by Grace, Viola
“The nature of women. We push the pain into the past and try to learn from what we do recall. If women didn’t do that, there wouldn’t be any second babies.”
He sighed. “That is an interesting thought.”
“What is? Forgetful women?”
“Babies. It must have been an idea that rubbed off at Salat’s.”
She paused and slowly sat up. “We haven’t even had actual sex yet. Keep your thoughts of children zipped.”
He laughed. “The look of panic on your face. Don’t worry. I know how to work a condom.”
She exhaled and dropped back to his chest. “Don’t scare me like that. I don’t have the same instincts that Khytten does.”
“I am not the national treasure that Salat is, so there isn’t pressure on me to have a child.” He chuckled. “Well, not from the government.”
“You have other pressure?”
“I am an only child. There is a certain amount of nagging that comes with that.”
“Ah. Good luck with that.” She patted his chest. “I am sure you will find a nice young lady one day to have little Kraken with.”
He snorted. “You heard that, huh?”
“Yup. I grabbed that descriptor and ran with it.” She chuckled and yawned again.
“Go to sleep, angel. I will watch over you until morning.”
She nodded. “Fine, but don’t forget to sleep yourself. I need you well rested for when I bitch you out in the morning.”
“What did I do?”
She pressed a kiss to his jaw. “I will think of something.”
He chuckled. “I got a mean one.”
She let his warmth carry her into some well-deserved rest.
A light kiss on her cheek woke her. She murmured, “Good morning, Torenne.”
Torenne smiled down at her. “I am giving Gorith a break, and Khytten and Salat are at the hospital and will come by later. Tigel has the babies at home with enough milk for a week if it comes down to that.”
Tirra sat up slowly and looked at the chronometer on the wall. “Does that say five?”
“It does.”
“Well, fucking hell.” Tirra rubbed her hair and grimaced. “I am guessing that the treatment means I am not going to eat.”
“That is precisely what it means.”
She narrowed her eyes and noted that the tie and jacket were gone. “He went out for breakfast.”
“Yeah, he didn’t want you to know.”
“Uh-huh. When do I have to start the procedure?”
“Krizt is on the way.”
“Delightful. So, am I going into the tank?”
“Yup. The lab is ready, and I am rather excited to see it in action. I have only ever seen it used for treating active-related issues in tissue development before.”
“So, this is going to be different how?”
Torenne chuckled. “Because our angel is going in.”
“This idea of being owned by a group is a little disconcerting.”
“Not a group, just Khytten and me.” Torenne chuckled.
Tirra sighed. “Fine. Owned by two lovely ladies.”
Gorith came in, and Tirra held out a hand to him. When he reached for her, she grabbed his tie and pulled him down for a kiss. She was savage, and he had to catch himself on his hands to either side of her before she let him go. “Aha! Bacon, coffee, an everything bagel, and cream cheese. Plain cream cheese, nice choice.”
He blinked and laughed. “You just molested me to find out what I had for breakfast?”
“It is as close as I was going to get today, and I guessed that you hadn’t been gone long, so I would still be able to taste it, so thanks for that.”
Torenne had a hand over her mouth, but her eyes were laughing.
Tirra unwrapped her hand from his tie and smoothed it down. “Uh, sorry about your tie again.”
He smiled slowly. “Don’t worry, I have more.”
She blushed. “Yeah, you mentioned that.”
Krizt arrived, and he had a vial in his hand. “Dr. Torenne, it is an honour to have you here. Is she your patient?”
“More of a friend. Not as close as I would like, but still a good friend.”
Tirra tapped Gorith on the head. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
He stood straight and moved aside.
Krizt handed her the vial. “Drink this. It’s a primer. Then, we will do the injections and lower you into the tank. At that point, we will use the activator to bind the minerals to your bones. A few tests after that to confirm that it worked or to determine if you need another treatment and that should be it.”
She smiled. “And by a few, you mean fifty.”
He grinned, showing fang. “Something like that.”
She snorted and held out her hand. “Hand it over, and let’s get started.”
Krizt took the vial, and he warned her, “It isn’t particularly tasty.”
Torenne snickered as Tirra took the tube and slammed it back. “They are trained to swallow and get things out of the way.”
Gorith groaned. “I did not need to know that.”
Tirra shrugged. “Sorry. I thought that would be a handy thing, so I incorporated it into training.”
Krizt blinked and took the empty back. “Right. Well, if you are ready, we can proceed to the lab and get the injections into you. I am eager to see this process in action. Up until now, it has simply been theoretical.”
Tirra stretched and scooted over to the edge of the bed, stepping into the slippers that Torenne set down for her. She got to her feet and grabbed the drip and started walking.
Her little parade followed Krizt down the hall to a much larger lab with a huge tank in the centre of it. She was put on a chair, and Arcady brought a large needle with a wide syringe full of fluid. The IV port was used, and Tirra felt cold as the injection went in.
Gorith asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Cold. This stuff is cold.” She shuddered.
Krizt nodded. “Right. Warming it for the next application. Make a note, Arcady.”
The next few minutes were spent with the lab techs bustling around her, more injections, and fitting her with the breathing mask.
Naked with an oxygen mask, she was lowered into the tank, and the top was sealed. The staff and observers went in behind a protective screen, and she looked at Gorith as the first wave of radiation struck her.
The first pulse tingled, the second was warm, and the third burned. She held back her screams, but she panted rapidly and slammed her fists into the inner walls of the tube.
She breathed slowly as the pain receded and thought everything was going to be fine until she heard words, “Round two.”
Fucking hell.
Chapter Twelve
Five rounds of exposure had ended in Tirra passing out and waking as she was hauled out of the tank and held close by Gorith. She muttered and pushed at the mask. He flicked it off and said, “You are not doing that again.”
“Uh, Auditor Gorith, we need to run the scans.” Arcady smiled soothingly. “I will take care of her if you just put her down on the scanner. We can check to see if she is done.”
Tirra patted his cheek weakly. “I am fine. Whatever it was is over now. I feel fine.”
Gorith growled. “Really? Fine?”
“Well, less hellish than three minutes ago. Designed to forget pain, remember?”
“Hmm. I don’t want to let you go.”
“If I get a clean bill of health, I can get authorization for sex.”
Her butt hit the table in under a second. She stopped laughing in about a minute.
Arcady grinned and said, “Hold still. Running the checks.”
Tirra dozed off on the scanner and had to be shaken awake. She stretched and yawned. “So, Dr. Krizt, what is the verdict.”
He smiled slowly. “You are fine. The minerals have bonded to your skeleton, and your bones are now hollow, but you are fine. Do you really project wings?”
&n
bsp; “Uh, yeah.”
“Can you demonstrate?”
Gorith nodded when she looked at him.
She got up and crouched on the scanner and let the wings come.
There were shouts and folks calling to do broad-spectrum analysis. She extended the wings and stifled her longing for a window. She wanted to fly, and she wanted it bad.
Krizt stared at her, and he smiled. “Magnificent. I understand the appellation angel now.”
She blushed and took a deep breath, trying to tell the wings that they would have their moment. She focused on letting the energy dissipate, but it didn’t want to go.
“They are strictly energy projections.” Krizt smiled. “Thank you. I have scanned enough information now.”
Tirra was shy as she looked at Gorith. “Will you help me?”
He cocked his head. “Of course, angel.”
She stood up and hopped easily to the floor, crossing the distance between them. She looked down and understood the reason for the fire in his eyes. “Oh, right. You haven’t seen me naked until now. Oops.”
She folded her wings around her, and they acted fairly effectively.
He smiled. “Spoilsport.”
“The only way to see me naked again is to help me dismiss the wings.”
He pulled her against him and smiled. “You are getting sleepy.”
“I am exhausted, and it isn’t even seven. After this, I want breakfast, coffee, a popsicle, and maybe a pony.” She smiled.
He lifted her and kissed her, his power pulling on hers, and his grip shifted until she could feel her body in contact with the smooth finish of his suit. His tongue slid along hers, and she gave herself over to it as he drained the energy that she used to make the wings.
There was a hand on her shoulder, and she felt Torenne’s medical assessment. “And you are cleared medically, so management just needs to change your status.”
Tirra pulled her mouth from Gorith’s, “Does anyone have my clothes?”
The hands pinning her to him covered a lot of her, but not enough for a room with that many strangers.
Arcady said, “I have your suit here.”
She turned her head, but Gorith moved his head and caught her lips with his again. She threaded her fingers through his hair and hung on for one of the deepest kisses she had ever had. She felt like her soul was turning inside out, and when he relaxed a little, she felt something inside her that she hadn’t felt before. She leaned back. “What did you just do?”
His eyes were bright, flickering through a rainbow of colours before he nipped her lips again. “Nothing that will worry you.”
She blinked. “Too late. I am worried.”
He grinned. “Nothing that will hurt you.”
“Marginally better.” She looked back at the gathering and blushed. Arcady was grinning. “I think I would like to get dressed now.”
He sighed. “Fine, but only because I can’t carry you through the streets like this.” He gave a small smile. “I mean, I could, you weigh almost nothing, but you wouldn’t trust me after that.”
A familiar voice spoke. “Oh, yeah, being spanked over someone’s shoulder is definitely the way to travel.”
She squirmed, and he set her down. She grabbed the suit from Arcady and ducked behind Gorith to get changed. “Hi, Khytten, Salat. You didn’t have to come.”
Khytten chuckled. “Of course, we did. I was worried, and he is nosy.”
Invisible hands helped Tirra get the suit in place swiftly. “I really am.”
She jumped, and he sealed the front closure. A gentle hand patted her cheek.
Gorith growled. “Leave her alone, Salat. You have your own mate.”
“Yeah, but there is something about Tirra that pulls at you.” He stroked her cheek, and she jumped and flinched, leaning toward Gorith. At least, she could see him coming. The mental image she had was incomplete, but he tensed and turned toward her. She understood what she had felt earlier.
She made her fist and was going to punch him when a blade extended from her knuckles, and she held back. “Uh, what is this?”
Salat became visible, looked at it, and grinned. “The completion of your activation. You have weapons.”
Arcady stepped around Gorith and handed her the thigh-high boots. “Here you go.”
Salat helped her get the boots on and patted her hip with a grin. “All decent.”
She looked at him and then up at him as he stood. “Decent?”
“Sliding scale.” He winked.
She lifted her hand with the blade out of the knuckles, and she breathed in and out and in and out, and it slowly retracted into her body once again. She stepped out from behind Gorith, checked her fist, and then punched him in the abdomen. It was like hitting brick.
Khytten chuckled. “I can teach you how to punch, Tirra.”
Salat wrapped his arms around her. “She really can. And shoot and any other skills you need.”
Dr. Krizt cleared his throat. “Well, we have overlaid her skeleton with a titanium alloy. It will allow her to remain strong while keeping the weight of the bones down. Her bones would have repaired themselves over time, but now, they don’t have to.”
Tirra looked at him. “So, that would have healed itself in time? Like, how long?”
“Two months at the most.”
“Well, fuck.” Her mind flicked to the agony of the treatment. “I could have just waited it out.”
Krizt chuckled. “Yes, but now, you can’t be broken. Smashed but not broken. Soft tissue damage only.”
“Oh. Delightful.” She flexed her hand. “I still feel lighter.”
“Oh, your body weight is seventy-five percent of what it was at your last physical.” Krizt grinned.
Gorith picked her up and nodded. “Yup. Lighter.”
He continued to lift her and set her on one of his shoulders; she grabbed his head and said, “If you keep fooling around, I am going to pull your ear off.”
She sat perched on his shoulder and looked up at the ceiling, glad she had eight feet above her head. He kept one hand wrapped around her thighs.
She looked at Salat, and there was a gleam in his eyes. “Don’t.”
He grinned. “What?”
“Don’t you dare put this in a comic.” She narrowed her eyes at him. Khytten was giggling.
He shrugged. “I draw what I see.”
Gorith shrugged and smiled. “She doesn’t weigh much.”
She yanked on his ear. “Shut it.”
He laughed, and she sighed. “I want to go back to the resort.”
He paused. “You don’t want to stay in the city?”
She leaned down and whispered in his ear. “I have giant fucking wings and nowhere to fly. No license for flight either. My brain is trying to think how I could fly around in here. That is not a safe thing to be thinking in a high-rise or just indoors for that matter.”
His eyes lit with understanding. “In that case, we will get you back to the resort.”
Khytten smiled. “I can take you home.”
Torenne nodded. “I will monitor your condition. Make sure there aren’t any issues arising from the treatment.”
Tirra looked at her with a slight smile. “You just want to cop a feel.”
Torenne grinned. “That too.”
Dr. Krizt chuckled. “And that is why Dr. Torenne is in-demand practice. Her clients know what they are getting.”
Tirra snorted. “You believe that if it gives you comfort.”
“Get down here, brat.” Torenne had a steely look in her eyes.
“Oh, fucking nope.” Tirra squirmed around and crawled over to Gorith’s shoulder, crouching on the balls of her feet on his shoulder. “Not into spanking, thank you very much.”
Torenne stood in front of him and looked up at Tirra. “How long do you think you can stay up there?”
“Uh, as long as he lets me.” Tirra cocked her head. “I think probably until he has to take a call.”
Gorith snorted. “Enough playtime, Tirra. Come down.” He held his arm out, and she stood and walked to the end of his hand, flipping and landing on her feet with a light sound.
Khytten laughed. “That was splendid.”
Tirra rubbed the back of her neck. “That was instinct. My body wants to do all kinds of things that it hasn’t done before.” She didn’t look at Gorith. “Yes, get that thought out of your head, Gorith.”
He snorted. “Nope. It is firmly entrenched.”
Krizt stared. “You have taken gymnastics?”
“No. Just the standard school stuff. That flip was just what my body felt like doing.”
“Interesting. Is it an energy surge?”
Gorith pulled her close, and he said, “Yes, it is an energy surge.”
Krizt took the hint. “Understood.”
Their gathering was taking up a lot of space in the lab, and she cleared her throat. “Well, not that this hasn’t been fascinating, but I think I want to get the hell out of here. Khytten, your ship is full. I can get a long-range transport to the resort.”
Salat shook his head. “I am driving. There is room in the aircraft.”
“Great. Now, I need to find food.” She smiled. “First one to get me a snack gets a kiss.”
Krizt held up a granola bar. “I don’t suppose that this counts?”
She stalked up to him, snatched the granola bar, and pulled his head down to her. She kissed him and poured luck into him. He tasted like mint tea and male. She released him and inhaled then smiled. “Thank you.”
She opened the granola bar and nibbled as she was eased away from him by Torenne. “I think you broke him.”
Arcady blinked and sighed. “I will go and show him some graphs and charts to get the blood out of his groin.” The assistant took her boss’s hand and pulled him out of the lab and toward Krizt’s office.
Salat smiled. “Which one is she?”
Tirra chuckled. “Seventeen.”
“Ah. Is he a patron?” Salat wrapped his arms around Khytten
“No, not yet. He’s still in the vetting process.”
She ate her granola bar in a few bites and sighed. “Oh, that’s better.”
Gorith was looming behind her. She could feel the heat coming off him. “He’s behind me, isn’t he?”