CALLEY (RIBUS 7 Book 3)

by Shae Mills

  “And look what happened to me at the Emperor’s own hand,” she countered.

  The mere mention of her ordeal with Ticees caused Fremma’s emotions to fester. “If anything should happen to you at the hands of your fellow man, my Lady, I will hold myself solely responsible, for I could never forgive myself for any harm that were to befall you.”

  Chelan pushed back from him, the burden he carried plainly etched on his features. “No, my gentle warrior, it’s my responsibility alone.”

  Fremma looked away. “I guess I am just as afraid as Korba is of your possible loss.”

  Chelan shook her head and took his face in her hands. “No less than I fear your loss. But these thoughts will only drag us down. Please, Fremma, all will be fine. And as far as the factions on Lethos II are concerned, I am no longer on Iceanea, having been whisked away to some heavily fortified Iceanean outpost. That’s what is most critical. And remember, on my world, I’m in control.”

  Fremma conceded and nodded once. Chelan settled back against his chest. He stroked her long silken hair, its golden brown ends reaching past her firm round bottom. It was time to broach the next issue. “Whelan should check you over sometime soon.”

  Chelan felt her stomach knot. In her hasty retreat from Iceanea, leaving Stose behind had been a major oversight. Whelan was the ship’s chief surgeon and Fremma’s personal doctor, but Chelan had no desire to see him. “What for?” she asked grimly.

  “I made the request. You should have a thorough checkup before we release you. We want to eliminate all potential risks to you as best we can.”

  Chelan rolled her eyes. “You know what I think of doctors.”

  Fremma laid his cheek on her head. “I can stay with you if you wish.”

  Chelan shook her head. “I will be fine. When?”

  “Anytime.”

  Chelan reluctantly retreated from the Warlord’s comfort and stood, her dread blooming. “Don’t you have any female doctors on board this damn ship?”

  Fremma furrowed his brows. “Actually, I’d never thought of that. We have many.” Suddenly, he was angry at himself for his lack of insight. With the ease his people had with their bodies and exposure, no one ever requested one gender over another except sometimes during birthing. He had been examined numerous times by female doctors and had thought nothing of it. Therefore, it had never entered his mind that Chelan’s discomfort would be further aggravated by male doctors. He looked up apologetically at her. “I wish I had at least thought of Stose in the beginning. I could look down the roster for you in the future, but regardless, for this exam, I still want you to see Whelan. He’s the best.”

  Chelan turned toward the door. “It’s okay. I will survive. And I might as well get it over with, so I’ll go now.” Without any more deliberation, she disappeared out into the corridor.

  Instantly, the usual contingency of guards snapped to attention and accompanied her to her destination. Chelan signaled to them to remain outside as she entered through the main medical doors. They sealed shut behind her and there she stood, deathly still. She looked around the area, the stark whiteness causing her to shudder. Suddenly, the doors at the opposite end opened, and Chelan jumped.

  Whelan entered and stopped just inside the room. He bowed to her. “My Lady. Fremma just messaged me to inform me of your arrival. I am happy to finally meet you.”

  Oh bloody good, Chelan thought to herself, but she remained mute. The man was young and of the usual flawless Iceanean mold. He was muscular, about six-foot-nine. But unlike Stose, he donned the traditional black military uniform, a fact that made her even more uneasy. She looked at the long blue-black hair that framed his handsome face, his bronze skin highlighting his gracious smile.

  Whelan took a tentative step toward the young Empress. “I am sorry that I render you ill at ease.”

  Chelan tried to paste a smile on her lips. “It is nothing personal, Whelan. I just had a few bad experiences with a doctor back on Earth. I am afraid my phobic reaction has surfaced once again.”

  Whelan paused. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “Change your profession,” Chelan blurted with a nervous laugh. Then she took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself. She studied the large man closely. “Doctor Stose always wears a loose-fitting white jacket and pants. Actually, he is the only man of the Empire I have ever seen in anything save a military uniform.”

  Whelan shrugged. “For me, this is more comfortable. Besides, Doctor Stose was not a warrior. Right now my time is taken up with preparations and research, but when we are in battle, I am just as likely to be fighting as caring for the wounded. I dress as the other warriors.” Whelan took another tentative step toward her. “If you would prefer, my Lady, I will change. I will do anything you require to lessen your disquietude.”

  Chelan chewed at her lip. She had come to trust Stose unconditionally, and he wore white. The doctor in black shook her, but she tried to banish her fear. Finally she mustered the courage to speak again. “So, what do you know of me?”

  Whelan smiled. “Why don’t you accompany me to my office, where we may sit down while we talk? We will both be more comfortable that way.”

  Chelan straightened slightly and walked toward him. “Lead the way.”

  Whelan turned and showed her into the room Chelan remembered as Stose’s office. There she sat down and waited for the doctor to do the same.

  Whelan dragged a chair up close to her and seated himself. “I know that you are Korba’s mate and that you are of Calley. What else I know of you has come from Fremma. He has made me privy to your needs and your fears. I know of your Earth encounter as well as that with Ticees.”

  He paused as he peered into her bewitching eyes. “And I know that you are far from comfortable with me both as a doctor and as a man. But your well-being is foremost on our Commander’s mind. And since you are Korba’s mate as well as Fremma’s, you are also one of my main concerns. You will be out of reach for an extended period of time. It would be most unfortunate if you were stricken with something I could have prevented.” Whelan stopped and studied the young woman once more, but her pretty features were now unreadable.

  “We have doctors on Calley,” she stated flatly.

  Whelan nodded. “I know, my Lady. You are not required to endure my services. I merely offer them. However, I think Fremma will be more insistent on your compliance. Additionally, your Earth medicine is far less advanced. It would be much more prudent to take care of any problem areas here.”

  Chelan looked away, allowing her composure to slip a bit. “I am sorry, Whelan. Even after all these years I am staggered by the enormity of my fear of a simple exam. It is something I alone cannot shake.”

  “I would never dare to say I understand. But if you wish to talk, I would be honored to listen, to provide any insight I can, and to offer support.”

  Chelan smiled with warm appreciation. “Thank you, Whelan. But I suspect there is nothing you could do for me. I have been over my ordeal more times than I can count. I understand where all my fears stem from, but despite my insight and all my logical thought processes, I cannot quell my visceral responses. On Earth, Calley, we have doctors for this sort of thing, and maybe the Empire does too.” She hesitated. “I suppose I should tackle it, but I have coped thus far.”

  Whelan looked down at the floor between them. “I will never touch you without your consent, my Lady.” He looked back at her. “I am a professional, and your health is my priority. But whether you permit me to do my job or not is your decision alone. Not even Fremma would force you. You have the control.”

  Chelan was beginning to feel embarrassed over her crippling trepidation. But each time she tried to pull herself together and grant him permission to examine her, she felt ill. Though she knew she was free to leave, she felt she could not face Fremma if she refused the exam. She swallowed hard as her tremors began to surface. “Okay,” she whispered. “What do I do?”

  Whelan remained stil
l. He watched as her small hands shook, her breathing becoming shallow. He could smell her fear, and now he doubted his own ability to deal adequately with her. But he had to try, and he would tackle any crises as they arose.

  Finally he stood. “If you would accompany me to a private room, we may begin.”

  Chelan forced herself from her chair and followed the ebony figure into an adjoining room. There, Whelan pointed to a solitary examining table. “I will need you to disrobe, my Lady, and lie there.”

  Chelan slumped back against the wall and folded her shrouded arms tightly across her chest. She wanted at least a sheet, but she was too embarrassed to ask.

  Whelan hesitated. “Do you want me to get Fremma?”

  “No,” she whispered.

  Whelan nodded. “While you undress, I have to prepare the computer here to receive the data on you.”

  Chelan watched as he headed over to the austere workspace, his back turned. Closing her eyes and clenching her jaw, she began the daunting procedure of removing her shroud and uniform. She laid them on a chair and then hurried to the table as the frigid air assaulted her sensitive skin. She hoisted herself up onto the table and drew her knees up to her chest, surrounding her legs with her arms. She rested the side of her face on her knees and allowed her long locks of shimmering hair to cascade over her in an effort to ward off the cold and reduce her exposure.

  She watched Whelan’s back muscles work as he manipulated a touch screen and then extract some equipment from hidden shelves. She wanted to close her eyes against him, yet she feared letting him out of her sight.

  Finally, he turned to face her, and Chelan paled at his advance. Nausea invaded her and she had to quell a nearly irrepressible need to bolt from the massive man.

  Whelan was momentarily taken aback by the beauty now partially exposed to him, the fear in her large brown eyes causing him to hesitate. His war-hardened mind told him to strike fast and put her out of her misery while his higher thoughts told him to shelter and protect the Emperor’s mate. The strength of the conflicting emotions nearly caused his head to ache. But he had to quash his feelings. He could not compromise or threaten her in any way, and supreme control was his only ally.

  Finally, he showed her a metallic tube. “I need a blood sample, my Lady, primarily for the cancer screening.”

  Chelan nodded and removed her death grip on her legs with one arm, presenting it to him. She watched as he pressed the tip of the tube into the crook of her elbow, the hidden mechanism engaging. When he removed the cylinder, Chelan looked down at her arm. Her eyes widened. There was no blood, not even a mark. She looked over at Whelan and watched as he pushed the tube into a receptacle in the tabletop and the whole thing disappeared. Instantly a large screen danced to life, coded results flashing.

  Whelan turned to her. “The test results,” he told her unnecessarily.

  “Don’t you need to inject me with a marker first?”

  “The marker is in already in you. Stose would have done it on a previous exam. It has a very long half-life. It would only need to be boosted approximately every twenty of your Earth years.”

  Chelan nodded and then straightened slightly as he approached. He reached for her face and held her firmly as he looked into her eyes, then tenderly felt along her jaw and neck. “The scanners would normally do all of your exam, my Lady, but your physiology is a little different from ours. I am afraid I must become accustomed to you in more primitive ways. Some of the analysis produced by the scanner that I will use shortly will compare you to Iceanean standards. Therefore, some results may indicate abnormalities when in fact there are none.”

  Chelan nodded again but quailed at his touch. She then diverted her attention to his hands. She did not know if she liked his gloves or not. The ebony material shielded her from his touch in a way, yet it made him just that much more inaccessible and cold. But his ungloved hands would make his touch even more intimate, and that she did not need. However, she did not have much time to analyze her feelings.

  “Okay, I need you to lie down on your back. The scanner will pass over you and provide the computer your body readouts. Hopefully, Stose will have normalized as many of the parameters as possible to your own standards.”

  Chelan felt as though she was about to faint, and lying down became almost a necessity. “If you have such sophisticated scanners, surely they can penetrate our uniforms.”

  “They can with ease, and in the battlefield, removing a uniform only would waste valuable time. However, this scanner also has an optical eye that searches the surface of the skin for anomalies, physiological or foreign.”

  Chelan’s nervousness lessened significantly, her fretfulness replaced by her genuine interest in the technology. “What images will it supply?”

  Whelan smiled. “Oh, it is wondrous indeed! It penetrates and scans everything without radiation. Then it feeds all the information into the medical computers, which can separate out all the body systems for individual analysis. I can call up just the muscular system, the vascular, the nervous, the lymphatic—you name it. Then I can superimpose any number of systems as indicated by the exam, the injury, or the illness. The computers can also manipulate the images into any 3-D perspective I may require.”

  “So, you don’t need to do individual scans for different areas of the body? This is a one-scan deal?”

  “Exactly. And all the data on everyone is stored for comparative purposes. Another scan done on you ten years from now could be superimposed over this scan and results compared. Degenerative issues are picked up that way. And if we are ever in need of measurements for a surgical procedure—say, a joint decimated by ordnance—we can reconstruct the joint to the specifications of the individual from their previous scan.”

  “Wow…” was all Chelan could say. Then a conversation she had had with Shan drifted into her thoughts. “A warrior I once knew told me that your people have two femoral arteries feeding each lower extremity. You will then be able to see that I only have one per side?”

  “Oh, easily, and the computers will alert me to that anomaly, even though it is not one for your kind. This is where any standardizations done by Stose will be most valuable.”

  Chelan’s head filled with questions. Then another thought sliced through her mind. Her wide eyes skated to Whelan’s. “Oh god. I bet there is virtually nothing the scanners will tell you concerning those comparisons between us.”

  Whelan’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you say that?”

  “All the exams Stose ever did on me were back during Ticees’ reign. Because of the Guild, Stose never recorded anything. He used his own computer and then destroyed the files. All information was given to Korba verbally. As a result, I never knew what parts of my anatomy matched the Iceaneans and what did not.”

  Whelan frowned. “Well, then, I have my work cut out for me.”

  Chelan felt panicked. “What happens if the scans do not compare well?”

  “Then I have to rely on what my hands and eyes tell me, along with information supplied by you. We will sort it all out. And for anything truly nebulous, I will do additional tests.”

  “More tests,” she whispered with dread. Chelan released her legs with a start and crumpled to the table. She turned her face from him and closed her eyes. “Just my luck,” she mumbled.

  Whelan himself felt strangely queasy. Things had suddenly gone from bad to worse. And the worst was yet to come. Her sudden full exposure sent a bolt of electricity through him that struck him to the core. His first impulse was to reach out and touch her, his second to retreat from the room. He had always heard of the woman’s beauty, but he had never experienced it. He ran his hand through his long hair. Today was not going to be a good day.

  Forcing himself back to the task at hand, he hit a button and a scanner began to descend from the ceiling. A roving optical eye and beam emitter equipped with numerous highly sensitive receptors then began to traverse the length of her body, its lowest point only centimeters from its subj
ect. With the initial pass complete, it returned to its previous spot.

  Whelan dared to look back down at her, feeling slightly more in control. But the sight of her heaving breasts caused his muscles to tighten. “To your left side, my Lady,” he ordered as benignly as possible. “Watch, as the table is narrow.”

  She rolled away from him and then held very still.

  Whelan hit the button again and the scanner repeated its motion. Whelan’s eyes followed over her shapely hips to her firm round buttocks, and once again he warmed. Suddenly he was struck with the salacious vision of the beautiful alien under him as he entered her. He shook his head. “Over to your stomach,” he ordered, almost harshly.

  Chelan complied, relieved to be on her stomach, and she pressed her arms tightly to her sides.

  Whelan took a moment and looked down at the floor. Finally he smiled to himself. This exam would certainly go down in his history books. Though he knew it was hard on her, only a few other select men would know how hard it was on him, and he shook his head again. “Okay,” he whispered. “Other side.”

  Chelan turned toward him but did not open her eyes. Whelan waited for the scanner to complete its pass and then allowed it to return to its elevated home. With relief, the young warrior stepped over to the computer console and began searching through the data.

  Chelan let out the breath she had been holding but then froze at the sound of his voice as he approached her. “Okay, my Lady, onto your back once again.”

  Chelan groaned and fought the urge to cover herself, but she willed her hands to remain at her sides. Finally she looked up into his azure eyes. They were soft and warm, his gaze almost tranquilizing.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I think so,” she whispered.

  Whelan took her arm and raised it up by her head. He pressed into the underside of her arm and then allowed his fingers to traverse down to her underarm. There he pressed firmly. He looked into her eyes. “Tell me if I hurt you in any manner.”