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For a second he thought she might disobey. Part of him wished she would. Then he'd show her.
But she turned to face him.
Fuck, she was small. He’d known as much before, but now without cloth covering her up, it was painfully evident. His gaze strayed to the protruding nub of bone at her wrist, with a dent of a joint beside it tapering into long, spidery fingers.
He followed as her hands began to move up to her chest, at which point his attention drew there, to the small tits barely concealed by a strip of black fabric.
But before covering them, she forced her hands back to her sides, picking at the fringes of her black underpants as she stood there. Orion grunted appreciatively at the restraint. Nerves were weakness, and she didn’t want them to see.
It was futile, of course. He smelled it on her, saw it in every move. And who wouldn’t be nervous in his presence? Orion zoomed out and gave her a proper, methodical onceover. The proportions were all there. Shoulders on the wider side—great for upper body strength—tapered down into a jutting ribcage and a thin waist, then back out to wider hipbones.
A bit of extra fat to get her hormones going and a lot of extra muscle to handle the mating process, and she’d be good to go.
He reached down without thinking to adjust himself over his pants, grunting again at the look of repulsion on Kaia’s face.
“Don’t look too eager, princess,” he droned.
You can come back, Orion subvocalized to the doctor.
* * *
It had taken two hours to take blood—dehydrated veins weren’t conducive to sampling—complete a physical examination, and perform thorough organ scans. Kaia appeared to have gone through the full range of negative states within that time, from self-conscious tension to wary resistance, resignation, and finally broiling anger that he saw in the lines and furrows of her face before it ever reached her tongue.
But reach her tongue it did.
She was lying on the exam table with a scanner drone hovering above her abdomen and an ultrasound wand in the doc’s gloved hand.
“Fuck! Watch it, will you?!” She flinched, stomach hollowing out as she retreated from the cold gel Doc began applying to her skin.
Orion had been patient. He’d even been amused, at first. His little scavenger bristling at the thought of getting poked and prodded was an endearing sight.
But they’d left the most important part for last, and he was getting sick of her shit.
“Your only job right now is to stay still for a few fucking minutes,” he snapped from his seat. “I suggest you do it.”
“Yeah, tell me all about doing my job, Mr. I-was-dragged-back-here-by-Mommy.”
She muttered it so low under her breath that he could pretend not to hear. If he wanted to, he could. But he was already out of his seat and across the space. The doctor had already backed away, his ultrasound wand dripping gel onto the floor. Her chin was already in his hand and the spikes on his tongue already pressed against the roof of his mouth.
“You seem confused, princess.” Orion’s voice was calm despite it all.
The tendons of her neck were taut with her face wrung to the side like that. Hot air from her nostrils washed over his hand, and her face was so fragile that he could just crush it.
Kaia remained still and silent in his grip, but he gave her a chance, cocking his head as he waited for the comeback. None came. Smart girl.
“Who do you think you are here for, Kaia?”
When she didn’t answer, he tightened his grip. “It wasn’t a rhetorical question.”
“No one.” She gritted through her teeth, eyes fixed at his neck instead of his face.
Orion leaned in, giving her face a little shake. “Try again.”
She met his gaze then, looking pathetically confused. It took a few more seconds before her next attempt. “You.”
“Better. But everyone on this ship is mine, even if I don’t fucking want them. You—” he swept a firm thumb along her cheek, admiring the way the soft, freckled skin gave under his finger “—are my mate. As soon as I fuck you and marry you, anyway. I think you may be having some trouble understanding what that means. Let me clear it up for you.”
Orion released her as he squatted to her level. She did not move. He propped his forearms on the edge of the table and rested his chin atop them, close enough for her to smell the exorin on his tongue.
