Page 40 of I Dated the Lost Song

Two strangers were approaching, and Leska waved to Raek. “I hope I didn’t miss dinner. The interviews and bios took forever.”

The woman smiled. “I have more to ask you if you do not mind, for our own records.”

Cadence was humming and hugging her. Leska said softly, “Caddy, huggy bear? You need to let me go so I can meet the others.”

Cadence leaned back. “Sorry. This is Maximus; he’s my buddy. I hope he gets along with Morty.”

Leska smiled and extended her hand to the stiff dog the size of a horse. “Greetings of the day to you, Maximus.”

The tail began wagging, and he lowered his head. Leska scratched him between the eyes and stroked his muzzle.

“See? I knew he would like you.”

She met Raek, and he touched her hand gently before staring at his fingers.Uh-oh.And then she met Im-bar. “Hello, ma’am.”

“It is good to meet you, Leska. Now, we are going to do those tests all over while the bots unpack for you.”

“Uh, I just have the one bag. It won’t take them long.”

“Then, let’s hurry to my lab so dinner doesn’t get cold.” Im-bar looped her arm around Leska as she pulled her along.

“See ya, Cadence.”

There was a bright laugh, and that made Leska smile. It was about time that Cadence felt happy. If wearing fancy pyjamas did it for her, that was great.

The physical was far more in-depth than the one she had at Z-Corp. Machines that Leska had never seen before were measuring and scanning her.

“I give up. Why so many scans?” Leska sat at the edge of the bed and kicked her feet.

“Because no harmonic in history has ever had a best friend who was strictly human, and I am determined to find out what you do.”

“Would you feel better if I told you you were right? But she can’t know. It would hurt her to know. She only trusted me at first because I said I was strictly human.”

Im-bar blinked. “Seriously? What do you do?”

Leska lifted her finger, tapped Im-bar, and smiled. “You activated when you were fourteen, and went from a handsome boy with all the girls chasing him, to a woman who was wondering why she still had a penis. Dr. Torenne is the same, by the way. I wonder if the hermaphrodite activation always goes with healers.”

Im-bar blinked. “You are an analyst.”

“Yeah. I knew what Cadence needed emotionally, and since I couldn’t find her comfy clothing, I could give her a powerless friend who just wanted to be with her. And I did. I was with her as often as I could, and when we separated due to her graduating, I caught up with her as soon as I could, and we both went to the job fair at Z-Corp together.”

Im-bar nodded. “You kept her calm.”

“As calm as I could. I will be more useful here.”

“I believe so. Now, do you have concerns about your own activation?”

“Well, the heats are annoying.”

Im-bar blinked. “What?”

“Oh. I am an omega. A tall one but an omega nonetheless.”

“How does Cadence not know that?”

“Oh. She has a minimal sense of smell, and it only happens twice a year, so I just tell her it’s a bad period.” She smiled. “She sends me takeout for the few days.”

“She doesn’t realize that it’s an activation?”

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