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She squeezes her eyes closed, and I see the purple shadows beneath them. “I slept next to you. As close as I could.” From those shadows, I don’t think she got much sleep. “I was going to be there when you woke up. You were supposed to sleep for at least another twelve hours?—”

“No one’s ever been able to predict what I’ll do.” I rub noses with her.

“I should have known.” She kisses my nose, my chin, and finally my mouth. “You said I know you better than anyone has ever known you. I should have known.”

“Anythin’ else?”

She shakes her head, rolling her forehead back and forth against mine lazily, smiling, clearly enjoying the skin-contact. “No one’s tried to kill me, or Chi, today. It’s been really dull. And jeez, what’s it like having Mike around all the time? I swear, he tried to follow us into the ‘fresher.”

I’ll take boring. And it’s reassuring to hear that Mike is back on the job. Nothing against Tyng’s internal security people, but Mike’s better than all of them combined. “Any word from anyone?”

“Mmm-hmm. Acker called. He wants to talk with you. I let Tiancha know what had happened, and that you were okay after Doc Gray finished.”

“Doc Gray was here?”

“Yup. He put you back together.”

“Not that Tyngaling doc?”

Kez snorts. “Doc Gray wouldn’t let him touch you, not after he got here. I’ve never heard him shout before, have you?”

“No.” I smile, thinking of the normally unflappable, impeccably-polite fish-doc.

“He really kicked off about what kind of drip they’d put you on.

Something about needing a hypotonic solution because of your modifications.

He went wild about it. And the type of newskin they were using.

Insufficient elasticity or something. I didn’t even know there was more than one kind, did you? How are you feeling?”

“Better now.” And that’s the truth. Every ache has faded now that I have Kez in my arms.

“Good. You were so fucked up.” She runs her hand over my head. “It hurt to look at you. Doc Gray says all his best work is on you, but he wishes you’d stop giving him so many opportunities to shine.”

I chuckle. “Yeah, well, keepin’ you safe’s a hazardous profession.”

“Hale,” she whispers, pressing her forehead into mine.

“No gettin’ serious on me, kitten. Look who I found in my clothes again.” I reach over and snag the baby bunny, who is nosing her way down into the couch cushions. Probably sniffing for crumbs.

Kez takes Mingle from me, cups the bunny in both hands and lifts her up to eye-level. I pick up a bunny and it kicks like a fucking superboxer. Kez picks up a bunny and it goes so limp it could have had a three-minute orgasm. She has a real knack.

Mingle sniffs her, nose wiggling. Kez rubs the bunny’s face against hers, letting the bunny scent-mark her and pretending to scent-mark the bunny, although Kez lacks the essential equipment. The bunnies absolutely love that. When Kez does it. If I tried it, I’d get my nose bitten off.

After a little cuddle, Kez leans over and puts the bunny on the floor. Curls back into me. “I know you don’t want to get serious, but I have a message from Myhre that you should probably hear.”

“Better start with an apology,” I say.

“An apology? Why? ”

“Nothin’.” Myhre probably thinks I was over-reacting. But she wasn’t the one who got shot outta the fucking sky. Maybe next time I tell her to jump, she’ll jump instead of arguing with me about the direction for five minutes.

“O-kay. Her message was that she’s traced some big transfers to the NoBos. She thinks she knows where the money is coming from.” Kez looks up into my face. Bites her lower lip. “You’re not going to like it.”

“Hit me anyway.” I settle deeper into the couch.

“The Clouds. That’s the way she found it. You know how restricted transfers to the mainland are.” Kez pauses for a moment. “They’ve got to be from Payton. She lied to us. She’s dirty.”

Not in a million years. “You believe that?” I ask her.

“I believe Myhre on something like this. Following the money. You know what she’s like.”

“Yeah, I do. I also know she threw the first bitchfit I’ve seen her throw when I mentioned Payton. She’s found a way to finger Payton. Don’t mean Payton’s dirty.” Nothing in me believes it. If I hadn’t met Payton, maybe I could. But I looked into those eyes. “What’s your gut say?”

“Hale, I don’t know. She slept with Jaxon. Maybe... I don’t know.”

I tilt my head like I’m listening to my stomach. “My gut says fuck no.”

Kez giggles. “Are you sure that isn’t just gas?”

I flick her ear lightly. “Maybe Payton was funding Jaxon, kitten. Maybe Kimpler was. But Daddy’s dead now, and Payton’s making her own decisions.

One of those was not to give Jaxon any more creds when he knocked on her door.

I don’t think she gave us up, and I don’t think she’s fundin’ Jaxon anymore. ”

“Myhre wants her brought in. Security risk.”

Now Myhre’s trying to play me. “Nope, we’re not doin’ that, either. We told Payton she was free to go, remember?”

“I remember. I wasn’t sure you would. Or that you’d care. ”

“I care.”

Kez wraps her arms around my neck and starts kissing me again. “I love that you care.”

My kitten. “I’ve always cared. Ever since this crazy kitten grabbed my hand an’ dragged me into her life.”

“If you want me to apologize for that, you’re going to have a long wait,” Kez says.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Doc Gray gave me this for you.” She lifts one long leg, tugs up the hem of the pants she’s wearing and unwraps a metal coil from around her ankle.

“He says you’ll ache for a day or two after everything he had to do to you.

And he said he knows you won’t want pain patches, so he gave me this.

It’s some kind of magnetic ring. It vibrates. Eases muscle pain.”

I take the long metal strip from her. Looks like three thick copper strands braided together. I can’t feel any vibration, but I trust the fish-doc. If he says it will help, it’ll help.

“Around your neck, he said. Not too tight. Although, you know, there is some appeal to that.”

I flick her on the ear again before winding the metal strip around my throat.

It’s pleasantly warm, maybe from Kez’s body, maybe from some internal source.

It stays once I’ve positioned it, resting against my collarbone like a torc.

Feels solid without being tight. Even with it sitting on top of my bones, I don’t feel any vibration.

Just very comfortable warmth. It spreads into my shoulders.

My arms sag as the warmth takes the edge off. “Yeah, that’s nice.”

“He’ll be here in the morning to check on you.”

“What about you? Myhre said you sprained your ankle.”

She nods and holds out her other foot so I can see a similar metal coil wrapped around her ankle, and the pale green bruising that stains her skin above and below the coil. “I landed on it. The Doc bonded the ruptured ligament. He says I’ll be able to run in a day or two.”

Walking’s enough of a challenge for me at the moment.

“Hey, uh, I don’t want to interrupt you two,” Chiara says, poking her sleek black head around one of the screens that separate the lounge from the kitchen. “But it’s getting on towards lunchtime.”

“Food sounds good,” I say.

Kez kisses me on the cheek and climbs off my lap.

“Hey,” I protest.

“You’re an invalid. Stay put. Watch daytime threedy.” She waggles her eyebrows suggestively, but we both know that with five thousand universal channels, there’s still nothing on. “I’m going to make you lunch and wait on you, hand and foot.”

Now that sounds like a plan. I stretch back into the couch. “I’ll hold you to that.”

“Good.” She waves a hand as she disappears through the archway into the kitchen. “Don’t forget to call Acker.”

I won’t. But the first call I’m making is to Payton. I want to look into those eyes again. Make sure I’m right.