16. Lis

16

LIS

E very time she closed her eyes, she saw that club hit his head, and him drop to the ground, blood pooling beneath him. Lis perched on a chair next to his medi-bed, watching the steady blinking of its blue and green lights, wishing there was something more she could do other than stare at them.

Sona assured her those lights were the colors they were supposed to be and that, yes, spending over a day in the tube was normal, especially with a head wound like Nox received. Supposedly, he would be almost back to one hundred percent once the medi-bed finished its job. She'd believe it when she could touch him and talk to him.

At least he was alive. Sona showed her which area on the panel was his heartbeat, and she'd zealously monitored it since they put him in the tube thirty-six hours ago. She appreciated all this alien technology, especially their advancements in medicine, though. On Earth, getting his head bashed in like that would have spelled the end of him.

One of those flashing lights represented a button that would make a panel transparent to observe a patient within. Unfortunately, she didn't know which one, and she wasn't about to go pressing random buttons, in case she shut off the oxygen or something. She appreciated this fancy tech that could fix a person in a matter of hours, but she also needed to hold her mate's hand and see his face, not merely stare at the surface of this stupid tube.

She jolted as if zapped by electricity. Did she really just call him her mate? When had she started thinking of him like that?

Scrubbing her fingers through her hair, she scraped her short nails over her scalp to focus and bring more oxygen to her brain so she could fully process this shift in her thinking. So much had changed in such a short time. It might be that she was grabbing onto the first person to show her kindness and tenderness in this strange new galaxy. But she didn't think so.

Generally, she wasn't one to let her emotions dictate her actions. Then again, this was her first time on an alien planet, and she was so far from everything familiar. It was pretty fucking overwhelming, even for a professional adrenaline junkie like herself.

This connection, it felt real. She'd been in love before. But this bond with Nox was deeper and somehow tangible, like she could reach out and touch the shimmering gold silk that joined them. Not only heart-deep. Soul-deep.

She loved him.

Her breath caught, her heart stuttering at the realization.

Her therapist would say her attachment to him was a trauma response, but she could definitively say it wasn't that. She knew with every fiber of her being that Nox was her soul mate. Suddenly, she didn't want to wait to accept his offer to join him on his ship, to explore the galaxy with him, and to spend every night in his arms.

Splaying a hand over the cool surface of the medi-bed's tube, she said, "Time to wake up, Nox. I'm out here having my mind blown and life altered, and I have things to say to you."

All the lights flashed at once, and the machine chimed. Lis jumped back, eyes wide.

With a whoosh, the room's door opened, and Sona hustled in, heading straight to the medi-bed.

Lis held her hands up. "I didn't do it."

Sona snickered. "Of course you didn't. The medi-bed has done its thing. Our patient is healed and should be awaking up." With the touch of a few buttons, the tube cracked open and slid back into the slab, revealing Nox's still form within.

"Nox," she said, moving towards him.

Sona held up a hand. "Give me a second to check him over, and then he's all yours." It only took a few minutes for her to scan him with her diagnostic wand, read over the data, and proclaim him healed. "Nothing too strenuous, mind you," she said, giving Lis a hard look.

Lis nodded. "Got it."

"I mean it," Sona said, her hands on her hips.

"Of course."

Sona pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "What am I saying? New mates. Just… be careful, okay? He might be fixed, but he's still recovering." She paused by the open door, pointing at the control panel. "Press here to lock the door from the inside," she said.

Wasting no time, she locked the door behind the doctor.

"Lis?" Nox said, his voice rough.

"Oh, thank god. You're awake." Lis handed him a glass of water and helped him sit up. "How are you feeling?" she asked, hopping up on the slab next to him.

"Not bad, considering." He ran a careful hand over his head as he drank the water. "What happened after I got knocked out? I'm assuming we won, since we're back at the clinic."

"We did." She took the empty pouch and set it on a bedside table, then tugged his hand into her lap, wrapping it in hers. "Trolls defeated and turned over to the matriarchs and, holy cats, those ladies are scary when they're pissed." She grinned, remembering the way the troll boys cowered before the matriarchs. "We rescued twenty-two people."

He sat a little taller. "More than I expected. That's good."

"Yeah, really good. I wish you could've seen the relief on their faces when we let them out of those metal boxes. It was amazing." She gave him a grin and bumped his shoulder. "Oh, and I got my stuff back. Navi took it up to Antana's Luck for me."

His hand reflexively squeezed hers. "Does this mean you're accepting my invitation?" he asked.

She shifted on the slab, turning towards him. "Is the offer still on the table?"

"Absolutely." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to place a kiss on the top of her head. "I want you with me. Always."