Purity Read online

  “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