7. Ryoch
7
RYOCH
I sat at the bar, alone, and looked around at the Friday evening crowd. Many of the faces were new, shifters I didn’t recognize. Word was spreading that the Fated Mates bar might be living up to its name. I groaned at the thought.
I’d told Gravod it was a preposterous name, but I was outranked. Apparently, he had good instincts. Sometimes it was better to be direct.
Not that the humans around here had any idea what it meant. Even with that neon sign, they would never know we existed, not unless we told them.
Lydaxians were perfect shifters. The others—mostly wolves and bears—had biological markers in their human forms, unusual features and blood chemicals that would give them away if anyone looked too closely. But we didn’t.
Except…our mates could tell.
I’d been mulling it over, and I was certain I hadn’t visibly shifted when I saw Charlotte at the hospital. My lithis and seal weren’t on display, thankfully. But she’d seen something of my form. If her fear at the bar wasn’t evidence enough of that, then the way she looked in the direction of my horns at the hospital was proof.
The scientists who prepared us for this mission had warned that our human mates might be able to sense our true forms, much like Lydaxian mates could. Even when fully shifted.
It was a joke on Vytaris, how you could never fool your sta’la . Like the one about the female who caught her mate grazing in a field, shifted to look like a vlir , when he was supposed to be doing chores. But something that was a punchline there was deadly serious here. If Charlotte could see my horns, my face… Vex .
Thylor leaned over from behind the bar, his lips turned up in a sneer. “Alone tonight, Ryoch? Trouble with your so-called mate ?”
Gravod was in his office dealing with a delayed shipment, and he’d recruited Thylor to bartend for an hour or so. I supposed Gravod thought it would build character or trust, or some other nonsense. This was one time when he was wrong.
My temper rose swiftly, anger a welcome emotion, something I could act on. But before I said or did anything aggressive, Mathol signaled to me, calling my name. It gave me a moment to breathe.
Thylor was looking for a fight, and I would hurt him more by not giving him one. I stood from the bar with my beer, ignoring Thylor completely, and joined Mathol at his table.
“Don’t listen to him, friend,” Mathol muttered, low enough that Thylor couldn’t hear.
“I won’t.” Thylor had his own issues. I needed to remember that.
“I wanted to tell you. I saw her earlier today.”
“Who?”
“Your mate. She was at my bakery with another female, one I’ve noticed there before.”
Jealousy reared so quickly, I had to grind my teeth to keep from growling at him. I didn’t want anyone looking at Charlotte but me.
Rationally, I knew I was on edge because of the separation from my mate. I probably needed a higher dose of medication to blunt the effect. For now, I balled my hands into fists and waited for the feeling to pass.
Mathol took a sip of his beer, unaware that I was imagining smashing his face.
He was a good male, one of the best. Unexpectedly humble, given he’d been a renowned chef on Vytaris. He’d become a kind of cheerleader to the crew on the long voyage to Earth. Always positive, with a smile or a quip to boost morale.
His mate would be a lucky woman. Mathol was a romantic, as happy for Gravod and me as he would be for himself. If I’d given it any thought at all, I would have realized that.
I relaxed my jaw and cleared my throat. “How did she seem?”
“Very ill.” His eyes widened at my instant panic. “Your mate’s friend looked ill, not her. Apologies.”
My pulse was racing, but I knew who she must have been with, and I nodded.
“Her friend is dying. I saw her chart at the hospital.”
Mathol paled. “Is there anything you can do for her?”
“You know I can’t use our tech.”
He looked down at his beer, turning the glass in a circle with his fingers. “I know.” His tone was subdued.
I reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “I want to,” I whispered. “Believe me. If there wouldn’t be consequences, I’d cure almost every disease on this planet. But I can’t.”
Mathol dipped his chin in acknowledgment, then lifted it to face me. His gaze held pity. “You have the hardest job of any of us, Ryoch. I didn’t realize.”
And it was a job I could never leave. My role was critical to the mission. We had to have a doctor embedded within the human medical system as a safeguard.
“It’ll be worth it if even one of us finds happiness with a mate.” Worth the toll on me personally. We’d embarked on this journey together, and I wasn’t going to let the rest of the crew down.
“We all will.”
I wished I had his confidence. I’d found Charlotte, but there were no guarantees it would work between us.
My increasingly negative train of thought was interrupted by a sudden tension in the bar. Mathol sat up taller, looking past me to the door. I turned in time to see Charlotte’s friend Jessica walk in, and my heart stopped.
Gravod’s mate had returned, as he predicted. Was Charlotte with her?
Jessica hesitated just inside. Her eyes landed on Thylor, who was still bartending. Disappointment flashed over her features, but then it was gone. She straightened her back and walked toward the bar.
No one else followed her inside, so I had to assume she’d come alone.
Shit . Gravod needed to get his ass out here. I swallowed the last of my beer and got up, moving to head her off, but she was already talking to Thylor. He said something to her as I approached, and she stiffened. I caught the last of his words.
“He’s with his girlfriend in the back. Yeah, those two are inseparable.” Thylor laughed.
I was going to kill him. My hand came down on the bar with a bang, and it was a struggle not to wrap a ta’lap around his throat.
“Gravod doesn’t have a girlfriend,” I gritted out. Thylor had officially lost any sympathy I still had for him.
He glared at me, his expression unrepentant. “I need some air.” His blue eyes were as icy as his tone.
As if he was the wronged one, when he’d been lying to get Gravod’s mate to leave. I watched as he rounded the bar and went back to sit in his dark corner.
Our real confrontation could wait until after I fixed the mess he made.
I took a calming breath and attempted to reassure Jessica. “Thylor is a dick. Don’t listen to anything he says. I’ll go get Gravod for you.”
He was going to be pissed. I went behind the bar to his office and let myself in, keeping my voice low and skipping the pleasantries.
“Your mate is here. Thylor just told her you were with another woman. I told her it was a lie, but she’s out there looking confused.”
Gravod’s face went from hopeful to homicidal as I spoke. The growl coming from his chest had me taking a step back.
I raised a hand. “Don’t worry about Thylor. I’ll go talk to him. You do what you need to do.” His priority needed to be his mate.
I hurried back into the bar, out of Gravod’s path, giving Jessica what I hoped was a reassuring smile. Then I crossed the room to Thylor, picked him up by his shirt collar, and hauled him through the back door.
As soon as we were alone in the parking lot behind the bar, he turned on me, yanking himself out of my grasp.
“ Vex ,” he swore, yelling in Lydaxian. “ This is lunacy, Ryoch. A fucking mistake. We have real lives back on Vytaris. ”
“English, you idiot.” No one was nearby, but it was a bad idea to use our native tongue in the open.
“Fine. Wouldn’t want to be discovered, would we? Then we might have to give up and go home.”
I hissed, my skin crawling with the need to shift, a reaction to danger. Would he actually betray us like that? Risk lives? The way he sounded, as though he wanted the mission to fail… Thylor was more of a problem than I’d realized.
“You would expose the crew to harm? Prevent xa’xans from finding mates? Are you truly that callous?”
For a moment, he appeared genuinely ashamed. He wouldn’t meet my eyes, staring at the ground instead.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want the truth.” He clenched his fists.
“It doesn’t matter, Thylor.” He raised his head, and I almost thought he looked hurt. “Whatever injustice was done to you, it’s in the past. Our present and our future is here. You’ve been given a gift, don’t you see that?”
When he just stared at me, I gave up and waved toward his car.
“Go home,” I said. “Cool down. Think of what you’re going to say to Gravod the next time you see him, so that he doesn’t kill you.”
As much as Thylor’s behavior troubled me, I wasn’t a fighter. My emotions ran hot, but my anger was fleeting. I felt wrung out, body and soul, suffering from being away from my mate.
Thylor’s face was a mask I couldn’t read. He turned without another word, got in his car, and drove away. I hoped he would think about what I said, move forward instead of letting old grievances rule him, but I had low expectations.
For a few minutes, I stood there alone, my head tilted up to the stars. Vytaris wasn’t even visible from this hemisphere. I sighed.
Thylor’s belligerence aside, I couldn’t help but feel homesick when he railed about going back. I missed my family and friends. The smells and the food. Ocean waves crashing beneath a violet sky.
My phone buzzed, and I took it out of my back pocket. The hospital.
They loved that I was always available, and since I didn’t need as much sleep as a human, I was glad to be useful during my waking hours. Our sleep cycles were still tied to the twin suns of Vytaris, and at this point I didn’t think we’d ever adjust to the shorter days.
I’d never been more grateful that I was on call when I walked into the ER half an hour later and found Charlotte there, sobbing in front of the reception desk. I was reaching for her before I had a single thought.