"You rule half of it now," Killian said without raising his eyes from the tablet. "Congratulations."
Nadia was focused now, checking the inner lines of Chris's neck and the curve of his gland below the nape, scanning with the kind of detached attention that only made things worse. "No nerve inflammation. The bond registered clean. Your levels are high but not unstable. You're running a bit warm, though."
"I'm always warm," Chris muttered, sulking into the mattress. "That's what happens when someone knots you five times in a row."
Killian didn't even blink. "That's your own fault."
Chris groaned louder this time, and Nadia gave Dax a look that walked the line between admiration and medical concern. "Did you at any point think to moderate?"
"I did," Dax said, deeply unrepentant. "Around the third time."
Chris reached blindly for a pillow and launched it at him. It missed by a margin of failure and shame.
