Kyle Hendrix stirred in the bed he found himself in, rolling over. Opening his blurry eyes, he scanned the room he was in. He was in what looked like a private room at a hospital; only it was high-tech.

Two alien guards stood at the door, watching him as an alien man worked at a station.

"Where am I?" he demanded. There was panic and anger in his tone.

The man at the station turned his head. "You're in med-bay. You were injured and knocked unconscious while your people attacked this city," he explained calmly.

"Where are they? Where are my people?" he growled, anger rising uncontrollably.

The man at the station turned around and faced him fully. "My name is Medic Kaul, and your friends left you behind. You and one other person are here. The female, Sasha, is recovering from a dagger injury, and you, a head wound." Kaul informed him.

The door slid open, halting the exchange, and a pregnant blond woman and a tall alien emerged.

The medic smiled at them. "I'll be right with you, he told them."

They disappeared again as Sasha's voice echoed through the halls through the open door of his room.

"Where are my people?" Sasha demanded loudly. She sounded panicked.

"Your group had four deaths and one injury. The one injured is in another room, here in the clinic. The rest of your people left. I'm sure they will be back," a male voice explained. "They want a fight. If you're wondering, there were three deaths of our kind."

"Three's not enough," Sasha hissed. Anger and hatred seeped from her words.

Another female voice spoke. "First, Van is one of the three who risked their own lives to stop the invasion and save the rest of the human population. The current leader is also one of them. The other is Rask. We are trying to rebuild and find a cure for the zombies that the previous leader created." The woman seemed to be reasoning with Sasha, informing her.

"You're a traitor to our kind," Sasha spat. "None of this would have happened if they hadn't come here and invaded in the first place."

"Yet after the order was given, many of their kind tried to stop their leader even before he arrived," the other woman continued. "They were lied to about us, making them believe we were something we were not. It all changed when the lies came out, and many found their mates. It's a sacred bond, you know." The last sentence brought a smile to her tone, erasing the seriousness completely.

Turning to put a device into a wall socket, the medic turned. "I will be back to scan your head for internal bleeding. Get some rest." Medic Kaul stated, then left the room.

Kyle continued to listen to the conversation outside. His ears perked in interest. A few seconds later, he heard the medic speak.

"I'm ready for you, Carrie," he told her.

"Thank you, Kaul. I'm coming." The woman responded. She sounded happy, cheerful. It wasn't something he expected with the humans of the dome. He expected them to move around the city fearfully. That's what Travis says they would be doing...he had believed him.

'Did Tavis lie?' he thought, 'or is he just guessing?'

There was a slight pause before the woman spoke again, taking Kyle out of his thoughts. "If you continue to allow your hatred to overshadow everything else, creating a war between our two races, it's going to get all of us killed. We need to make the best of things. There are a lot of human women pregnant with mixed-race babies who love their mates. Our children are innocent. I don't want them to be born into war. You need to think about all those innocent children. We are all trying to cope. All of us, not just humans," the woman stated. Her tone was serious. She was clearly giving advice. He could hear the conviction in her voice. She truly believed everything she said.

The door slid shut, and he could no longer hear the conversation involving Sasha. He wanted to hear more. He was hearing things he never knew, would have never dreamed of. What the woman said made him think.

Kyle scanned the room with his eyes. He didn't know how long it was going to take for the Medic to be done with the woman he went to see. He was looking for a way out and a weapon. He found only the main door that was guarded, and there was nothing in the room he could use as a weapon.

Looking at the door, he thought about the conversation that Sasha was having. The woman she was talking to said something that made him think. She was right. Going after the aliens would get all humans killed. There weren't enough of them left to fight back. He knew that Travis's idea of breeding the remaining females was a stupid idea. That would most certainly cause widespread development issues among the offspring.

Kyle suddenly began to wonder if he should rethink the situation himself. The woman who spoke to Sasha was right about bringing innocent children into the equation. He may not like the aliens, but half-human children were innocent.

The door to his room slid open; he tensed as the guards came in and stood inside the doorway. The Medic returned with a female alien.

Medic Kaul stopped at his bedside. Then introduced the girl beside him. "This is Rai; she's training to be a medic. She will administer the scan."

The alien woman looked at him; her eyes widened. Her face paled briefly before she composed herself. It only took seconds.

When Kyle looked into her black eyes, he swallowed hard. He saw his future. A strange pull spread through him. He knew it immediately. This alien, Rai, belonged to him. The bond they spoke of was real.

The medic looked between his assistant and Kyle. One eye raised, but chose not to state the obvious.

He handed Rai a scanner, which she took slowly. She was still in shock about finding her mate, and he was one of those who had attacked them just hours ago.

Rai scanned Kyle from head to toe, then around his head as she looked at the small screen on the device. He was so in awe watching the alien woman that he hadn't realized the two guards were standing so close to him that he could feel their body heat.

When he finally realized it, he flinched, startled by their close proximity. The girl pulled away, stepping back, unsure of what to do or why he flinched in the first place.

Medic Kaul looked at Kyle, understanding what had occurred. "The guards are here to protect Rai," he told him.

Kyle couldn't say anything; he just stared at the girl. He was mesmerized.

He watched her as she looked at the small screen on the device. "There is bruising, but nothing else. There is no detection of further injury or a buildup of fluid," she informed the Medic quietly.

Kyle watched as the medic took the device from Rai and looked at the screen himself. For some reason, he felt angry that he would second-guess her. He was about to say so, but Medic Kaul spoke first.

"Very good, Rai. You read it correctly." He congratulated her. Then turned to Kyle. "You are her first patient, and she is learning how to diagnose using the readout of the scanner. Before she wanted to become a medic, she was one of the city patrols."

"Why are you telling me about her?" Kyle asked, his eyes narrowed. He didn't know why he was angry about being told.

Medic Kaul smiled. "First, so you know why I appear to be second-guessing Rai; I don't want you to think I'm demeaning her. Second, because you are her mate."

Kyle swallowed. "That pull? That's what that is? Is it the mate bond I've heard about?"

Medic Kaul first glanced at the two guards and then at the uncomfortable Rai before turning his gaze back to Kyle. "Yes, it is. We have other patients to see. The guards will stay at your door. A meal will be brought to you soon." He stated before exiting, Rai followed behind with her head down.

Kyle found himself alone again. Lying his head down, he kept a picture of Rai in his mind. The galaxy of stars in the depths of her black eyes. He frowned. She didn't act like she wanted him. He sighed deeply. He wasn't sure he wanted her. He felt protective of her. Yet he hated her kind. He was confused; his thoughts jumbled together. 'I'll just focus on her face,' he told himself. 'Everything about her calms me down. It's balm to my emotions. I'll focus on that. I need to just focus on that," he told himself. After several moments, he closed his eyes. 'I am...I am so confused."

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