Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60378 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Smiling crookedly, Michael shrugged. “I guess the med-droid was wrong and your body burned through that venom.”
A wrinkle appeared between Anthony’s brows, but after a moment, he nodded, accepting the explanation.
He didn’t remember. He really didn’t remember anything.
Michael almost sagged with relief. Although he’d expected that, there had been a small chance that Anthony would remember.
“What happened to your scent?”
Michael froze.
“What?” he managed after a moment. Could Anthony smell himself on him?
Anthony’s nostrils flared. He was frowning when he said, “You don’t have any scent.”
Ah. That.
“I figured it would be easier for you if my scent didn’t aggravate you so much, so I used a scent neutralizer. Found it in the storage room.” The lie was believable, so he expected Anthony to buy it, but the other alpha was still staring at him strangely.
Michael looked away, running a hand through his hair. “Anyway. Now that you feel better, I will work on fixing that communicator. I think I can figure out how to send an SOS to the nearest star system. Someone is bound to pick it up—”
“Michael.”
He looked at Anthony with great reluctance. “What?”
Blue eyes were studying him intently.
Did he remember something, after all?
“Thank you,” Anthony said.
“For what?”
“For putting up with me,” Anthony said with a wry smile. “I was an ass to you yesterday, and I probably wasn’t much better even while I was medicated.”
Nope, you just mounted me and knotted me four times.
Swallowing, Michael let out a laugh that hopefully sounded more sincere to Anthony than it did to his own ears. “You growled and groaned all the time—and stank a bit too much for my liking, but at least you didn’t talk back at me anymore. It was fine.”
That piercing blue gaze bored into him again, making Michael feel uncomfortably transparent. Did Anthony suspect something? Gods, he wouldn’t be able to bear the humiliation if Ant found out. The awkwardness alone would surely ruin their friendship, and the mere thought made his stomach knot up. It wasn’t like he had a lot of friends these days.
“All right,” Anthony said after a moment. “Thanks anyway.”
“It was nothing,” Michael lied, and fled.
His asshole twinged as he strode away, reminding him of—
Nothing.
He wasn’t going to think about it.
***
Michael didn’t think about it.
He didn’t think about it as he worked on fixing their communicator, he didn’t think about it as they grabbed a meal together, he didn’t think about it as they went to their respective cabins to sleep.
He lay in his bunk, staring at the ceiling, still not thinking about it.
Finally, after what felt like hours, he couldn’t do it anymore.
He slipped on his shoes and headed for the ship’s exit.
Sitting down on the ramp stairs, he rested his forearms on his knees and stared out at the landscape.
Night here was never truly dark—the rivers of lava painted the ground in a molten orange-red glow, while a single bright moon cast pale light across the dark purple sky. In the distance, the volcano’s smoke smeared the sky in shades of brown.
“It’s pretty here, isn’t it?”
Michael flinched, cursing the scent neutralizer that he still wore for inhibiting his own sense of smell too. He would have smelled Anthony otherwise.
“Yeah,” he said, looking in front of him as his friend sat down. Right next to him.
Their shoulders brushed.
Michael made a conscious effort to relax. It was just Ant. His best friend.
“The stars look very different from here,” Anthony said, his voice quiet, contemplative.
Michael chuckled, looking at the night sky. “That’s generally what happens when you look at them from a different star system, mate.”
“Smart-ass,” Anthony muttered, knocking their shoulders together. “You know what I mean. It’s different when you come to a planet on a ship. From here, space feels vast. The world alien.”
Michael hummed in agreement. It was true. It had been years since he’d traveled on a spaceship. These days most travel was done through TNIT—Transgalactic Nearly Instantaneous Teleportation—and it was easy to forget how vast the galaxy was, how far from their home these alien worlds were.
“Pretty sure that star is our sun,” he said.
“Which one?”
Michael pointed, and Anthony leaned closer, presumably to see which star he was pointing at.
Michael swallowed, his stomach attempting to jump to his throat as the other alpha’s scent filled his nostrils. This close, the scent neutralizer no longer worked. He could smell Anthony, his strong scent grating against his frayed nerves: ozone and petrichor, heavy and overwhelming.
“That one,” he heard himself say, the words floating up from some great distance, his pulse thundering in his ears. He wanted… he wanted to shove Anthony away. He couldn’t stand his closeness, his asshole clenching around nothing, the dull ache reminding him of the way the other alpha had filled him last night. Not thinking about it.
“What makes you think that? It looks no different to me from the others. I don’t recognize any of the constellations.”