Page 143 of Trove’s Purpose

His claws…

These were his claws.

Trove couldn’t breathe for a long moment as he stared at his unfamiliar hands. They were so strangely heavy. So unfamiliar, it was like he had claw caps on top of them that he could remove.

But no. These were his. He wasn’t weak. He wasn’t worthless. He wasn’t a sex toy designed for the pleasure of females that considered him otherwise useless.

He was normal again.

And it was a stunning realization. He didn’t even know how to feel about it.

“What do you think?” The healer asked, interrupting his moment.

He looked up at her, then almost immediately down again. He nodded, then remembered that she likely wouldn’t know what that meant, not having been around humans like him.

“They’re perfect,” he said, making a fist. It didn’t form easily or naturally with the claws now in his way. But his species didn’t attack with their fists. They attacked with their claws. And when he curled his fingers in but didn’t make a fist, baring them as though to strike, that felt and looked exactly right. “Thank you.”

She hummed, before turning and making her way to the male with a hole in his abdomen. Leaving Trove alone to stand on his own.

Since he’d already paid, there was nothing stopping him from walking out. And the whole way, he just kept looking at his claws. Turning them this way and that. Experimenting with moving them. Trying to figure out their weight. This would make picking things up weird, he just knew it.

He was a fool.

He knew better than to not pay attention to his surroundings.

Too long away from Rik-Vane, out here in Coalition space where things were ‘safe’, he’d let himself get complacent.

He had those thoughts in quick succession, rapidly running through his head, when he felt something prick against the back of his neck.

Before he could have another one, darkness was closing in and the floor was rushing up to meet him…

Chapter 50

Chee

The hull was full of boxes and boxes of animal furs.

Chee and Goldie stood together at the railing of the second floor, looking below as the guys brought the boxes in, one hover at a time. Each hover could fit about four boxes, two on top of two. They weren’t terribly heavy, but they were big enough that the regulations of the station wouldn’t allow more than that to be stacked together.

Since there were so many, all of the guys were working together to move them in. Rok and Vytln were doing most of the heavy lifting, while Sway, Sorbet, and Tebros moved the hover carts. Tanin was helping both teams, but mostly he was planning and directing. They were stacking the boxes five tall in the storage bay, as they weren’t bound by station regulations, but they still needed to be able to move through them to get to the landing ramp and the side storage rooms.

They were stacking boxes, but strategically. Chee was watching over the whole thing, wondering if they were willing to take constructive criticism, because she had thought of about three ways to improve their system already.

But mostly she was waiting for Trove.

He was going to get his claws fixed. He told her that he wasn’t sure how long it was going to take, just that it would take ‘some time’.

She was anxious for him to return. She asked if she could go with him, but he’d insisted that she stay here. It would just be him lying in a bed until his claws were fixed. There was really nothing special about it, he said.

But even if that was his stated reason, Chee got the impression that he wanted to go alone. He wanted to face that moment, to face the scars of his past, by himself. There was strength in that.

Still, she wished she could go with him. She wanted to be there. She wanted to see his claws and celebrate them with him.

However, she also understood the need to face your past. To try to stand equal to it. And she couldn’t deny him that, even if she wanted to stand there with him.

So, she hung back and watched the other guys work as Goldie hummed a song she didn’t recognize.

“Do you have earbuds in?” Chee asked, seeing something shining in her ear.