27. Chapter 27
Marissa turned back to the alien doctor who was looking at her curiously.
”I apologize for the interruption,” she told him.
”Did you know your expression changes when you”re talking to him?” Mintonar asked.
”I did not, actually,” Marissa said. ”I never really thought about it, to be honest, though I can see it being odd if you don”t know what I”m doing.”
”Well, if you”re going to use it to infiltrate places and talk to each other, you might want to figure out how to get it under control,” the alien doctor said, looking down at his alien tablet. ”I wish I could give you bio-nanos but I understand there are a few issues with that.”
”I can”t say I”d hate the ability to heal faster but yeah, no, there”s definitely a problem with giving me bio-nanos after what happened with Captain LaGrange. I might love my lizard man but I don”t really want to turn into one.”
Mintonar shook his head. ”I would say it wasn”t something you needed to worry about but I can”t say that for sure. I would like to study him if he”s amenable to it. And possibly access the medical records in his ship.”
”Well, the ship is currently being held hostage by some of the people we”re ”negotiating” with so I can”t help you with that. I might be able to talk to him about helping you, though.”
”The Chelion named Zoric has also offered his assistance and I cannot say I would not welcome more samples and data. If you can gain Cooper”s help, as well, it would be appreciated.”
”I”ll do my best, Doc,” Marissa said with a smile.
Mintonar nodded and started into the slightly awkward bow a mated Orvax makes to a mated female but paused.
”How do you feel?” he asked. ”I know my instruments have indicated that the head injury is healing but that kind of trauma can have effects that don”t show on those scans.
”I don”t know a safe way to answer that question,” Marissa said slowly. ”Physically, I feel fine. Better, in fact, than I”ve felt in a while. The being mated to a lizard man thing is weird but you said I”m not showing any side effects from that, right?”
”You”re showing the effects of a human female who has bonded with her mate,” Mintonar corrected her. ”I do not believe those to be ill effects but there are definitely side effects.”
”How much of this is going to be part of my official military record?” Marissa asked.
”None,” Mintonar said. ”Unless you want me to make an official statement to your command about your fitness and ability to perform your duties.”
”I don”t think that will be necessary,” she said. ”But that does mean I can talk to you about some questions I have regarding the whole being mated thing. I know the bond created with the Orvax is different to the one I have with Cooper. But it sounds like you noticed some similarities?”
”Indeed. Elevated hormone levels, to be precise, similar to the spikes I”ve seen in the women who have mated with the Orvax. Lower energy levels, though I suspect that has as much to do with recovering from injuries than the lack of taurine, and you”re recovering faster than most women your age.”
”Lack of taurine?” Marissa asked, confused. ”Humans don”t produce taurine, do they?”
”Not at the amounts the Orvax do,” Mintonar said. ”It”s been fascinating to study all the chemical compounds that our planets have in common.”
”I-” Marissa”s jaw worked while she processed Mintonar”s statement about taurine.
”And it”s one of the things I would like to get from Cooper”s ship,” he continued. ”I”d be able to give you a better answer about if you”ll be having a mammalian birth or an egg.”
”What?” Marissa screeched. ”I”m not. I can”t possibly be.”
”Oh, no, not right now. But the end result of this kind of mating does tend to be offspring. I do understand the Chelion have difficulty with reproduction without medical intervention and that might be the case for you. If that”s the case, when you”re ready, I”ll be happy to give you any assistance you might need.”
”Um,” Marissa said. ”Thanks. I appreciate the offer. Though I hope I don”t need it any time soon.”
”Yes, well, I assumed you had questions regarding the process?”
Marissa could feel her face contort while she tried to figure out a response. ”No, I think I”ve got a pretty good handle on the basics of how babies are made. I actually wanted to ask some questions about why I feel kinda crazy.”
”Ah, that”s going to be a combination of things, I think,” Mintonar said, his face contorting into awkward sympathy. ”Some of it is, indeed, the hormones. The first few months tend to border on an overdose of what some of your nurses have referred to as ”the happy hormones”. Being intimate with your mate will actually make that easier to deal with. The rest, though, has something to do with some brain damage.”
”Brain damage? I thought the concussion was healed.”
”It is. This is damage that was caused over several decades. I can show you on the scans?”
Marissa nodded and he pulled up a projection of her brain.
”Right here,” he said, circling an area that she could suddenly feel in her head. ”It”s subtle enough that I don”t think human imaging technology would pick up on it. There are connections that have been damaged so they”re not firing consistently. I suspect there was something introduced when you were a child and your brain was still developing that was removed recently.”
”Uh, yeah,” she said, rubbing at her head. ”Cooper said there was some kind of thought worm or something? He took it out. And the doctor who attacked me had them, as well. But she had more of them.”
”Ah,” Mintonar said and made a note. ”I”ve heard the Dragor have the ability to insinuate thoughts into a persons mind. I didn”t realize it was a talent the Chelion shared. I”ll have to include that in my assessment of the doctor and the other soldier I was asked to look at.”
”Other soldier?” Major Ozark asked.
”Yes, I believe she was with you when Captain LaGrange was attacked. I have her name written down.”
”Corporal McBride,” Marissa said.
”Yes, that sounds right. Do you know her?”
”She was part of my team. Grew up not far from where I did, actually. Different state, same mountain range.”
Mintonar made thoughtful noises and added more notes.
”That”s good to know.”
”It is?”
”Of course. Data is always a good thing. I might not be able to use it right away but it gives me another piece to the puzzle.”
Marissa nodded, feeling completely out of her depth.
”To answer your question, though, you are going a little crazy. But it”s a good thing. You were damaged and the flood of hormones combined with the connection to your mate is helping you heal. Faster than your brain is equipped to handle without help.”
”So, I am crazy, but it”s a good thing.”
”You”re healing,” Mintonar said gently. ”And learning while you do it. It”s normal to be overwhelmed but you have a second brain you can lean on when you need to.”
”When I”m not infecting him.”
”Affecting,” he corrected. ”Not infecting.”
Marissa wasn”t sure she believed him but she did know she didn”t want to argue with him about it. Which was…new. Something to think about when she had some down time.
”Do you have any other concerns?” Mintonar asked. ”Because I think we”ve done everything we can for now and it”s almost time for the meeting to restart.”
”No, I think that”s everything. Thanks for the sandwich, by the way, I wasn”t looking forward to skipping lunch but I wanted to have the concussion dealt with soonest.”
”It has been my observation that human women do well with regular meals, especially when they”re in the throes of a new relationship, and I hoped to have the chance to examine you. It seemed prudent to have food ready if I was pulling you away from the official meal.”
Marissa smiled at that. ”Your wife gets hangry, huh?”
Mintonar pulled his shoulders back and chin up. ”Maw-lee is the sweetest, smartest, most pleasant woman I have ever known and I am fortunate to have met her.”
”And she”s easier to talk to when she”s eaten recently,” Marissa said.
”Aren”t we all?”
”I suppose so,” she answered.
They walked back to the meeting and Marissa took her seat next to Cooper. There was a strange tension between the Chelions that she was going to need to ask him about later.
She was surprised when the meeting opened with Ae-cha offering to return Cooper”s ship. There were conditions around the offer, including a release of information that she couldn”t follow, but nobody could find anything to object to.
And she dropped her request that everybody help her people exterminate their rivals.
When the negotiations moved to logistics, she found herself distracted by the heat of her mate next to her. And while she knew it was inappropriate to physically touch him during the meeting, that didn”t stop her from sending brief flashes of her desires.
She pulled from her memories and sent him the heat that flashed through her every time he touched her. The thoughts about where she kissed and licked him were more of a gentle purr of anticipation that sent a bolt of desire through her core.
His direct responses were muted but she could see him shift in his chair and couldn”t stifle her grin. Instead, she sent him memories of her digging her fingers into his shoulders while his tongue explored her skin.
Marissa was so immersed in her own thoughts that she was surprised when Ae-cha stood up. Her scales were flushed in a way Marissa hadn”t realized was possible. She got a glimpse of panic in the lizard woman”s eyes before Ae-cha addressed the Base Commander.
”I think we”ve accomplished what we can at this point. I”ll have my people bring the ship to the base. If you”ll excuse me, I need to send some messages.”
She nearly ran out the door while everybody else looked around in bemusement.
”Meeting adjourned for the day,” Zoric said with a toothy grin. Everybody else agreed and moved to the doors.
When he got to the doors, Zoric turned and gave her a brief salute, before heading out.
”What was that-” Marissa started. Only to be interrupted by Cooper”s mouth on hers.
She sank into the desire that filled her, that flowed into her from his thoughts, and was surprised when ecstasy rolled through her. She”d never peaked from a kiss before and could feel his satisfaction with her reaction.
”We need a bed,” Cooper broke away to say, before working his way across her cheek and down her neck with his tongue and gentle nibbles. He”d pulled her into his lap and his hands were stroking down her side, her ass, then moved up to caress her breasts.
”Take me to bed,” she demanded with a gasp. ”Now or we won”t make it.”
”Your wish is my command,” he said, and lifted her.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and trusted him to get them to her room. If they passed anybody in the hallway, neither of them noticed, and the door was still closing behind them when they started stripping each others clothes off.
Her pants and boots took the longest and she was moments away from demanding he tear them off when they slid free and he pulled her against him again, bare skin to bare skin. Cooper sank to his knees in front of her, his tongue licking a path of fire down her skin, before it sank into her core and he moaned.
He shared his pleasure in her taste, her texture, how she felt against his tongue and with her hands holding him to her. She was close to the next orgasm, could feel it building just out of reach, and knew he was holding it off for just a moment longer.
Rather than demand the explosion of ecstasy she knew was coming, she enjoyed the anticipation, let him push her higher, past what she thought she was capable of, then let go when he pulled her down onto his waiting cock.
The sudden stretch and fullness was the last piece she needed to send her over the edge into a sea of joy and pleasure. It washed over her, through her, until there wasn”t a single part of her that wasn”t suffused with it.
She could have drowned in the pleasure but for the anchor of Cooper inside her, his arms locked around her, his mind sharing her ecstasy.
With a gasp, Marissa realized she”d screamed out her breath. She took a deep breath, then another, and then Cooper started to move.