The words silenced the entire room as every warrior present absorbed the two women’s reactions. We’d all been labeled outcasts. Less. But veteran was a term of respect offered by our Queen. We’d protected our people and survived the worst hell imaginable. Her acceptance and support was a balm, but it also hurt, like ripping the edges of a freshly healed wound. But it was a pain I welcomed.
“There is no doubt some on the Colony abuse Quell, but not everyone,” I countered.
Doctor Surnen rose to his feet and acquiesced with a nod. “I do not mean to offend, Lady Rone, but based on these test results, Captain Brooks was one of them.”
Rachel looked down at the captain, still on the floor. “I just spoke to him not long ago. He submitted to the brides testing protocol yesterday, seemed eager to be matched. A warrior drowning himself in illegal drugs to ease his agony, wouldn’t have gotten tested,” she countered. Yes, she’d picked up on the doctor’s ill-chosen word.
“You are new to the Colony and do not know the mental anguish we face,” the doctor countered. “You saw how upset he was by having the Hive integrations.”
“That is true,” Rachel replied, clearly thinking of the man stripping off his shirt during a dinner with the Prime. Would that have been appropriate behavior at an Earth function? “But I know Earth men. And I know human physiology and how our bodies react to drugs. That was my job.”
“Yes, and you poisoned and killed hundreds of people.”
I snarled, taking a step toward the doctor, Ryston beside me.
“Careful,” I growled, my hands clenching into fists.
Prime Nial stepped between us. “You will apologize to Lady Rone. You know nothing of her time on Earth, or her past. I believe in her innocence, as do her mates. By baldly stating otherwise, you disrespect their match, the governor of your base, as well as me, the leader of all Prillon people.”
The doctor looked contrite, but only for being called out by the Prime, not because he felt mistaken for his words.
He pursed his lips, bowed his head. “I apologize, Prime Nial. Governor.”
“Fuck this. Don’t apologize to us. Apologize to Lady Rone,” I bit out through clenched teeth.
“My deepest apologies, Lady Rone.”
Rachel waved her hand in the air as if none of the men in the room were of any consequence and spoke to the Queen. “Quell in the captain’s system means nothing. It doesn’t indicate how it got into his system. Maybe he took the drug himself. Maybe not. Maybe, he was poisoned with it. Has that drug ever caused that effect before, the black streaks in his skin?”
“No.”
She was right. I’d never seen anything like that before today. While I sensed my mate’s anger and frustration at the doctor, I was also proud of her and amazed to catch a glimpse of her scientific brain at work. There was no time to waste. We needed to learn the truth about the captain’s death. If the cause was nefarious, then we needed to gather the evidence now. Any vague guessing by the doctor or anyone else would only hinder the investigation. And doom more warriors to the same fate.
And if I was in danger, if my people were in danger, I needed to know. Now. I no longer had the luxury of patience. I returned my attention to the doctor.
“Any death on the Colony is to be investigated. A quick pass with the ReGen wand is not sufficient, Doctor. Take him to the medical station for testing. The truth must be discovered.” I turned and faced Rachel, cupped her cheek. “No matter what it is.”
She blinked her dark eyes. We both knew that sometimes the truth wasn’t what we wanted to hear. And no matter what the truth might turn out to be, I had complete faith in her ability to remain objective. The rest of us, the doctor included, I did not trust in this regard. We all had too much bias, too much at stake. We had all accepted the easy answer, the expected answer, too readily. Quell. It had been a problem for several years, and no sooner had we chased one supplier from the planet, another always seemed to rise to take his place.
I looked to Rachel briefly, then glanced at Prime Nial. I saw his mind at work as my mate’s words sank in. I didn’t sense any doubt in her statements, only steadfast objectivity. Looking to Ryston, I saw the second his mind understood what she was suggesting.
The Prime was not a man to mince words. “You’re suggesting something more sinister is going on here? That this was murder?”
Rachel shrugged, but looked our leader in the eye. “I don’t know. The doctor’s initial test may be correct. Captain Brooks could have simply overdosed on Quell. Initial indications with your…wand thing, I’m sure, are accurate to a certain degree. But they do not provide all the details. I only knew him a short time, but he did not strike me as a drug addict. He was smart and had a wicked sense of humor. We should not limit our focus. If something truly is happening here, then that kind of assumption is exactly what your enemies would want you to do.”
“What enemies?” the Prime asked.
Rachel shrugged. “I am new here and don’t know the politics.” She glanced at me. I knew politics and if Rachel was considering the possibility of murder, then we were in trouble.
A med team came into the room bearing a stretcher. They swiftly scooped up the captain’s body and covered him with a sheet.
“Take him to the morgue, but I want a guard on him until we arrive. Pull all the samples needed for testing, but I want the body to remain until Rachel is finished with her examination.” The warriors carrying the captain nodded and left the room as the doctor’s face turned a dark shade of orange.
“Me?” Rachel asked.
“Yes. You. Your expertise will be needed as well.”
The look she gave me then was…well, there was no word for it. It wasn’t love. It wasn’t hope. It wasn’t surprise. It hurt a little, the fact that she hadn’t expected me to include her, to have her think I didn’t consider her smart enough, that her education and experience didn’t warrant her participation just because she was…what? A female? From Earth? Just a mate?
Hell, the Colony was a place where everyone felt left out, felt useless, unnecessary. Defective in the head just because an eye had an optical implant, or the muscles in the arm had been contaminated with biosynthetic Hive technology. I knew, as all the warriors on the Colony did, exactly what it felt like to be cast aside. Worthless. Weak.
I wouldn’t do that to Rachel. Not only because she was my mate, but because she was her. No one on the Colony would want her to feel inept or incompetent. My mate was much more than a female to fuck. Her mind was like a computer, already working through possible answers. Thinking. Asking questions we hadn’t thought to ask. She was an outsider and a scientist who may have discovered a veiled problem on our planet. She was perfect. Strong. And so damn beautiful my heart hurt just looking at her.
“I am perfectly capable of performing an autopsy, Governor.” Doctor Surnen crossed his large arms over his chest and scowled.
Speaking of fucking politics. “I know, Doctor. I do not doubt your abilities. But Rachel is a stranger here, and a doctor on her world. She studied human bodies and how they work. I ask you to allow her to assist, to look for something that we, as Prillons, might miss.”
“Excellent idea,” Prime Deston agreed. “Never underestimate a woman, Doctor. She is human. Allow her to honor her fallen friend.”
The doctor glanced from me to my mate and his shoulders slumped. “Of course. Lady Rone, you are welcome in my lab.”
“Thank you.” Rachel’s soft voice carried and it seemed like a spell had been broken. Everyone who had been frozen with shock suddenly seemed to reanimate at double speed. Dishes clattered as the tables were cleared. Voices rose in volume as speculation ran rampant through the room and those who had witnessed the captain’s collapse spread the word. Soon, the entire planet would know what had happened here. And we needed to be able to give them answers.
“Doctor, gather your team and determine the exact cause of death. If Captain Brooks has a hair out of place, anything suspi
cious or out of the ordinary, I want to know about it.”
The doctor inclined his chin, turned on his heel and walked away. When I stood with Rachel tucked into my side, Ryston beside her and the Prime, Ander and Queen Deston in a small circle, the Prime’s frown made my skin crawl.
“You know what this means, Governor. I’m sorry.”
Fuck. I was afraid this would happen. “Let’s not make the announcement right away. I don’t want the men to lose hope, not when the taste is so fresh on their tongues.”
Rachel’s hand slid down my arm and her small fingers wrapped around my wrist. “What is he talking about? What announcement?”
Prime Deston looked down at my mate, his eyes clouded with regret. “No more brides.”
“What? Why?” Rachel’s hand tightened like a vice.
“It’s too dangerous,” I answered.
She shook her head as I continued.
“We can’t bring brides here, Rachel, not until we know exactly what’s happening to us.”
“It’s one man. Just one.”
“No, love. I’m afraid it’s not.” I looked at Ryston, who nodded his head and I shook my arm free of Rachel’s hold and rolled the sleeve of my dress tunic up far enough to expose the Hive implants. The Queen’s soft cry assured me I’d made my point even before Rachel’s fingertips traced the silver lines of the implants, and the black maze that spread like a web from shoulder to wrist just below the surface of my skin.
“What? When did this happen?” She lifted her gaze to mine, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “You didn’t have this last night when you were…”
Naked and buried balls deep? Making her whimper and shiver and beg for release? No. A few hours ago, I’d had nothing to worry about. And now, I had the precursor of death spreading in my flesh.
***
Rachel
My mates escorted me down the color-coordinated hallways to our suite. They remained silent. I could sense their anger and hostility, but I was deep in thought. Sadness. Captain Brooks had not died from an overdose. While he had been upset at what the Hive had done to his body, he was a fighter. I refused to believe he would submit to the brides program’s testing, and then drown himself in drugs. And right before a formal dinner?
No way. I knew pain. I’d witnessed countless people fighting for every last ounce of breath as cancer ate them away from the inside. I knew what defeat looked like. And Captain Brooks had not looked defeated. He’d looked mad as hell, bitter but proud, ready to give this life a chance.
Submitting to the brides program testing was the first step, and he’d taken it. All of the warriors on the Colony had the same anguish at being changed by the enemy, but they were not alone. Everyone had the same horrible things happen to them. But they survived and were building new lives, a new planet.
Perhaps the captain had taken Quell. Perhaps he was using it to ease his mind. No doubt he had PTSD along with everyone else. That didn’t mean he died because of it. The black streaks, the duration it took for them to develop, it didn’t lead me to think it was an overdose. There was something else at play here. I wasn’t a clueless, eyes-on-the-microscope scientist any longer.
Been there, done that. The naïve fool who’d trusted the company CEO to do what was right instead of what was profitable was long gone. I’d spent lengthy hours in my prison cell growing very familiar with how the bad guys worked, how they deceived.
The door slid silently closed behind us. Ryston grabbed a weird-looking black thing, something like a TV remote from a table by the door and hurled it across the room.
I jumped when it smashed into pieces, scattering on the floor in a shower of jagged shards. His rage was not quiet or controlled. It crushed him like he was a grape beneath a giant’s boot. His fear and anger were leaking from him as if he’d been torn in two.
The image of Maxim’s arm haunted me even as I walked to the S-Gen unit and stepped onto the grid. “Medical uniform.”
I gave the unit the order and stood quietly as the machine did its job, scanning and removing the dress I had been wearing and replacing it with something I felt much more comfortable in. The dark green clothing felt thick and warm, comfortable and flexible, like scrubs back home. Soft, warm boots covered my feet, like forest-green suede with cotton lining. Comfortable. I could work in them for hours. Hours. Days. As long as it took to find answers.
I smoothed my hand down over the fabric and took a deep breath. This was my armor. This was a battle I knew well, one I would win. Captain Brooks deserved justice, but that was not what drove me now. I was going to the medical station and I was going to figure this out. I would not lose my mate. I refused.
“Maxim.” His name was barely more than a whisper, but he heard me. He closed the distance between us and pulled me into his arms as Ryston paced like a wild man at my back.
Maxim was just as upset as Ryston, but he kept his feelings in check. Had I not known him well, I would assume it was because he was governor and that required some…diplomacy. But after spending three days with him, I knew calm, cool deliberation was simply his nature. But, that did not mean he was less affected. Ryston’s rage burst from him in a storm of destruction. Maxim’s rage was still bottled up inside, contained, an abyss of ice-cold fury eating him alive from the inside out. But his breathing and heart beat were steady. His hands did not shake. If not for the collar, I would not even know he was upset.
“That doctor is an asshole,” Ryston bit out.
He spun around and came over to me, his feelings hitting me like waves pounding the beach. I wanted to step back, but I didn’t. Instead, I turned to face him as he closed the distance between us. The aggression I felt through his collar wasn’t directed at me, but he sought something that only I could give him.
Remarkably, it was a hug. His arms came around me and pulled me into him. My feet came off the floor and he lowered his face into the crook of my neck, just breathing me in.
With the side of my head pressed against his chest, I could hear the steady beat of his heart, feel the warmth seep from him and into me.
“I’m sorry, mate. I should not have lost my temper.”
I shook my head, as much as his hold would allow, at his rough tone. “Don’t be. I want to throw something as well.”
Maxim’s soft words made me shudder. “You believe there is something sinister going on. That we are being poisoned? Hunted like prey?”
At Maxim’s words, Ryston released me, set me back on my feet. He turned me so my back was pressed against him, one of his big hands on my shoulder.
“I don’t know,” I said. It was the truth. “As a scientist, I have no evidence to support it, at least not yet. If the doctor is correct, then Quell was the cause of Brooks’ death.” I walked to him and pushed at his sleeve. I needed to see his arm again, look at the web of death working its way through his skin. “But have you taken Quell?”
“No. Never.”
“Let me see.”
Maxim complied by removing his shirt completely. Concerned as I was, I could not ignore the beauty of his heavily muscled chest and shoulders, the dark, creamy smoothness of his skin. I lifted my index finger and traced a single line of the black mark from biceps to shoulder. In the last few minutes, it had spread farther, moving at least two inches higher on his shoulder.
“Son of a bitch.” I pushed at him and he complied, turning away so I could inspect the growing marks that now touched his back. “This is moving fast. We don’t have a lot of time.”
Maxim turned, his hand closing over mine. I looked up at him and saw the whole freaking universe in his gaze. He believed in me. He was literally placing his life in my hands. “Rachel, you are a well-respected research scientist from your planet. You must find the answers we need.”
“I’m not sure Doctor Surnen will cooperate.”
A pulse of anger came at me from Ryston. “Fuck the doctor.”
I turned to him. “What about you? Do you have creepy black stuff spreadi
ng through your flesh? I don’t want any more surprises.” I turned to frown at Maxim. “Or secrets.”
Ryston turned to me, his right temple clearly on display. “I don’t know, mate. You tell me.”
I leaned forward eagerly and pulled him into the light. With a sigh of relief, I turned his face and tugged him down for a quick kiss. “No. Thank God.”
Knowing Maxim was in danger was terrifying. But if they’d both been in trouble, I wasn’t sure if I would have been able to cope.
Lifting my hand to muss Ryston’s perfect golden hair, I pushed him away and reached for Maxim. “I’m going to figure this out.”
“I have faith you will.”
“You could die.” The words were barely more than a choked whisper.
“If I do, you must vow to keep working, mate. Others will need your help.”
I shook my head in denial, but he cupped my cheeks in his large hands and lifted my face to his. “Promise me. No matter what happens to me, you won’t give up. You’ll keep fighting, for Ryston, and for the others.”
I could deny him nothing. “I promise.”
He kissed me, hard and fast and all too briefly. “We don’t have a lot of time. We need answers. Captain Brooks was a good man. A human. You know more about your species than Doctor Surnen. I need you to figure out what is happening to my warriors.” He looked down at his arm. “And to me.”
Chapter Eleven
Rachel
Working in the medical station, I felt like a water skier handed a snowboard and shoved down the side of a mountain. Sure, in theory, skiing was skiing. Balance. Weight shifts. Dancing with gravity as you raced over the surface. But this lab was different than anything I’d ever seen before.
A medical officer named Krael jumped to assist me the moment I’d walked in. The doctor ignored me, which was fine. But I didn’t like their instruments. I didn’t trust what I couldn’t see or measure myself. There was too much room for error in their gadgets. Who did the programming? How did I know whoever had calibrated the things even knew what they were doing? And were they designed to be used on a human being? Or were they full of alien physiology only?
Surrender To The Cyborgs (Interstellar Brides: The Colony Book 1) Page 11