Page 33 of LeX

“Yourmate is healing well and if all remains on course, she will be with you within the rising.Thosemed chambers are priceless when it comes to the human anatomy.”

Theyoungling must have felt his worry, because she reaches up through her blanket to touch his face andIwatch as my brother falls irrevocably in love.Themoment that child touched him willingly, she became the center of his world.

Ryliereaches over, taking my hand in hers, then motions forSoLto follow as she leads us out of the med bay.Suddenly,SoL’slarge frame blocks the outer med bay doors as he turns to look at us.

“Well, you two,Ido not thinkIhave ever been terrified and ecstatic in the same moment, but that was an amazing thing to witness.Ihave the urge to return to my mate and make a little one of those for my very own now thatIhave heldAmiin my arms.LeX, swear to me that ifIallow myself to dream of a littleone, you and your mate will do all you can to take care of myAlana!

Ryliegrasps his arms. “Imay not know you wellSoL, but in my heart,Iknow you would be a wonderful father.Letme reassure you, we would and will do anything and everything to make sureAlanaand the child flourished.”

SoLbends down and kisses the top ofRylie’shead, then we watch as he walks out of the room.

Rylieturns her radiant smile on me before leaning up to kiss me on the cheek andIswearIjust stand here, not participating becauseIhave no idea how to act or what to say.

“Howexciting!Deliveringthe next generation never gets boring in our world does it,Love?Ughh,Ifeel likeI’vebeen in these clothes forever.Let’sgo get cleaned up and grab something to eat before we are needed again.”

“Themates are throwing a dinner for everyone later, if you want to go?”

“Soundsgreat.Ihaven’t seen everyone in forever it seems, but we should come back and check onViNbefore we go.We’releaving before ensuringAmican take any formula.It’sa shame her mother wasn’t able to carry her to term so that she could have had her milk, but hopefully we can find something that agrees with her system.Destinydear, can you have one of the med bots prepare a bottle forViN?Andyou might want to play some instructional videos in his room.EventhoughI’msure he will deny that he needs help, changing a diaper is not as easy as it looks.”

“Iwill see that it is done,MistressRylie.”

Rylie’ssmall hand grasps mine as she pulls me along behind her, andIfollow obediently as she talks excitedly about the procedure.Theentire time we walk to my rooms,Ihave a smile plastered on my face.Idon’t want to show any concern, but as amazed and excited asIam that she is awake and apparently in love with me … what now?

Chapter Eighteen

RYLIE

Thelift opensandIwalk up to our room only for the door not to open.Irun my hand over the scanner once again, then look over atLeXwho is really acting odd.

“Isthe door broken or something?”

“Umm,Ido not think so.Herelet me try.”

Ofcourse, the door opens right up. “Showoff, maybeIjust didn’t hold my hand right or something.”

“Iam sure that is all it was.Destiny, will you take a look at the scanner?Rylie’sheat signature would not open it.”

“IapologizeMedicLeX, it should be operating properly now.”

“LeX, love.Iknow we don’t spend a lot of time in our rooms, but we really should update this place, it still looks like a bachelor’s pad after all these years.Wow,Idon’t remember it being this open to the outside.Theview is absolutely amazing, isn’t it?Weprobably had most of the blinds closed when we were in theNebula, but now that we are back home,Ithink we should leave it open like this.Ifwe’re going to be here fora few weeks, we should haveSAGElook at this entire space.Ifit was slightly more comfortable, we would spend more time here.Westay in the lab way too much now as it is.Youknow,IthinkI’mbeginning to get jealous of the glass containers you are always fiddling with.Theyget more action from you thanIdo.”Teasingly,Ibump him with my hip asIwalk into the bathroom.

“Willyou order us a snack whileIget cleaned up?Ican’t wait to tell you all about this dreamIhad.Itwas so realistic, that must have been the reasonIoverslept this morning.Ican’t believeIfell asleep in the med bay again, and whenIwoke up, it took me a moment to realize whereIwas.”

Theentire timeI’vebeen talking,LeXhas just stood there watching me andIswear he actually blushes whenIstart to pull my shirt off asI’mwalking into the bathroom … refreshing chamber.Ilaugh at myself asI’vestarted using all these human words way too often.

Steppinginto the ionizer, it oddly takes me a second to figure out how to turn it on.It’salmost likeI’venever seen any of this before.Shruggingit off,Istep out once it’s done and walk up to the viewing wall, only to stop dead.Wow, my coloring seems a little off, and this is the first timeI’veever noticed how human-like my facial features really are.Runningmy fingers through my shoulder length hair,Ishake off this feeling of things not being right asIwalk over to our wardrobe, only to find there are only three outfits hanging on my side.

“LeXwhere are all my clothes?”IswearIfeel likeI’mliving someone else’s life here lately.Grabbingthe first thingIsee, it’s a bright blue jumpsuit practically the same color asLeX’shair.Starving,Irush to get dressed, only to discoverLexsitting on our bed, his hands covering his face.Crawlingup behind him,Iwrapmy arms and legs around his waist from behind. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“Mylife has been turned upside down, andIhave no idea what to do next.”

“Oh, mister dramatic, as long as we have each other everything else will be fine.Nomatter what is going on anywhere … or everywhere else, you will always have me.Talkto me,LeX.Ihate it whenIhave no idea what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours.Iunderstand you are worried aboutEmberand the youngling, but theLordofLightwill see us through this.Hehas never steered us wrong yet.”

“Willyou take my mind off things and tell me about this dream of yours?”

Lovingly,Ilean my head against his back while he plays with my toes like he’s never seen them before.

“Itwas weirdLeX.Tothe point thatIswearI’mstill having flashbacks from it.Ithink it’s because we’ve been so focused on finding the humans, that somehow my subconscious flipped on me.That’sallIcan figure because it was so real,Ifelt likeIwas really there.Icould smell things and was even experiencing them likeIwas really living it.Istill feel like something or even everything is off, butIcan’t seem to figure out what.

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