“Good to know.”I thought back to each time I had been drugged with a shiver.“I never want to experience that again.”
“I’ll try to make sure it doesn’t happen,”Vowels agreed.“My only caveat is that I don’t know how sleeping aids affect me. I am assuming you will be rendered unconscious while I will be left unaffected and awake to protect you.”
“Protect me how?”
“I will heal you so quickly that none will be able to harm you.”
“Why didn’t you return to your room last night?” Zyxel asked, his voice oddly strained. “I was worried about you.”
Opening my eyes, I was met with his fiery, slitted gaze, dimmed by concern. “You permitted me to walk around the base with an escort. Tori took me to the lifedome and invited me for dinner.” I shrugged. “I didn’t see any harm in staying the night when offered, especially since you never told me that I needed to return.”
His eyes hardened as he pursed his black lips. “I don’t understand why you’re avoiding me. I haven’t done anything to warrant this treatment.”
“Didn’t she wake up wrapped in your tail?” Celyze asked. From the direction of his voice, I could tell he was walking behind us. “Isn’t that something—”
“I was concerned about my patient,” Zyxel hissed. “It’s not my fault she’s never come across an Ezzaska before.”
“I had never met a Swynemi before yesterday, either. I don’t know that I trust any enough to be flown by one again.”
“Please, forgive me, Selena,” Celyze begged. “Don’t tell Tori I upset you. I will be more careful, I swear.”
“We’ll see,” I muttered. When I returned my attention to Zyxel, I found him still staring at me. “I stayed the night because Tori was more welcoming than you were, and I enjoyed hearing about her life on Earth after studying humans for so long.”
