Page 27 of Star Defenders (My Alien Mates 2)

I gave him a sidelong look. "Me too. He seems to be clean." After a moment, I added, "Of nanobots." He was definitely dirty in other ways. All the right ways.

"Okay, you can get off now," I said.

"Promises, promises," Zarex said.

"Is everything about sex?" I asked, half exasperated.

"Yes," both guys said together.

I shook my head and climbed up on the scanner bed. "Press the green button and it will start again," I said.

Slek did as I asked and stood back, his hands crossed over his chest.

"I'm worried you'll think I can't be romantic," he said.

"I know you can be," I assured him. "I remember that picnic. Right before we had to evacuateInfinity. In the place where you nearly died. That's totally romantic."

"You took her to a place where you almost died?" Zarex asked, his brows raised.

Slek shrugged. "It was the service catwalk above the ship's engines. What could be more romantic?"

Zarex regarded him for a moment. "Just about anywhere. When we're done here, I'll take you to a place I—"

"Wait." Slek pressed the scanned and it stopped just over my belly. "What the fuck?"

I half sat up. "What? What is it?" As hard as I tried, I couldn't see the screen from my angle.

Neither answered. Both stood with their eyes glued to the screen, brows in matching furrows.

"That's strange," Zarex said.

"Very," Slek agreed.

"Would you tell me what the fuck you can see?" I growled. They looked confused and worried. Neither expression filled me with much confidence.

Slek straightened up and looked directly at me. "I don't know how to say this, but—" He looked like a doctor about to deliver a terrible diagnosis.

"Just say it," I said. "I'm a big girl, I can take it." At least, I hoped I could.

I held my breath.

8

"You have nanobots,"Slek said finally.

I jerked. "I have…" The scan was supposed to be a precaution. I never expected they'd find anything. "But they ignored me."

"That's the strange thing," Slek said. "They appear to be dead."

I exhaled through pursed lips. This got more and more bizarre.

"Can they come back to life?" I asked tentatively.

Slek shook his head slowly. "I think they're dead-dead, but if we can extract one or two, I can get a better idea." He cast me a sidelong look, wide eyes and all.

I could just about read what he was thinking. What if the nanobots had been alive and jumped from me to him? There were plenty of opportunities for them to do that.

"I can extract them," Doctor Mazic said.

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