Page 10 of Colvin
Chapter Four
Eventually they tired of swimming and body surfing and decided to explore the lunch the hotel had packed for them. Colvin was watching her dress when a spot on her chest caught his eye. Grabbing her hand as she was about to pull her top on, he said, “Let me look at this mark.”
Ivy blinked and craned to see the place in question, near her heart. “Oh, I hadn’t noticed it before. A bug bite maybe? But it doesn’t itch.”
Reverently he touched the tiny green dot with one fingertip. It was vaguely star shaped. “It’s not a bite or a freckle, it’s an Ardannan fated mate mark. I never even hoped to see one of these manifest for me because they’re so rare.”
She sat down on the blanket with a thump. “It’s a what?”
“On rare occasions a couple learns they’re fated mates,” he said. “The mark appears over the woman’s heart and if they love each other and commit to each other, it becomes permanent. If they don’t love equally, then the mark fades and goes away. You can be perfectly happy without the fated mate mark of course but it’s an extra blessing from the Ardannan gods.” He hadn’t entertained any doubts whatsoever that Ivy was the woman for him, even though they’d only known each other for two days but the mark was an unexpected gift and he hoped it would reassure Ivy if she was in any doubt about their status.
“Let me see yours,” she said, pulling at his tee shirt.
“The men don’t get them.”
“How is that fair?”
“I can’t explain it any better. Something in the DNA I guess. We’re not human,” he reminded her a little reluctantly.
“Human enough for me.” She straddled his lap and kissed him. “How hungry ae you for this lunch? Because I think the fated mate mark is hot, even if you don’t get one of your own.” Rolling her hips over his rapidly hardening cock, she added, “You have other attributes to make up for the lack.”
And lunch was delayed yet again.
* * *
Eventually they did eat, although the hotel had packed such a generous spread Ivy ended up packing away the leftovers in the hamper for later. They scattered a few handfuls of crumbs for the birds, watched a whole parade of tiny baby turtles claw their way out of the warm sand and struggle to the water’s edge and finally made their own way to the AGcycle. Colvin took a fairly straight route through the undeveloped areas this time and they arrived at the warehouse shortly before sunset.
“A perfect day,” Ivy said, shaking her hair loose from the helmet. “The turtles hatching was the final touch. I’ll have to let Delain know to mark that section of beach off-limits in the future since it’s a nesting ground.”
“I think I’m going to buy this bike from IDA if they’ll sell it to me,” Colvin said. “It’ll cost me a fortune to ship to Ardanna Prime but we can ride it while I’m here and I’ve gotten attached to it.”
“You were right, there’s nothing like the freedom of riding the wind,” she agreed. Her handheld buzzed and she took it out of her jacket pocket. “I felt it vibrating on the way back here but I wasn’t about to let go of you to try and reach it in my pocket. I hope the office isn’t having a crisis.” She flicked the com to answer and a holo of an obviously distressed young woman came up.
“Oh, Ivy thank the Lords of Space,” she gasped.
“Marisa?” Colvin saw Ivy visibly pale and he left the bike to stand close to her.
“It’s Darien—I had to take him to the hospital, he’s running a high fever and then he had a seizure?—”
Colvin put his arm around Ivy as she sagged in shock.
“I’ll be there as fast as I can,” Ivy said, choking on a sob. “Tell him I’m coming.”
“The doctors are taking good care of him but he’s asking for you. See you shortly.” Marisa signed off.
“Where’s the hospital?” Colvin asked. “I can get us there in a few minutes.”
“I shouldn’t have left him, this is all my fault?—”
“Hey, little kids get sick, it’s how they build their immune systems,” he said. “And sometimes when they run a high fever they’ll have a seizure. One of my nieces did that and she’s fine now. Give me the directions and let’s go.”
Ivy projected a map from her handheld and Colvin took note of the blinking dot representing the employee medical facility, which was fortunately not far away. “Can you hang on?” he asked her because she was shaking. “It’s five minutes if I redline it but you’ve got to hold on. Take a deep breath, all right?”
“He’s never sick,” she said in a wondering tone. “Never.”
Colvin took her into his arms for a hug. “Breathe and then we’ll go.”
She took a deep breath and held it before letting the air out in a gusty sigh. He helped her with the helmet and then escorted her to the bike. Mounting as fast as he could, he gave her a hand to climb on behind him. Fortunately they hadn’t had time to open the warehouse doors, so there was no need to linger. He punched the initiator and the AGcycle took off in a flurry of dust and a roar of the powerful engine. Colvin had noted a few places where he could cut directly across open fields using the antigrav and he made it to the hospital in the promised five minutes, parking close to the entrance.
