Page 67 of HaL

I reach up, wiping the sweat off his face, noticing he is really flushed.

“Sweet thing, maybe you should go cool down; the heat coming off you is starting to worry me.”

“I will in a tic.”

He pulls me down on his chest, and I find myself suddenly itching all over, but I’m so tired that suddenly I can’t hold my eyes open.

“HaLLLL, I don’t feel so good.”

CHAPTER 21

HAL

My cock sliding out of her heat startles me and I must blink a few times in order to figure out where I am. My body is so hot I feel like I am being cooked from the inside out. Dawn’s limp form is sprawled over me, her legs straddling my waist in her sleep.

I gently move her to the side, wondering how she managed to get my shed coat without me realizing she had moved. Sliding out from beneath her, I tuck the coverings around her small form, then practically crawl to my side of the membrane. I rub at the skin on my chest. It feels raw, as though someone has torn my fur out one strand at a time.

I do not make it far once I am on the other side.

The heat drains me so quickly that nausea rolls through me. I stagger to the nearest frozen wall and lean against it, willing my overheated body to cool. Exhaustion finally wins, and I must have drifted off, because when I open my eyes. I find Dawn asleep on the floor beside me. Her tiny hand is wrapped around my leg, as if she had been crawling toward me before exhaustion claimed her too.

Panic surges through me.

I scoop her into my arms, already preparing to call for Troza, when her eyes flutter open.

“Hi, good-looking.” She blinks up at me. “Why is it so hot in here? I need to tell SAGE the thermostat is broken.”

Her small, clawed hand moves to scratch at the fur covering her chest.

I stare.

“Roja, you are not on your side of the dwelling. You are on mine.”

Her gray eyes narrow as she studies my face, clearly trying to process what I have said. Then she slowly lifts one furry hand, turning her arm one way, then another.

“Do you have a mirror?”

“I have a viewing wall.”

I hurry into the refreshing chamber on my side of the bubble and gently sit her down in front of the viewer. The moment her reflection appears, we both freeze.

Dawn’s eyes grow impossibly wide.

“HaL…”

I can barely get the words out. “Yes.”

She stares at herself.

“HaL, I’m covered in hair … fur.”

She turns her head, examining herself from every angle.

“Like, all over. There are no amount of razors that are ever gonna cut through this shit.”

I cannot take my eyes off her.

Her red mane is still there, but the rest of her has changed so much that it almost feels wrong to recognize her by it. Thick fur covers her entire body, spilling over her shoulders and down her arms. She raises them slowly, staring at the fur as if she expects it to disappear the moment she looks away.