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"He did, but Dremos is loyal, even to the cause if the leader is not available."
"I'll pay him a visit. What’s he doing these days?"
"He spends his time tending to a shop near the cliffs settlement. If you go, you’ll need to hide your identity. Isath keeps his guards on patrol."
"You still remember the recipe for the old uniform dye?"
"I think so. Why do you want it? I’ve been told it’s the color of mud and washes out at the first sign of rain."
"I think I can put it to good use when I see the general."
"We’ll need to borrow a pot from Aklan to make it."
"I’m on it."
Lerun stopped me as I turned to go. "I’ll just say this. I don’t know if every living thing in the universe has a bond instinct, but I wish anyone fated to have a mate should be able to have them."
"It would be nice if the universe gave in to our whims every now and then, wouldn’t it?"
I couldn’t shake the desire to know how Harper felt. I sensed her emotions at times when her pulse and blood flow changed, but I couldn’t read her mind. Did she, or could she, allow herself to feel the bond?
***
HARPER
For the next five days, Varus was always gone before I woke up in the morning. He must have been training the new recruits hard to get them up while it was still dark.
I rose about an hour after dawn. In a way, our different times worked in my favor. I didn’t have to greet him first thing in the morning. He didn’t have to see the tangled emotions and vulnerability that I’m sure showed on my face. When the cavern was cold and the bed was still snug and warm from his body heat, all I wanted to do was curl up in the space he left.
I never thought I would want someone like this. These feelings weren’t going away.
I went out into the living area and saw a covered plate on the table. I lifted the lid to see cooked poultry and yellow fluffy biscuits. There was a note in Javorian beside the plate.Aklan showed me how to cook quail this morning. It’s not lizard tail, but doesn’t everything taste like chicken?
I chuckled before I stuffed a bite in my mouth. This was good alien quail. I got a ridiculous kick out of it and wondered whether Varus cooked it over a fire or used his own built-in microwave. Most people were attracted to a chill personality. Not me, apparently. I had to go for a big spicy helping of attitude with a side of fangs and fire.
Today I put on my new uniform of shirt and pants, along with an overcoat like the ones Maagda wore in the infirmary. The new recruits were getting used to their training. We treated less of them, which meant I could devote more time to compiling the formula for Varus’s final serum dose. I needed to find the moth heart flower, a plant native to this galaxy. The extract was the key ingredient in reversing the feral change.
"Good morning." I waved to Maagda on my way in to the infirmary. She was putting bottles of antiseptic in one of the medicine cabinets. "Need help?"
"No, this is the last bottle. We’re gonna need supplies soon if we’re going to war."
I glanced at the bottles left. While Javorians were capable of healing on their own with enough blood to consume, some injuries needed more help. "Can we get supplies in the cliffs settlements?" I remembered her saying we could also find more bandages there.
"Probably, but we have to go through Isath’s guards. We can't draw attention right before Varus plans the attack."
I agreed. "There has to be a way to get into the settlement unnoticed."
I spotted a tall figure walking by the infirmary. The male Racopian was dressed in plain brown and tan clothing that blended in with the canyon rock. His equally plain brown hair was tied back and tucked under in a low man bun. I tried to get a good look at him, not trusting my eyes. His stride, his musculature, it all looked familiar. Was that...Varus?
I stepped outside to meet the male Racopian. "Excuse me, sir."
He turned my way, face as vague as a champion poker player. The mischievous eyes gave him away.
"Varus, what did you do to your hair?"
"It’s a brown dye."
"Okay, it’s your hair, but you know redheads are a rarity in the universe."
