Page 6 of Star Bright
But she looked down at the bottle, blinking rapidly. “Spicy,” she gasped as she pressed the back of her hand to her lips.
Did she taste him?
Was she an Earther bride?HisEarther bride?
His beast twisted restlessly with his confusion. “I don’t remember,” he admitted.
“Only identified patrons and staff—”
The female broke in. “Okay, whirly-gig, you’ve told us before about what’s allowed, but clearly that’s not what’s happening right now. You said our guy here needs fluids and rest and…and let’s do that instead of the inquisition, hmm?”
The droid’s neural gel glinted, a bit resentfully. “If that is your order. But memories may be wiped.”
His beast roused with instant fury, giving him the energy to sit up. “Is that what you did to me?”
Though he knew his beast must be blazing in his eyes, the female put her hand on his shoulder. “Mini-bot Mussolini over there is threatening me, not you. You came to us already messed up.”
Came to us. Is that what he’d done? Because he’d been seeking a mate? He wished he could remember if she’d chosen him.
Maybe his bewilderment was even more obvious than his beast, because the female patted him before handing him the drink again.
The touch, so gentle, still reverberated through his body, and he shuddered.
“How are you doing? Too much pepper?”
“Like lightning in my blood,” he murmured to his beast.
The droid whirred. “Aftershocks of reanimation. Your nerves are having trouble processing impulses because they’ve forgotten how to feel.”
The female let out a breath. “But you said his memories will come back, that his prognosis was good.”
“Guardedly.”
She looked down at him, her brown gaze flitting over him though her tone was steady. “I found an ice pack in the first aid kit. It’s not much, but that bump on your head must be hurting.”
He touched the aching knot. “I hadn’t realized, but now that you say it…”
“Let’s see what we can do.”
The scent of her wafted around him, hints of spices he didn’t know and flowers he couldn’t name—and beneath that, the subtle musk of her skin that called to him in a tongue he hadn’t heard before but was somehow familiar.
How could he know her and not himself?
She kept her ministrations light as she taped a strip of gauze over the lump to protect his skin, but he still winced at the pressure and the chill of the gel pack. At the same time, his beast leaned into the contact, as if it had gone too long without any touch.
“Too much?” she murmured.
“Better.”
“It’s late, and you need to rest and rehydrate. When you feel up to it, maybe tomorrow, we can go look through your ship, see if we can find any clues why you were coming here and why you crashed.”
As if he had any other choice considering he lacked the strength to stand. When he took another drink, the liquid washed warmly through him, but it was the lingering essence of her that soothed the beast. That made sense if he’d been coming here for her.
An alien bride? His beast twisted again with an urgency he couldn’t decipher.
She rocked back to her heels, and the motion wafted the enthralling scent of her to him again. He breathed deep.
“If you need anything, just tell us,” she urged. “My name is Darcy. And that’s, um, Ug.”
