Page 9 of Alien Healer’s Mate

“Really.” He was already grabbing the tray he’d been reaching for. “You’re not the first candidate I’ve fed. You’re just the first one who looked like she was about to chew through the counter.”

She sat. Free was good. She could work with that.

“I’m Delilah.”

He smiled and replied with some sounds her brain could in no way assemble into a name.

“Yeaaah, I’m gonna have to call you Kyle.”

He paused, tray in hand. “Is that a good thing?”

She nodded. “Kyle was the nicest person I knew in high school. He let me copy his biology homework and never asked for anything in return.”

The newly-named Kyle nodded. “So I’ve been promoted.”

“You’ve been promoted.”

He chuckled and went back to the grill.

The food arrived five minutes later, and it was the best thing she had ever eaten. A burger that tasted like beef but richer, smokier, the bun golden and soft, and the fries crisp and salted with something that wasn’t quite salt but was close enough to make her eyes flutter shut on the first bite. She made a small noise. The kind of noise that should have been embarrassing but wasn’t, because she was too hungry to care and too happy to be self-conscious.

“Good?” Kyle asked with a grin.

“Mmph.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

She swallowed. “You’re my favorite person on this station.”

He shook his head as he wiped the counter down. “And how many people have you actually met on the station?”

She thought about that for a moment.

“Three. But it doesn’t make it less true.” She pointed a fry at him. “So what are you? You’re not human. You’re not Lathar either.”

He shrugged, and the ridges on his neck caught the light. “I’m a mix. Mostly ketalli, a few other things. Even a little lathar somewhere way back when. Makes for an interesting family dinner.”

“I bet.”

She asked him about the station, and he talked. The levels, the species, the places she should avoid, and the one bar on the lower concourse that served something resembling terran coffee. She listened as she ate, letting the warmth of the food and the easy rhythm of his voice push everything else to the back of her mind.

She was good at this. Meeting people and making them like her. It was the one thing she’d always been able to count on. Harper had the brains, but she had the charm. It wasn’t much, but it was hers.

Kyle was telling her about a Latharian warrior who’d gotten into a fistfight over the last order of something called roilia cakes when he stopped suddenly, the easy animation draining out of him. His smile dropped, and he took a step back from the counter as his black eyes fixed on something over her shoulder.

She stopped with a fry halfway to her mouth, then turned, and her eyes widened.

Oh shit. This is not good.

Kellat filled the doorway, the expression on his face tight and furious, and the tension in his shoulders setting off every internal alarm she had.

Oh, fuck.

Kyle was already retreating, backing toward the grill with his hands raised.

“I didn’t touch her. I swear.”

Standing, she slid herself between the furious doctor and the waiter and waved a fry.