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Alek kneeled between my legs, gently peeling my hand away. His nostrils flared and his eyes darkened when he noted the blood where he was torn from me.
“You’re going to be okay, starlight. I’ll make sure of it.”
“What have you done to her?” Dad grumbled, thrashing on the couch, trying to right himself. His fists thumped into the cushions as he rolled and huffed.
Alek snarled at my dad, “This is your doing! She’s hurt because of you!”
He tensed to pounce again, ready to exact revenge on behalf of his wounded mate. My hand shot out and caught his wrist before he made it more than an inch away.
“Don’t. Please, don’t. I need you, Alek. Stay with me,” I begged, locked onto his arm.
He seethed, exhaling hard through his nose. But he nodded, hair as pale as snow caressing his cheeks as he dipped his head. “I’m staying with you, starlight. I promise. Come, let’s get you to the doctor.”
Alek pulled his black trousers back on and fetched the robe from the bathroom door, returning at the same time dad rolled off the couch. He draped the fabric over my shoulder and helped me into it. By the time Dad found his balance, Alek had scooped me into his arms, then marched toward the door.
“I’m calling your mother!” Dad shouted after us as Alek carried me to the med bay.
Chapter 17
Explaining what happened to the medic in the med bay as delicately as possible was difficult. I didn’t know where to begin when the tall, slender alien woman asked where I needed the healing ointment. But there was no judgment in her wide, black eyes when she assessed between my thighs where Alek had been ripped out of me. And she didn’t ask why Alek’s shoulder was injured or why my dad had a black eye.
Dad finding Alek and I entwined wasn’t ideal. Stars, it was embarrassing and perpetually mortifying. Even after we were all treated, I couldn’t quite look him in the eye.
Additionally, the medic gave Alek rut suppressants. When Dad ripped him off me, he’d retaliated with a possessive, animalistic frenzy. My cry of pain was the only thing that pulled him away from giving my dad another black eye. He was settled now, sitting beside my bedside in the med bay as I recovered, fiercely holding my hand.
Alek’s tail whipping across the floor was the only sign of his internal conflict. If not for the suppressant, he wouldn’t be able to sit in the same room as my dad without tearing him apart. His trained political mask was firmly in place as we waited for the senator to arrive.
Senator Khalla was in an after-dinner forum when the world shattered around me. Dad’s message of her new husband, son, and stepdaughter being in the med bay must have reached her quickly, because the door whisked open only a few minutes after the medic treated me and ushered me into the infirmary bed.
Alek’s fingers tightened around mine, and his throat bobbed roughly when he met his mother’s flat, black eyes. Rut or not, he was responsible for how his actions reflected on his family and his mother. Now he was worried about the consequences of our actions. Not because of his connection to me, but because he’d walloped Dad in the eye.
I couldn’t say Dad hadn’t deserved it the way he’d run into the room, raging like a berserker and shoving Alek away from me, effectively ripping his knot out of me. It wasn’t safe to get between a Dragaken in rut and hisstellarum. Even worse was to injure them.
My ears would continue ringing for the rest of my life from all of Dad’s bellowing. But he seemed properly ashamed now as Khalla breezed into the med bay. With each of her steady steps, Dad’s ears reddened, and his lips thinned into a remorseful grimace.
“Would anyone like to tell me what’s going on?” her voice rang clear and unphased, like this was another day on the senate floor.
Dad shot up first. “I am so sorry, my desert rose. I found Alek and Nova together, and my fatherly instincts got the best of me. I shouldn’t have acted as I did.”
“I acted on instinct as well,” Alek stated, refusing to move from my side. That brought his mother’s attention to our joined hands.
Khalla’s eyes widened a fraction, almost imperceptibly. Hints of color phased through her gaze, too quick to gauge her mood. “Ah, I see.”
Dad took a step toward her, hands clenching and flexing. He wanted to reach for her, but I didn’t think their new relationship had faced a hurdle like this yet. Most didn’t have to overcome familial entanglements such as ours.
Her commanding gaze landed on me. “And how are you feeling, Nova? Are you well?”
I fisted the blankets at my side and squeezed Alek’s hand. My lips and tongue were too dry, but I managed an answer. “Much better now, thank you.”
“It seems we have quite the predicament here.” Khalla folded her hands, and the rings on her horns chimed as she cast her eyes around the room. “I cannot condone the actions that led us to this moment, and by that, I mean the fighting. However, I understand why it happened.”
Alek leapt to his feet, fists tight at his sides. “Nova is mine. I will face any punishment for my actions as long as I don’t lose her.”
Dad scoffed, shaking his head. His features twisted with something akin to disgust or dismay. “The only thing she is, is my daughter and your sister! After this trip, Nova is returning to Earth—”
“That’s enough,” Khalla interrupted, firm yet gentle. She faced her husband, blinking slowly. “Alekkon and Nova arestellarum. There will be no separating them.”
“But they’re siblings!” Dad argued, glancing furiously between me on the bed and Alek standing nearby. “It’s unconscionable and unheard of. I can’t stand for this.”
