their home. She either needed to remarry or return to Earth. She chose to stay here because she wanted me to grow up on my home planet.”
“Holy shit.” Ellis was staring at me like I’d grown a second tail. “You’re half-human.”
“I am,” I said. “Most of the Draax around my age are half human. Some are not. Quill’s mother was a Draax as was Krey’s, but they were each one of the last of our females, and on the older side. Quill’s mother was a decade older than his father and Krey’s mother was two decades older than his father.”
“Wow,” she said. “You really don’t look half-human. Are any of you ever born, um, human coloured?”
“No,” I said. “Our young ones are always green or purple. We carry the dominant genes.”
“Oh, cool,” Ellis said. “Do you like your stepdad?”
“No,” I said. I didn’t want to talk about my past or my family. It was too painful and there was no point. My father had been a liar and a terrible mate to my mother, and he had cost us our home. Thinking about the loss of my childhood home made me feel sick.
“Are you okay?” Ellis said. “Seriously, I know it’s kind of hard to tell since you’re already green around the old gills, but you really do kind of look like you might throw up.”
“I am fine,” I said. “I no longer wish to speak of personal things.”
“Sure, okay. I get it.” She didn’t seem upset with me, but I didn’t know her very well. She glanced at the door. “Hey, do you have time to show me the garden? I’d really like to see it.”
A big part of me wanted to say no. The garden would be full of other males and the thought of them staring at her while all she wore was my shirt, angered me. But I couldn’t resist the way the little female was staring so hopefully at me, so I shoved aside my misgivings and nodded.
“Yes, we can walk in the garden for a while.”
* * *
Ellis
“Congratulations, human. You are cancer free.”
I hopped off the hospital bed and joined Sigan at the scanner. I stared at the hologram screen in front of him. “Are you being serious right now?”
“Why would I joke about this?” Sigan pointed to the hologram screen. “Your lungs are clear, no spots remain on your internal organs, and the tumour is gone from your spine.”
“Holy shit,” I said.
“You healed much quicker than I anticipated,” Sigan said. “Considering how malnourished you are and how big the tumour was, I am surprised it only took a week.”
“It’s gone,” I said. “It’s fucking gone!”
I shrieked with excitement and threw my arms around Sigan, hugging him hard. Sigan grunted in shock before patting my back awkwardly. I grinned up at him, my small body still pressed against his. “Thank you, Sigan. You have no idea what… ow!”
A long green tail had wrapped around my waist and was squeezing painfully. Before I could reach for it, the tail tightened, and I was yanked from Sigan’s grip and up against the body of an equally tall, muscular Draax.
I stared up at the familiar face as his arm joined his tail around my waist. “Galan? What the hell?”
Galan had been standing at the door to the infirmary, looking at something on his tablet and holy shit, how fast and quiet was he to move across the entire infirmary like that without me hearing him?
“Do not touch the little female, Sigan. Ever,” Galan said.
The easygoing nature I had grown to expect from Galan was gone. In its place was a hard and angry warrior. Anxiety laced with just the slightest hint of excitement filled my body. I tugged on his tail. “Hey, knock it off with the tail.”
“Do you hear me, Sigan?” Galan said. “Do not touch her.”
“I heard you, Galan,” Sigan said. Despite Galan’s anger, he didn’t seem that concerned. “She was the one who hugged me. Besides, you know I have no sexual interest in the human. She weighs less than a maluken for Krono’s sake. Her fragile bones would crack under my weight.”
“Enough with the fragile bones thing,” I said. “I’m not fragile.”
“I enjoy intense and vigorous fucking and you are too skinny for that,” Sigan said. “If we fucked, you would -”
“Speak about fucking her again and I will cut out your tongue,” Galan snarled.
A brief flicker of fear crossed Sigan’s face before he scowled at Galan. “Control your temper, Galan. The manner