None of them were psions. Lanimer was. I drew in a couple of breaths, letting them outslowly. I couldn’t vote against him just because he was a telepath—because it would only take him seconds to know I wanted to fuck him. Then again, maybe when I meet him in person, he won’t be as alluring as he seems now.
He’s fully qualified and the first applicant we’ve had in a year. Physicians who want to come to Zevus Mar are few and far between. Barely inside Federation space, the stigma of the Tregan invasion thirty years before had slowed the colony’s growth to a trickle except for my people.
I was born here. A purple-skinned Trakellisan with pointed ears, my father is one of the most handsome males I know. Mother is Zevian, a full-blooded human with light brown skin. I am neither blue nor brown. I ended up with golden amber eyes, ice-blue hair, lavender skin, pointed ears, and no tail. Full-blooded Trakellisans have prehensile tails.
Human men have called my looks exotic, even beautiful, but I haven’t met one I wanted around permanently. There are enough Trakellisan human pairings on Zevus Mar, but not everyone accepts them. Trakellisans came to this world to escape their planet’s failing ecological system caused by the Tregans.
But I doubt Lanimer has ever seen anyone like me. My father’s people settled here afterthe Federation drove the Tregans out. The attraction I felt might not be mutual, or maybe I would feel different after meeting him in person. So let him come. We need the help.
Lanimer
“I’m leaving,” I said when we were all seated for our weekly meal together.
No one said anything for half a minute. My surrogate parents, Nalina and Orin, and my guardians, Hankura and Chelle, all looked at me in askance.
Finally, Hankura said, “Well, you are an adult; you have been for some time. What are your plans?”
He might well have said it was about time. After all, I was thirty-four years old, still living at home. The only reason I hadn’t left was that I hadn’t decided what to do with my life besides medicine. I’d worked at the Blue Summit Clinic for the last ten years. I loved working there and living in the Cerulean Mountains of Oltarin, but I hadn’t found a mate.
I’d been feeling the call of the desert and my home on Zevus Mar.
“I’m accepting a job through the Elran Clinic on Zevus Mar. A species called the Trakellisans settled there after the Tregansruined their planet. I will run the clinic in the Trakellisan city of Val’kara.”
The look on their faces told me they weren’t expecting that. And even though I wasn’t reading their minds, I sensed they had mixed feelings about it. I sure couldn’t blame them. Zevus Mar was a hellhole when they were there as prisoners of the Tregans. It happened within weeks of my parents’ deaths, a time with painful memories for all of us.
“What made you decide this?” Chelle asked, frowning.
“I’ve been dreaming about Zevus Mar for a while now. Something seems to be calling me back there. I can’t even explain it. It’s nothing like the connection between you and Hankura, but a strong feeling I must go back.”
“When will you leave?” asked Hankura.
“I just got the offer this morning, and I wanted to tell you before I send my formal acceptance,” I told them. “Nalina and Orin are the only ones who know besides you. I can get a passenger freighter to Rintalis and connect withSential Traderto Zevus Mar.”
“That’s great,” Chelle said with a smile. “It’s a shame they don’t get to Oltarin anymore. We haven’t seen them in over ten years.”
“Now that Jamerin has given up tramping and settled on Aledus, I wish I’d decidedsooner to make the trip with Parei and him. But Otian and Rona are good people. I remember the stories you told us.”
“We’re all going to miss you,” Hankura said. “I know your parents would be proud of the man you’ve become.”
“We lost a lot of friends to the Tregans,” said Chelle, “but we gained you, Orin, and Nalina.”
She smiled with tears in her eyes, and I felt a lump in my throat. We all knew we would probably never see each other again after I left. I loved these people and had already shed tears over that realization.
Orin and Nalina became my parents, while Hankura and Chelle were akin to a doting aunt and uncle. I’d had a great childhood on Oltarin with them and their biological children. Still, it never erased the devastation of leaving my parents lying on the ground. Time and distance reduced the acute mourning phase. I have had so many wonderful memories since then.
At thirty-four, I still hadn’t found the right woman to share my life. I think I resisted because I felt the pull to go back to Zevus Mar. Although they were buried on our agricomplex, the planet didn’t kill my parents; men did.
Then there was Evalee, a stunning Trakellisan human crossbreed. Despite theharsh desert climate, it became a haven for Trakellisan refugees fleeing the demise of their planet.
There was something about Evalee that intrigued me. After the acting chief physician sent a holographic message to offer me the position, I received a message from her. She introduced herself and said that the decision to offer me the job was unanimous, and they were all looking forward to meeting me.
I planned to take the position before I received her hologram. I’d replayed it a few times to study every nuance of her demeanor.
“Hello, Lanimer. This is not an official notification; Chief Yaroman has already sent it to you. This message is from me. The other techs and I all voted for the chief to hire you. I’ve gone back and forth on whether I should contact you, but seeing as you are a psion, you will know as soon as we meet.”
She looked away from the camera for a few seconds. When she looked back, her cheeks had gone from lavender to blue.“As soon as I saw your message and looked into your eyes, I felt a wave of yearning. That’s never happened to me before. I nearly panicked when I realized there was no way I could hide it from you. I am an empath, so I know how this works. I want you to know upfront so it won’t hang betweenus and get in the way of working together.”
“Goddess, I’m not even sure I should send this, but if it’s a problem for you, I can ask Chief Yarroman to transfer me from the Val’Kara Clinic so we have as little contact as possible. I am an alien hybrid; some humans want nothing to do with us, so I understand. I don’t want to be a reason for you to turn down the job. We desperately need another physician here.”
