The doctor lifted a ReGen wand and stepped around Captain Mills to reach me. Within moments of the blue-green light activating, she moved the scanner from forehead to thighs and back again, a frown taking over her pretty face. “This is… I don’t understand. This shouldn’t be happening.”
“What? What’s wrong?” I felt fine. Based on my animalistic attraction to Mikos, better than fine.
“There are toxins in your blood I’ve never seen before.”
“I feel fine.”
She was ignoring me now, in full doctor mode. She walked to one of her control panels and started going through screen after screen of data faster than I could track, let alone have any hope of reading. I wasn’t a medical person anyway. Might as well be trying to read Greek. After a few tense moments of silence, Doctor Moor stood up and offered me a weak smile that did nothing to make me feel less like I was dying. “I’ve sent a message to Doctor Surnen on The Colony. There is a note here that he signed regarding someone from Rogue 5.” Her gaze darted to Mikos. “Makarios of Kronos Legion? Is he a Forsian hybrid? Like you?”
Mikos nodded. “He is. He was the first of us to acquire the antidote.”
“Too bad he disappeared.” The doctor mused out loud like the only person in the Coalition Fleet with the antidote going missing was no big deal.
“What do you mean, he disappeared?” I’d been on this battleship for almost three years, been on more missions than I wanted to remember. Why had I never heard about any of this?
Doctor Moor read directly off a screen. “Makarios of Kronos Legion claimed Gwendolyn Fernandez was his mate. They vanished.” The doctor chuckled. “Looks like Helion’s been hunting them for a long time.” She glanced over her shoulder with a grin. “She’s human. Like you.” Her attention returned to the screen. “There is a large quantity of redacted material here. I wish I could tell you more.” She chuckled. “Sneaky bunch, you humans. Have a talent for finding trouble.”
We did? Trouble? Like being bitten by a Forsian hybrid? Did that count?
“If I can’t get answers from Doctor Surnen, I’ll have to go straight to I.C. Command.” She blinked too quickly, her gaze darting back to her screens like she fought a compulsion to get back to her unfinished puzzle. “That might take a few days, depending on Mersan’s mood.”
“What about Helion?” Captain Mills asked. Commander Helion was the most notorious asshole in the Coalition Fleet, and the head of the Intelligence Core. Even I knew that.
“He retired. Well, mostly. He’s on Prillon Prime now with his new mate. Doctor Mersan took over his position as head of the I.C. Don’t worry, Mersan should have what we need.”
What was so secretive about the Forsian bite that the Intelligence Core felt the need to encrypt the data in the first place?
Maybe the bite injected a love potion. A brain-washing aphrodisiac that would turn any woman into a crazed sex-fiend willing to do anything to get some skin-on-skin action and a few orgasms. I wasn’t even looking at him, but I would swear I could stillsmellhim, a mixture of something like pine, spices, andman.Hot, musky, powerful, man.
Alien. Whatever. He smelled like sex, and orgasms, and…safety. Protection. Power.
Or maybe I was just going crazy, having a strange reaction. Maybe almost dying made me need to feel alive. At the moment, I couldn’t think of any better way to accomplish that than to take Mikos of Astra Legion for a nice, long ride.
“We do not have time for the Coalition’s political games, Doctor. I speak the truth. The essence injected is deadly. Many males have watched their mates die an unspeakably horrifying, painful death. I would never have injected my essence into the female had she not been dying. The risk is too great. But what’s done is done. Breanna Parks is alive. To remain so, she must come with me to Rogue 5 immediately.” Mikos's deep voice was monotone, devoid of all emotion. It was like he was reading a script.
“How long does she have?” Henry spoke for the first time, his weapon sliding back into its holster. “How long before whatever you injected starts killing her?”
I froze like a deer in headlights when Mikos’s gaze focused on me once more. “I do not know. You stopped me before I could give her everything I had to heal her.”
“Sorry about that.” Henry didn’tsoundsorry. Not at all.
Mikos snorted as if he didn’t believe Henry’s pathetic attempt at an apology either. “Be grateful she survived. Had she not, I would have to kill you.”
Henry’s hand returned to rest on his blaster as Mikos continued.
“If I must guess, I would say four or five days before the pain sets in. Depending on her overall condition, another three or four days until her death. I cannot be sure.”
“Four days?” The words tumbled from my mouth, shock cooling my libido enough to let me think. A little. In four days, I was going to be suffering, in pain, and dying of poison? “How long does it take to get to Rogue 5?” I’d heard of the place. It was in Sector 437, just like Battleship Karter. But each sectorof space wasbig.I’d tried to wrap my head around exactly how large, and come up with something like Earth, the sun and the rest of our planets, times ten? Twenty? I still wasn’t sure.
“If we transport to Zenith, I will acquire a ship. Depending on the ships available, the journey could take several days.”
“So I’ll be dead before we get there?!”
Mikos shook his head. “I will not allow it. I will acquire a ship with a ReGen pod. That will slow the poison’s effects on your body. You will be under my protection.” He stood up straighter, became bigger, as if that was even possible. “You have my word, female. You will be safe. But we must go as soon as possible.”
He wouldn’tallowme to die? As ridiculous as that sounded, I found his vow oddly comforting. For some reason I could not fathom, I believed him.
As he finished, the door to the medical area slid open and Commander Karter himself stepped inside, his lovely human mate, Erica, at his side. “Report, Doctor.”
