Chapter Seven
Xexis
“My mate sleeps,” Xexis breathed, leaning against the doorway to her room.
Aphrodite came and went like a moon far out in orbit.
The technicians assured him that it was common, humans do not heal as swiftly as Vroz according to what they knew.
Which was not much, as the humans did not share.
Unfortunate. Her body was not made of the same muscle and compounds as his.
The tissue grew tenderly, needed coaxing and lots of adhesive.
He’d tried not to fret over it too much.
Xexis was not a technician or a healer, or even a scientist. He was Kannatch, and he had to trust the people he put on this ship were good at their job. Good leaders trust in their people.
Reevar, Grooug, and Kiefgr surrounded him as he pulled away from the door.
He handed the small collection of food items back to the hovering drone.
It floated back down the hall of his ship.
Xexis would be lying if he didn’t say he’d jumped at every moment to be in her presence.
The Technicians, begrudgingly, set her sterile environment to have breath and cognizance sensors.
This way he could leap to her at any moment, ensuring she was doing well.
They’re always a little sensitive about privacy and letting their patients rest.
Xexis apologized profusely while also demanding that they allow him to know every moment she was awake.
The oxygen on her suit had gone offline and they reported it minorly damaged her lungs.
He would not suffer other injuries to his mate.
Even if it pained him to make the choice for her to implant the breathers.
But that was it, from here on out, she gets to choose everything—what she eats, when she sleeps, what she wears and wants… as long as she’s safe.
“Kannatch, are you alright? You seem unhappy.” Reevar cocked his head to the side, pincers drawn in a worried line.
“I worry,” he breathed, shaking his head. “Something is wrong.”
“Her stats say otherwise,” Grooug held up Xexis’ data pad that he’d stuffed in his hunter’s palms in order to take up food for her. The blip, of her being awake, went out moments before he reached the door. And he’d wanted to introduce her to them…
“Not with her healing, the technicians have seen her well enough.” He crossed two of his four arms over his chest.
“Kannatch is worried about her mind? Her heart?” Kiefgr’s face pulled in a worried, childish pout.
Xexis’ protegee had been the most concerned at the flashing red lights.
Practically worried over her the whole way into the ship.
The technicians not only had to fight Xexis off her but had to peel her away from Kiefgr as well.
“She is upset, but has not confided in me why…I worry…there was some miscommunication, but I can not fathom what? The hunt was glorious. The bait was slain, she was so clever, and she won? She should be cheering, despite her wounds and breathers…she should be…I would have liked her to have been…excited.”
Reevar clasped a hand on Xexis’ shoulder, “Your mate is in pain. Remember when they put your breathers in? You were much younger, less accustomed to pain, and you whined for days after. Nothing could make you smile, not even sweets.”
Xexis nodded solemnly, poking his head into the doorway once more. The doors hissed open and yet, his mate still slumbered. She is soft in the flesh, she is healing, and I can be patient. Reevar was right, she was healing…once she was well again, then she’d claim him.