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He walks away without arguing. Altis steps away from Vynia, and she follows Mydax out of the room.

“Are you okay?” he approaches me.

“I’m fine. Just a few scratches.” I run my finger over my cheek, realizing that the cut might need mending. “I’m more worried about our only hope being too frightened to work with us now.”

“I’ll take the bridge.”

Instead of using the lift to get down to med bay, I take the stairs. Any physical exertion will help settle me. I need to be completely controlled when I walk into the room with Neev.

She’s sitting on one of the examination tables with her palms braced on either side of her thighs. Her head was hanging between her shoulders but jerks up as soon as I enter the room. She looks me up and down. It’s as ifshe’scheckingmefor injuries.

No.

That can’t be it.

Hyva looks up from his monitor and zeros in on my face. “Let me clean you up.”

I put my hand up, stopping him from approaching me as I cross the room to Neev. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” She looks over at Hyva. “He explained what happened. I’m sorry for triggering him.”

“Don’t.” I shake my head and lean down, so I’m eye level with her. She needs to understand she is safe with us. “He is still young, and while he’s exceptionally intelligent, his instincts are still primally driven. Regardless, he should have been able to control himself. I am sorry.”

Her eyes, while violet from afar, have beautiful silver flecks dotting them. She holds my gaze for longer than most can handle, but then her eyes fall to my check. I don’t move as she lifts her hand, her small thumb runs along the slashes still stinging there.

“You’re hurt.”

I straighten with a scoff. “Hardly. I wouldn’t even have these cleaned if not for the fact that he used his talons.”

“Talons?”

I lift my hand and unsheathe my own. Her eyes widen, but no fear scents the air.

“We all have them. Some have two, others three, very few have four.”

“Stop preening for the female and come over here so I can clean the venom from your cuts,”Hyva’s voice cuts into my mind from the channel I’ve left open.

“I wasn’t preening, I was explaining.”

“Right.”His response drips with sarcasm.

“Stay here, and I’ll escort you back to my quarters once I’m done,” I instruct.

“Your quarters?” A wrinkle forms between her brows.

“Yes.” I lean against one of the tables while Hyva begins cleaning the cut on my cheek. “We don’t have guest quarters on board, so I gave you mine.”

I obviously couldn’t put her in with anyone else. Mydax’s outburst is exactly why. Maybe it’s a good thing she hasn’t ventured out into the common areas.

“Where are you sleeping then?”

“Altis and I have separate shifts on the bridge. I’m using his quarters for now.”

She quiets and steps back, so Hyva can clean the wounds. Once he finishes on my face, I reach down and unbutton my pants so he can get to my thigh. I should tear my eyes away from her, but I can’t. Her cheeks turn pink when she notices what I’m doing and immediately turns away.

Hyva looks from me to her back to me with a short shake of his head. Zeahirians are not a modest species. Many of us spend hours swimming naked in the sea, which still welcomes us home millennia after evolving to live on land.

“What do you know about humans?”I ask Hyva as he works on my thigh.