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By the time Steele entered Blaze’s suite, two of his brothers, Reson and Covet, were seated in the small living quarters, dwarfing it with their large presence.
“Dr. Robyn’s helping him bathe. It was too crowded in there,” Covet said.
Steele moved to the hallway where he could see Blaze seated on the edge of the tub, Robyn rubbing a washcloth carefully over the back of his neck. His hair had been washed and was back to the fiery blaze that earned him his name. Of all the Xeno Sapiens, Blaze could definitely pass for human if one didn’t already know he was an other. Right now, with his back to the door, it still looked sore and reddened, his wings tucked inside the swollen bulge.
“Turning a corner to see the view of your ass is going to give me nightmares,” Steele said.
Though he looked exhausted, Blaze tossed a smile over his shoulder. “I can’t help it if your sweet little woman wanted to get me naked.”
“You’re just in time,” Robyn smiled. “I was about to call for muscle.”
“Yeah, let Steele do it,” a voice called from the kitchen. “We were thinking we’d rather fix him a snack.”
That seemed to worry Robyn, and she bit her lip. The Xeno Sapiens were fascinated with cooking, and it didn’t always go well. They’d been restricted to only cooking with a human present.
Steele winked. “I’ve got this, precious. Go keep them from burning the place down.”
“You’re perfect,” she whispered, standing up and handing him the small washcloth. Blaze stood, painfully slow.
“You forgot to dry my dick,” he called out to Robyn’s rapidly retreating back. From the kitchen, Steele could hear Covet and Reson snicker in deep tones.
“Steele will get to it,” she yelled back. “Oh, hello, Dr. Irina,” she said loudly. “Nice to see you again.”
“Shit, man.” Blaze paled, his tiny freckles standing out against his skin. “Grab me a towel to put around my hips.”
“Relax,” Steele said. “She’s a doctor. She has no interest in your dick.”
“Pfft. Robyn’s a doctor, too, and she was interested in your ugly. Hand me the damn towel.”
Steele tried to hold back his grin as Blaze tucked it around his groin. His arms stretched better now that his back was more healed, so Steele looped one around his shoulders to steer Blaze from the small bathroom and into his bedroom. Once there, he grabbed a pair of loose sweats and tossed them at him.
“Underwear, too!” Blaze snapped. “She’s going to be in the same room, running her long, sexy fingers down my back. I need layers to keep my dick down.”
Steele shrugged and grabbed a pair from a bottom drawer. “You know, going commando was how I snagged Robyn. But you do your own thing.”
“If it was just her and me, I’d consider it. But the rest of you knuckleheads will be snickering. Now help me get my foot in. I can’t bend yet.”
Steele grunted and subjected himself to an awkward position of bending at the waist and trying not to look at the crown jewels of the avian species as he tried to loop the boxers around one foot.
“Oh,” he said in surprise. “They’re blue. Your balls.” He was aware of the horrified pitch in his voice.
“Do you think she’ll like them?”
“Um...I don’t know.”
Anyone else?
Renegade’s thoughts came across first, like a calming big brother. I’m sure she will.
If not, ask her if she likes big black ones with a golden dick, Beast said.
Shut up! A few voices sounded simultaneously, so it was hard to decipher who all they were.
That’s not funny, Beast. At the sound of Sunny’s voice, Beast went strangely silent.
I’m sure someone will find them sexy, Blaze.
Lily! Get off the adult communication.
That kid. Steele wasn’t sure how she managed it; the other teens couldn’t eavesdrop without them knowing. Steele turned his head to the side as he pulled the boxers up Blaze’s waist. “You look very handsome,” he said, trying to reassure him.
“Just help me get my sweats on.”
Goddess help him if he didn’t strangle Blaze before he ever learned to fly. Steele whipped his sweats up his legs faster now that his white dick with the big blue balls was covered up and not staring him in the face. He walked him back down the hallway to get to the living area, noticing when Blaze deliberately limped as Dr. Irina watched, sitting on the small loveseat with Jason, who had a wide smile.
You didn’t hurt your fucking ankle. He snapped mentally. Quit playing it up.
Blaze ignored him, still limping.
“Irina. Thank you for making time to see me.”
“Dr. Irina.” From the chair next to her, Jason’s grin was wide as he reminded Blaze of her title.
“Oh, no. You’re welcome to call me Irina,” she said shyly. “I’ve accepted the position. I’ll be here full time, so we can drop some of the formality.” She jumped up from the loveseat. “Can I see your back? Is it painful?”
Blaze turned his back toward her, looking pathetic as he looked over his shoulder. “Very,” he confided. “It’s like acid poured in double streaks down my body.”
“Oh, you poor thing.” Her small fingers prodded the swollen area that was knitting together, and from the front, Blaze’s sweats tented.
Robyn, coming from the kitchen with a tray of sandwiches, widened her eyes, averting her gaze from his groin.
“The guys have learned to make grilled cheese,” she said to everyone. “Grab a sandwich. Especially you, Blaze. You’ll need your strength after expending all those calories.”
“I’m not even sure I could hold one,” Blaze said.
Seriously? Steele hissed mentally.
Don’t lay it on so thick, Renegade thought back. Females like a strong man.
Yes, we do. Sunny piped up.
Again, Beast was strangely silent.
“I’ll help you, Blaze,” Irina said, picking up a sandwich. “Since I helped with the—I guess we can call it a surgery—I’d like to be your primary follow up doctor. Amanda thought it would be easier if we divided the workload between us. Though, of course we’ll all be available for emergencies.”
“I’d feel most comfortable seeing the same doctor regularly,” Blaze agreed as if she were the smartest being on the planet.
Robyn raised her brows. Steele grinned at her, grabbing a sandwich.
“We’re having a meeting in a half hour to introduce the new doctors and catch up on all news, including the eruption of your wings,” Jason said, biting into his sandwich. “You know how you can tell when a woman cooks? Grilled cheese has apple slices in it. When a man makes a grilled cheese, he adds ham.”
“There was ham?” Reson sounded forlorn as he glared at Robyn.
“You’re lucky you got apples,” she snapped. “The original sandwich is cheese only.”
Reson winced. “So moody.”
“I guess there’s some other news to discuss, right?” Jason looked at Steele and Robyn.
“They’re pregnant,” Blaze said. “We already heard Steele’s surprise when Eclipse sniffed it.”
Dr. Irina looked confused.
“They’re telepathic,” Robyn said. “But it’s a secret kept from the rest of the world.”
“That’s what the meeting is about,” Jason said. “Secrecy. How important that everything here is secret from the rest of the world. And we need to decide during this meeting if you two wish to keep the pregnancy a secret. If so, I imagine we’ll need to keep all future pregnancies secret. We’ll weigh the pros and cons in the meeting.”
“Congratulations,” Dr. Irina said, as she gave a bite of the sandwich to Blaze.
“Thank you.”
“Are there records kept on file for everyone?”
“Yes. We destroyed the records of how each individual was made and the samples of DNA. We’ve also changed everyone’s name from the numbers they were referred to. But each person has a file describing his unique traits and abilities, allergies, stuff like that. I imagine we’ll have to update Blaze’s medical records to include hidden wings.”
“Can you move them under your skin?” Jason asked.
“I’m not sure yet. Everything feels tight and swollen still. Mostly I can feel the skin mending. I think the wings break out with excitement, which is what happened earlier, or if there’s nothing exciting going on, they just need to be released from time to time to keep them from breaking out on their own.”
“I was going to tape the edges of the cuts closed, but they were already mending on their own. The gel that encases his wings is amazing stuff,” Dr. Irina said as she fed Blaze another bite.
“I do make a great grilled cheese, even with the apple slices,” Covet said, licking his finger.
“Hey, I sliced the apples. The trick is to cut them thin,” Reson said.
Dr. Irina looked confused with all the conversations going on at once.
Steele whispered into Robyn’s ear. “I want to gag every time she feeds him.”
“Be nice,” Robyn shushed him. “We’ll need future sitters.”
“I’d like to discuss recruiting Tempest for guard duty,” Jason said between bites. “I think Shawn is available to train her, now that Blaze is off for a few days.”
“Tempest is...standoffish,” Blaze warned.
Jason grinned. “Don’t I know it.”
“We should probably bring that up in the meeting,” Steele said. “The possibility of training. It’s not on the agenda, but we can add it.”
“Good idea,” Jason said and watched as Blaze took another bite from Dr. Irina’s hand. He looked at his watch. “The meeting starts in half an hour. One of our teenagers, Mellow, has agreed to broadcast for the Xeno Sapiens who aren’t present. They’re all telepathic,” he said, for Dr. Irina’s benefit. “But able to open one link, or many. A lot of times they keep the young ones out.”
“All of them? How fascinating.”
“We are,” Blaze agreed. “When do you think we can schedule my first visit?”
Dr. Irina blinked. “I imagine I’ll have to get an actual office first.”
“Oh. Of course. So you’ll let me know?” Blaze recovered smoothly.
Steele rolled his eyes.
“End it,” Robyn mouthed. She found it just as painful as him to watch Blaze act the fool.
“Is everyone nearly done with lunch? Shall we head down to the conference room?”
