Page 43 of Saved By the Servali

“What? On Jaxson’s crew? That’s amazing!”

“Yep! And I just spoke to my dad. I convinced him to take a shuttle to Leonid-One’s Intergalactic Port, and we’ll meet him there next week.” Her face clouded. Her father’s senility was worsening, and the toxic air and poor access to the expensive anti-dementia treatments weren’t helping. He could afford his medication maybe half of the time. “At least, I think I convinced him. Ow!”

“Sorry, I find it best to give shots while people are distracted,” Dax smiled, plopping a sticky bandage on her arm. “Um. If you join the ESMs, there will be four of them. Unless Skyla is going to—”

Nessa smirked. “Why don’t you ask her?”

“I will just as soon as she—ooh. Oooooh no. Oh, I’m so going to be fired,” Dax stared in horror at something on the small metal tray beside him.

“So help me Jesus and Bastet, if you just poisoned me or something, I’m going to lay your ass out, little man,” Nessa looked at the empty syringe and the full one lying on a second tray.

“No! No poison. I just didn’t give you your vaccine.”

“Yes, you did. I felt the pinch!” Nessa protested.

“No, I didn’t. I mean, yes, I gave you a shot, but it was Jade’s shot.”

“Her vaccine?”

“Uh-uh. The chromosomal compatibility booster. I mean, it’ll be okay, Jade can still get her shot, the Doc has more of the serum, lots more!”

“But... But that’s the stuff you give people to make babies!”

“Right, right, but you’d have to have a lot of it, multiple doses at the right intervals. You have to be at the right place in your menstrual cycle. I learned that this month,” Dax said with a touch of pride.

“I will wipe that smile right off your fluffy blonde head!” Nessa threatened. “What’s this going to do to me?”

“You’re going to be horny!” Dax yelped. “Nothing else! Just really horny—and hot. I mean, temperature hot—for a day or two. Then it’ll stop, I promise. I’m so,sosorry.”

“You know I’m telling Marcus, right?”

“I know.” Dax nodded, face white. “Stay here. I’ll give you the vaccination now, and I won’t mess up. Ugh. The first time Doc lets me do injections, and I mess up. He even left everything out for me. I just passed the Level One CMAA exam last week. Damn it!”

“What the hell is that?”

“Certified Medical Assistant Assistant.”

Nessa wrinkled her nose.

“Yeah, I know, the name could be better.”

Nessa sighed. “Stop beating yourself up. I was distracted, and so were you. Your brain was on another planet the second you thought you might have someone else in here with you full-time. You like that Skyla chick, huh?”

“Oh, God. Yes. She’s incredible!Waaayout of my league.” Dax gave her an injection in her other arm and patted her shoulder. “All set.”

“Dang, the guys are humble around here. I like it. I’ll tell Marcus we were both distracted and excited about news and stuff. And if there’s anything else that happens besides me being a horny, overheated mess—I’m going to punch you in your pretty boy face.”

Dax nodded, backing away. “Wait, I have a pretty boy face? Like, I’m handsome?”

Nessa closed her eyes. “For a human, you’re a fucking model. I’m more into Felids these days. Well, one.”

“That’s okay. I’m into Canids. Well, one.”

“What was that?” Skyla came in with Jade, her full plume of a tail curling and her eyes shining.

“I gotta go!” Nessa scurried from the room, wondering if just one dose of the medication could actually impact her and relieved that she couldn’t get pregnant without more doses—because she was probably carrying enough evidence of last night’s lovemaking to lead to a dozen cubs.

And for the second time that day—the thought didn’t make her mad.

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