Page 12 of The Wedding Hunt Ylara

“Excellent. Oh, look at that. You applied a month ago. Consider your application to be a patron cancelled and the fee refunded. I am also sending you the price for spending a heat with our escort resources department. Good evening. Don’t bother calling to check on your application.”

Ylara nodded. “See you soon, boss.”

She put her shoes on and left his room, looking longingly at the pretty tray outside the room with flowers all over the tray. She left without looking back. Dignity was prized in the BDC unless the client wanted something else.

When she got to the main floor, the housekeeper stopped her. “Miss? I thought you were staying...”

She smiled sadly. “For a while, I thought so, too. Have a good day.”

She left and walked down past the car and headed for the public road. Her heels clicked on the pavement, and she tensed herself to not look back to see if he was watching.

* * * *

An escort. She had been everything he wanted, everything he dreamed of. Of course, she was. It was her job.

His chest ached. He had had women come to his bed because they were paid to before. This had been different. Felt different. But it wasn’t. She was a professional lover who had swept him off his feet. She was indeed going to be a story for him. The one that could have been everything.

* * * *

She shivered on the ferry heading to the capitol. It had been such a nice wedding. She was going to let Lyric take Baola over with Lii for visits. She didn’t have the heart to go back to Daycross.

She disembarked from the ferry and got public transport to the Z-Tech building. Zera met her on the main floor and took her inside, an arm around her shoulders as she sobbed. It was the end of the worst heat ever.

The chemical cocktail that she had ingested via his stinger was complex, and Dr. Kritz was analyzing the hell out of the compounds. Removing the mark was more difficult, but when a healer removed the venom from the bite and healed her skin, she felt hollow. Ylara just wanted to go home and hug a pillow.

She was wearing part of her wardrobe as escort twenty-five, but she hadn’t worked in that capacity since her induction. She had gone through with the entire masked date three times, and after that, her skills at scouting new escorts and patrons with her visions had become her earning skill, but she wasn’t allowed to tell anyone that.

She wrapped her hand where the mark had been, and hot tears streaked down her cheeks.

Dr. Kritz came in and smiled. “Nothing in your system is dangerous. I will have a full analysis tomorrow. You go home and get some rest.”

“How long do the monitor pods have to remain on my skin?”

“At least two days so we can be sure you are back to normal. If I recall the file, you have an extremely tenacious heat.”

“Yeah. It’s up to five days now.”

“Harsh. Well, nothing more can be done today. Go home.”

She nodded, hugged Arcady, and headed home.

In the transport on the way home, she ordered delivery and then got home, changed into pyjamas, and went downstairs to collect her deep-fried snack before locking up and turning on the TV in her room. She ate her meal, got up to brush her teeth and get a glass of water, and realized that it was the only thing she could remember consuming since the wedding. There had to have been snacks or sports drinks, but she didn’t remember any. No wonder she hadn’t fought to stay with him. Her blood sugar crash was famous among friends and family.

She smiled and called Lyric. “Hey, sis. How are you doing?”

Lyric smiled. “Good. How are you doing? I hear you have made a match.”

“You were misinformed. I got a heat partner, and that’s over now. He didn’t know I was registered with the BDC. He didn’t particularly like that, so I am back home.”

“Oh, honey. What was his name?”

“Riithan. And about him. If Baola is going to be doing any sleepovers with Lii, can you take her? I... can’t go back there.”

“Ylara, do you need us to come?”

“No. Oh, no. I can see you are with Khytten and Salat. I just ate a ton of deep-fried seafood. I am watching a movie and going to bed.”

“Is there a chance you are pregnant?”

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