“I’ve never driven a levibike before.”
“It’s not hard.” He offered his keys. “Just turn the keys in the ignition and steer with the front handles.”
“Are you sure?” She was willing to try, but she’d never driven a vehicle before. It wasn’t like her older brother would have ever let her near his precious vehicle, so she had mostly relied on public transit.
“Hey, you’re a healer. If you can sew someone’s arm back on, you can for sure drive a levibike.” He made a soft churring noise at her that she suspected was meant to be encouraging.
“I can try.” Eleri eyed the keys doubtfully. She wasn’t about to tell Pyo that she wasn’t exactly qualified to sew someone’s arm back on just yet. Away from the crowd, she examined the levibike. She’d ridden only a few times as a passenger but never imagined piloting one herself. Well, she wasn’t going to get to the clinic by staring, and the walk was definitely unmanageable in the heat of sun-high.
Eleri settled herself in the driver’s seat and pressed the key fob to the ignition. The engine roared to life,startling her with the intensity of vibration. She set her jaw. This wasn’t like the Colonies where if you were wealthy enough you could pay someone to give you vehicle lessons. Besides, Eleri had never been wealthy enough for anything. Anything she wanted had been self-taught or bartered for. She pressed the starter button and the levibike jolted forward as the gravity anchor that held it in place vanished.
With some clumsy fumbling, Eleri managed to keep to a relatively straight path. She’d paid attention on her ride with S’samph the night before. To get to the center of Laurus she needed to ride straight until she reached the bridge, go straight over the irrigation canal, and then turn a sharp right onto the main road. It wasn’t complicated in theory, but the wobbling beneath her was a sharp reminder of the challenge.
As she rode, she sailed past a few other farms. A few other residents waved or called to her. At first, she tried to wave back, but the levibike almost flew out from under her, and she decided it was best to keep both of her hands firmly on the steering column. Eleri stifled a cough at the vortex of blue powder swirling around her. When she was in the passenger seat, it wasn’t so bad as the driver took the brunt of the cloud.
Eleri was just about at the bridge when something small, a stray pichari darted into her path. She swerved to avoid hitting the creature and felt herself falling. With panicked reflexes, Eleri covered her head as she rolled hard into the dirt. The levibike, the treacherous thing, bobbed up and down beside her with its engine still grumbling.
The shock wore off quickly. Eleri took a moment of lying flat on her back in the dirt to inventory herself clinically. She wiggled her fingers. Toes. Arms. Legs. Everything seemed mostly intact. Bruised and scraped up, she was otherwise unharmed. However, the seams of her body suit had burst at the shoulders.So much for high quality IA products, she thought. Eleri lay there for a moment longer, catching her breath. She’d been lucky. A fall like that could have resulted in a serious concussion or worse. Just to be safe, she’d ask Aglao to scan her when she finally made it to the clinic.
She was about to drag herself up when another levibike pulled up beside her. “Do you require medical attention?”
Eleri groaned as soon as she recognized the familiar gravelly voice. She peeled herself off the ground, wincing at the soreness. S’samph dismounted beside her, and his claw-tipped hands wrapped around her bare shoulders, helping her into a seated position.
“Are you following me?” she asked. His yellow frill stood at attention, and for some unfathomable reason she found herself getting lost in thewarm amber of his eyes. Eleri shook herself back to alertness. Maybe she had hit her head after all.
“No, but you’re right near my farm.” He gestured to the plot of land on the other side of the irrigation canal.
“A few scrapes aren’t going to kill me. I’m on my way to the clinic anyway.” She wasn’t going to bother dusting herself off. Instead, she hoisted herself back on the levibike. S’samph didn’t look convinced.
“If you get your own levibike, I can teach you to ride.”
Eleri tilted her head to stare up at him. “Have you voided our mate contract yet?”
His frill flopped visibly. “I should get back to my farm. You should go directly to the clinic.”
“That was the plan.” She bristled at his attempts to tell her what to do.
“Good. Be careful when you’re turning.” He started to stalk away.
“What about our mating contract?” She asked the question before good sense could stop her. The answer was obvious. If he’d voided it, he wouldn’t be avoiding a response.
He was quiet for an uncomfortable length before finally responding. “If you want to learn how to ride, let me know.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
S’samph didn’t respond, choosing instead to get back on his levibike and speed in the opposite direction. Eleri gritted her teeth, but it wasn’t as if she had any intention of chasing after him. Of all the ridiculous, impossible males. She folded her arms. If he hadn’t voided the mating contract officially by the turn of the season, she would apply to the IA directly to have it nullified. She’d find a way to pay back the obscene fees somehow. Once she qualified as a healer, she’d start getting a respectable salary.
Despite the aching of her bruised limbs, Eleri made it to the clinic. Aglao fussed over her when they noticed the state she was in, but after another blissful warm shower, Eleri felt almost back to herself. Now she just needed to figure out what in the stars she was going to do about the male who had rejected her but was still hanging around for some inexplicable reason.
CHAPTER 7
S’samph
S’samph dragged his tail behind him as he trudged up to Pyo’s fields. It was really the raviks’ fault after all. If they hadn’t ravaged Pyo’s plot, he would never have been heading over to help them rebuild the fences. And if he’d been hard at work on his own plot at sun-high, he never would have watched Eleri spectacularly fall from the levibike. As he anticipated, the stubborn human hadn’t accepted his offers of help. Not that he knew better than her, she was a healer after all. The stubborn human captivated him despite all his attempts to resist her allure. Stupid. That was him.
If he’d accepted her from the beginning, they could be happily enjoying getting to know each other, instead they were in a stalled mating contract with no obvious way forward. But as soon as he canceled the contract, there would really be no hope for them. The other males in Laurus kept their distance, but as soon as he released her, there would be nothing to stop all of them from approaching her.
“S’samph? Have you come to help?” Ewyl, a dark green plumed giradey, turned to address him.
