He stared at the other male, struggling to reconcile the clinical researcher with the words he was hearing. “You’re telling me to… court her?”
“I’m telling you to follow your instincts. Something you seem quite good at already.” Veyalor hesitated. “As for evidence, the simplest way would be to conduct a separate experiment using another male’s genetic material.”
“Absolutely not,” he growled.
“I suspected that would be your response. Fortunately, there are other females here.”
Veyalor turned back to his workstation, clearly dismissing him. He turned and walked towards the door, his mind churning.
At the threshold, he paused. “Dr. Veyalor?”
“Yes?”
“If the bond is real and it enables reproduction, what will happen to the females? What will happen to Melissa?”
Veyalor was silent for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet.
“That, Captain, will depend entirely on the Council. And on how much power you’re willing to sacrifice to protect her.”
The door slid open, and he stepped through into the corridor.
The question followed him all the way back to Melissa’s cell.
CHAPTER TEN
Robbie’s fingers closed around Melissa’s thumb with surprising strength, his dark eyes fixed on her face with that intense, unfocused gaze that infants had. She smiled down at him, brushing her lips against his soft forehead, breathing in that sweet baby smell that never failed to settle something anxious in her chest.
“You’re getting stronger every day,” she murmured. “My little fighter.”
The door to her cell slid open, and her body tensed automatically before she recognized Becsul. He looked different today. There was something in the set of his broad shoulders, a careful quality to his movements that she’d learned to associate with news. Good or bad, she couldn’t tell yet.
“You’re back early.” She hadn’t expected him for several more hours. After yesterday’s examination and the incident with the guard, she’d assumed he would be tied up dealing with consequences.
“I needed to speak with you.” He came to join her next to the crib, his expression unreadable as he stared down at the baby. “Dr. Veyalor and I had a… conversation. About the experiment.”
Here it comes.She steeled herself, picking Robbie up and cradling him to her chest. “And?”
“He believes we’re compatible.”
The words hung in the air between them, loaded with implications she wasn’t sure she wanted to examine too closely. Compatible. Such a clinical term for something that felt anything but clinical when Becsul was in the room.
“Compatible,” she repeated carefully. “What exactly does that mean?”
His eyes met hers, and she saw something vulnerable in their depths—a hesitation that seemed out of place on someone so physically imposing. “It means he thinks the mate bond may be forming. Between us.”
Her heart stuttered in her chest as she thought about the way her pulse quickened whenever he entered the room, and the inexplicable sense of safety she felt when his tail brushed against her, and the way his presence made the cold walls of her cell feel almost bearable.
Is that the mate bond?
“You said it only occurred between two Cire.”
“So I was always taught, but it’s possible that the Council has been keeping it from us. His uncle believed differently.”
“And you believe him?”
“I don’t know what I believe anymore.” His voice was rough. “But Veyalor’s observation means that I can justify spending time with you. Official time. He wants me to… continue what I’ve been doing.”
“You mean he wants you to court me,” she snapped. “For science.”
