Page 13 of Healing the Leonid Doctor’s Heart (Felix Orbus Galaxy #6)

“ I brought a portable exam table and some materials for the exam into my quarters. It’ll be more discreet there, and if anyone noticed me taking anything from the med bay, they wouldn’t have seen me bringing things into your room.

Is it all right to meet in my quarters tonight?

” Marcus murmured as they walked away from dinner, their arms bumping.

“That’s fine.”

Abigail’s scent intoxicated him. She was asking questions about his meeting—the hot topic of discussion in the dining hall, but he could barely answer.

In all of his years of medicine, he’d never been turned on by the thought of completing an exam.

“I guess I really don’t need to change. Shall we just head there now?” she whispered.

“Mmhm.”

He would give her his own robe to wear, set her on the table, and complete the physical exam. He had her blood tests. Infectious and communicable disease checks had been performed when she arrived, well within the window for annual medical exams.

“I know every surrogate must need this type of exam. Is there anything special tonight?” Her voice was calm, but it was a forced calm. Marcus could hear the little tremble under it as the silver door slid shut behind them.

“Are you sure you don’t want Skyla to do this?” he blurted.

Abi’s eyes widened. “Would it make you feel better?”

“No. Maybe. I... I don’t want you to think I’m unprofessional, but our lines are blurring, Abigail. Last night unlocked a new door for us, I think.”

Her smile was soft, fleeting, but still it dazzled him. It was something bashful, but still world-weary and wise. He wanted to kiss her right then, and wondered if that would make the exam better or worse?

“I think so, too. I don’t mind if our exam leads straight to practice, Marcus.”

“Well, I... The exam is functional, checking for basic structures and soundness. It should be quick. With anyone else, it would be nothing but clinical. You have to know that.”

Abi nodded. “And you have to know that with anyone else, I wouldn’t be wet at the thought of being pried open and poked at.”

Wet? His nostrils widened along with his eyes, and he decided—yes. A kiss before would make things better.

ABIGAIL RESTED ON THE exam table set up in Marcus’ bedroom area. The table unfolded and cradled her comfortably as Marcus settled herself between her legs. “All of the Felid equipment is much nicer than we have on Sapien-Three.”

A gloved paw lightly touched her knee. “Then stay here, Abi. This galaxy welcomes Queens, you know that. The very word for those of your sex indicates how you should be treated.”

“I’m thinking about it. I definitely am. I’d want to be near you and the child, of course.”

“Of course. May I do the exam now? Can I touch you freely, or are there places you’d like me to avoid?”

“No, do what you have to do.”

Marcus ran his paw in a gentle slope across each thigh and over her still bare mound. She heard a slosh and saw Marcus applying something to his gloved paw. His touch returned, warm and wet, parting her labia, then gently pulling her lips farther apart.

Neither spoke. Her breath wouldn’t exit her lungs, just remained there. “A quick check inside to feel that there are no cysts, no signs that make me suspicious of endometriosis, fibroids. I didn’t feel anything out of place last night, but I was hardly thinking in medical terms.”

“Weren’t you?” she gasped as something small and silvery flickered from the corner of her eye.

“This is an adjustable model, small. Only take sixty seconds,” Marcus soothed, and slipped something inside of her.

On her home planet, these annual exams—which she often skipped, for what was the purpose—were irritating and certainly uncomfortable.

Now, as she felt metal press gently, then firmly into her insides, all she could imagine was it stretching her for the purpose of receiving Marcus’ thick Leonid cock.

Firm sweeps of his digits pressed against her insides one moment, reaching and pressing, then they were gone, while his other paw moved over her abdomen, palm down, palpating. “Everything about you is perfect,” Marcus reassured.

Except that I’m turned on during my exam. Imagining the doctor’s cock inside of me instead of lifeless metal.

“I’ll take that out. You’ll hear a little click—”

“Maybe you should leave it in. Stretching.”

Sweet Lord and Bastet’s whiskers. Why did I say that out loud?

But Marcus only rose and pulled something from his bed. He held up a flat white tablet with a screen on each side. “I don’t see any signs, and you don’t report any symptoms, but let’s take a closer look with the bio scan. Used to use ultrasonic waves for imaging in the old days.”

Abigail nodded, biting her lip as he passed the scanner over her middle, peering at it as he moved.

“Beautiful. And you’re just at the right point in your cycle to begin injections. About this time next month we’ll—”

“What about tomorrow? We can’t start tomorrow?” she blurted.

What about what Kaylie said? Your doubts? What if it doesn’t work, and you have to watch him move on? What if it doesn’t last?

Well, what about what I said back—that to make something last, you at least have to start it?

Marcus regarded her, gently covering her up again, removing the cold metal from her pussy before helping her sit up.

“You and I have all that pesky paperwork to do. You might need more time to think about it. If I give you injections, you could start feeling heat symptoms that make you crave physical interaction, and I’m afraid—” Marcus looked down, and Abigail followed his gaze.

The front of his uniform was bulging, creating an uneven, bulky tent in his trousers.

“I’m afraid that might not be comfortable for you yet.”

“To make something that lasts, you have to at least start it,” Abigail murmured, letting the robe gape open. “We have another night of practice.”

“The contract. I... I don’t know what to say. I don’t even...” Marcus sat next to her on the bed, and even though he was a giant beast of a Felid compared to her, for a second, Abi thought he looked small. Tired and weary and small.

But he’s such a champion of his people, bringing them hope and help. The chance to live again. Love again. “What is it, Marcus? Talk to me like a friend?” Maybe more than a friend.

“Rupex told me to take care of myself. Today’s meeting with the department heads at Bastet Mercy went well.

Very well. They want to do a test pool starting in a few cycles.

Candidates from Leonid-One and other planets and systems in the Felix Orbus Galaxy that are willing to travel to Leonid-One for screenings and health preliminaries will have a chance to be matched with a human Queen willing to be their surrogate.

If at least seven out of ten pairings work in three cycles, they’ll allow an expanded program to start and work on getting interplanetary funding.

They offered me a position, full-time at Bastet Mercy as the head of a new department. ”

“Oh. That’s... That’s wonderful.” It was. But all she could see was him in some glamorous new role while she faded further into obscurity, living cargo on a ship where she was unneeded.

“I turned it down. I have to be able to move this clinic around from system to system to do the most good. Some of the poorest planets will only get poorer without this kind of help, and their medical systems are strained as it is. I can’t ask people to pay thousands and thousands of credits to leave their homes and jobs and camp out on Leonid-One, one of the most expensive places in the entire galaxy!

But here... I can travel, rendezvous with different doctors, and help anyone willing to catch a ride on this flying clinic.

Everyone deserves the chance to have a family, Abi. ”

“Especially you.” Her hand found his shoulders and rubbed, listening to the slow, quiet purring building as she worked down his spine and then up to his mane.

“That’s what Ru said. He doesn’t know what we’re thinking about doing, what we’re planning, but he kept saying I need to take care of myself. Do something for myself.”

“And this can be the start of your personal, private dreams. Home. Kids. In a few years, your program will probably be utilized in every system through the Felix Orbus Galaxy, right? And then you and your baby can—”

“Stay near you. Because you’ll be the mother. And I want my son or daughter to have a mother.”

She nodded. “You could marry, I’m sure. There must be someone—”

“I had someone. I had Kaya.”

So it’s true. One great love. Gone.

Whatever I am, it isn’t that. Physical. Practical. A means to an end, but a delicious, thoughtful means to an end, I suppose.

“I understand.”

“I don’t think you do.” Marcus’ paw suddenly gripped her knee. “I always told myself that Kaya was the only one for me. When some ignorant people asked why I had chosen a Servali bride instead of a Leonid one, I said, ‘Because she’s the only Felid in the universe for me.”

“Marcus, I know I can’t replace that kind of love, but—” Abigail was glad when Marcus cut her off with a sudden snarling hiss, his paw tightening on her leg.

She hadn’t known how to end that sentence.

Her arousal was fading fast, and she realized that even if she wanted to be the most helpful, grateful person in the galaxy, making love to someone who could never love you back would feel hollow.

Not even pleasure and a sense of duty, not even a million credits, could make it all right.

“I said she was the only Felid. Not the only Queen. I’ve been thinking about it all evening.

That I don’t just want my life to have a child in it.

I want that cub to have a mother, and I want a wife.

I want a Queen. I want a family that sails together from system to system, or settles down somewhere planetside.

If I get to pick a dream—that’s what I want. ”