Page 29 of Return of the Nine

“Um, what next?”

Ziggy took her arm. “I take you back to your quarters and get you tucked in, and then, we try and figure this out in the morning.”

“The morning sounds non-threatening. Let’s try that.” She yawned and was only too happy to have her friend escort her to her quarters.

Tonos was sitting up, and he smiled and waved farewell as they left him with Rothaway.

“Will he be okay?”

Ziggy sighed. “He will be fine. Rothaway went through five years of the suppressing agent after all. He came through it okay.”

Tiera let her friend rush her out of medical and down the hall.Rothaway would take care of Tonos.

“Are you all right?”

Tonos nodded. “That serum has a kick, but I am feeling more lucid.”

“Excellent.”

Tonos rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at his friend. “Did I really claim her in front of you?”

“You made your intentions plain. She’s yours.”

He grinned and flicked his wings. “Excellent. I can do a slow courtship, but knowing that she will be on record as officially mine will help keep the transformation at bay.”

Rothaway laughed, “Good luck with that. Just smelling Signy wore on my self-control. If you want to engage in a courtship, I would speed it up, not slow it down.”

He nodded as he absorbed the idea of a fast track to his woman. “Thanks for the advice. Where is she?”

“Ziggy took her back to her rooms. She is fine, safe. You don’t need to worry.”

Tonos shuddered as he remembered his actions, “Did I destroy any chance of an easy union with my actions?”

Rothaway clapped him on the shoulder. “If she had not been aware of what was going on, perhaps... but I know for a fact that your prospective lady knew what was happening every time you two touched.”

“She did?”

“She did. Signy was quite firm on the fact that she had told Tiera what touching you could mean. Apparently, Tiera does not find you objectionable and initiated contact with you several times according to your dinner partners.”

Hope and relief warred in Tonos’s mind. “Really?”

Rothaway grinned, “Really. Now, as soon as we get you checked out and stabilized, I will get you back to your quartersand join my bride in mine.”

Tonos turned to face the scowling Dr. Meevin and surrendered to his boss’s ministrations. She was businesslike, thorough and by the time she was finished stabilizing him, he felt almost normal again.

“Thanks, Doc.” He flexed his wings as the chemical reaction that had hardened them slowly reversed.

“You should have come to me the moment you saw the signs, Tonos. You know better.”

He groaned and rubbed his face with both hands. “I didn’t think that this was possible. I mean I bumped into plenty of Gaians during the ceremonies the day before yesterday and nothing happened.”

Dr. Meevin shook her head. “You have alsobumpedinto plenty women of the Nine. You know that the bonding isn’t mandatory after contact. It is chance, happenstance, nothing more.”

Tonos smiled and looked at the only physician on board who had bothered learning about Gaian physiology. “No, my dear Doctor, it is fate.”

Chapter Six

After two hours of girl time, Tiera felt that she and Ziggy were finally working on the same wavelength.

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