9. Torus
The holo projector on Torus’s desk beeped twice and a mechanical voice said,
“Incoming call from Commander Sylvan, Head of the High Council. Accept or Decline?”
Torus was jerked out of his musings—which was probably a good thing. He had been thinking entirely too much about Molly. No, Ms. Byrne, he corrected himself. He really shouldn’t have let himself become so informal with her. But it was hard not to, after the experiences they’d shared yesterday.
After destroying all the tech equipment he’d confiscated from her ex-mate and sharing the extra-long hug—which he had liked much more than he ought to, Torus admitted to himself—he had walked her back to her suite where they had stood in her doorway talking for some time before finally saying good night.
Torus had been tempted to ask if she wanted to come out to a restaurant and have Last Meal with him…but he had restrained himself. He was getting much too involved with the curvy little Earth female, he told himself. And as tempting and gorgeous as Molly was, she was still far too small for him to mate with her. Not that she probably wanted to mate with any male after what she’d endured at the hands of her sadistic ex.
It seemed to him, on thinking about it, that he had done what he was meant to do—he had acted on the terrible dreams he’d had and taken vengeance for her against her ex-Mate. Now she was free of the cruel male and Torus intended to remove every single intimate video or picture of her from the Earth Internet, even if he had to track them down one site at a time. So, Molly never had to fear such humiliation again. Which meant that basically, his job was done.
And so, reluctantly, he had decided he ought to leave her alone. They would go back to their proscribed relationship of boss and worker and not interact anymore, he told himself. It was better that way—safer. Because things were getting too intimate between them. He knew that because on the way back from the ablation chamber, as they were riding in the service tube together, she had asked him, blushing shyly, what cologne he was wearing.
Torus had frowned in confusion.
“Cologne?”
“Perfume. You know—scent,” she had clarified. “I’m just asking because it’s really nice, that’s all.”
Torus had shaken his head.
“I don’t wear any artificial scents. Kindred have a very sensitive sense of smell—we don’t enjoy fake or non-natural odors,” he explained.
“Oh…” She’d looked confused. “Well…maybe it’s your shampoo?”
“Maybe,” Torus had allowed, shrugging. But he knew what she was really smelling—his Bonding Scent.
It was a special scent that a Kindred male’s body made when he was around a female he was particularly interested in—a female he wanted as his Mate.
Torus couldn’t smell it himself, which was why he hadn’t known he was making it. It was an automatic biological reaction—not something he could control. But it made him realize that things were going too far with Molly.
He was attracted to her, he admitted to himself—his body knew it even if his brain wished to deny it. And if he kept making his Bonding Scent around her, Molly was going to be attracted to him, too—which could only end in heartbreak. He couldn’t be with a female he couldn’t Bond to him because of their immense size difference. So, he needed to leave her alone from now on.
Despite his determination, however, the little Elite still stayed on his mind. He kept remembering how it had felt to hug her—how soft and curvy and delicate she felt in his arms. It was different than when he’d been holding her as she cried—then she’d been so distraught and he was so worried for her, he couldn’t really take in the experience.
But the extra-long embrace they had shared had been amazing. Her skin was so incredibly soft and her scent was warm and intensely feminine. Her?—
“Accept or Decline?” the tinny, mechanical voice of his holo-projector demanded and Torus realized this was the third time it had asked him to take the call.
“Accept,” he said and sat up straighter in his chair.
A moment later, a holo of Commander Sylvan’s head appeared, hovering just above the flat black disk of the projector. The Blood Kindred had a serious look on his face, which concerned Torus somewhat.
“Yes, Commander Sylvan? What can I do for you?” he asked.
“Commander Torus, did you go to Earth yesterday and beat a human male nearly to death?” his superior officer asked.
Torus lifted his chin.
“I did.” He wasn’t going to deny what he had done. “But I had just cause for doing it,” he added.
“Yes—something about one of your subordinates. Molly Byrne—correct?” Commander Sylvan asked.
Torus nodded again.
“Yes. He was harassing her. I made him stop.”
Commander Sylvan raised his eyebrows.
“Should I assume this has something to do with the gunshot wound you were treated for in the Med Center yesterday?”
“Yes, he shot me—but it went clean through my arm and it’s already healed.” Torus flexed his arm experimentally. It was a good thing that his kind of Kindred were extremely fast healers. He barely even had a scar. “I punished him for the attack,” he added.
“Well, you also stole a lot of his personal property—very expensive tech equipment,” Commander Sylvan pointed out.
“He had compromising vids and pictures of my subordinate which were stored on the tech I took,” Torus said. “I wanted to be sure he couldn’t distribute them to anyone else—as he has done in the past, multiple times.”
“Well…” Sylvan sighed and ran a hand over his spiky blond hair—an odd effect to watch over the holo-projector, since it looked like a disembodied hand touching a disembodied head.
“I did what I thought was right,” Torus said, frowning. “The male got what was coming to him.”
“I’m sure he did, but he happens to be quite rich and fairly famous,” Sylvan said. “What the humans call a VIP—a ‘very important person.’”
“That’s ridiculous—I don’t care how rich or famous he is, he got what he deserved,” Torus growled. “He’s lucky I let him live.”
“It might have been better if you hadn’t—then he couldn’t have caused such a commotion.” Sylvan shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to need you and your subordinate to come to my office to talk this over.”
“Right now?” Torus asked.
“Immediately.” His commanding officer nodded. “I need to know all the facts so I can decide how best to proceed.”
“All right.” Torus nodded stiffly. “I’ll get Molly—er, Ms. Byrne—and we’ll come to your office right away.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you soon.” And Sylvan’s head disappeared abruptly.
Torus sat back in his chair for a minute, frowning. He wished that his commanding officer hadn’t asked for Molly to come too—she’d already been through enough trauma and she didn’t need more.
Well, he would just take the blame and tell Commander Sylvan that none of this was her fault, Torus decided. If there were any punishment or punitive actions coming as a result of his actions, he would deal with them entirely by himself.