“What happened to it? I’m sure it was in the bag when we left the ship.” Bringing it with them had been important to her.
“I… infused myself with it.”
He stared at her blankly. “Do you mean you gave yourself a transfusion?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“While you were sleeping our first night in the pod.”
And still he stared. “I wasn’t aware you knew how to do that.”
“I figured it out,” she said with a little grimace.
Reaching out, he took one of her hands. “If you felt you needed a transfusion, why didn’t you let me help you?”
“For the same reason that I’m nervous about you checking my wounds.”
He frowned, certain he was missing something here. He just couldn’t determine what. “I don’t understand.”
Withdrawing her hand, she began to untie her shirt. “I’m different now.”
“Because of the virus?” She’d said it had changed her.
“Yes.”
“I know. You’re stronger and faster. And sometimes your eyes glow.” His frown deepened. “Or were you like that before and I just didn’t know it?” She hadn’t exhibited those traits in their shared dreams.
She shook her head. “I was a gifted one, like I was in the dreams, before they infected me.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m an Immortal Guardian.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know what that means.”
She opened her shirt.
Jak’ri’s gaze immediately went to her beautiful breasts, pale and plump and wonderfully bare.
Her eyes widened as she yanked her shirt closed again. Her face flushed. “Crap! I forgot I wasn’t wearing a bra.”
And curse him, his body was already responding to just the brief glimpse he’d received. This was not the time for that. “Apologies,” he said hastily. “I didn’t mean to stare.” She’s just so drekking perfect, he thought.
She relaxed a little. “You really think so?” she asked softly.
He swore. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“I know. But I have less control over what I hear telepathically than you do.” A look of surprise crossed her face. “Hey. Is your telepathy returning now that the Gathendiens aren’t dosing you?”
He stared at her. “I’ve been without it for so long that I didn’t even think to try it.” Especially since she could hear his thoughts without him actively sending them to her.
“Try to read the thoughts I don’t send you.”
Focusing on her face, he attempted to delve into her mind. Images and thoughts inundated him, so many he had difficulty sorting through them all. Her mind bore none of the barriers Purvelis and Lasarans learned to erect at an early age. He could see everything. Her memories of Earth. The friends with whom she’d embarked upon the voyage to Lasara. Prince Taelon, his lifemate, and their infant daughter. Her time with the Gathendiens. Her time with him.
His heart swelled. She was coming to care for him as deeply as he cared for her. And some of his guilt vanished when he realized he wasn’t the only one who wanted to physically act upon that growing love.
Then he stumbled upon new fears she harbored.
Fears that eclipsed everything else.
Fears that seemed to center around the ways the Gathendiens’ genetically engineered virus had changed her.
And how she had transfused herself with the bags of blood.
“You have fangs?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ava winced. “Yes. Damn it, how much did you see?”
“More than I intended. You have no natural barriers.” Jak’ri’s eyes narrowed, squinting slightly as he stared at her lips as though hoping to catch a glimpse. “You didn’t have fangs in our dreams.”
“I know. I grew them when the virus transformed me.” And she was still coming to grips with just how much she’d changed.
“I don’t see them when you speak.”
“Because I can’t really control them yet so they’ve only slid down when I… transfused myself.”
“You didn’t drink the blood?”
She grimaced. “No. Gross.”
He nodded thoughtfully, exhibiting none of the disgust she felt at the notion of consuming it. Maybe there were aliens out there who did that sort of thing regularly. “I questioned the efficacy of ingesting it if you needed a transfusion.”
That actually made her crack a small smile. “My new fangs behave like needles and siphon it directly into my veins.”
“Very efficient.”
She stared at him, uncertain what to make of his response.
“Why are your eyes glowing?” he asked.
“Because I’m nervous,” she admitted. “Being different doesn’t go over well on Earth.”
Smiling, he took both of her hands in his. “Ava, this isn’t Earth. Things are different out here. Purvel may not be part of the Aldebarian Alliance, but we conduct business and interact with its members often. We wouldn’t do that if we disliked anyone who wasn’t Purveli. And there would be no Aldebarian Alliance if its member nations actively disliked other alien races because we all bear differences. The longer you’re out here, the more you’ll come to understand that most differences spark curiosity rather than animosity.”
“Except with the Gathendiens.”
He nodded. “Gathendiens fervently believe that all other alien species are beneath them and unworthy of…”
“Existing?” she supplied.
He smiled wryly. “Yes. But the Gathendiens’ determination to conquer the galaxy and claim its riches and resources for themselves has merely reduced their numbers to a fraction of what they once were as they continue to underestimate the capabilities of the enemies they engender. I think that’s why you and your friends are so important to them. Your sector of space is largely unexplored and, if you’ll forgive me for saying it, less advanced than ours. Now that the Aldebarian Alliance has weakened the Gathendien military so much, your world would be far easier for them to conquer.”
“Gathendiens are asshats.”
He laughed. “An apt description.” He squeezed her hands. “Now tell me more about this virus. I thought you had recovered from it. But your thoughts lead me to believe you still harbor it.”
“Doctors on Earth are still trying to understand it. And they’re hampered by the fact that it’s unlike any other virus on our planet.”
“Gathendiens excel at creating such. Even the Lasarans, with all of their advanced technology, didn’t fully understand the damage done by the virus the Gathendiens unleashed upon them initially.”
“Well, the virus the Gathendiens infected Earthlings with behaves more like a symbiotic organism. The first thing it does is attack and destroy our immune system, which is why some don’t survive the transformation.”
His eyes widened with alarm.
“Then the virus takes its place.”
“Takes what’s place?”
“It basically sets itself up as our immune system, providing us with a resistance to all other viruses and illnesses on Earth, healing our wounds far faster, and even making us immune to all known drugs and poisons on Earth. And because—as I mentioned—it behaves like a symbiotic organism, it makes us stronger, faster, and enhances our senses.” She shrugged. “If we die, it dies, so it makes us extremely hard to kill.”