(Zorya)
He seemed to have understood my apprehension from my reaction.
“No cameras in the medical bay,” he whispered, trying to ease my fears.
But all his words had been hushed, revealing that there were still hidden mics.
Fearfully, I nodded, clutching the tablet to my heaving chest.
His smile wavered but for my sake didn’t disappear.
“Please, take a seat,” I requested again, keeping a distance.
“Xalik?”
He obeyed without reluctance, settling on the edge of the single bed.
“Yes, that’s me.”
His shapely arms, appearing like corded steel rods, arched with his palms facing down, clutching the mattress.
I collected myself and moved.
Picking up the ECG patches, I slowly approached him.
“I am going to stick them on to your…” Why couldn’t I say the damn word chest?
I pointed towards it.
He bit down on his lip, amusement dancing in his eyes.
“To monitor your heart rate,” I completed with a sigh.
“Sure.” He leaned back slightly.
I needed to clean a part of his skin first with an alcohol pad so the patch would stick.
My steady hands shook as I picked up the alcohol pad and approached him.
He sat like a king sitting on his throne.
Seeing me get closer, he opened his legs, making room for me and gestured with his gaze to stand between them.
With a gulp and shaking body, I proceeded—closer to his heat and reassuring presence.
I should have been terrified, but every instinct in my body screamed that he was a protector.
He was my protector, and he wouldn’t hurt me.
I placed the tablet beside him so I could use both my hands to wipe his chest.
Keeping my gaze low and using the alcohol patch, I cleaned the patch of skin above his heart.
His tanned skin was smooth without much hair.
Before I could step back, he lifted the tablet and turned it towards me.
He had opened the notes and typed something on it.
I read silently.
“What is your name?”
I stole a glance and found his curious eyes focused on me.
He held the tablet, and I typed on it.
“Zorya.”
Putting the tablet beside him, he reached and gently took off the stethoscope from around my neck.
What was he doing?
I should have stopped him, but I didn’t.
Carefully, he extended the earpieces and plugged them into his ears.
Taking the diaphragm, he gently placed it on my heart.
His fingertips brushed against my lab coat.
The beats of my heart instantly intensified at his actions.
~Thud~Thud~Thud~
A wry smile spread on his lips, and he closed his eyes, placing his hands on my trembling arms.
Thankfully, I wore the lab coat, and he couldn’t see the bruises underneath.
Listening, he was listening to my heartbeat.
Why?
He was going to get both of us in trouble.
But the serenity on his face wouldn’t let me disturb him.
Picking up the tablet again, he typed without opening his eyes and showed me.
“You have a strong and calming heartbeat.
The sign of a beautiful person.
No wonder you have such a melodious and soothing voice.”
A smile crawled onto my lips, and for a few seconds I forgot my grief, my situation.
He opened his gorgeous eyes and found me smiling.
He mirrored it.
Without even speaking a word, he found a way to lift my mood and spirit.
Did he understand I needed a smile?
Maybe he had spent enough time here to understand how this place consumed the happiness of innocents, like a black hole.
Placing the tablet down, he switched the diaphragm to his heart and the earpieces to mine.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
A loud and clear heartbeat echoed in my ears.
Virile and potent.
“You have a steady heartbeat.
Your heart is healthy,” I softly said.
The desire to keep listening to his heart as a symphony erupted in my brain.
“I know,” he whispered back and winked at me.
My cheeks burned at his provocative action.
Taking out the earpieces from my ears, he placed the stethoscope back around my neck with gentleness.
He let me resume with my duties, but his eyes never left me.
Observing me, sharp and yet kind.
I monitored his heart rate, checked his blood pressure, and other vitals using the handheld scanner.
His torso was a work of art with all those sinewy muscles, rivulets and valleys, carved with a sharp precision.
Focusing was not an easy task.
This male was built differently, and everything about him calmed and stimulated me at the same time.
He sat quietly, watching me and obeying whatever I asked him to do.
Placing the forehead thermometer on his forehead, I took his temperature.
It was higher than the normal temperature, which I noted down after turning away from him.
Was this the reason his skin was always so warm?
“It’s normal for me, doctor.” Standing up, he observed what I was noting down from above my shoulder.
“I am not a doctor,” I quietly answered.
“I will have to check with Ashlia about the temperature.”
I knew shifters had higher temperatures in comparison to humans, but this was above the limit she had provided, and I didn’t even know if he was a shifter or human.
His data didn’t specify his species.
Was it a secret?
Putting down the tablet, I faced him.
“Please, turn around.” I wanted to inspect his back.
Last time we had met, he had been brutally whipped.
How was he walking within three days of the incident?
Obediently, he turned around, exposing his back.
It was healed, apart from a few tiny slashes; the rest of it had smooth skin covering it.
Tentatively, my fingers moved and touched the lingering wounds.
The scene of his punishment became fresh in my mind again.
A shudder seemed to pass through his body wherever my fingers grazed.
“I heal quickly.
They will disappear too,” he answered my unasked question, as if understanding what I was thinking.
I snatched in a deep, painful breath.
“I am sorry.”
Before I could draw my hand away from his back, the door opened, and to my horror, someone entered the medical bay.