Page 27 of Healing the Leonid Doctor’s Heart (Felix Orbus Galaxy #6)

W endy woke up with a sharp gasp, looking at her hands. They were clean and in one piece. She couldn’t say the same thing for her body in the horribly vivid dream she’d just endured.

“Wen? You’re okay. We’re with Layla and Rupex. You’re going to be an auntie in a month or so.” Dax tapped on the glass of his “cell” and smiled reassuringly.

“I want out. I need to get out.”

“One more day, sweetie. This is a lot nicer than the dormitories we used to be in at Metro, huh?” Elio piped up, pulling open his curtain to reveal a mound of snack wrappers on his bed.

“All the food we want and a private bathroom and shower. Plus, the media viewers are ridiculous. I think I get over a thousand channels. No Sapien-System stations, but lots of Felid shows.”

“And books, Wen! Just take your personal computer and tell it to connect to CSL. Comet Stalker Library.”

Wendy nodded, overwhelmed by the kind attention from her friends. She knew it was meant with love, but it didn’t help. Every other sentence was lost in her brain, slipping through too fast and falling into a void, as if that damned drug had put a black hole in her head.

“You can use the intercom to send for the service droids. Or the old Leonid, Dr. Marcus. He’s nice.”

“I don’t need anything.” She didn’t need anything from the outside world, not food, not water, nothing. She needed something from the inside, or something from Sapien-Three. Yes! An antidote. Maybe a steroid. Something to stop the hallucinations and the dreams. “How do I get Dr. Marcus?”

“Push the button with the heart and paw icon. That’s medical.” Elio tapped the keypad in his own quarters.

Wendy staggered to the wall and looked at the keypad next to the cubby’s intercom system. There were a half dozen buttons, but none of them looked like a heart and paw to her. “Everything is blurry. Which one?”

“Top left,” Dax instructed.

Wendy pushed it and jumped back when it turned red and let out a long, steady beep. “Ow!” She smacked it again out of self-preservation. The beeping stopped.

“Dax! You’re facing her!” Elio slapped the wall that separated his compartment from Dax’s. “He meant top right. Your right.”

“What did I push?” Wendy asked fearfully.

“I don’t know, but nothing bad. I don’t think anything bad exists on this ship.”

“Who sent for security?” a deep, threatening voice suddenly invaded the medical bay.

Wendy cowered into the corner instinctively. She’d seen the graying Leonid called Dr. Marcus, and she’d briefly met Rupex, a golden tower of strength and adoration who couldn’t stop holding Layla or purring against her.

This Felid was not a Leonid. He was also not in the least bit welcoming.

“I... I didn’t mean to. Sorry.”

“Wrong button. We’re looking for Marcus,” Dax spoke up, drawing the attention of the tall, striped figure standing in front of them.

When the Felid turned, Wendy’s brain was able to have a little processing room. The male was a Tigerite. She could tell by the thick orange, black, and white fur. He was even bigger than Rupex, nearly eight feet tall with long legs, a narrow waist, and then a lightyear of shoulders.

“You set a quarantine security breach distress signal to the Comet Stalker’ s main log. I’ll be able to fix it, but it’s not a good thing to have on our craft’s records. Especially these days .” The Tigerite turned back to face her, eyes almost white as they glowered at her, his voice dark.

“Hey. She didn’t mean to. It was a simple mistake. Her vision is blurry, and she needs Marcus.” Elio slapped his intercom, presumably to summon the doctor himself.

With a huff, the Tigerite left, muttering about mistakes and simple humans.

TALOS WENT BACK TO his station on the support deck, busily clearing evidence of the breach and explaining the mistake in precise, detailed language.

A human female with blurred vision...

His paws stopped over the screen.

He’d seen humans before, of course, in media viewers and on database computers. The first he’d met was Layla, Rupex’s Queen.

On Tigerite-Seven, you wouldn’t dare converse with another male’s Queen longer than necessary and never alone.

It was incredibly rude, especially these days when females were scarce.

A female meant lineage, and attempting to sway her affections or steal her love from another male would be grounds for the elders to get involved.

In ugly cases where a pattern of such rudeness could be proven, the elders could potentially force the alienator to leave the district. Banishment.

Talos had already been disowned (at least temporarily) from his family. He had no wish to be fired from his first real job, as well.

A human female with blurred vision attempted to summon the ship’s medical officer to the quarantine area, but accidentally signaled a security breach. The Security Officer on duty responded and determined that there was no breach. Documentation provided to Captain’s Log and Craft Log. End report.

There. Neat and efficient.

Not nearly accurate. Talos shook his head as he sent the report. It wasn’t necessary, of course, to say that the second human female he had ever met in person had cowered away from him in fear, huddling into a corner in a thin white gown, wide brown eyes unfocused.

No wonder Rupex was always touching and purring at his Queen.

They were so small and defenseless-looking.

Talos had studied the small dark-haired human with his keenest predatory gaze and had quickly come to the conclusion that she was the weakest in this pride.

In terms of security threats, that was an excellent thing.

Why did his gut tell him to pay extra attention to her?

His father would suggest he shun her if necessary, or simply ignore her.

Talos didn’t want to shun or ignore her. He wanted to know why she was so scared. Was it him?

That didn’t bode well for his position on board this vessel.

Tomorrow was the newly arrived humans’ last day in quarantine. He would make an effort to speak to her at the midday meal and smile at her in a friendly, harmless way.

That would smooth things over. He had been rather gruff when he accused her of setting off the alarm.

Unless, of course, one of the males in quarantine was her mate.

Talos groaned. He was much better with security systems than people.

He had no idea how humans behaved. Both males had rushed to speak up for the frightened female.

He had no way to tell who she belonged to—and he had a vague recollection that humans hated the idea of claiming their mates.

Only a few had marriage ceremonies anymore.

But a smile won’t hurt. Humans like smiling. Smiling is polite.

ALL THE HUMANS AND Rupex were sitting together at the midday meal. The quarantined humans were pale and thin, but talking a mile a minute.

Talos approached their table when he entered the ship’s dining hall.

There were a handful of Leonids, the four humans, and a Leopardine freight coordinator.

The Servali chef was running back and forth with this dish and that, apparently in ecstasy over having three humans to fatten up and a pregnant Queen to nourish.

Talos was the only Tigerite on board, and even though he had been on the ship for several days, this was the first time had chosen to eat with others.

“Ah, Talos! Marcus, Ardol, let’s push these two tables together.” Rupex rose and gestured to the graying Leonid and the big, lanky Leopardine.

“Hello.” Talos smiled his widest grin and directed it at Wendy.

“No!” Wendy screamed and shot out of the room.

“Wendy!” Layla bolted after her.

“Don’t run! Don’t run, my Queen, that is an order!” Rupex ran after the females.

“Not now, Ru!” Layla spat back.

“But the cubs! Don’t run!”

“I’ll go. I’m fastest.” Ardol shot them all a cocky grin and plowed past them.

“Don’t chase Wendy, you fucking cats!” the shaggy blonde human tore down the hall as well, his companion on his heels.

Talos sat down in a dejected heap at the now empty table.

“My wild curried pigeon over jungle rice and a side of sapa pudding!” Kamau, the Servali chef, bustled out pushing a heavily laden cart. When he saw this his feast was now being presented to an audience of one, his butterfly-like ears flattened back in irritation. “What did you do?”

“I have no idea,” Talos hissed and stalked back to his room. He didn’t care if it was a stereotype, it was true. Tigerites did not mix well with others.

“HE WANTED TO EAT ME . He looked at me and showed his big, sharp teeth. Big fangs.” Wendy’s breathing echoed in the empty corridor. She’d wedged herself under the fire retardant and first aid station’s hatch.

Layla crawled toward her. “Who?”

“The Tigerite.”

“He does not!”

“The tech said they took girls from the Pleasure Parks as entertainment and hunted them. Then they ate them.” Wendy’s trembling voice rose to a wail and then fell to a sob.

“Layla, my love, you must not upset yourself.”

Layla turned pleading eyes to the pacing Leonid who had followed her in. “Give me ten minutes and call up Dane and Cherie, will you?”

“You shouldn’t order the King of a pride around,” Ardol’s insolent purr seemed to swim through the empty corridor.

“ You shouldn’t tell the Queen of a pride what she may or may not say to her mate,” Rupex hissed in the same silky, dangerous voice.

“Oh, put ‘em away. Ru’s is bigger and better by a mile, Mr. Spotty. I have a sick friend, and I love my mate, King, and Captain.” Layla turned to glare at the big Felids who were staring at each other in ill-concealed annoyance.

Rupex snorted and shepherded the Leopardine and the human males back to the doors that separated A Deck from the rest of the ship.

“Wendy, the tech who told you this lie about the girl from the Pleasure Parks, was he the same one that faked your biosignature on a consent form and gave you the drug that’s making you so sick?”

“Bald. Thick goggles. Mask.” Wendy blinked at Layla in confusion.

Layla scooted closer to her friend so that they were side by side, wedged under the outcrop. “If he did that, why would you believe him about this? He’s not trustworthy! He hurt you.”

Wendy sniffed in. “It makes sense when you say it.”

“Well... It must have made sense when you were scared. You know, even Rupex and Marcus heard that rumor. But, baby, I was one of those girls.” Layla clasped Wendy’s hands firmly and looked into her eyes as she knelt low.

“Even though I wasn’t selling my contract, I was put on board a transport by a trafficker, and it was bound for the Lynxian System.

Thank God I was transferred to Ru’s ship on an outer fringes flight. ”

Wendy’s brows drew together in confusion. “But... what? I don’t understand how you can say it was a rumor, then. They were sending you to some—some backwater mining shanty town.” Wendy seemed to grope for words, hands flopping uselessly in her lap.

Layla suspected the younger girl had fuzzy memories and was trying to recall what she’d been told by the technician who’d harmed her.

“The point is, Rupex and I were able to investigate the rumors by talking to the women who had sold their contracts to Lynx-Nineteen. Now, maybe it is just a little hiccup in the Felix Orbus Galaxy, and maybe it is a rough, barren place, but that doesn’t mean the people are bad. That’s where we’re going.”

“No!” Wendy let out an anguished howl that threatened to break Layla’s eardrums. She could hear her husband-to-be growling despite several yards and a set of carbon steel doors separating them. “No! You wouldn’t! You wouldn’t do that to me!”

“Of course I wouldn’t!” Layla tried to smile, but her heart stabbed her.

Her beautiful Wendy didn’t even know who to trust or what was real.

“There are lots of Lynxian-human couples on that planet, and some more scattered through their system. The Queen Fever hit them hard because they already had few Queens to begin with. So...” Layla put Wendy’s hand slowly onto her middle, letting her feel the constant rolling and squirming of her Leonid cubs.

“After we confirmed that the women were there willingly and they confirmed that I was with Rupex willingly,” Layla smiled at the memory of that fateful call, “we told them about my role as a surrogate. When they heard that Marcus had found a way to help interspecies couples have babies, they wanted some of his chromosomal booster and someone to train them on a treatment plan. I’ve made wonderful friends with a Lynxian named Dane and his human wife, Cherie.

See? No one was eaten or chased. They’re starting families.

And Wendy... You’re my family, no matter what.

” Layla squeezed her hands tight and brought her forehead to Wendy’s for a moment, wishing she could see inside the tortured maze to help heal her.

“You’ve always wanted to work with children.

I was hoping you’d be our nanny. Governess.

Teacher. Babysitter. Whatever you want to call it, I just want help!

I’m having two babies, and they’re not even going to be totally human.

We could be together. You could help me raise my kids, and maybe there will be other kids on the ship one day. Maybe even yours.”

Wendy nodded dreamily—then winced. “No.”

“No, you don’t want the job?”

“No, I don’t want to be a surrogate.” She yanked her hands back into her lap. “They tried to make me... They tried to do things to me so they could test drugs on babies. No. I told them no.”

“You were brave, and you stood up for yourself. I didn’t mean as a surrogate, honey. I meant that maybe one day you’ll find a person you love and you’ll have a family. There’s lots of room on this ship.”

Wendy remained curled in a ball, her hands retracted into a tight bundle under her chin. “No one will want me now. I don’t even want me.”

How do Wendy and Talos find their happily ever after? Keep reading here .