by Morgan Hawke
“But you should have been on your arrival. Rehkyt are not supposed to see their captors.”
Fallon turned toward his voice. “It was kind of hard to avoid seeing him. He tracked me for three days.”
“So I heard.” A warm moist cloth landed then slid across her shoulders.
She jumped and her heart thumped in alarm. There wasn’t a damned thing she could do to avoid it. She heaved a sigh in defeat.
The cloth skimmed across her breasts. “Most targets don’t even know they are being stalked until they’re taken. We blind them at capture and set them in harness before we begin processing. You, on the other hand, were dosed by your taker before you arrived.”
“Among other things.” Fallon shivered with the visceral memory of being taken over the saddle of Sobehk’s glider. Illicit heat stirred in her belly. “I understand the rig ...” She was a prisoner after all. “Why the blindness?”
“Rehkyt are blinded to avoid accidental impression.” Mohr’s hands drifted up to the metal band of her collar. “They’re allowed their sight when they meet their masters for the first time.”
Fallon shivered slightly. “What in bleeding fury is ‘impression’? I keep hearing it, but I don’t get it.”
Mohr sighed softly and his fingers lifted from her throat. “Impression is the physical dependency a rehkyt has for their master.”
Fallon stilled. Physical dependency?
His fingers slid down her arm to the straps around her left wrist. “We blind rehkyt because they will often imprint on the first person they see when they complete processing. The procedure makes them emotionally unstable and imprint-vulnerable. Compare it to hatchlings that will claim the first thing they see as their parent.”
Fallon shook her head. “But I’m not a hatchling, I’m a human!”
“You are not human.” Mohr snorted. “You are rehkyt . A creature designed specifically for carnal pleasure.”
Carnal pleasure, my ass ...Fallon set her teeth. She’d heard enough. “Thank you for dinner.”
“You’re quite welcome. Are you ready to sleep?”
Fallon frowned. “I don’t know if I can ...” A huge yawn interrupted her. “On second thought ...”
Mohr chuckled. “Sleep well and sleep deeply, Isabeau.”
Fallon smiled sourly. “I’ll do my best.” Her augmentations buzzed just a tiny bit. Was that the collar? She was sucked under before her thought completed.
* * * * *
There were people talking.
Isabeau started awake.
“Oh, sensitive!”
“The chart says feral.”
Hands stroked her arms.
She jumped.
“That would explain her reactions.”
Hands closed tight around her upper arms.
“Relax. No one’s going to hurt you.”
They unfastened her and pulled her from the harness. The metal floor was warm under her bare feet. Hot damn! Her hands were tugged together at the base of her neck.
“Keep your hands there.”
Fallon’s augmentations locked them in place. She groaned in disappointment and stretched. She was still utterly blind, but at least she was out of the rig. “Am I going to see Sobehk?”
There was a shared chuckle. “Not just yet.”
Abruptly they switched languages.
Fallon sighed. If they didn’t want to talk to her ... well, fine. Her translator had a hard time understanding their language, but the bulk of it came through pretty clearly. It wasn’t anything momentous. They were chatting inanely about people and places she didn’t know. Thank the Maker she had done some tinkering with her programs or she wouldn’t have picked up a word.
Hands caught hold of her upper arms and tugged.
Now what?
They marched her out of the room and down the hall. She was turned to the left and they entered a room that smelled strongly of water and soap. A facility? She heard a hissing spray and then hot water spilled across her. She yelped in surprise and jumped under their hands.
“Watch it! Don’t let her fall.”
“I have her. Get the soap.”
Hands and cloths moved over her entire body, cleaning every last finger and toe, and everything in between. It smelled like there were only two of them, and she only heard two voices, but it sure as damnation felt like there were a lot more. And she couldn’t move a bleeding inch to avoid them!
Something was smeared in intimate places only to be rinsed away, taking intimate hair with it. Tubes went in to clean areas that had never seen cleaning before, triggering bodily functions of the most embarrassing kind.
One of them chuckled. “I don’t think she likes this.”
“Think not?” The other snorted. “She’s only been growling since the water started.”
Fallon stiffened. Growling? There was a low-grade rumble in her chest. She stopped it, but it took effort.
They stilled.
“Does she have her language downloads?”
“Not according to her chart.”
One of them leaned closer to her ear. “Pet, would you like your nipples pierced with pretty little rings?”
My nipples pierced? Fallon jerked back, not that it did any good.
“Well, well. Someone has a talented translator.”
Fallon winced. Shit ... She shouldn’t have moved and given away that she knew what they were saying. But, damn it, it was freaking hard to hold still. It was like something had scoured away every drop of self-control she ever had.
The other one chuckled. “Relax, pet, this is only a bath. Wait till they send you to the groomers.”
“Don’t scare her! The poor thing is a nervous wreck already.”
Fallon scowled. Poor thing, my ass. Get close enough for me to bite you, and I’ll show you a nervous wreck!
Her attendants continued bathing her with a disgusting amount of humor. She was moved this way and that as they scrubbed, pinched, prodded, and inserted oil-slicked fingers into embarrassing places.
They scrubbed her dry and rubbed some kind of scented cream into her skin, their strong fingers massaging her sore muscles. If it hadn’t been so damned humiliating, she might have actually enjoyed it. They buffed her finger and toenails and trimmed her hair. For some odd reason her hair seemed to be longer than just to her shoulders. From what she could feel, the stuff had grown long enough to reach almost the middle of her back.
When they finally headed out, Fallon was exhausted.
They walked down the hall and through a doorway. She smelled her own scent and cleaner. They had cleaned her room while she was gone. She did not want back in the harness, but she wasn’t given a choice. Fucking control collar.
Someone walked in. It smelled like Mohr.
Fallon rolled her eyes. It was getting to be a serious pain in the ass identifying people by their body odor. Damn it, she wanted her sight back.
“Well, now, that is much better.” It was Mohr, all right, and he sounded insufferably cheerful.
“Thank you, we do try,” one of them said dryly.
“Were you aware that her translator is picking up Skeldhi?”
Fallon ground her teeth. Tattletale .
“Really? How interesting.” Mohr didn’t sound cheerful anymore. “I wonder how much?”
“From what we could tell, quite a bit.”
“I see.” Mohr sounded positively annoyed.
Fallon felt a completely irrational sense of triumph. She bit down on her lip trying to hold back a sudden smile, and almost pierced herself with her fangs.
Mohr moved to Fallon’s side. “Go to sleep, Isabeau. Now.”
The command brought a sizzle through her augmentation. He’d used the damned collar. The shit ... Fallon had time to take another breath and sleep sucked her under.
Chapter Nine
Fallon awoke stiff and fuzzyheaded for no good reason whatsoever. Her nose barely had time to register that Mohr was in the room with her, when she fel
t something being unplugged from her data jack. Swiftly and efficiently, he unfastened her from the rig. Groggy and blind, Fallon was shoved onto her feet and her hands pulled to the small of her back.
“Keep them there.”
Her arm augmentations jolted slightly, locking her hands in place. Damn it. She groaned. There was a nagging bruise in the middle of her chest that she couldn’t rub because her hands were trapped behind her.
Fallon rolled her shoulders, but the ache in her body wouldn’t go away. “What in fury did you do to me?”
Mohr’s hand closed on her shoulder and he turned her. “Your third nanite dose. One more dose to go and your processing will be complete. Walk.”
Fallon walked. “Where are we going?”
“Medlab.”
Sobehk ...Fallon stretched her stride.
Mohr snorted. “Are we in a hurry?”
Fallon frowned. “I’m going to see Sobehk, right?”
His fingers bit into her shoulder. “That’s A’syr Sobehk to you, rehkyt , and yes.”
Fallon gritted her teeth. Bastard . But he was taking her where she wanted to go.
A sharp turn to the left, a mechanical hiss, and Fallon smelled antiseptic and blood. They were in the medlab. Sobehk’s rich scent washed over her. He was somewhere close by. Her heart clenched then thumped hard.
Mohr tapped her shoulder. “Wait here.” His footsteps moved to the right. He took a long pronounced step.
Fallon frowned. He must have stepped through a doorway. She waited about four heartbeats then turned to the right and followed, sliding her feet across the floor to keep from tripping or knocking into something she couldn’t see. Her toes encountered something hard. Lifting her knee and pressing forward told her that she’d either found the wall or a door. She caught a nose-full of the medic Tah’s scent ... and someone else’s.
For no good reason, every hair on her body shivered upright. Danger ... Alarmed, she rolled to the right, pressing her shoulders back against what she hoped was the wall and not the door.
Voices murmured. Fallon focused on her hearing and waited for her augmentations to take over. The murmurs became distinct speech.
“Did you do any conditioning on that rehkyt whatsoever?” Mohr sounded annoyed.
She sucked in a sharp breath. They were talking about her.
“Why, did she bite you?” Sobehk’s voice was soft, breathy, amused, and cut through her heart like a knife.
Sobehk ... Fallon blinked moist eyes. He lived.
“She’s defiant, disrespectful, and flinches when she’s touched!”
Bitch and complain. Fallon rolled her eyes. Mohr was whining like one of her damned instructors from the institution.
“She’s feral! What did you expect?” Sobehk released a snarl. “She just needs proper care and thorough reconditioning.”
“What she needs is a thorough beating.”
Fallon snorted. Mohr was in a pissy mood.
Sobehk laughed. “She is a Prime! Of course she needs a beating!”
Tah chuckled softly. “An experienced upuaht nehkyx should have no difficulties.”
There was that guard dog word again, but Fallon’s translator completely tripped over the following word. Too many holes in her language context archives. She puzzled over it, but the translator refused to accept the word. There was no context for it. It had to be outside her experience.
“Proper care and training? That’s all? You’re sure?”
Fallon frowned. She didn’t recognize that masculine voice at all.
“Damned sure, Khan. I followed her for three days. She’s feral but not heartless.”
Fallon couldn’t stop the curl of warmth that bathed her heart. Sobehk didn’t think she was heartless.
“It took three days?” Khan snorted. “Why didn’t you leave her?”
Sobehk sighed. “I couldn’t.” His voice was so soft Fallon barely heard him. “That station was ... awful. I couldn’t leave her there.”
There was something in Fallon’s eyes. She was forced to wipe them against her shoulder.
“We’ve had a number of fear-based reactions, but she’s shown no signs of overt aggression, merely a strong instinct for survival.” Tah’s voice seemed calm, but a thread of annoyance was also apparent.
“You’re saying that she learned to fight like that for survival?” The disbelief was crystal clear in Khan’s voice. “Even in rahyt she displayed a suspicious amount of control. That leads me to believe that she is quite accustomed to dealing violence.”
Fallon tilted her head. According to her context translator, that rahyt word seemed to be connected to “rage” and “insanity.” She had no clue where her internal comp had picked it up, but it was interesting to know.
“Did you look at the file on that rodent-run station? Of course she’s used to violence!” Sobehk sounded like he was pissed. “But not once in three days did she attack anyone or anything that didn’t attack her first!” A growl rumbled. “She’s feral with damned good reason, but she’s not a killer by nature.”
Fallon felt a smile nudge her lips. He was defending her. Damn...
Khan sighed. “Even if everything is as you say, an internal inquiry must still be done.”
“I’m not arguing with that.” Sobehk growled softly. “Just be nice.”
“Nice?”
“You heard me.”
Fallon’s brows shot up. Nice? This from Sobehk?
“I’ll do my best.” Sour amusement colored Khan’s voice.
“You’d better.”
Fallon heard footsteps approaching. Shit! She scooted along the wall away from them and bumped into something that felt like a chair. There was a subtle metallic hiss on her immediate right.
“Isabeau?” It was Mohr.
She turned to face him. “Here.”
“You were supposed to stay where I left you.”
Fingers dug into her upper arm. She winced as she was tugged and turned around.
“Not particularly obedient, are you?”
Fallon snorted. “Not my style.” Never was, probably never would be.
“Now there is an understatement.” Mohr sighed and caught both her upper arms. He grunted, lifted her off the floor and took a long step forward.
Fallon bit back a small sound of alarm.
He set her down and released her arms. “Go on.”
She took a small step forward. She could smell Sobehk directly in front of her. Tah’s scent seemed to be coming from her right. She heard the softest rustle of fabric on her left. The other person, Khan ... The hair on her neck rose. Trap ... She froze and barely stopped herself from turning to face the sound. “I need my eyes.” She wasn’t moving a muscle without sight.
Silence ruled for about three breaths.
“Let her see.” Sobehk’s voice sounded tired, but firm.
There was a subtle shimmer through her augmentations. Fallon shivered. What were they doing now? The deep darkness began to fade from her vision. She blinked in the sudden brightness and realized that she was staring at the foot of a chrome medical bed in a rather small steel gray room. The wall behind the head of the bed blinked with a holographic display covered in incomprehensible streams of data.
Sobehk sat propped upright under a pale gray blanket. His hair was unbound, a sweeping fall of frost that draped off the side of the bed. He was dressed in a cream robe open across the chest. Dark bruises stood out against skin nearly as white as the bandages around his middle. His face seemed hollow and dark smudges lay under his tired blue eyes. “Hey, kitten.” He smiled. “You look good.”
“I had a bath.” Fallon stared, completely unable to look away from Sobehk’s pale and bruised form. Blood and damnation ... he was alive. “You look like shit.” She winced. Why in fury had she said that?
Sobehk grinned. “Thank you. I feel like shit, too.” He patted the blankets. “Come here.”
She started forward, jerking at her hands pinned to her back. She needed the
m. She needed to touch him. A small distressed sound escaped.
Sobehk held out his hand and glanced to her left.
Fallon’s augmentations shimmered and her hands were free. She lunged across the small room to the left side of his bed and grabbed his hand with both of hers. She pressed her nose into his warm palm then stared up at him. He was real, he lived. Her heart tried to shatter in her chest. His image smeared as her eyes overflowed.
“Hey, don’t ...” His arm curled and he leaned toward her, pressing her head against his chest with his free hand. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
She closed her eyes and heard the steady thump of his heart under her left ear even as the rich perfume of his skin filled her head. She opened her eyes and her gaze dropped to his bandages. He lived, but ...
She jerked back but didn’t release his hand. Her lips curled back from her teeth. “You big stupid bastard!”
Sobehk blinked then scowled. “What?”
“Don’t you ever do that again!” Her fingers dug into his hand. “I told you he was fast! You should have let me handle him!”
Sobehk’s lips curled back from his teeth. “You? I’m supposed to ...!”
“Supposed to what?” She shouted over top of him. “Supposed to get dead? I’m faster than you, you stupid, egotistical idiot! Don’t you ever do that shit again!” She jerked one hand free and punched the mattress for good measure. “Do you hear me? Don’t you ever put yourself in danger like that again!”
Sobehk’s hand clenched tight around hers, and the dark heart of his blue eyes shifted to feline slits. His mouth opened and he released a coughing roar that rattled the instruments on the back wall. “You listen to me, you little pain in my ass!”
Fallon flinched back, but she refused to look away. She dug her fingers into his hand and the blankets.
“I’m the master -- you’re the rehkyt! I’m the one that’s supposed to protect you!” A growl thundered in his chest.
Fallon opened her mouth, but her shout died in her throat. “What for?”
Sobehk blinked and gaped. “What for?” He rolled his eyes. “That has got to be the stupidest question ever to come out of that mouth of yours!”
“You and your big fat ego!” Fallon jerked on his hand. “You should have let me take him! I’m faster and better at fighting than you!”