"Huh. I should've gotten a dragonkin mating handbook." Lian thought he knew everything about dragonkin. Coming here only showed how little knowledge he had.
Brea laughed. "That would be handy."
"Did you find your special guy yet?" Lian asked, curious about the woman.
She shook her head. "I've dated a lot but none of them have been the one, you know?"
Lian nodded, he did know. "Don't give up, you're bound to find someone and you've got a lot of time."
"True. Still I wouldn't mind having someone to share my life with." Her wistful tone had Lian appreciating his bond with Nevair.
Lian thought of all the years he'd spent alone since his parents' death and the past few nights he'd spent in the arms of Nevair. "Yeah. It is nice," he agreed.
Brea gave him an understanding smile. "I hope you stick around, doc. You're really good for Nevair. He's been alone for a long time and that assistant of his is crazy."
"What do you mean?" Tres hadn't struck him as too odd. The man was just doing his job.
Brea rolled her eyes before leaning in and talking in a confiding whisper. "Everyone knows Tres has been waiting for Nevair to give up on finding a mate. Why do you think he's stayed on as his assistant all this time when he could've gone on to do more?"
"What do you think he's waiting for?" Lian asked.
"For Nevair to give up and accept Tres. He's convinced himself they're mates and if Nevair has sex with some other guys he'll get it out of his system and pick Tres as his permanent mate. He must be shitting dragon eggs now that you've been marked." Brea smirked.
"Huh." Lian didn't mention that Nevair hadn't seemed so pure last night. "Thanks for the info," he settled on saying.
Brea patted his shoulder. "Good luck with Nevair. Sometimes it's harder to love someone who's in the public eye. I'm glad he found someone."
"Me too," Lian said. He didn't know how he felt about their relationship but he didn't want anyone else to get close to Nevair.
He'd fought most of his life against attachments. It didn't take a psychiatrist to know his parents' death led to his fear of intimacy. He didn't mind a good hard fuck from a next-to-anonymous guy but to bond with someone, to know them inside and out, that took an entirely different level of connection. Lian didn't know if he could live up to the commitment set by the mark on his back.
Lian's nerves didn't settle the rest of the day. He tried a few times to call Nevair but his lover didn't answer the phone.
When he'd finally finished for the day, Lian stood up and stretched his back. Looking around the lab he had to smile. His benefactor had done him proud. Apparently Milot did own a pharmaceutical company. Lian had no doubts the man knew to a dime what belonged to him, but he'd let Milot play the absentminded protector if it got him what he wanted. Besides he was there to help out the dragonkin.
Putting aside his blood samples in the allocated refrigeration unit, Lian took off his lab coat.
"Doctor, oh thank the goddess you're still here."
A young couple Lian had interviewed earlier rushed into the room. The man had his arm wrapped around his wife as they rushed her inside the small space. "My wife's in pain and worried about losing the baby."
"Why aren't you at the medic center?" Lian demanded. Concern made his voice sharper than he intended.
The woman, Carti, shook her head. "You can't trust them to take care of dragonkin."
"Why not?" Lian asked hoping he didn't know the answer.
"Bourne." They said together. The woman's face paled under her obvious pain.
"Come, lie here." Lian pointed to his medical table. It had a padded bench for people who became dizzy from blood work. A few donors hadn't taken it well when Lian had used a needle.
When Carti settled on the table Lian scanned her with his magic. "That's strange," he muttered. Poison ran rampant through her system. Lian quickly grabbed the vial of blood he'd taken from her before and double checked. Two hours ago she hadn't been infected.
"What did you have in the past two hours?"
"An apple and some water. I haven't been hungry today."
Lian would bet money she drank from the same water supplier as Milot. "I'll need samples of both. Do you still have the apple core?"
