The rest of that night passed in a bit of a haze.

Kor'ven leaned against her, breathing softly, and she leaned back against him. Her limbs felt like they were made of some kind of suspended gelatin, and her body was both heavy and light at the same time, as odd as that statement was. It only took a few moments for her to realize just how exhausted she was. She thought for sure she'd fallen asleep against him, but when she woke up, she was on the couch in her office, covered by a blanket. Kor'ven, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found.

She might have thought she imagined it--that she'd fallen asleep and drifted into another sweet fantasy. That theory was tossed out the window as soon as she tried to move. Every muscle ached, but her thighs most especially. And she realized when she tossed the blanket off that she was completely naked, something that would have been strange for her even in the privacy of her own apartment, let alone here, in her office.

So she and Kor'ven had slept together last night. In her lab. On the table. With a bunch of discarded equipment surrounding them. God. She wasn't like this; she didn't do things like this. And yet she couldn't find it in herself to regret it. At all.

If she had one wish in the world right now, it would be to find Kor'ven, drag him off to someplace much more private, and spend the day just familiarizing herself with every part of him.

But she didn't have that luxury. The sun was coming in through the window, something she'd been able to see even from behind closed eyelids, and Kor'ven was likely working already, since she'd only ruined his lab coat.

Was he working, or was he avoiding her? Insecurity hit her hard and she immediately hated herself for it as she remembered that look in his eyes. Last night hadn't been about sex. They'd formed a connection that was long overdue, and now Addison was… mated.

She sat up, blanket still draped around her, and tried to absorb that idea. Her gaze sought her mother's photograph as if on instinct, and she immediately regretted it as a conflicting sort of unease settled low in her belly.

She didn't regret what they'd done, but she wasn't sure she wanted everything that went along with it. She still had so much she needed to do, so much she hoped to accomplish. She wasn't ready to abandon her career and devote her life to raising a family. She just wasn't.

Addison paled at the thought. She knew how seriously Karuvar took the whole concept of mating. Kor'ven had been resistant, but he'd given in last night. He'd want a commitment from her, and she just… wasn't sure she could give him that.

Her heart thundered in her breast, far louder than she thought it should. In fact… everything was far too loud. The clock on the wall, the gurgling filter on her small fish tank, the footfalls of someone approaching her office door.

Wait… someone was approaching her office door.

She bundled the blanket more closely around herself, wondering if there was some way to just open a wormhole right here and now. But no, she stayed exactly where she was, at the mercy of whoever opened that door.

It wasn't much of a mystery, though. She could smell a hint of citrus. No, not just a hint of it. It was like someone had zested an orange right under her nose. That scent was easily one she associated with Ashley's favorite shampoo, though it wasn't usually so agonizingly strong that it made Addison's eyes water.

"Hey, I just wanted to drop by before school to see if you--" Ash stopped, her eyes widening as she took in Addison's appearance. "Whoa. Either a hurricane blew through here, or you booked a ticket on the bang train last night."

"The bang train? Seriously?"

Her assistant broke into a grin. "Oh man, I totally win the bet."

"The b--" No. She didn't want to know. Addison closed her eyes and shook her head. "You came here looking for work, yes? I have a job you can do."

"Sure, hit me," she said.

"Ask your sister to please bring some clothes with her when she comes in today," she asked, her cheeks burning. "Including underwear."

Ash tried very hard to keep her composure. She was biting her lip so hard Addison thought she might draw blood. But eventually she burst out laughing, and the sound seemed to bounce off of every available surface to utterly bombard Addison.

"You got it, boss. One shame suit, coming right up."

* * *

Meg was far kinder than her sister. Mostly. She brought a change of clothes and stood guard while Addison dressed. She even fixed her a cup of coffee, though the liquid was extra bitter when Addison took a sip.

The whole time she was trying to regain something resembling composure, though, Meg was smiling like the cat that ate the canary.

"Go on," Addison finally said. "I know you want to say it."

"What could I possibly want to say?" she asked, her innocent tone fooling no one.

Addison rolled her eyes. "That you were right."

"I was right, but that's beside the point," her friend said, waving this off. "How do you feel?"

How did she feel? Sore, though not in a way that was completely unpleasant. Sensitive. Not in an emotional sense, just in terms of any and every possible stimulus. She had the worst PMS hearing, picking up even the most innocuous sounds, like the scrape of Meg's pen against a prescription pad she'd carried in with her. Her sense of smell was absolutely ridiculous, too, and she caught the hint of baby food that must have still clung to Meg's scrubs in some tiny amount.

Suddenly it hit her, and she almost rolled her eyes at herself. Of course. Mating with a Karuvar kicked off several physiological changes in a woman's body--most noticeably, it heightened her senses.

"Like I have the world's worst hangover," Addison admitted, trying to comb her hair into something resembling a professional look.

"Take this to the pharmacy as soon as you can," Meg said, tearing off the top sheet.

Addison squinted down at the prescription. "Are you able to write these?"

"The pharmacist just went through what you're going through now. She'll empathize."

Addison gave a light shrug. At this point, she was willing to gamble. There was no way she'd be able to work like this. Her job was too delicate to be thrown off while she adjusted to her strange new world.

"We figured out why Vazik's implant isn't working at full capacity," she said, some of that brain fog beginning to clear.

A smirk touched Meg's lips. "Was that before or after…?"

Addison blushed. "Before. Part of the code is different from what it should be. We--"

She suddenly remembered Kor'ven's words and stopped herself from saying anything more. The fact that he didn't want to go to Drol'gan with this new information still rankled, and she intended to challenge him on it. But for now, she would adapt.

"We're still determining the cause, but it's an easy enough fix. We can administer it today, if you can bring Vazik in."

"I'll let Verkiir know. God, Addi. Were you working on that all day?" Meg frowned at her, her brow knitting in concern.

"And most of the night," Addison mumbled. When Meg's eyes widened, she added, "You shouldn't be surprised by this."

"I'm not, but... there's more to life than work."

That simple, well-meant piece of advice unsettled Addison, bringing up all those fears that had resurfaced that morning. She'd never liked that phrase. It was so… reductive. Of course there was more to life than work, but her work was important.

"Not when it's this kind of work," she countered. "If I hadn't worked late, who knows what would have happened to Vazik."

Meg approached her, taking Addison's hands into her own. "I know," she said softly. "Thank you. I just… want you to have time for yourself."

She hadn't had time for herself since university, and even that was stretching it. There was too much to be done, and too few people to do it.

"After we address this. We don't know if this issue is widespread yet, and if it is, lots of kits' implants will need adjustments."

More than she'd thought last night. When the Matchmaker program was started, they'd seen massive success. Mates were paired up across all the Waystations and kits were conceived in that first month, mere weeks after Vazik was conceived. It would be time for their implant fitting soon, and if the genetic markers were altered in all new implants…

God, there was no way they'd be able to change all of them in a timely fashion. And if there was someone behind this--if someone was trying to sabotage the future of the Karuvar and the humans--they couldn't waste time fussing with individual strings of code.

She needed to talk to Kor'ven. She needed to convince him to approach Drol'gan, no matter what it took.

And she had a feeling she was going to have to get them both on board with changing the master code--the code that was used to create all implants. A code few knew, and one Karuvar considered sacred; untouchable.

"Thank you for the clothes and the coffee," Addison said, squeezing her friend's hands, "but I have a lot to take care of today."

Grabbing a spare coat, Addison started toward the door of her office, trying to formulate some kind of plan.

"Remember what I said, Addi."

She smiled at Meg, but the expression faded as soon as she was out the door. She couldn't have a normal life. Everything that was happening was just more proof.

Kor'ven would understand. At least on an intellectual level.

Beyond that… she couldn't afford to think about right now. Not when there was so much at stake.