Page 20 of Space for More

Eden coughs to break the tension, but it doesn’t work this time.

“Is that enough to satisfy you?” I ask.

“Mmm, we’re just getting started,” Mezli purrs back.

Eden lets out a wheezing, choked sound that reminds me I shouldn’t blatantly eye-fuck my mate in public. I struggle to tear my eyes away from Mezli, but a moment later, the sound of shattering glass breaks the fog of lust.

Eden has knocked her water glass to the ground, and is clutching at her throat, gasping and wheezing as her face turns a deep red.

“Oh, fuck!” Mezli cries out. “Eden, what’s wrong?”

Fearful understanding floods my veins. I know what’s wrong. She’s going into anaphylactic shock.

13

“Oh Goddess, someone call a medic!” I scramble out of my chair to Eden’s side, desperate to do something that will stop the panic in her wide eyes and the choked wheezing that gets worse by the second. Glass on the floor bites into my knees as I kneel beside her, but I couldn’t care less about that right now.

In an instant, Phelix is at her other side, pushing away a gawking bystander with a growl to grab Eden’s cheek and turn her face to look at him. He digs through his satchel with his right hands and attempts to focus her with the others. “Eden, I’ve got you. Squeeze my hand if you’ve used a cyrpaxiphrine injection before.”

Eden shakes her head and manages to wheezeout, “N-no…is it…l-like epinephrine?”

A flash of concern crosses Phelix’s face, but he nods and pulls a syringe out of his bag. “Close enough. This will help.” He rucks up her skirt to expose her thick thigh.

Flashbacks to the night when Fina had a bad reaction to an alien substance flood my mind. We thought she had an allergic reaction and used meds on her without knowing if it would be safe, and it ended in disaster.

“Wait! You can’t just give her something without knowing for sure that it’s human-safe!”

Phelix levels his steady gaze on me and some of the panic recedes. “I promise this won’t harm her. There’s a chance it won’t help her as much as it would a nexxit, but it isn’t dangerous. You have my word as a doctor.”

I blink back panicked tears. Shit, why am I crying? “O-okay. But if you’re wrong and you hurt her, I’m going to hurt you.”

“Deal.” He nods like it’s reasonable for me to threaten him when he’s trying to help, and that makes a small fluttery feeling rattle in my chest. Am I having some kind of allergic reaction too?

He uncaps the syringe and caresses Eden’s cheek with an apologetic frown. “Sorry about this.”

Despite his apology, she doesn’t even wince when he injects her, but I start to feel clammy and lightheaded. Ihateneedles.

A tense couple of minutes pass while we wait to see if the injection helps. Phelix murmurs calm words of encouragement to Eden, continuing to stroke her cheek. Her breathing begins to even out, and the tight fists that Phelix holds his lower hands in ease.

The way he touches her is careful and almost reverent despite the situation. The fluttering inside me amps up. Definitely something I ate. I’m certainly not feelingaffectiontoward Phelix right now, watching him touch my crush. Am I?

Oh goddess, Iam. What the fuck?

I shake that horrifying thought away and smooth down Eden’s skirt, giving her knee a gentle squeeze. “If you wanted us to stop flirting, you could’ve just asked.”

Eden’s laugh comes out a bit wheezy, but she grins back at me as she wipes the tears off of her face. “Good to know for n-next time. Sorry for making a scene. I didn’t know I was allergic to any universal foods. Even did an allergy test before coming to Spire to make sure.”

“Don’t apologize! They must have mixed something up in the kitchen. I ought to go rip them a new asshole for endangering your life like that!” I’d already be back there yelling at them if the thought of leaving Eden’s side right now didn’t worry me so much. She’s so sweet andvulnerable, and I have the strongest urge to protect her. Kinda like I do with Fina, and Paul to a lesser extent, but to the extreme. It’s bizarre. I barely know Eden, yet I’d probably stab anyone who tried to come near her right now. Well, anyone but Phelix.

A dark look crosses Phelix’s face that makes me wonder if he’s feeling the same way. “You don’t have any food allergies?”

“N-no,” Eden says, looking startled by his sudden intensity.

He pats Eden’s cheek one last time before standing and scanning the restaurant. His eyes narrow and without a word, he strides across the room to another table where our waiter is setting down their dishes.

He taps the shikzeth on the shoulder and when they turn around, his fist strikes their jaw before they can react. “Consider this your first and only warning. Harm a human again and you’ll wish you’d never been born.”

Eden gasps, along with a number of others in the restaurant. I gape at my mate like it’s the first time I’ve seen him, and thefluttering in my chest turns into a needy pulse between my legs. Violence doesn’t turn me on, but seeing him protect her sure does.

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