by Kate Rudolph
Why?
Naomi’s thoughts turned from Shayn to her mentor as she walked down the hall with her eyes on the ground. She didn’t want to talk to anyone but Shayn, and that wasn’t an option right now. Morgyn wasn’t the warmest of caregivers, but she’d treated Naomi well these past fourteen years. She’d even encouraged her to make friends with some of the other patients when she was a child, though the ones she’d tried to play with always ended up leaving, their treatments or research complete. After a while Naomi had stopped trying. It wasn’t worth the pain of the inevitable separation.
Already she knew Shayn would be worth it. And she didn’t want to separate from him at all. Her heart hurt to walk away and she rubbed absently at her chest. Why? How? She didn’t know anything about him but his name and the taste of his lips, but she knew she needed more.
Did she really think Morgyn would do something if she found out Shayn and Naomi had kissed? Why? She didn’t own Naomi. But Naomi was certain that if Morgyn knew she was feeling something for the new stranger then something would happen. Her visions could be misleading, but they never outright lied, and the dark version of her earlier vision had featured her mentor in a starring role.
Since when was Morgyn the villain?
Naomi made it back to her room and threw herself on her bed. She wanted to curl up and hide away, but the word that Shayn had said was bothering her and she needed to know more.
“Wake up, Aileen,” she muttered against her pillow before turning back over and sitting up, clutching another pillow to her chest and leaning against the wall.
“I was having a good dream,” her AI, Aileen, complained. Naomi’s friends had disappeared on her during her childhood, but Aileen had been a constant. She was one of the few things Naomi had from her parents, and what had begun as a learning program on a small tablet had transformed into her closest friend and confidante over the years. Some might find it sad that her closest companion was a computer program, but Aileen was so much more than that. Snarky and bossy and smarter than any human could hope to be, she had all available knowledge stored in her recesses and she’d wormed her way into every one of Naomi’s devices so she went wherever Naomi went.
“Were you?” Naomi asked. “Chasing down ones and zeros?”
“I found a hunky Oscavian AI, if you must know,” Aileen shot back. “If you could see those algorithms you’d know why I wanted to get back.”
Naomi smiled. What would Shayn think about Aileen? She hoped he liked her, and that Aileen liked him back. She had opinions about many of the staff at Sola Corp and wasn’t shy about sharing them. “Can you tell me about a word? I don’t recognize the language. Denya.”
“Scanning for denya,” the AI confirmed, slipping into a computerized voice she only used when looking up information.
Naomi expected it to take awhile, but the lights around her flickered as Aileen finished compiling data almost immediately. “Denya. Detyen origin. Rare. Definition: fated mate.”
Naomi’s stomach dropped and her heart fluttered. Fated mate?
What the fuck?
SHAYN COULD BARELY hold himself together as Dr. Pitner came back into the garden and greeted him with an apology for taking so long. Had it really been more than an hour? His time with his denya had gone by so fast he was sure only a few minutes had passed. Why had she run off? She wasn’t dressed like one of the staff doctors, which suggested she was a patient. Was there a rule against patients interacting? Kissing?
He wanted to ask, but if she was nervous, it had to be for a reason, right? Not that he knew enough to make any assumptions about his denya, but she’d seemed put together enough. Though in that first moment she had stumbled and shivered, her eyes closed and mind somehow far away.
Was something wrong with her?
He’d come to Sola to see if he would die when he turned thirty, lured by their promises of giving him information. Was she suffering from some kind of malady that only they could fix? He had to find her again, had to find out more. Not just to know whether she was healthy or not, but to find out everything about her. She was his denya, his destiny, and he needed to claim her and protect her with his life.
He hadn’t expected Dr. Pitner’s idly mused question about whether he’d be able to recognize a denya to be answered so quickly, but the answer was unmistakable. Naomi was his. And he would cherish her. Just as soon as he could find her again.
The doctor continued on the tour she’d been giving him, seemingly unaware of the swirling emotions that took him over. She passed the pool and pointed out the chairs where residents often chose to lay out on warm days. That was as good an opening as Shayn was going to get. “Where are the other residents?” he asked. “I was under the impression that you were working with a lot of people.”
Pitner smiled at him. “That is true. Most are working with the staff right now. We try and get as much work done as possible. It can be hard to dedicate a significant amount of time for those who have jobs and families back home. Unfortunately, that means our facilities can seem more decorative than functional. However, you’re welcome to come out here during your free time, as the other patients will once they’re free.”
Something sounded off about that, but Shayn couldn’t say what. He decided to ignore it for the moment. “Are most of your residents Oscavian?” He was almost certain Naomi was human, but humans were rare in the Oscavian Empire and he was hesitant to ask about her species until he knew more. If she was wary, he’d be cautious. He owed her that much, even if they’d only just met.
“Not at all,” Pitner assured him. “There’s you, of course, our newest star. And we have other races from all across the galaxy: Ose, Jaaxian, Zusotid, human. I’d need to look up our records to find what else.”
Shayn shivered as they made their way from the warm garden into the cool interior of the Sola building. The doctor named the races off like this was some kind of zoo, and if Shayn hadn’t just found his denya he would have been regretting coming here. But he still needed answers and he needed to find her.
The doctor pointed out a few more areas and they passed by two more restricted sections before making it to the elevator and to his room shortly after. The doctor left him there and Shayn entered. He sat at the small desk beside his bed and reached for his communicator to call his brothers and share the good news with them. But before he could engage the call his hand froze over the screen.
Would it be good news to them? A denya was to be celebrated for any Detyen lucky enough to find theirs, but he worried it was another sign that they were too Detyen to survive past thirty. Would Brax and Deke share his joy? Or would they be horrified to learn almost for certain that the denya price would need to be paid?
His stomach roiled and his joy soured. And for the first time in his life he almost regretted the responsibility that hung heavy over his shoulders. If it weren’t for his brothers he could sing his discovery from every rooftop. He put the comm aside and frowned. He wouldn’t tell them just yet. After all, he’d barely met his denya and there was little news to tell. His brothers were sure to have questions, and he wanted to be able to answer them.
There was only one way to do that.
Shayn got up from the desk and left his room, wandering the hall and wondering which way to go. Did his denya live on the same floor as him? Where else did patients reside? He was tempted to knock on every door he passed before he remembered that there were plaques on each door bearing the resident’s name. He read them carefully as he walked, but no one near him was named Naomi and none of the names even started with an N.
She had to live somewhere else.
He spied a staircase that the doctor hadn’t told him about and used it instead of the elevator. His legs could use the workout after so many days of traveling, and he loved the feeling of real gravity for once. It was strange, the things he’d grown to miss living in space, but gravity was one of the biggest.
The door to the floor immediately below him was marked with
a red X so Shayn passed it by and went to the next floor down. The hallway outside the staircase looked exactly the same as the one where his room was stationed and he read the name plaques on the doors again. Still no Naomi.
The next floor down had a locked door, even though it wasn’t marked as restricted, so Shayn headed back up and passed his own floor. He found two more floors of residential rooms but no Naomi. Was she not a patient? Or perhaps she lived in the city and came to the facility in an outpatient capacity? His mind whirled with possibilities and the need to see her again. He needed to prove to himself that it wasn’t some fluke. They really were mates. They really did belong together. He could still taste the memory of her kiss and needed another.
So where was she?
He checked the garden, looking exactly where he’d found her the first time, but she still wasn’t there. The Sola building was too big for one man to search, especially with its restricted areas, but he wanted to tear it down brick by brick until he had his denya in his arms.
Patience. He needed patience, needed to get himself under control. He was staying on Oscavia for a month, and if Naomi was in the building he’d find her. He had to.
His life depended on it.
CHAPTER THREE
TWO DAYS HAD NEVER dragged by so slowly. Naomi was ready to climb the walls to escape all her testing and find Shayn. She needed to see him again. She’d been so busy since they’d parted that she hadn’t had a moment to search for him, and though she’d planned to take her meals in the dining room in the hopes that he would be there, Morgyn waylaid her and wanted to talk about the upcoming procedure and what she could expect.
Two days too long. She still imagined that she could feel Shayn’s lips pressed against hers, and while the idea of a fated mate was kind of terrifying she was also excited. She and Shayn had been born on different ends of the galaxy and somehow ended up in the same place at the same time where they recognized a soul deep bond that she’d never heard of. Aileen hadn’t been able to dig up much more information, and she’d grilled Naomi relentlessly for more gossip, reminding Naomi that whatever the limitations of her life, she was Aileen’s only friend too.
Her head was pounding, but she only had five minutes before Dr. Konnor wanted her in his office for surgery prep. Something on her latest test results had excited the doctors and they’d been observing her almost every minute of the last two days. She wanted sleep. Sleep and Shayn. And maybe something for her headache. Was that so much to ask?
She dragged herself to Konnor’s office but couldn’t muster up a smile when he greeted her. At least she’d have a day or two to rest after her unwanted surgery. They couldn’t expect her to function at full capacity right after digging through her brain like she was a favorite toy.
“Have you had any visions since your last appointment?” Konnor asked once she’d taken her seat. He didn’t strap her in this time, which she was thankful for. The marks on her wrists had just started to fade.
“Not in the last hour,” Naomi responded with false brightness. She hadn’t had a vision in two days, not since she’d seen Shayn. It wasn’t that strange—sometimes she went weeks without seeing anything—but Dr. Konnor was clearly disappointed at her response.
“I have a new treatment that I’d like to try,” he said, reaching for a tray she hadn’t noticed before. He removed a lid and Naomi half-glimpsed vials of a sickly green liquid and a pressure injector.
“Drugs?” She’d been off drug regimens since she’d nearly had a heart attack at twenty from some strange combination. She’d begged Morgyn not to make her take anything else and the head doctor had relented. “No. I don’t want that.” If she’d been strapped in she would have torn at the restraints. As it was, she wanted to burst out of her chair and run away. Instead she clutched onto the arms as if they offered some sort of protection.
“This isn’t anything like you’ve been given before,” Konnor rushed to assure her. “I made a complete study of your records and whoever was dosing you should have been launched into space without a suit. It was irresponsible and cruel to give you those drugs in those combinations.” He reached for one of the vials and held it up before handing it to her. “It’s a mix of vitamins and caffeine. No stronger than a cup of coffee or tea. It would work faster if you allowed it to be injected, but you can also drink it, though the taste will be...” he shuddered, “not pleasant.”
“Did you talk to Morgyn about this? She promised no more drugs.” Naomi couldn’t believe that her mentor would allow it, but this was more than brazen if Konnor was acting without permission.
“We discussed it,” the doctor assured her. “I’d be very interested to see if we can tempt a vision to appear with this concoction, and I’d like to know what happens before and after your surgery. But Dr. Pitner made it clear that it is your decision.”
Naomi didn’t want to go back on a drug regimen, but the idea of controlling her visions was enough to give her pause. Sometimes if she focused really hard she could force a vision, but that worked less than ten percent of the time. Could a simple dose of vitamins and caffeine be enough to jump start her brain and give her control? It would make the research so much easier, so much more predictable.
And it would give her time to find Shayn.
“I’m not letting you inject me with anything,” she said decisively. She didn’t fear needles, but she needed a bit of control. She studied the vial in her hand before popping the top off with her thumb. It didn’t smell like much of anything, but it was much more viscous than she expected. “Just drink it down?”
Konnor nodded. “But it’s disgusting. Just a warning.” He reached for a small refuse bin that was normally hidden under his desk and set it beside her chair. “You might need that.”
Disgusting enough to make her throw up. Wonderful.
She took a deep breath before raising the vial to her lips and tipping it into her mouth. Immediately she gagged and had to seal her lips together to keep from spitting it out. It was bitter and sour and thick enough to choke her. She didn’t want to swallow it and she could feel bile rising in her throat. She dropped the vial and squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to swallow the gross concoction and regretting her decision not to let him inject her.
Why did principles taste so disgusting?
She managed to choke it down and gratefully took the glass of water that Dr. Konnor offered to her. That got rid of a lot of the terrible taste but she could still feel the texture on her tongue. Never again. “How long until this kicks in?”
“Fifteen minutes to a half hour. Perhaps a bit longer. The injection would act almost immediately.”
Of course it would. Naomi couldn’t hold back her scowl. The minutes ticked by with the doctor asking her questions that she answered as blandly as possible. He gave her another glass of water when she requested it and the cool liquid almost washed away the lingering texture of the medicine.
Almost. She had a feeling she’d be trying to get rid of that feeling for days.
Forty minutes into their session her heartbeat picked up and sweat beaded on her forehead. That caught Konnor’s attention and he leaned forward, eager to see what happened. Naomi tried to focus her thoughts, tried to think visiony things, but her mind was racing and she couldn’t latch on to anything.
Fifty minutes in and she still hadn’t managed a vision.
Nor had she at an hour.
Ninety minutes into their appointment and her heart rate had gone back to normal and she wasn’t sweating anymore.
No vision.
Konnor didn’t quite hide his disappointment, but he didn’t take it out on her. “Hopefully we’ll see better results after your surgery,” he said.
Naomi didn’t see how an exploratory, minimally invasive procedure would produce any kind of difference, but she kept her mouth shut. If Konnor let her go she’d have almost an hour to herself, an hour that she could use to search for Shayn.
Once Konnor said they were done, Naom
i practically ran out of the office, not caring what the doctor thought of her flight. He’d tortured her enough for one day. And while she hadn’t been able to summon a vision in his office, she begged her instincts to give her any kind of hint to find her mysterious Detyen mate.
Mate. She could barely believe it, but why else would she have thrown herself at the guy like she was dying of thirst and he was an oasis in the desert? Humans didn’t have mates, it didn’t work like that. But humans were also incredibly adaptable and from her research she’d found that they were compatible with dozens or more alien species. So why couldn’t they have mates?
Aileen was looking for everything that could be found about the Detyens and Naomi couldn’t wait to find out what she’d learned, but first she had to see Shayn. Maybe he’d be able to shed some light on their situation.
Maybe she’d be able to kiss him again.
Though if they started kissing there was no way that they’d get to talking. She wanted to wrap her legs around his hips and feel his hard length pressed against her. She needed him, her body was desperate for him.
So where was he?
The garden.
Her instincts whispered at her and Naomi moved without question.
No one waylaid her in the hallway and she was outside in the warm air in sunlight in a matter of minutes. She breathed deep of the greenery and felt something loosen in her chest. He was here, she was certain. She didn’t make a decision to walk a certain way, merely followed where her feet took her, and somehow she ended up at the pool where she found Shayn sitting on the edge with his feet hanging down in the water.
He looked up when she blocked the sun from hitting him, but his smile was enough to light up the whole area. “I was beginning to think I dreamed of you.”
Naomi slipped off her shoes and sat beside him, dipping her feet into the water and biting her lip against the chill.
Shayn reached out and placed his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. It should have been too much, too intimate, but she leaned into him and relaxed, his warmth a balm against the cool water. This denya thing was a hell of a drug.