by Tana Stone
“I told you he’s not the enemy,” Shreya said, throwing her own hands up as the Drexian commander held his blaster steady, and another warrior dropped through the hatch beside him.
Vox recognized the second Drexian from the battle at the research facility. He’d stepped over him as he’d escaped, and remembered that the warrior had been more concerned with his injured crewmate than in giving chase.
“You okay?” the second Drexian asked, giving Shreya a questioning glance.
“I’m fine, Dakar.” She exhaled loudly. “Vox is the one who saved me. He’s the reason we’re here.”
“After he abducted you,” Dakar reminded her, but his words weren’t harsh. He walked over to Shreya, putting a hand on her arm and lowering his voice. “Ella has been going out of her mind since you were taken.”
Vox eyed the interaction and felt a twinge of jealousy. How did she know this warrior well enough that he could touch her? Without thinking, Vox took a step toward her, a low growl building in his throat.
“Hold it right there,” the Commander ordered, waving him away from Shreya. “Don’t get any closer to the human.”
The human? Shreya wasn’t just any human. She was his mate.
“It’s okay,” Shreya said. “I promise he has no intention of hurting me.”
“She looks unharmed, Dorn.” Dakar turned and gave her a longer look up and down. “A little less like a scientist than the last time I saw you, perhaps.”
She gave a weary laugh. “It’s been a long few days.”
“Is she okay, babe?” A female voice drifted down from the other side of the hatch.
Dakar grinned at Shreya, jerking a thumb toward the opening in the hull above them. “I wouldn’t let her jump down until I knew the situation.”
“I’ll bet Ella loved that,” Shreya said.
“She’s fine,” he called up. “All in one piece.”
Dark, wavy hair spilled down from the open hatch, followed by a face as the woman leaned her head into the ship. “Seriously? That’s all I get after flying halfway across the galaxy? ‘All in one piece’?”
She saw Shreya, her eyes widening slightly, then her gaze fell on Vox and they popped open.
The Commander cleared his throat, his attention turning to Shreya. “We need to get the hybrid onto our ship so you can stabilize him. Are you ready?”
Vox flinched at hearing himself referred to as a hybrid, but he was comforted by the fact that Shreya would be treating him.
Shreya nodded. “Let me just get Cerise.”
“I’m here,” the tiny alien said, slinking out of the dim corridor and standing close to Shreya.
If the Drexians were startled by the presence of the Perogling, or by her opulent attire, they didn’t let on.
“She’s coming with us back to the Boat?” Dorn asked. “Because we aren’t anywhere near her home world.”
Shreya glanced at Cerise, who nodded vigorously. “Yep. I wouldn’t be here without Cerise. She’s going to be my guest on the Boat.”
Dakar gave her a small bow and a wide smile. “A pleasure to meet you, Lady Cerise.”
Cerise giggled, and Ella groaned from above.
“All right, Romeo,” Ella said with a shake of her head. “Let’s get cracking.”
A pain spiked through Vox’s head and he clutched his temple, listing to one side. Shreya reached for him, but Dorn blocked her.
“Step back,” he said, keeping his weapon trained on Vox.
Even through the haze of pain, Vox knew he needed Shreya near him. They didn’t understand, he thought. They didn’t know she was his mate, and he couldn’t be separated from her.
“Mine,” he choked out the words as he attempted to push Dorn aside to get to Shreya.
Ella yelped from above and Dakar leapt for him, sweeping his arms behind him and forcing him to the floor. He struggled, even though the pain tearing through his temples made his limbs sluggish.
“Don’t hurt him!” Shreya’s cry sounded muffled, as if she was a great distance away. Her voice was muddled, with deeper voices yelling out commands, and even the high-pitched scream of the Perogling.
He bellowed her name and reared up, but the weight on his back was too great. Sinking back down, he flailed until his arms were spent and sweat beaded his brow. Vox felt something cold and hard clamp around his wrists, the metal biting into his skin.
“He’s secure,” the voice above him said, and the weight on his back lifted.
Vox was able to take a full breath, even though his head throbbed and his body screamed in protest. He twisted his head. Where was Shreya? Had they taken her away? Why wasn’t she by his side? Hadn’t she promised not to leave him?
“Is he hurt?” her voice was a choked sob, making his anger flare.
They’d made her cry. He struggled to move. He would make them pay for that.
“You will not take her from me,” he said, lifting his head to meet Dakar’s eyes. “She is mine.”
Dakar tilted his head, as if studying him. “No, but he’s pretty agitated.” His gaze shifted to Shreya. “Does it have anything to do with why he grabbed his head?”
“Maybe,” Shreya said, her matter-of-fact voice comforting. “He’s been having worse and worse pains, which is why he needs treatment ASAP.”
“Get him up,” Dorn ordered. “We need him conscious to climb the ladder up into our ship. We’ll sedate him once he’s on board.”
Vox felt himself lifted by his arms, the round center of the Kronock ship coming into focus again. He saw Shreya and Cerise both staring at him, concern etched on their faces.
He was desperate to reach out to Shreya, to touch her and let her know that everything was fine. He was fine.
“Shreya,” he said, the word a desperate plea. He needed her to reassure him that things would not change between them once they returned to the Boat. He needed to know what he’d felt was real, that they were real.
“It’s going to be okay, Vox,” she said, her eyebrows pinched together. “We’re going to get you all fixed up.”
“Tell them,” he said, looking back over his shoulder as Dakar marched him toward the open hatch. “Tell them you’re mine.”
Her eyes flickered, and her cheeks flushed. He felt Dakar hesitate, and saw Cerise glance quickly up at Shreya.
“He thinks she’s still his captive.” Dorn’s voice was a dark rumble behind him.
Vox shook his head. “Not my captive. My mate.”
The ship went quiet, then the woman hanging down into the ship laughed. “That’s a good one. It would explain the clothes, although Cerise may be wearing the craziest bridesmaid dress I’ve ever seen.”
Shreya laughed nervously, her gaze dropping.
“What’s a bridesmaid?” Cerise asked her.
“He’s delusional,” Dakar said under his breath. “The DNA collapse must be affecting his brain.”
“No, no, no.” Vox fought to twist around and catch Shreya’s eyes. “Tell them I have claimed you. Tell them.”
Dakar sighed deeply as he struggled to keep Vox from lunging across the ship to reach her. “So much for waiting to sedate him.”
The jab in his neck gave way to a serene darkness, and Vox sank into oblivion, relief mingling with fear.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Shreya paced a tight circle in the airy corridor, her footsteps echoing off the curved walls.
“You’re going to wear a hole in the floor,” Cerise said. “The doctors said the surgery might take a while.”
Shreya looked down at the alien, who’d changed from her fluffy dress and wore a simple, blue shift that she suspected might have originated as someone’s tunic. Although her clothes were less dramatic, her towering bouffant and brightly painted face remained unchanged. “What if the injections I gave him weren’t enough?”
“I’m sure they were,” Cerise said. “Didn’t you say you’re a scientist?”
“Sort of,” Shreya mumbled. “I was taken from Earth while
I was still at university—school.”
“Whatever you did made it so Vox was able to reach the station. Now it’s up to the medical team to do their bit.”
Shreya nodded. On the trip back to the Boat, she’d given Vox the injections she’d formulated to stabilize his DNA, but she worried it wasn’t enough. They hadn’t been able to use their jump technology to speed the trip for fear it would damage Vox’s already-fragile system, and every minute had felt torturously slow, even though they flew at near light speed.
He hadn’t regained consciousness once since Dakar had sedated him, which meant she hadn’t been able to apologize for not backing him up. She knew why she’d been reluctant to admit what had gone on between them. The Drexians would think he’d forced her, and Ella would think she’d lost her mind to sleep with her kidnapper. Even she didn’t know why it felt so right when everything about them being together seemed like a bad idea.
She’d only been able to give him the injections and monitor his vital signs, sitting beside his bed for the entire trip and hoping he’d wake up. Cerise was right about one thing. The injections had seemed to stabilize him enough for him to make it back without any further reactions.
Commander Dorn had transmitted ahead, so a medical team had been waiting for them in the hangar deck, whisking Vox away before she even had a chance to kiss him goodbye. Removing the cybernetic implant and its ability to control him was deemed a top priority, and a team of doctors—as well as an medical AI that Dorn assured her was very skilled, if a bit arrogant—now worked to safely extract it from Vox’s head.
Shreya choked back a sob. “What if he dies? They’ve never removed an implant like that.”
Cerise reached up and put a tiny hand on her arm. “He seemed pretty strong to me. I’m sure he’ll pull through.”
Shreya pressed a hand to her mouth and nodded. She didn’t know why she was so emotional over a man she’d only met a few days earlier—one who’d abducted her, no less.
The doors swished open, and a human with long, brown hair and a small, protruding belly emerged. Her gaze found Shreya and she smiled. “You must be the independent Dorn told me about.” She held out a hand. “I’m Mandy, Dorn’s wife.”
Shreya registered that the woman was a tribute bride, and also seemed to be pregnant and in pink scrubs. “Are you a doctor?”
Mandy laughed and shook her head. “I wish. No, I’m learning, though. I work in the medical bay as an assistant. I heard you were waiting outside, so I thought I’d bring you an update.”
Shreya’s breath hitched in her chest. “How is he?”
Mandy smiled. “They were able to remove almost all of the device. The only thing remaining is a strip of metal near his temple, which they’ve left so his body can adapt to the change more easily. But the ocular implant is out and they severed the connections to his brain stem. He can no longer be controlled by the Kronock.”
Shreya released the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “Will he be blind in that eye?”
“Believe it or not, his real eye was underneath all that metal. There’s a decent amount of scar tissue on his face and in his brain, which will take a while to heal, but he’s going to be fine.”
Shreya threw her arms around the startled woman, squeezing her tightly. “Thank you.”
When she pulled back, Mandy cocked her head at her. “Dorn says you were abducted by this guy and held captive in an alien brothel.”
“Where she met me,” Cerise said, brightly.
Shreya’s face warmed. She knew Mandy’s implied question. Why was she so happy they’d saved someone who’d done all those awful things to her? She wasn’t sure she could explain it herself.
“It’s a long story,” she said, hoping that was answer enough.
Mandy gave her a quick wink and rubbed a hand over her belly. “I’ve got one of those, too.”
As the tribute bride spun around to return to the medical bay, Shreya called out, “When can I see him?”
Mandy hesitated in the doorway, glancing inside then back out. “They’re wheeling him into a recovery pod as we speak. If you promise not to excite him, you can come now.”
Shreya glanced down to ask Cerise to wait for her, but the alien already had her hands up. “Don’t worry. I’ll wait for you out here.”
Shreya leaned down and gave her a quick hug. “Thanks. I promise to show you around the station properly, as soon as I see Vox with my own eyes.”
Cerise waved her away, and Shreya followed Mandy through the arched doors. The space was wide and open, with a row of hovering beds running along the far wall. Metal arms extended from the high ceiling, and staff in white lab coats bustled around. Waist-high robots zoomed across the floor delivering trays of equipment and medicine, and Shreya paused to let one whiz past her.
She walked close behind Mandy to the side of the open space, passing through a doorway that led to individual pods, each one with transparent doors. Her breath caught in her throat when she spotted Vox lying on a bed in the first one.
Mandy paused outside. “These are healing pods used after surgery. The Drexians pump in pure oxygen, as well as healing compounds, so I can’t let you stay long.” She lowered her voice to conspiratorial whisper. “But you’ll feel amazing once you leave.”
Shreya barely registered the woman’s words, as she opened the door for her and let her step inside. She was too focused on the changed Drexian, lying there with his eyes closed. Where the bulky, metal device had once covered nearly half of his face, now only a slim curve of metal arched from above his brow to the top of his cheekbone. The skin around the metal looked pink and fresh, with slight puckering.
It seemed strange to see Vox with an eyelid where a blinking red light had been. As frightening as she’d first found that pulsing light, it now felt odd to see him without it.
She fought the urge to touch him as she stood beside his bed, even though the bronze skin on his arms had scant few scaly patches anymore. She suspected it would be back to normal soon, and she breathed a sigh of relief that the injections seemed to have worked. She’d have to wait for additional testing, of course, but it was reassuring to know he was well on the way to being fully Drexian again.
She wondered if he would regain his former Drexian personality. She’d only known him as a part Drexian, part Kronock, part cyborg hybrid, so she was curious how different he would seem to her when he was fully Drexian. Her heart beat faster at the thought of being with this huge, gorgeous creature.
It might take some serious explaining, and perhaps pulling a few strings with the Drexian High Command, but she couldn’t wait to live with him on the station. Not as a tribute bride, but maybe in officer’s quarters like her friend Ella.
He stirred, and her pulse fluttered with excitement.
“Vox. It’s me, Shreya. I’m right here, just like I promised. I never left you.”
His eyes opened, and for the first time she saw them both—that startling, beautiful shade of sea green. He blinked slowly, as if testing them out. “Shreya?”
She leaned closer. “The surgery was a success. You’re going to be fine. Everything’s going to be fine.”
He squinted up, his gaze drifting around the room. “Where am I?”
“You’re on the Boat. We got you back here, and the doctors were able to remove the implant.” She rested her fingertips lightly on the sheet pulled across his waist.
“The Boat?”
“The space station I told you about. The place where you and I are going to live together.” She laughed. “As soon as I explain everything to the Drexians.”
“Shreya,” he said her name slowly, like he was saying it for the first time. He took in her face, his brow wrinkling. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know who you are.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Vox gazed up at the pretty human standing by his bed. Her eyes swam with tears, but he did not know why.
“Are you a doctor?” he asked.
He cou
ld tell by the sterile surroundings that he was in a medical bay of some kind, and the groggy feeling in his head backed up his assumption. The air held a sharp, astringent scent, reminding him instantly of every medical bay he’d ever visited.
“No.” Her voice shook as she spoke, and she pulled her hand back from the sheet tucked around his bare chest. “I’m…don’t you remember me?”
“I’m sorry.” He raised a hand to the side of his head, which was tender to the touch. “My memories are jumbled. You said I’m on a space station?”
She nodded, her dark eyes seeming to search his. “A Drexian space station. Do you remember that you’re Drexian?”
He couldn’t help chuckling a bit. “Well, of course I remember that. I’m Vox of House Kalaff.”
She tilted her head at him. “What’s the last thing you remember before waking up?”
He concentrated on thinking back. “I was on an intelligence mission deep in Kronock space. I found a deserted planet where they were building ships, but ships like we’ve never seen the Kronock build before. I remember trying to send a transmission, and fearing that I’d revealed my location.” He sat up higher in the bed. “I need to tell High Command about the Kronock technology.”
“That’s it?” she asked. “Nothing after that?”
He closed his eyes for a second and remembered something more. “I was trying to outrun a Kronock fighter when I was hit. I must have crashed, but how was I recovered in Kronock space?”
The woman pressed her lips together before giving him a small smile. “I’m glad you survived. That’s all that really matters.” She took a step back. “I’m going to let one of the Drexians explain everything to you.”
He wanted to ask her more, like why she looked familiar when he knew he’d never laid eyes on an Earth female before, but she was gone.
Vox let his head flop back on the pillow. His head ached, and strange images flashed through his mind. He instinctively rubbed his arms, jerking his hand back when his fingers brushed something scaly.