Chapter 74: Perfect Match. What’s The Catch?

Astra froze on her holo-tablet, glancing up at Nova with her brows knit.

"When did you wake up, again?"

"Just now," Derek answered, holding a water bottle up to Nova’s mouth with the confidence of a man who had appointed himself her spokesperson, her caretaker, her bodyguard, and her water sommelier.

Nova gave a nod and focused on the water like a woman with nothing to hide.

Astra went back to the holo-tablet without investigating further, which was the most generous thing the healer had done since stealing Nova’s drink.

A moment later, she picked up a scanner and began running it across Nova’s chest.

"You are lucky to be alive. Your mate figured out something was wrong in the middle of the night and mindlinked me. By the time I got there, your vitals were bottoming out. Silver toxicity levels in your blood were unreasonably high. The chelation protocol I started was doing its job." She capped the scanner and set it down. "But your body was losing the race. You needed a transfusion. And your assigned mate happened to be a perfect match for you. Alpha blood carries regenerative properties. He saved your life."

Nova looked at Derek, who was trying and failing to keep his face indifferent. Her throat tightened.

"Thank y—"

He cut her off mid-word with a kiss. The kiss lasted half a second, but it left warmth in Nova’s chest that she didn’t have a name for.

He pulled away and smirked triumphantly. "Now you owe me a date. A real one. No swords. No priestesses stripping. Just dinner."

"Your mate also has your brother to thank," Astra said before Nova could respond.

Nova looked away from Derek to Astra, bewildered. The man who wanted nothing to do with her had rolled up his sleeve and bled for her. The math didn’t add up.

Astra didn’t look up or add anything else.

"Would you pass my sincerest gratitude to the Alpha?" Nova asked, turning her gaze back to Derek. "I also will thank him if I see him again."

She genuinely did not want to bother the man so having Derek pass her thanks would be the best course of action.

Something moved behind Derek’s eyes. Quick. Gone before she could read it.

"Of course," he replied then he kissed her forehead and the conversation was closed.

✦✦✦

THUNDERFANG HOVER YACHT - ONE DAY LATER

Nova found herself standing in a room she recognized, unsure how she had gotten there. She should have been afraid but she wasn’t. She was setting something down against the wall in the back of a closet.

A board of some sort but she couldn’t see what was on the other side of it. On the floor next to it was a tool bag and rope that looked familiar. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Whatever it was, she didn’t stick around long enough to find out. The closet door shut and she was already out of the room.

Nova recognized where she was. The skydeck was one floor above that. The room she had been in was the room she had run into when she was ill.

Then she looked down and realized her hands weren’t her hands. This wasn’t her body.

Two turns. Down one flight of stairs.

Beta Voltcrest glanced up. "There you are. Ready to go, big guy?"

✦✦✦

Nova sat bolt upright in bed gasping, drenched in sweat.

It was still storming out and she had zero idea what time it was.

Derek wasn’t in the room and his absence felt louder than his presence, which was saying something because his presence included kissing, carrying, and narrating his own heroics.

The man needed a break and she was glad he took one. At least that’s what she told herself. She was glad he took a break the way you’re glad when your favorite song stops playing.

Was she already missing him?

Yes. The answer to that was yes.

She lay back down and stared at the ceiling. She had just been released from the yacht infirmary and was back in Derek’s quarters. The I.V. was replaced with just a patch on her arm and she was supposed to be resting.

But her mind kept going back to that room. That dream was too vivid.

Before she knew what she was doing, her legs made the decision. She pulled on boots and a cloak, both given to her by Derek along with other clothes because he had an omega buy her things when they had stopped in Wavecrest.

Nova looked down at the boots. Looked at the cloak. Looked at the closet that now had clothes hanging in it that belonged to her. She had entered this yacht with a single jumpsuit given to slave draftees by the Moonfire. Now she had options. Multiple options. Options that came with zippers and thermal regulation and the faint scent of a man who opened water bottles for her.

She was going to cry again. The quota had been demolished days ago and her tear ducts had gone freelance.

"Gods, I am the luckiest woman in Helix and it’s not even close."

She meant it with her whole chest. She couldn’t give him anything in return and that was the part that was eating her alive.

Not yet, that is.

She would find a way to fix that. Because the current imbalance was staggering. He had given her blood, clothes, roses, freedom from silver, and approximately five hundred kisses. She had given him thank-yous, and the privilege of watching her sleep in the infirmary. The exchange rate was criminal.

Nova hadn’t been out and about since the cuff removal. Her entire map consisted of the infirmary, Derek’s room, the skydeck, and the bathing chamber she had locked herself in and he had kicked open.

She pulled her hood up and moved through the yacht like a ghost in borrowed boots.

Up the stairs, through a hallway. She heard voices coming from a room with double doors. At least five or six people were in a heated discussion.

"—the slave—"