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He carries me past a long work table scattered with what looks like notebooks, beakers filled with unidentifiable liquids, and a smattering of papers to one of three doors that open to reveal an examination room of sorts—a bed, machines nearby, and medical-looking tools. Calix places me on the somewhat stiff bed with extra care, his dark eyes roving over me with an emotion akin to tenderness. Simply being away from the chaos of the other rooms has improved my ability to breathe. I’ve only been awake at this facility as Aria calls it for a few days, but it’s already claustrophobic with all these people. Their commander named Breccan is always growling and making Aria giggle, which oddly enough, annoys the heck out of me. Avrell, their doctor, is friendly, but always poking and prodding at me. And Hadrian is so talkative and extremely exhausting.
Here, it’s quiet and peaceful. Calix even shut up the computer lady.
A voice inside my head tells me maybe this brawny alien has something to do with the calmness I feel, but I brush the thought away. That’s impossible. I barely know him.
“How are you feeling?” he asks as he drags a screen on an extendable arm down to the bedside. It comes to life with a whir as he retrieves his stylus and begins writing.
“Better, for now. Thank you for helping me.”
He pauses, his pen hovering above the screen, and I can feel his eyes moving over me like a physical caress. The silence extends for a moment longer, then his pointy ears twitch and the briefest flash of a forked tongue appears as he licks his lips. “Think nothing of it, lilapetal. I am going to begin by taking your stats and then we will get you cleaned up.”
I jolt upward, despite the effort it takes to lift my head. “You aren’t going to…I dunno, start? Tests or procedures or whatever.”
I’d been to the doctors so many times for my asthma, I’d gotten used to being treated like an experiment rather than a person. Even with Aria and Avrell, they discussed me like a project. Something to do, to fix. With Calix, it’s not like that, it would seem. He wants to help me, but when he looks at me, it’s almost like he truly sees me. After being invisible for so long, being caught in his gaze is like being warmed from the inside out.
Heat blooms inside me and I try not to melt under his stare.
He’s this…thing…and yet, I’m attracted to him in a way I can’t seem to understand. Truth be told, I like the spell he seems to have me under. It distracts me from everything else that’s not pleasant.
He lifts a hand and cups my cheek, the tips of his claws lightly scratching over my flesh. “I think you have had enough shocks to your body for a time. You have undergone a trauma and you will heal better once you have been groomed and changed into clean coverings. After that, you need to rest. While you sleep, I will run blood panels and do scans with my instruments. You will not feel a thing.”
I have to admit, clean clothes and a shower will do wonders. As he resumes his note-taking, I recline on the bed and attempt to let him work, which lasts all of two minutes. “Why are you helping me?”
“It is my duty,” he tells me, his eyes not meeting mine.
“This goes beyond the call of duty,” I say back, nudging for more information.
“I suppose it does.” Calix attaches a band to my arm, his fingers lingering on my skin before meeting my stare with a sad expression of his own. “Some time ago a deadly disease affected our people.” His eyes grow distant as though he’s seeing something I can’t. “It took most of our kind. There are only ten of us left now. There were several strains of various diseases after our planet was ravaged by radiation. It took our families swiftly and without discrimination. After my mentor succumbed to the disease, I was all who was left to try and stop it from spreading.” His features darken as he remembers. “I could not stop it, though, despite all my training, despite all the knowledge I have gained. All we can do is keep the ones inside this facility safe and those harmful pathogens out. I will not let you succumb to something trying to take your life…I cannot. I will help you like I could not help those others. All life is precious and needs to be protected. Even yours, sweet alien.”
I cover his hand and it stills beneath my touch. Despite his unusual appearance, my curiosity about his past is undeniable. After the hell I survived, his gentleness soothes the wounded parts of me. The kinder he is to me, the more my need to be around him—for him—grows. Even now, he watches patiently for my answer and I want to lap up his gentle responses from the source. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, Calix.”
