Ajos: The Restitution - A Sci-fi Alien Romance, Book 1, стр. 33

“Are you worried?” Ajos asked, glancing down at her. “I wouldn’t take you if it wasn’t a relatively straightforward mission. We will go, retrieve whatever is giving off that signal, and return. Choria G622 is untouched and we’ll scan the area before landing.”

They ducked under the hull of a massive vessel and Ajos studied her some more. “V’Alen, can you calculate the chances of encountering difficulties on this mission?”

V’Alen answered immediately. “I have already calculated it. Kerena should be safe unless something random occurs.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” Kerena spoke up. “I’m asking because I want to know if—”

The truth was, she didn’t want Ajos to feel like he had to babysit her or anything.

“I would rather you come with me than stay with that Ochair.”

“Ochair?”

“Iceon,” Ajos growled out the name as they came to stand in front of a ship, and Kerena had to look up at him with puzzled eyes.

The way he acted was as if he was…jealous.

Of what, though?

“This is ours,” he said, pulling her gaze away from him to the ship now in front of them.

The door to the shuttle slid open and Ajos hopped in.

Shaped like a fish, the ship had a sort of tapered front and a flared tail with three big pipe-like things sticking out.

“It looks like a fish.”

She had no idea why those words left her lips because both aliens were now looking at her as if they had no idea what she was talking about.

It was then that she suddenly felt as if she was the alien.

Ajos stretched a hand toward her and she grasped it.

His skin felt warm, hot actually, hotter than the last time she’d touched him at least, and that hadn’t been too long ago.

When he didn’t immediately pull her up, she rose her gaze to his face only to find him focused on the contact of their hands. There was a grimace on his face.

Was he in pain?

It felt like he was running a fever.

He was still acting strange, different, and she was beginning to think it was because of whatever illness he was experiencing.

It didn’t seem to be anything life-threatening, but he had hurt his back while protecting her.

And now he was burning up.

She couldn’t help but wonder if he had some sort of infection and this was his body’s way of fighting it off.

As he helped her into the shuttle, he let go of her hand as if her touch was the thing causing him pain.

“Ajos, are you okay? I—”

“I’m fine,” he grunted, turning away quickly. Then, as if realizing how angry he sounded, he added. “You shouldn’t worry about me.”

She frowned at his back as he took a seat at the front of the shuttle and began punching buttons in front of him.

They’d stopped by the hospital before they headed to the shuttle, just to check in on the other humans there. He’d spoken to the doctor guy, Aker, and she was sure she saw the doctor hand him some vials of something.

It must have been medicine of some kind, so she shouldn’t worry about him. Yet…

The doctor seemed to know what he was doing, and she’d been happy to see that most of the humans in the clinic looked well.

Some still had the devices that were repairing the eye damage from the light exposure and some were still nursing more severe injuries but, largely, the entire group seemed to be more tolerant of the aliens that were helping.

Alaina had been up and about and Constance too. The cut on Alaina’s head had completely healed, and Constance’s broken arm was on its way to recovery.

It seemed the aliens had some super medicine that she couldn’t wait to study herself.

As V’Alen hopped into the shuttle next and took the second seat in front of the controls, Kerena settled into the one behind him just so she could freely look at Ajos without it being obvious she was staring.

He was still wearing the hooded shirt and his face was hidden. But, from the rigid set of his shoulders, she knew that despite that he was pretending everything was okay, something was very wrong.

She’d only known him a few days and God knew it felt like it was longer than that, but she could tell, alien or not, that he was hiding the extent of his pain.

Clenching her teeth, she frowned at his back, his advice about not worrying echoing in her head.

He knew what was medically best for himself, more than she would.

She’d give it a rest and not push it further, but if it looked like he was killing himself, she sure as hell was going to say something about it.

The finality of those words settling in her head, she began looking around.

The spaceship was smaller than she’d thought it was going to be. It had four seats set up in two rows—two seats in front and two in back.

Behind her, there was a space with what looked like a hatch on the ship's floor.

On either side of that, she could see four suits standing in cases.

As the door to the ship slid shut, the seat restraints tightened around her automatically.

Kerena took a deep breath.

She still couldn’t believe she was about to do this. As if the short trip up to the space station hadn’t been enough, she was going to go to a whole other planet.

“Systems ready?” Ajos asked.

“Systems ready,” V’Alen confirmed.

“Thrusters engaged?”

“Thrusters engaged.”

Ajos turned to look at her, and once again she was surprised at how huge he was.

Unlike her, dwarfed by her seat, Ajos looked almost too big, too tall, to be sitting in such a small space.

“Ready, Keh-reh-nah?” It felt like his gaze was molten gold, burning her skin as he stared at her, his voice caressing every syllable of her name.

Why was it that every time he looked at her, it felt as if he wasn’t just looking at her?

“Ready.” That breathless voice was hers. She only realized that