Page 13 of Galaxy Circus Act One

In a blink of an eye, Saxon is across the room, his hands out to catch her before she hits the floor. The room turns into chaos as Natalia leaps across the room to attack them, but Maxsim tackles her before she gets too far. People shout in surprise as I hurry over to the head table to render medical assistance.

Just as I get there, I hear Saxon murmur, “She’s awake.” He’s staring down at her with something that can only be described as awe as she reaches her delicate hand up to touch his cheek. I almost laugh when I see him smile at her, flashing his fangs, and her hand freezes. She looks tiny in his huge arms, and she’s blinking up at him with unfocused eyes. He places her carefully on the ground and backs away, allowing her family to crowd around her, blocking my view.

I hear words, words I don’t understand, and all of a sudden, John Adams starts to rise slightly in the air. There’s a yelp of surprise, and then he drops again, and I hear William telling her to take deep breaths and in the same sentence scold his brother, Eric, who is losing his shit, laughing. I shake my head. The brothers really are something. I don’t have any siblings, and it’s times like these when I wonder if it’s a good thing or not.

William captures my attention and gestures me forward. I push past Fiona and Phillip, who are muttering nasty words about their new cousin, and approach the group. William and I crouch down next to her, and William introduces me.

“Lila, this is Link. He’s the ship’s doctor, and he’s going to scan you to make sure you aren’t injured anywhere. Humans are a bit more delicate than most of us, and we can’t have any sneaky internal injuries going without treatment,” he explains gently.

“No, it’s fine. I’m okay,” she argues, looking at me with worry as she bites her lip.

I smile reassuringly at her. “Let me be the judge of that,” I say gently.

She stares at me with fascination as I allow my systems to run checks, first scanning her with my eyes. She frowns and looks at her grandfather, who gives her a nod of reassurance, which seems to settle her, and her body loses some of the tension it carried.

Once I’m satisfied with that scan, I pick up her hand and use my finger probe to take a drop of her blood to run it through my sensors. Pushing back my sleeve, I focus on the monitor in my arm as it runs the tests. Lila watches me closely, and her pupils dilate. I can scent her attraction. I feel a rush of adrenaline flow through me. Is she really attracted to me? That’s surprising and intriguing, but I need to focus, so I push that interesting tidbit away for now.

“Body scan is normal. No broken bones or any internal damage. Blood tests also look normal, but I would need her in my lab to run extensive tests for DNA and things. She is slightly dehydrated, exhausted, and...” I break off awkwardly as the final readings correlate. I’m not sure if I should share this information out loud, and I feel my cheeks pinken. I don’t really want to share this last little bit with her grandparents. I don’t want to embarrass her.

“What? What else?” John asks from where he’s still sitting next to her, sounding impatient.

“Horny,” I reply bluntly, almost snickering with the look that crosses John’s face. I bet he’s sorry he insisted I tell him.

“Ah, well, yes, okay. I didn’t need to know that.” John scrambles to his feet, not waiting for me to check him over. Eric joins us, another glass of water in his hand. “Thank you, Link, for coming so quickly.”

“No problem, boss. I was already having dinner.” I stand up and hold out my hand to Lila. She takes it, and I almost shiverat how her hand feels in mine, all soft and small and warm. I help her to her feet, and she smiles at me. I feel another rush of attraction as goose bumps erupt across my skin. It takes all I have not to shudder at the sensation. She’s looking at me with wonder, and I want to puff my chest out and preen, but I just barely hold my shit together.

“It was nice to meet you, Lila. I hope to see you around. Maybe next time it won’t be as a patient,” I say smoothly as she continues to stare at me with wide, green eyes full of wonder.

“Actually, she needs to have the galactic translator implanted. Can we get you to do that for her tomorrow?” William asks.

Lila frowns and shakes her head as if she’s trying to gather herself before lifting a questioning eyebrow at William. I guess this is the first time she’s hearing about the implant.

“Lila, not everyone in the circus speaks English. Yes, it’s the Skarrian language so most of our performers somewhat speak it, but there are many languages spoken throughout the galaxy, and you need to know them. It’s only a little chip that gets placed behind your ear. Everyone has them, and all it does is translate, no other surprises, I promise.”

“Okay, fine,” she grumbles, and I can tell she’s starting to fade. I can’t feel emotions like Xavier, but anyone could see she’s exhausted.

“Of course, come and see me whenever,” I agree, definitely wanting to see more of the pretty Earth girl in any capacity that I can. I drop her hand and make my way back to our table, unable to smother the smug smirk on my lips. Xavier and Saxon have their heads together as they talk quietly, but Magenta laughs as I approach.

“You look pretty damn happy with yourself. So what’s she like?” she asks enthusiastically.

“Pretty fucking perfect,” I reply dreamily, and she giggles.

“Someone has a crush. I don’t blame you, she’s hot. I wonder if she bats for both teams,” she says thoughtfully, and I chuckle. We both look over. She’s watching us, so I give her a quick wink, and she fans herself before leaning in to talk to John.

“Oh yeah, she’s totally into you.” Magenta nudges me. “Get it, boy.”

I hear Dylan scoff and stand up. “Please. Once she gets a look at me, she isn’t going to want to see anyone else.” He spreads his wings out wide before bringing them closer to his body. “Come on, Cas, let’s go introduce ourselves. The brothers promised we would be first.”

Caspian grumbles and gets to his feet reluctantly before following Dylan, who stalks up to the head table with Lila firmly in his sights.

Magenta groans. “Well, shit, hopefully she’s smart enough not to fall for any of his tricks.”

“You think?” I ask hopefully, and she groans.

“Probably not. He’s gotten it down to an art form, but if not, I’ll set her on the right track, because let’s face it, there are much better options than that whore of a dragon if she wants to walk on the wild side.”

Some of my excitement fades. If she really does want to walk on the wild side like Magenta says, then I’m likely out of luck. I’m actually surprised about how disappointed I feel. I thought we had an instant connection, and it was nice to be looked at like that without anyone knowing about my family and what I can do for them. She gazed at me with interest without knowing anything about me, and that’s kind of sexy. Well, maybe I can still be her friend. She’s going to need help navigating all this, and maybe I can be the person she turns to.