“Mission ready.” As always. Point me in a direction and I’d go kill whatever they wanted me to.
“That’s not exactly what Doctor Helion is asking.” Doctor Mersan moved closer to me with an injector of some sort in one hand.
“Whatever you’re holding, you try to inject me with it, and it will be the last fucking thing you ever do.” I’d never much liked this Prillon. Helion I’d developed a grudging respect for. But Mersan? He implanted Hive tech in females’ brains. Females. And sent them out to find the enemy. No respect for females. He was destructive, not protective.
Maybe I’d just fucking kill him now and save the universe some trouble.
“Calm down, Warlord.” Wisely, he took several steps away from me, not stopping until he was just out of reach. “How are you feeling emotionally? Are you having any problems with your beast?”
His cautious question made the hair on the back of my neck stand on edge. What. The. Fuck. “What do you know about my beast?” I stood, glared at him.
“It’s a simple question. How is your beast? The mating fever? Are you experiencing issues with self-control? Excessive rage?”
If he’d still been around, my beast would have come out to play and threatened the doctor with a violent death. Instead, there was only me. I forced myself to partially transform and played the part, my voice deep and soaked with deadly intent. “What. Do. You. Know?”
Helion stepped between us. “Seen enough?”
“Yes.” Doctor Mersan returned to the data monitors, opening and closing files, reports, test results. All mine.
The sight brought another swell of despair welling up from my gut and into my chest. Nothing about the emotion made sense. Nothing. But the feeling hit me like a punch to my gut and I sat back down on the table in silence. If I’d tried to speak, the only sound I would have made was one of pain.
One did not show weakness to either one of these Prillon healers. Not ever.
An alarm of some sort sounded and Mersan cursed. “I told you. He needs another dose.”
“Dose of what?” I asked.
“Not yet. It could kill him.” Helion had walked away from me as well, both doctors now with their backs to me, their full attention on their medical scans.
“If we don’t do it now, we might lose him. The suppression dose was supposed to be effective for at least two years. It’s only been fifteen months. Look at these intercellular saturation levels. They’re too low.” Mersan picked up the injector in one hand and lifted his other to the screen, pointing at some data that made no sense to me. “See this? We didn’t allow for variation in metabolic breakdown between individuals.”
“What did you two do to me?”
They continued their argument, completely ignoring me.
Dangerous. Stupid. Fucking. Idiots.
I transformed into my beast, took two steps and lifted both Prillons by the backs of their heads, their feet frantically swinging toward the wall, the screens, anything that would allow them to fight back.
Fuck that.
Just to make my point, I lifted both arms higher, until both of their pointed fucking Prillon skulls touched the ceiling of the room. “You going to fucking tell me, or should I crush your fucking skulls and ask someone with some manners to review your records?”
“You don’t sound like a beast, Velik.” Helion’s tone was mildly amused. I squeezed hard enough that I knew he’d need some time in a ReGen pod when I was finished with him, until things started to pop and crackle.
“Go ahead. Do it.” Helion taunted me with a voice I’d never heard before, a voice that sounded as tired as I felt. Resigned. Absolutely without fear. Did the warrior have anything left inside him? Did he have a fucking soul?
I tossed Mersan—and his fucking injector—to the opposite wall, grunting in satisfaction when his back hit, hard, and he slid to the floor. I pointed at him. “Stay.”
If he came at me with that injector, I’d kill him.
Helion I handled with a bit more caution. I turned, carrying him with me, until I could set his ass down on the examination table. I let go and stepped away, my back to their screens, both in sight. “Talk.”
One word. Not a request.
Helion sighed. Of course it would be him. Of fucking course.
“Velik, listen to me. You called me, remember? From Earth? You asked me to send you on a suicide mission. Told me your mating fever was so severe you weren’t sure you would survive another week. Do you remember?”
