Loving a Stranger Read online

  Reeve, on the other hand, seemed to want to keep her close. He stroked her hair and shoulders and held her securely, telling her without words that he was there for her, that he would keep her safe.

  At last, Nallah began to feel calmer. She swiped at her eyes and looked up at the stranger who was no longer a stranger, holding her in his arms.

  “I’m sorry my…Reeve,” she whispered. “I should have known you would be different from Harryx. You always were when you were in his body. It’s just…you treat me as no other man has ever treated me. As I have never seen any other man treat a woman.”

  “I just want to treat you with love and respect, baby.” He leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead. “I just want to be here for you and help you heal.”

  “Do…” Nallah looked at him, almost afraid to hope. “Do you think you can heal me? Of…of these?” She motioned to her cheeks hesitantly.

  Reeve looked at her seriously.

  “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But we can try. And I want you to know, I won’t feel any differently about you even if we can’t. Do you want to come to the med center with me?”

  “Yes.” Nallah nodded and bit her lip. “But…can I put on my veil first? I cannot help feeling that I am one of the Disgraced and I don’t want anyone to see my shame.”

  “You can do whatever makes you feel comfortable,” Reeve said gently. “Just let me know when you’re ready. My friend, Olivia, is waiting to have a look at you.”

  Nallah’s eyes widened. “You have female doctors here?”

  “Women can pretty much hold any position they want aboard the Mother Ship,” Reeve told her. “But as it happens, Olivia is a nurse. A good one—I think you’ll like her.”

  “All right.” Nallah nodded. “I’ll go with you to see her. And Reeve…” She looked up at him shyly. “Thank you for not…for not being like Harryx. Or any other man on Hascion Five, for that matter.”

  He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he kissed her gently on one scarred cheek and looked into her eyes. For a long moment Nallah found herself lost in that midnight gaze. Her breathing began to grow short and she felt her heart hammering. Why was she feeling like this? It reminded her of the way she’d felt at the Temple of the God-King after the Ritual. At first she had been so nervous and anxious and unhappy but by the end, Reeve had made her feel completely different.

  He made me aroused, she thought, biting her lip. He made me want him.

  Was she wanting him now? He looked so different from the men of her home world with his bronze skin and dark hair and eyes. But his face was handsome, despite the scar over the bridge of his nose or maybe because of it. Handsome and serious and full of love for her.

  Now isn’t the time, Nallah told herself, still feeling breathless. But she wondered if the time would come soon—the time to think about what she and Reeve might be to each other now that she knew him in his own body.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  “Well, I am afraid these scars are very bad. Yes they are, yes they are.” Yipper, the Tolleg surgeon whom Olivia said looked like a cross between a monkey and a hound dog shook his head gravely until his long ears flopped from side to side. ,

  “Oh dear. I was afraid of that.” Olivia looked worried. After doing a physical exam on Nallah, she had taken a look at the scars and declared that they needed a surgical consult. The little Tolleg had been brought in to examine Nallah, who was watching him with wide eyes, having never seen anyone like him before.

  “Is there anything you can do?” Reeve asked quietly. “Nallah is beautiful to me no matter what but these scars…they bother her. A lot.”

  Nallah’s eyes flicked up to his and down again but in their golden depths Reeve had seen a lot of emotion. He sent a fierce, silent prayer to the Goddess that the Tolleg surgeon could help them.

  Please don’t let that bastard Harryx have the last word—don’t let his last act scar Nallah for life. She deserves so much more than that! Even though she’ll always be beautiful to me, she deserves to feel beautiful for herself too.

  He heard no answer but then he had to switch his attention to Yipper, who was talking again.

  “I could, of course, replace the skin of her cheeks with vat-grown skin and do a graft. Yes I could, yes I could,” the little Tolleg said thoughtfully. “But she might lose some sensitivity and feeling if I do that.”

  “Vat-grown skin?” Nallah sounded faintly horrified.

  “Yes indeed, yes indeed.” Yipper nodded vigorously, making his ears flop again. “It would look nice and smooth but it might not feel nice.”

  “Is there any other option we could try?” Reeve asked. Plainly Nallah didn’t like the idea of artificial skin-grafts and he didn’t blame her.

  “Well…” Yipper frowned and looked at Reeve. “Have you had the healing compound, Commander Reeve?”

  “The what?” Reeve frowned.

  “Oh, the healing compound!” Olivia snapped her fingers. “Of course—why didn’t I think of that?” She turned to Reeve. “It’s a compound developed here aboard the Mother Ship that’s kind of based on a Blood Kindred’s natural ability to heal his mate from small wounds.”

  “Small wounds?” Reeve didn’t want to say it but the scars on Nallah’s face were anything but small. Harryx had been doing as much damage as he could when he drew that damn shrive across her face.

  “We have had some success with healing scars too. Yes we have, yes we have!” Yipper said eagerly. “Would you like to try it?”

  Reeve looked at Nallah who still appeared confused.

  “I…don’t understand,” she said haltingly. She had taken a dose of the translation bacteria when she first came aboard but she had confessed to Reeve that she still found some terms and phrasing of English confusing.

  “What do you not understand, hon?” Olivia was instantly attentive. “Just tell us and we’ll try to explain.”

  “This…compound.” Nallah shook her head. “Does it…do you rub it on my skin or—”

  “Oh, no, no!” Yipper exclaimed. “The compound is not for you—no it isn’t, no it isn’t. It’s for him.” He pointed at Reeve. “He will drink it and then his body will make chemicals that can heal yours. Yes it will, yes it will.”

  “But…how?” Nallah shook her head. “How will Reeve heal me?”

  “By licking,” Olivia said. “The healing compound will allow his body to make chemicals to heal yours which will appear in his saliva and other body fluids. He’ll lick your cheeks and hopefully…” She made a little gesture with her palms up. “Hopefully it will heal your scars.”

  Reeve could tell that Nallah was skeptical about the whole thing—he felt more than a little skeptical himself. After all, he’d never heard of any other kind of Kindred other than Blood Kindred who could heal their mates and that was only because they made essence—a liquid which came from their fangs and was injected into a mate when they bit her during sex.

  But at this point, he was willing to try anything.

  “I’ll take it,” he said to Yipper and then looked at Nallah. “If…you want me to.”

  “Do you want to, oh my…Reeve,” she asked. “Do you mind…trying to heal me?”

  “Of course not.” Reeve took one of her small hands in his and looked earnestly into her eyes. “I want to help you, baby—want to heal you if I can.”

  Nallah’s face went pink and she bit her lip shyly.

  “Then…I would like very much to be healed by you, Reeve.”

  “Excellent! I will get you a dose of the compound. Yes I will, yes I will,” Yipper said excitedly. As he scampered off to his lab, Reeve smiled at Olivia.

  “Thank you for bringing in Yipper to consult with Nallah and me.”

  She smiled. “I just hope the compound works for you.”

  “I hope so too,” Nallah said softly, looking at Reeve. Seeing the trust in her golden eyes, he felt his heart swell.

  Goddess, he prayed. Let the compound work. Let me be