Page 30 of Dax: Gratefully Bonded

“Yeah, he did. But more than half of that is my fault,” he added, before I could start scolding myself again. “Finding a way to get him to let you look after him is going to be difficult. And if one method doesn’t work, then we have to try something else. I want this to work, Dax,” he said earnestly. “For both your sakes.”

“Thank you,” I said, genuinely grateful for his help. After all, without his intervention, my master would still be drowning himself in a bottle, and I would be sitting in the dark, wondering what I had done that was so wrong.

“There is one other thing Zeke has asked us to do,” Aiden went on. “One of the other regular problems I run into is that your trainers didn’t teach you much about cooking human food. Kade’s going to come over every other day for the next two weeks to teach you how to cook for Zeke.”

“Oh. Thank you!” I said, suddenly unable to hold back a smile. Kade smiled back, seeming equally pleased with the arrangement. “That would be wonderful.”

“I’ll send you some recipes with notes attached, so you can see how they differ from Rentral or Basuba cooking. Some of the dishes are fairly similar, but humans tend to be quite particular about how long their food is cooked for. I’ll give you a few tips for what to cook tonight, then I’ll come back in two days to go through a few things in more detail.”

My comm beeped a moment later, and I quickly checked the message, surprised and delighted to see five or six full pages of notes. Anything I could learn that would make my master happier was fantastic!

Aiden spent the next few minutes detailing the medical appointments that my master had scheduled for the next week, and then I spent half an hour in the kitchen with Kade, learning how to cook pasta and chicken and going through a list of whichvegetables could be eaten raw, as compared to the ones that needed cooking. By the time Aiden called to Kade to tell him it was time to leave, I was feeling a lot more confident. “Thank you for coming,” I said to them both, as they prepared to leave.

“Call me anytime you need advice,” Aiden said. “You too,” he added, looking at my master. Kade shot me a smile and a nod, then they were both gone. I closed the door, intending to return to my cleaning tasks. Thanks to Kade’s help, dinner was more or less prepared, and all I would have to do later was heat it up.

But before I could even turn around, I felt my master’s hand land gently on my shoulder. I froze, the warmth of his skin seeping rapidly into my scales. “I noticed the bathroom’s looking a lot cleaner,” he said, as I turned halfway towards him. “That’s a really good job there. Thank you.” The hand on my shoulder squeezed gently. Then, just as quickly, it was gone, my master heading quickly down the hall towards his bedroom. But I stood there, stunned, my heart pounding fiercely as I fought to keep from whimpering in delight. I had pleased my master! For the first time in an entire year, I had done something right!

And he had touched me. Okay, so a hand on the shoulder was a long way from the decadent tumbles in bed that my trainers had taught me to expect from a pleased master, but it was the first time since we’d stepped off that damaged ship and onto the Delaville Space Station that my master had touched me in any way at all.

There was hope yet that I could fix this. I could learn. I could improve. And perhaps, a fanciful part of my brain rambled, I could make him love me as fervently as I loved him.

I marched into the kitchen, determined to scrub the cupboards from top to bottom. My master was finally allowing me to serve him. And I was not going to waste the opportunity.

◊◊◊

It happened again, as we were finishing eating dinner. I’d heated up the pasta and chicken, and made a salad to go with it. But as we were both eating the last few mouthfuls on our plates, my master looked up at me. “I really appreciate you putting in the effort to cook,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. And I realised in that moment how rarely he’d looked straight at me over the last year. His eyes were a deep brown that shimmered in the warm light of the corner lamp. His hair was shaggy, hanging over his forehead, and I’d noticed it growing longer over the last month or two.

“It actually makes me regret not teaching you to cook earlier. I think you’re going to be really good at this.”

I could feel my scales fluttering across my collarbone, and I couldn’t help but wriggle in my seat. The feelings caused by my master’s praise were heady and unfamiliar, and I didn’t know what to do with the sudden rush of nervous energy.

A faint snort from my master caught my attention, and I glanced up again. He was watching me with a poorly repressed look of amusement. “Sorry,” he said, though I didn’t know what he was apologising for. “Aiden said you would… fidget, if I said that to you. I hadn’t realised he meant it literally.”

He didn’t seem to be expecting a reply, so I said nothing, finishing my meal while being acutely aware of the smile on my face.

Ten minutes later, I was up to my elbows in dishwater when I heard my master come into the kitchen. Unlike the other night, this time, I was far less apprehensive about him telling me to stop cleaning up. In the last few days, he’d become so much more willing to allow me to complete my duties.

But I was startled when he stepped up beside me and put a hand on my arm. I froze, uncertain as to what he was about to ask of me, but desperately wanting him to ask for more.

“Come and sit down with me once you’ve finished here,” he said, his hand burning gentle heat into my bicep. “We can watch a show together.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, finding that I liked this new routine we were starting to have. There was still not much in the way of conversation, but I could be patient about that, given how many other things were moving in the right direction.

Ten minutes later, I padded into the living room, finding my master sitting at one end of the sofa, an image frozen on the wall screen while he waited for me to arrive. I smiled at him and carefully set the cup of herbal tea I’d prepared on the coffee table in front of him. He gave me a quizzical look.

“It’s peppermint tea,” I said, trying to hide my nervousness. I had a terrible habit of wringing my hands when I was anxious. “I noticed you have a habit of reaching for a glass beside you. I thought this might be a suitable way to distract yourself. If you don’t like the flavour, there are some others you could try instead.”

I waited for him to reply. He seemed to think it over for a long moment, then nodded and moved the cup to the side table next to him. “So that’s what the package was that arrived this afternoon?”

I nodded. “Aiden helped me find something suitable.”

I took a tentative seat on the other end of the sofa. He hadn’t retracted his invitation to watch a show together, but at the same time, he didn’t seem particularly happy at the moment. He lifted his comm to begin the show… but then hesitated. He glanced at me, then back at the screen, then back at me, and I braced myself for an abrupt rejection. “Come over here,” he said, the faintest tremor in his voice. “Sit closer.”

I felt an expression of surprise settle on my face before I could remember to censor it. It was not good behaviour to be surprised about my master’s orders, no matter how unusual they were. Myonly duty was to obey. I slid closer. Then wriggled a little closer still, as he continued watching me expectantly.

“All the way over here,” he said finally, beckoning to me, so I went… and oh, by the stars, he was putting his arm around me! “Make yourself comfortable,” he said, tucking me in against his side. Oh, heavens, this felt good. He was so warm, all up my side, and he smelled wonderful – an enticing mix of laundry detergent, deodorant and male musk. I would never, ever have complained about my master’s scent, but he smelled so much better now that he’d started showering regularly.

I leaned my head on his shoulder, delighted by the fact that he was noticeably bigger than me. Even after a year without going to a gym, he still had sizable muscles. And even sitting down, he was noticeably taller than me. Making myself comfortable, I settled in to watch whatever show he had chosen.