Too much emotion, Mercury had always thought. She was driving herself crazy trying to find answers to all the anomalies showing up in the Breeds since freedom had been achieved.
She had once been the star pupil of the Council scientists, a genius on a level that had never been attained within their ranks before. With the rescues, she had become the Breeds' only hope of finding a way to learn the secrets of their own bodies.
"Hey, Doc, you're not answering me." He adjusted the shirt beneath the band of his uniform pants, watching her back carefully now.
"What did you say?" She turned back to him, her gaze slightly distant as she focused on him.
He restrained his smile. He liked Ely.
"I said, is everything okay?"
"Fine." She nodded, turning back to the vials as she stored them in one of her contraptions.
"So why more tests? You just did this whole thing last week." He stood to his feet, watching her carefully as he re-strapped the weapon holsters onto his body. They were a part of him now; he felt naked without them.
"You know how it goes." She shrugged. "You're in close-quarter contact with an unknown female. I like to keep an eye on your tests in that case. Just in case."
Just in case. He breathed out heavily, silently.
"She's not my mate." He growled the word because for the first time since he had learned of the mating heat he was pissed off that there wasn't a chance of it affecting him. He'd lost his mate before he'd ever had the chance to know what having one meant.
"I've never believed you truly mated, Merc," she reminded him. "My experience with this is that it takes more than wanting or caring deeply for anyone." She turned back to him, her gaze compassionate. "Have you been feeling any changes since Ms. Rodriquez showed up?"
She moved toward him, her bare hand, devoid of the gloves she normally wore, gripping his wrist to check his pulse. Then she rubbed his arm, almost like a comforting gesture, before patting it as she would a child's.
At this point, he was watching her suspiciously.
"Do I get a sucker too?" he asked warily.
"You didn't answer my question, Merc," she reminded him. "Feeling anything unusual?"
"Well, Doc, there's no enlarging of the glands under my tongue, but you checked those, so you know that. No funny taste in my mouth, and that little stroke and pat against my arm didn't have me cringing in pain," he reported with an edge of disgust. "Is there anything else I should be looking for?"
Her lips twitched. "You have the symptoms down, I see."
"Pretty hard not to with the damned epidemic that seems to be going on," he snorted. "Lawe and Rule are bitching constantly over it. I think they like their footloose and carefree ways."
"And you don't?" She leaned against the table, watching him carefully.
"You a psychiatrist now, Doc?" He grinned back at her. "Come on, put away the doctor stuff here. Tell me what you really want to know and we'll work from there."
She shook her head at that, a light laugh leaving her throat. "You caught me. Are you attracted to Ms. Rodriquez, Merc?"
"She's a woman." He arched his brows. "I'm a man, and I'm not mated. And Jonas has me on her butt twenty-four-seven. What do you think?"
She nodded at that, but something flickered in her eyes that had him frowning down at her. "Is something wrong here, Ely? Something I don't know anything about?"
"Trust me, Merc, if something was wrong, Jonas would be the first to know and you would be the second. Chain of command." She rolled her eyes. "If you want to be first in line, you'll have to take it up with him."
"Then let's put this another way," he growled, growing tired of the feeling that there was a very subtle game being played here. "What would make you suspect it is possible for me to mate Ms. Rodriquez when none of the symptoms are there?"
She sighed at that. "Honestly, there's no suspicion. As you said, with all the matings recently, and the fact that there were very few in the years after Kane and Sherra, I'm merely being diligent. And a word of warning when the techs in the control room contact me that you're acting unusual in regards to the clerk in the file room, it's my job to check for the mating hormone."
Mercury stilled at that. "Unusual how?"
"I should inform you, just because they can't see exactly what you're doing doesn't mean they aren't speculating on it." She grimaced. "I received the call just before coming for you. They were afraid." She inhaled slowly. "They thought perhaps you were doing something Ms. Rodriquez may not have been agreeing with."
Mercury's nostrils flared as he fought back a rush of pure male fury. "They thought I was raping her?"