“It makes me sad,” she says softly. “That people aren’t people to them. You would think that they’d be upset that Lady sa’Rin was making copies of people by tearing apart the original person, but instead, they’re all mad that she made a fancy-looking satellite and people play Sticks there.” She shakes her head. “There’s something wrong with that.”
“There’s a lot wrong with the universe,” I agree. “Which is why it’s best to keep to our corner of it and help out when we can.”
Helen looks up at me. “What would have happened to all those people on the derelict if we hadn’t brought them to Risda?”
I sigh. “Ethically terminated.”
“Is it ethical to kill someone just because they exist, though?” She looks sad. “No one asked Ruth if she wanted to be cloned. No one asked me if I wanted to be cloned. Or if I wanted to be an assassin. They just did it.”
“I know, love.” I take her hands in mine and squeeze them, because I can tell she’s getting overwhelmed. “It’s terrible. It’s terrible and cruel and I can’t change the past. The only thing I can do is try to give you the best future possible.”
“Me and all the people on the derelict,” Helen says, voice soft. She squeezes my hands back. “You’re a good man, Matty. I’m glad I decided to fall in love with you.”
I lift her hands to my mouth and kiss her knuckles, brushing my lips over her skin. “Is this your way of telling me you want to go and rescue more clones? Or more slaves?”
Her eyes brighten. “You’d do that? If I asked?”
“Of course.” I press another kiss to her knuckles, rubbing her soft skin. “You even have to ask? You know I’d do anything for you, Helen. If you want to go live on Risda, we can go to Risda. If you want to live somewhere else, we can. If you want to roam the galaxy hunting slavers, we can do that, too. You’re in charge and I’m just happy to be at your side.”
She beams up at me, her expression so achingly sweet that my heart skips a keffing beat. “I might want to go save more people, but maybe after everyone’s babies are born. Right now Jade and Alice need me. And you need some time to relax, too.”
“Me? I’m fine.” I’m surprised she’s including me in that.
“You’re not fine.” Helen slips her hands out of mine and circles around me, until she’s at my back. “You’re the most tense male I’ve ever met.” And she gives my ass a squeeze. “Just feel how tense that is.”
I can’t tell if she’s joking or just using this as an excuse to manhandle me. Either way, my cock is stirring. It always does the moment Helen starts touching me. “My ass is tense because you’re grabbing it, love.”
And because her hands are dangerously close to my tail.
“So much tension,” she coos, and my skin prickles with arousal as…yup, she starts to stroke my tail. “You know what would fix that?”
“Sex with my gorgeous mate?” I ask, hoarse as she grips the base and squeezes.
“Sex with your gorgeous mate,” she agrees. “And—”
The comm chirps. “HELEN!” Alice practically screams over the speaker. “STERRE’S HAD THREE KITTENS SO FAR! COME SEE!”
My mate is out the door before I can even turn around. I just gaze after her and chuckle, because I know she’ll be back soon enough. We’ve got time to have sex when she returns. Kef, we’ve got all the time in the universe.
HELEN
TWO DAYS LATER
I cradle one of the teeny tiny kittens against my chest, rubbing the wee head with my fingertip. “Why is it Sterre is so big and her babies are so small?”
“It’s because she had eight,” Alice tells me, two kittens cradled to her front. “She wasn’t supposed to have that many but she did, so they’re all tiny little nuggets. Aren’t you? Aren’t you a tiny nugget?” Her voice changes to a silly, ridiculous tone. “Yes you are. Both of you are.”
Sterre, sprawled out amongst the plants in the terrarium with the rest of her kittens nursing, reaches out and puts a paw on Alice’s thigh, as if telling her to stop with the voice.
This just makes Alice chortle. “Sorry, Sterre. I know you hate that voice. But they really are the cutest babies.”
She’s not wrong. I’ve been obsessed with them since they arrived. Sterre has more or less taken over the terrarium and is destroying a full bed of plants, but we don’t care. The kittens are small, naked, tiny things that don’t seem to have their mother’s scaly hide just yet. They’re more leathery and soft, and Alice says they remind her of hairless cats that she swears are a thing back on Earth. There’s eight of them, and we’ve already been told that all eight won’t be able to stay on the station, so Alice has been reaching out to a few friends back on Risda to see if they want a kitten. One will go to the va’Rin family, of course, and one to Ruthie. Ruth doesn’t want one, but I sure do. I’ve even picked out which one, too. Some of the kittens are rambunctious despite their early age and the fact that their eyes aren’t open. There’s a runt, and it’s probably the cutest of the lot with its teensy pink nose and little claws. But the one that I constantly turn to is a more mottled shade than the others. It’s fat and roly-poly, but there’s something about his face that just makes him look concerned all the time and it melts my heart because it makes me think of Matty.