Page 5 of My Date is a Polymorph (Blind Date Corporation #20)

A fter making an afternoon appointment with Heraina, Keera headed to the psych level. She smiled at Yahtana. “Oh, good. You are back.”

“We were able to wrap things up early. Did you want to see Cloud?”

“Yes. Well, I need to book some couples therapy to deal with the PTSD I have and his manic urge to fix things, but I need to talk to her and you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, sis. You, too.”

Yahtana blinked. “I didn’t know you knew.”

“I spend a lot of time with animalistic senses. I know a sister when I scent one, even if it is from my father’s side.”

Her half-sister grinned. “Cloud carried out judgment. It was a more common practice in his family that anyone knew, so he and his siblings feel like they are suffocating. I wonder if they can make it all four years. The other ladies were found and are getting medical treatment.”

The office door opened, and Cloud walked out with her pregnant belly preceding her. “Yahtana, you are such a gossip.”

Keera walked to her and hugged her. “Thanks for doing that. If I had done it, it would have been far too fast.”

“Yeah. I know.” Cloud grinned and took her hand. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you. We are doing a quickie wedding tomorrow at the courthouse, at lunch.”

“Wow. You are moving quickly, but knowing what I know, it makes sense. Nothing more in the way.”

“Can you come as a witness?”

Cloud smiled. “Of course.”

“Nice. I will give you details tomorrow.”

“Your family knows?”

“They do. Wellin is upset that he won’t be at the ceremony, but he hopes he will be able to be at a party one day.”

Cloud paused. “Do you have a photographer?”

“No. Not yet.”

“I will arrange one. Well, first, I will make sure that Worro hasn’t booked one, and then I will call one. I know an excellent photographer.”

Keera nodded. “Okay.”

Cloud sent a message and then grinned. “He has arranged one, and it is the same woman who took my pregnancy pics. Khasta is amazing.”

“Any relation to Khassi?”

Cloud beamed. “Her sister. Why?”

“Khassi is doing my dress.”

Yahtana whistled. “Wow. She doesn’t do gowns for just anybody. There are fewer than a dozen Khassi’s per year, and each perfectly suits the bride.”

“Yeah, so I am guessing. Now I am wondering how much Worro is spending. Hever is coming, and Dex is star-struck with hero worship, so Worro said they could come along.”

“Of course. Hever is also engaged. Fast engagement as well, but her family is huge and can afford to do it fast.” Cloud smiled.

“Yeah, I offered to get in touch with a caterer I know if they need help.”

Cloud said, “Who is your friend?”

“Dyannic. She isn’t quite Klauz’s calibre, but she is good at enormous meals. And Hosh could do the cake for her.”

Cloud chuckled. “Right. Of course, you know people.”

“I went to school with them. They did culinary pursuits, and I took my courses.” She smiled. “My parents pulled every spare credit out and got me a baseline education. They are super excited that Worro and I are getting back together.”

There was a chirp on her com, and she blinked. “Oh, I have to go down to R&D again. Khytten is here.”

She hugged Cloud and patted her belly softly. “Hello, nephew. I look forward to meeting you in a few months.”

Cloud smiled. “He looks forward to it as well. I have been seeing your wedding for weeks, and you will be spectacular, just because of the expression on your face. He is your person. Go to see Khytten. I think you will feel better. She’s excellent at scar reduction, but ask Hever to make a record of them.

If you need them, you want to have the records. ”

“Okay. Thank you. I will get you the information about tomorrow.”

“I will ask Worro. You should just show up and be pampered tomorrow. A day of joy and no stress. You need that. He could do with a little stress. It will make him feel necessary.”

“Fine. I will talk to you later.”

“Of course. Since I am staying in town, I expect to see a lot more of you.” She patted her belly. “And you will definitely be seeing more of me.”

Keera laughed, turned, and hugged Yahtana. “Nice to be able to acknowledge it, sis.”

Yahtana squeeze and said, “Me, too. It is such a relief to have non-scummy family.”

“Oh, we are scummy, we just manifest in different ways.”

Yahtana laughed and let Keera go.

Keera headed back to R&D.

She scanned in and entered, seeing Hever standing close to Khytten. Oh, right. They were cousins.

Khytten turned and smiled. “Hello, Keera, is it?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Khytten, Hever’s cousin, sort of.”

“Sort of?”

Hever said, “Because she is a capitol citizen, she’s technically not allowed to marry another active.

She has a parental authorization here right now and a spouse authorization, but the citizenship is taking a while.

They are still getting her previous criminal history expunged, and bureaucracy does not move swiftly. ”

Khytten grinned. “We are registered partners, but yeah, Aksalla does have a lot of tangles toward citizenship, even for a spouse.”

Hever snorted. “Right. Khytten, Keera has a lot of scar tissue that needs to be removed before her wedding.”

“Where?”

Keera wrinkled her nose and showed her the scars on her face.

Khytten gasped. “That’s like Hera’s.”

“Same offender. I was an earlier victim.”

“Oh. No. Do you know the deepest cut mark?”

Keera nodded.

“May I see it?”

“Yes. Also, Cloud mentioned that I needed to get a record of the scars. Hever, can you do that?”

“You will have to undress in the scanner. Are you good with that?”

“Can I have a privacy screen?”

Hever nodded and got the scanner platform out, and the screen rose up around it. “There you go.”

Keera nodded. “Thanks.”

She walked to the screen and stepped behind it, removing her outer layers and then her underwear. She set her feet in place and then held her hands out at her sides. “Ready.”

The scanner started, and she stood with her eyes closed, and seventy percent of her skin was scarred. The gasps told her that they could see the images. When the scan finished, Keera got into her clothes and smiled. “Right. So, that’s that.”

She stepped into her work heels and walked around the screen to see Khytten crying. “Khytten, I know you kill without hesitation. Why are you crying?”

“Because Hera told me how much the wounds hurt, and she didn’t have them front and back.”

“Oh, right. Because she was attacked in a car.”

Khytten nodded. “Yeah. That. You must have been in agony.”

“That does cover it. Learning that the blood loss led to a miscarriage was the worst part. Well, that and Worro trying to punch down the hospital.”

Khytten frowned. “Torenne didn’t mention that. She would have known.”

“She wasn’t there. I was at the public hospital.

Not the expensive one. It was closest, and I couldn’t have afforded treatment there anyway.

I was an apprentice for the teams. A trainee.

The team's insurance didn’t cover me because I was injured off duty.

” She gestured to her face. “This cost me my savings and down payment on a house.”

“But they didn’t fix it. Kritz’s nanites could have fixed it.”

“They are expensive, and I wasn’t a team member, remember? By the time I got a job at Z-Corp, it was considered a pre-existing condition. Treatment would have cost me eighty thousand credits, and I make sixty per year. Z-Corp doesn’t have a medical payment plan. I checked.”

Khytten sniffled and walked up to her and hugged her. “Can I help repair it?”

“Sure.”

Khytten paused. “It works best if you get it directly, but I know not everyone is comfortable with it.”

“Get ‘em out.”

Khytten grinned.

Keera snorted. “This might make it easier for you.” She shifted to a feminized version of Salat.

Khytten’s eyes were wide, and the next few minutes were silent aside from her increasingly heavy breathing until Keera lifted her head. “Enough?”

Khytten blinked and said, “Almost.”

A strong draw and the scrape of feline fangs and Khytten shuddered. Keera swallowed and shifted back to herself.

Hever looked at her and said, “Wow. That’s fast. They are fading.”

Keera touched her cheek. The raised ridges were fading away. “Thank you, Khytten.”

Khytten straightened her clothes. “My pleasure. Seriously. Can you do that in front of Salat? I have never seen a girl version of him before.”

“Maybe.”

Khytten said quietly, “If you had internal scarring, it should have reduced that as well.”

Hever jolted. “Wait. What?”

Keera patted Khytten’s cheek. “Thank you. I was worried about that.”

Khytten said, “Salat has me memorizing wound tracks, and yours were not good.”

“No, they were not.”

“Well, I couldn’t have helped you then, but I can help you now, so I did.” She wrinkled her nose.

Keera hugged the small, deadly dynamo. “Thank you.” Her com chimed. “And now I have to head up to my office to get ready for the meeting with Hera this afternoon.”

Khytten smiled. “You and Hera must talk a lot, considering.”

“What? Oh. No. My attack was way before I started here. I don’t think anyone outside of the medical areas knows about it.”

Khytten blinked. “What?”

Hever added. “I only knew she had been scarred. I had no idea of the extent of it. Keera never said.”

“Come to think of it, I think this was part of my BDC rejection.” Keera blinked. “Right. Thank you so much, Khytten. Thank you, Hever, for calling her, and thank you, Dex, for pretending you weren’t crying.” Keera patted her arm and headed out.

She had to work up the numbers before the meeting that afternoon.

When her alarm chimed for lunch, she finished the sentence with a sigh and set it aside, getting up and stretching as she headed to the door. Worro contacted her and said, “ Hello, beauty. Are you ready for lunch and shopping? ”

“Yes and no. I am heading to the elevator now. I will be down in two minutes.”

“ I am cheerfully waiting .”

She snorted and walked to the elevator.