“Yes, sir.” Marne salutes him with a rap of his claws to his chest and hustles after Esrynne and Davarok.
“A bit unruly still,” Viriden remarks to me.
“We are unfortunately the better behaved of our kind.”
A corner of his mouth curls. “I’m aware. Please heed what I said.”
“Yes, sir.”
I walk into the medical bay where Tessi is, slide my arms under her, and gather her warm body against my chest. She grunts softly, like she’s in pain. Guiding her head to my shoulder, I find a sense of purpose I have not had in a long time.
The nurse stops me as I’m about to leave. “Bring her back tomorrow so we can test her and address what’s going on. I imagine it’s going to be a shock. Try to let her down easily.”
“Understood.”
I carry her out of the ship and down the ramp, following directions on my wristband to her room while Rorsar stays close. I’m certain Onidus is with us. I’ve started to pick up his scent despite his aural mask.
A female ABR security guard team greets us at the entrance to the wing for racers with service animals. The squad leader steps forward. “I’m not going to stay I agree with this because she can’t advocate for herself, but the room’s AI will alert us if you try anything.”
I won’t hurt her. That is that last thing I want to do. “I’m in no condition to take her. I have my own healing to do.”
“We will be watching, anyway. Have you met Radar?”
“No.”
She hums a note in thought. “This is going to be fun. Allia is busy preparing the creatures for the tour this week, so she is unavailable.”
Rorsar steps forward. “I am familiar with dogs. We will be fine.”
She looks him over, then Tessi and me as we step up to her door. “I will watch from the guard post. Do anything I don’t like…”
Rorsar shows her his Federation Medic badge. “Is that good enough?”
She looks at it, gives him a lustful once over, then leads her team down the hallway.
Rorsar unlocks the door to Tessi’s room, unphased by her gesture.
“You good, brother?”
“Fine,” he mutters.
As the door cracks open, I get a whiff of the dog’s scent. He smells like Tessi, mixed with grass, and the warm notes of clean fur.
I kneel down and lower Tessi so that he will not see me as aggressive.
A dark snout peeks out. The dog is about the size of a small teenage Shifter, covered in black fur like Azrim, but without the brindle pattern. He glances warily between me and Rorsar with amber eyes, and eases past Tessi to a vacant area of the hallway where he sniffs the floor.
“Hello, buddy,” a quiet voice resonates through the air.
Radar wags his tail once then circles us to address Tessi. He sniffs her face, licks it, then looks up at me.
“She’s alright. Just tired.” I slowly rise to my feet, hoping to avoid spooking the dog, and walk into the room.
I lay Tessi on her bed and tuck her gently under the covers. Radar jumps up and curls himself beside her head, right where I was hoping to lay down.
It’s like the universe is telling me no.And I hate it. But I can’t bring myself to move Radar or Tessi. He is clearly used to sleeping with her, and their bond has endured more cold nights than Tessi and I have.
The door closes behind me and Rorsar eases his gear bags down. “Now that she’s safe, I need to address your wounds the traditional way so they’ll seal by tomorrow.”
