unnatural to the universe.” He flashing a quick smile. “So, no. I would not want to be perfect. We are a highly advanced species, but we still possess emotions. However, I have seen the results of poor choices on myrejutables and I, myself, have never been on one for such a reason.”
“I never doubted that.” She glanced to the door. “Zade, who knows about us?”
Zade had set an auto-respondant to hisv-link, the communicator at his workstation, and to the door, alerting anyone who tried to contact him that he was not to be disturbed. Since Zade had never been unavailable before, there would be questions about it. He gazed at the screens, loaded with notifications from every division, it seemed, from the command center down to the scheduling official in the main medical deck. “A few who needed to be informed,” he replied. “I consulted with my father while you were still unconscious.”
“Yourfather?” Her eyes went wide. “What did he say about it?”
“We discussed options about how to handle this situation,” he replied. “Between handing you off to another Baylan physician, or keeping you here, but dampening my urges to mate with you; I chose the latter.”
“I don’t know which I would have preferred,” she said, touching his neck. “I hate that you did that to yourself.”
“I did not enjoy it.” He took her hand and smoothed his thumb over her palm. “Although I do enjoy this.” He stood up and moved to the medication port to key in her dosage. “Let me administer your medication, Ash. You know, by the time our bond is complete, you will not need anti-rejection medication any longer. Your body will no longer recognize your leg as a foreign entity.”
“Wow, really?”
Just then, a new alert appeared on his screen. This one, he could not ignore. He turned from Ash and opened the message.
It was from Malak, the tracker who had visited Zade before being sent to Earth to locate whatever attacked Ash.
His stomach dropped at what he saw.
“What’s wrong?” asked Ash, who could not read anything on the screen.
“It appears the creature that attacked you has done so again. Eight humans have been killed.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I must return to work.”
“Of course.” She knotted her fingers together on her lap. “Please find this thing.”
He swung away, feeling unbalanced, leaving her medication code half entered. Had he not allowed his bond with Ash to divert his attention, he may have solved the puzzle of the creature’s identity by now. On the other hand, he knew very well that the early stages of a mate bond were all-consuming. That was normal, and he had told many a Baylan such as they struggled to adjust to the hyper-focus on sex with their mate.
Zade did not have the luxury of indulging in his mate’s pleasures. He had a job to do.Notdoing it was costing lives.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ash
Ash felt funny. She couldn’t put her finger on it. Probably, she was just tired. She and Zade had had a lot of sex, vigorous sex, and it was way more exercise than she was used to since arriving on the Raplan-B. Yes, she was tired.
While Zade bent over screens at his workstation, Ash lay down on herrejuand let the soft, warm gel support her. The door between the two rooms remained open, and the wall dividing them was clear, so she was able to watch him. He tended to scrape his fingers through his blond hair and shake his head when he didn’t like the result of a test. She had gained some intuition when it came to him, so sheknewwhen he was frustrated.
He moved between the screens and his large laboratory space, where tubes and machines blinked away. She drifted to sleep and awoke later to see him leaning over her, checking the results of the full-body scan he’d just run that were displayed on the screen before them.
“I’m fine, Zade,” she murmured.
His brows were furrowed. “Your temperature is slightly elevated.”
