“You’re welcome but I’m afraid I really can’t take any of the credit,” Boone said. “It was K—if she hadn’t decided to ride to the rescue your father would probably be looking for someone else to play pin the tail on the saurian.”
Ilesca sighed. “It was the Erian DNA he used—it heightened her sex cycle to abnormal and unstable limits. From the moment she became sexually mature she was a danger to everyone around her.” She shook her head. “The hormones made her savage.”
“Yeah, well I think the pheromones she was putting out brought out the beast in all of us.” Boone rubbed the back of his neck, remembering that one, sweet and completely forbidden kiss he’d shared with K. Would he have kissed her if they hadn’t been breathing in the potent chemicals released by the saurian? More to the point, would she have kissed him back without them? If not for the tension filled conversation they’d just had in his sleeping quarters he would have said no. Now, he wasn’t so sure.
“…so I left some of my old outfits I thought might fit K. Though they will probably be a bit loose in some…areas.” Ilesca threw out her ample chest and gave him a knowing wink.
Boone realized he’d been too busy reliving his kiss with K and had missed something she had said. “Oh, uh…okay.” He nodded. “Thanks so much.”
“You’re welcome, Doctor Boone.” She gave him a slow, seductive smile. “It’s too bad you have to leave so soon.”
“I’m afraid we do, though.” Boone tried to edge away from her without being obvious about it. “I should probably find Loki and tell him to get the engines going.”
“No need, I’ve already told him.” Ilesca laughed. “Don’t worry, Dr. Boone, I won’t molest you. I can see you have eyes only for your Paladin.”
“K is under my protection. And—”
“And you care for her deeply” Ilesca finished for him. “I understand and I wish you the best. Safe journey, Doctor.” Smiling she glided past him and left the ship.
Boone watched her walk away, wondering if it was really that obvious to everyone how he was beginning to feel for K. And also wondering if she could ever bring herself to feel something for him in return.
* * * * *
K sank back onto the bed platform wearily. As weak as she was, she hadn’t been able to stop herself from sneaking out of the room to watch the exchange between Boone and Ilesca. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Boone—she did. But the cat woman was an entirely different matter.
What she’d seen had given her plenty of food for thought. Item one—Ilesca had assumed that Boone cared for her in what seemed to be more than a friendly manner. And Boone hadn’t denied it. K couldn’t say how that made her feel. But she did know how she felt when she remembered the way he’d kissed her—hot and cold all over—as though every square inch of her body was electrified.
Such intense contamination should have horrified her and she did feel her heart beat harder when she thought of it. But not with horror. K wasn’t exactly sure how she felt when she remembered his mouth on hers but she did know what she didn’t feel. She didn’t feel disgust or revulsion or the need to purge herself. In fact, her feelings were almost the exact opposite.
It was so strange to have so many emotions—fear, excitement, uncertainty—after having almost none for years, that K had a hard time categorizing them. It was too confusing—she would think of it later. In the mean time, she still had item two to consider.
“The hormones made her savage,” Ilesca had said. “It was the Erian DNA he used.”
But I have Erian DNA, K thought, looking down at her fingers, twisted together in the blanket. What’s going to happen to me? Will I become cruel and savage? Is there anything I can do to stop it?
Nothing came to mind except getting back her suit. But if what Boone had said was true, it was still too damaged to wear. And besides, putting on the skinsuit again meant a return to an emotional state of nothingness. In a deep part of K’s brain, a tiny seed of doubt had been planted. She was no longer sure she wanted that.
The perfect state of Purity had seemed like the most desirable thing in the universe, something to strive for, work for, hope for, back when she was heading her squad and flying around the galaxy in search of the Impure to purge or send to the pshalite mines. Now…now she wasn’t so sure. And the very fact that she was unsure, worried and frightened her.
Deciding to push her fears away and concentrate on something else, K picked up the reading cube which was filled with the literature Boone’s sister had been studying. There was a section she’d found the other day—one which had been quite well hidden unless you looked closely—which fascinated K. The stories in this hidden section were clearly not meant for children as the others she’d read had been. No, these stories dealt with relationships between men and women. Men and women…contaminating each other. In a variety of fascinating and forbidden ways.
In the past, K would have had no interest in such subject matter, or she might have simply been repulsed. Now, though she thought the stories strange, she also found them interesting in the extreme. When the narrative talked about the characters kissing and touching each other she found she was imagining herself and Boone doing those things. It was strange and wrong but somehow K couldn’t stop reading…
“Got something for you.” Boone’s voice startled her and she shoved the reading cube under the covers quickly, feeling a twinge of guilt.
“What?” She looked up and saw that he’d come into the room with his hands behind his back. “What are you holding?”
“Ilesca left these for you.” Boone held out a stack of brightly colored clothing. “She said she thought they would fit. Wanna try them on or are you still feeling too weak?”
“I’ll try them later, if you don’t mind.” K sighed and settled back against the pillows. “I’m still tired but I think I’ll be all right. It was just the stress of using my gauntlets again that overwhelmed me. I…no longer have the willpower to control them. The purity of focus needed to communicate with them.”
“I’m sorry,” Boone said quietly.
“Don’t be.” K shook her head. “At least I was able to use them one last time. I’m just glad I was able to control them with all the chaos going on.”
“Things got a little crazy, that’s for sure,” Boone murmured, nodding. Neither of them mentioned the kiss again but K felt sure he was thinking about it. The way he was studying her, his gaze flickering from her eyes to her lips and back again, made her want to fidget and look away. With an effort, she controlled the impulse. She had to get hold of herself and stop acting like this, had to stop feeling like this, for Purity’s sake.
“I wish she would have given us the voxes too,” Boone said, laying the pile of clothes down on the corner of the sleeping platform. “I got really attached to those little guys.”
K remembered the way the vox that had attuned itself to her had revealed the messy mixture of emotions churning within her. “It’s probably best they stay on their home planet,” she said neutrally.
“Probably.” Boone dusted his hands together and frowned, a look of indecision on his face. “Look, K, it’s been a little while. Do you need a, uh, time out?”
K bit her lip. To be honest, the touch cravings, as Boone called them, had been slacking off some of late. She didn’t actually need him to hold her on his lap as often as he did throughout the day anymore but she hadn’t said anything about it. K didn’t know why she hadn’t spoken up—maybe because it was strangely comforting to relax in his big arms and talk about inconsequential things. Somehow, though, the idea of taking off her shirt and sitting skin-to-skin with him right now made her nervous. It seemed…dangerous somehow, even more dangerous than it had in the beginning when she’d first been horrified about being contaminated.
Reluctantly, she shook her head. “No, I feel fine. Thanks anyway.”
“Oh.” Boone looked disappointed. “All right. But tell me if things get bad again.”
“I will.” K no
dded. “Thank you for taking such good care of me.”
“You’re the one who took care of me today.” His easy grin seemed to light up his whole face. “Thanks for not holding a grudge and coming to save my ass anyway.”
“You’re welcome.” K gave him a small smile. “Anytime. I told you—no one gets the privilege of killing you but me.”
“Right. Well, I’ll let you get back to reading.” He nodded at the corner of the reading cube which was sticking out of the covers. “You still working on The Jungle Book?”
“Oh, uh…” K felt a guilty blush rise on her cheeks. “Yes, absolutely. I’ll be…I should be done with it soon.”
Boone looked at her intently, as though trying to decipher her expression. “Good, then you can finish your book report later.”
“Of course.” For some reason K found she couldn’t meet his eyes.
“I’ll leave you to it, then. See you later, K.”
“Good-bye,” K murmured as he went back through the door, leaving her alone in the sleeping chamber.
With a muffled curse, she lifted the cube and looked at its forbidden contents. Why had she lied to Boone like that? And why had she felt such embarrassment when she imagined him finding out what she was reading?
She didn’t have the answers for those questions or for the emotions which were flooding her body either. Deep inside, K still felt that something was changing…something was wrong.
But what?
Chapter Fourteen
Boone was having a bad dream. Someone he cared for was in trouble. Someone he loved needed him and he couldn’t get to her. He reached out but his groping fingers encountered only empty air. But he could hear her, hear her soft moans of pain and he knew she was in danger…
He sat up with a start. It was no dream. K was missing from her usual place in the sleeping platform. Generally they curled up with her back to his chest for maximum skin contact and fell asleep together. Boone liked that—liked it a lot more than he wanted to admit. K felt right in his arms, as though she belonged there. He liked it even better when she turned toward him in her sleep and pressed her face to his chest. It gave him a powerful feeling, a mixture of protectiveness and possessiveness to have her sleep so trustingly, curled up close to him.
But now she was gone.
“K?” His voice sounded hoarse and worried in the darkness. When he reached for her, his seeking fingers encountered only empty air—just like in his dream. Her spot on the sleep platform was cold, as though she’d been gone for a long time. Damn it, where was she?
Boone jumped up, scanning the dark sleeping chamber alertly. In the days since she’d saved his life on Minotaur, he had stopped voice-locking the door at night. Now he wondered if he’d made a stupid mistake. After all, K had never withdrawn her threat to kill him. Had she woken up and decided to go hunting for her missing suit and gauntlets? The thought made Boone’s blood run cold.
No, surely she wouldn’t. She doesn’t still want to kill me—no matter what she says. Does she? Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure. K was deadly, even without her weapons. Just because she curled up against his chest like a sleepy kitten every night didn’t mean she couldn’t—
A soft moan cut off his train of thought and he realized it was coming from the fresher.
“K?” He knocked quietly on the door, trying not to startle her. “Are you okay?”
“Go away, Boone.” Her lovely contralto voice was tight with agony. “Go away and leave me alone.”
“No, I won’t.” Frowning he tried the door and found it locked. “K, what’s wrong with you?”
“I don’t know.” There was a catch in her voice was though she might be crying. “I think…I think I’m dying.”
“What?” Sudden panic overwhelmed him and he forced the door open with a mighty heave. K was sitting in a corner of the small stall, naked and dripping wet as though she’d just finished a shower. Her unbraided hair fell like a curtain around her shoulders and her knees were drawn up to her chest.
“Boone,” she whispered, looking up at him with hopeless eyes. “I don’t know what it is but it hurts so much. I’ve been stabbed and shot and burned when I was out with my Purge squad but all of that was external. This…this is coming from the inside.”
“What is it, baby?” Crouching down beside her in the stall, he tried to gather her into his arms but K stiffened and resisted.
“Don’t.”
“All right. Okay.” Boone held up his hands to show he wouldn’t touch her any more if she didn’t want him to. “But you have to talk to me if I’m going to help you. Tell me about the pain. Where is it? When did it start?”
“I told you, it’s inside. Down here.” She nodded down at herself. “In my lower belly.”
Boone felt a wave of relief. “Abdominal cramps? Probably something you ate. Your system still has trouble adjusting to some foods so—”
“It’s not something I ate. Not unless I accidentally ate a knife blade.” She closed her eyes for a moment and her delicate features clenched in pain. “Boone…I’m bleeding.”
“What? Where?” This time he wouldn’t be denied. Gathering her into his arms, he lifted her and carried her to the sleeping platform despite her demands that he put her down. He called for low lighting so he could see what was going on and the overhead glows flicked on obediently. “Okay,” he said, laying her gently on top of the rumpled covers and smoothing tendrils of damp black hair away from her face. “Now let me look at you. Where’s the wound?”
“That’s just it, Boone—there is no wound. I’m just…just bleeding.” With a cry, she doubled up in a ball and turned on her side. “Purity, it hurts!”
Boone was beginning to feel really panicked now. Was this some kind of delayed withdrawal from her suit? It had been over three solar weeks and she had seemed to be fine…until now that was. What if—?
Suddenly he saw it, the bright crimson smear on one of her inner thighs. Could it be…? No, surely not. But the removal of her suit…maybe… There was only one way to be for certain.
“K?” He turned her over carefully, despite her protests. “K, look at me.”
“What?” She looked up at him, her eyes wild with pain.
“I think I know what’s happening to you but I need to examine you to be sure. Can you hold still for just a minute and let me look at you?”
“I…I guess.” Wincing, she allowed him to arrange her with her hands to her sides and her legs slightly parted.
“Good girl.” Boone stroked her forehead soothingly and looked into her eyes. The first thing he noticed was that the black, which had formerly covered almost her entire sclera in both eyes, had now shrunk until it only covered the irises and pupils. Anyone looking at her would never take her for a Purist now—they would simply think she had exceptionally black eyes. Boone wondered why he hadn’t noticed the change earlier. Could it be that the black had receded so gradually it had slipped his attention? He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he would have seen it if her eyes had been that way earlier.
Looking lower, he saw something even more disturbing. Her chest, which had been as flat as a boy’s, had now developed some lumps. No, not lumps—breasts. They were small but perfectly formed and her nipples, formerly tiny and almost colorless, had grown along with them. The areolas had spread and become wide pink bands around the hard little nubs they surrounded and the nipples themselves looked achingly tight.
Boone frowned. Now, I know I would have noticed that. K slept against him naked every night for maximum skin contact. He still wore his black underbriefs for modesty’s sake but having her undeveloped body against him wasn’t a problem. Or it hadn’t been, before the kiss on Minotaur. Much to his chagrin, he found he was much more attuned to her body now. Though he tried not to look, he still noticed her slender form much more than he should have. The point was—K hadn’t had breasts when they went to sleep that night. Her chest had still been as flat as a boy’s. And now…
Now she looks li
ke a girl going through the first flush of adolescence. The breasts are definitely there but they’re clearly not fully developed yet. They’re growing. Looking further down, he saw that her hips, which had been so narrow, were now beginning to have a soft, slight curve. K was never going to be as voluptuous as Ilesca, but she was definitely getting a woman’s shape.
But she’s far past the age for puberty, Boone thought, frowning. Why is this happening? Was her suit injecting her with hormone inhibitors as well as emo-dampers? It seemed entirely possible. K was growing breasts and curves, suddenly exhibiting secondary sexual characteristics that had never been there before. To Boone, it could only mean one thing. But he had to be sure.
Gently, he parted K’s slender legs and saw that her sex, which had been a thin, colorless slit, was now plump and pink with a tiny dusting of black curls over the top of her mound. There were smears of blood on her inner thighs.
“K, honey,” he said, feeling a rush of relief. “You’re not dying—you’re just having your period.”
“My what?” She looked up at him, uncomprehending. “What are you talking about, Boone?”
“Your period, darlin’. Your menstrual cycle.” When her eyes still registered zero comprehension he shook his head. “Look, let me get you something for the cramps first, then we can talk.”
* * * * *
“So you say this is going to happen to me every solar month?” K looked at Boone in horror. The meds he’d injected her with had stopped the terrible, stabbing pains in her lower abdomen but she still continued to bleed from between her thighs—a disgusting and inconvenient situation to say the least. And now he was telling her she was going to have the same problem every single month for the rest of her life? Unthinkable!
“Sorry, darlin’, but without the hormone inhibitors from your suit, your body’s changing. Uh…” He cleared his throat and looked away as though embarrassed. “Look, this is usually something mothers explain to their daughters, you know?”