Chapter Two
His eyes snapped backto hers, and she could not miss that he took in her figure, drifting lazily over the bare skin exposed by her rumpled tunic and her half-removed leggings. “You will comply with the doctor’s requests, or you will be punished. Your training will begin shortly so you will come to know what that means.”
He looked at her archly, and just as her mouth began to open, he cut her off.
“I suggest you do not test my patience, until such time as you are aware ofhowyou will be punished for doing so.”
Lana’s mouth hung open.
The man held up a finger and shook his head.
Her bottom throbbed again, reminding her of the harsh spanking she had received. She could not bear any more spanking, that was for sure. She snapped her mouth closed and looked at her knees, her face hot.
The man exited the room without so much as a goodbye.
The doors opened with a hiss after several terrifying, lonely moments with the guard breathing next to her.
A human man in a long white coat stood in the doorway. He was slipping his hands into a very tight-fitting white set of gloves as he walked into the room. Just behind him stood two very large, dull-witted Pratean guards. They were a race of brutish but easily controlled aliens, who the Imperial Realm contracted for their strength and the factor of intimidation they inspired.
Lana had never seen one so close. They were twice as large as humans, humanoid in their facial features, but their skin was dark and reptilian in appearance. Their yellow eyes made her tremble.
The threesome entered, and the doctor looked coolly at Lana.
Then he followed her gaze and looked briefly behind him. “Oh, them,” he said, in response to what Lana knew must be the terrified expression she was wearing. “Behave yourself and you need not be concerned with them. I am told you are quite the... resistant... young lady.”
Lana, in spite of her fear, felt her hackles getting up again.
Who the hell didthisguy think he was?
She pressed her lips together and glowered at him. She would ‘behave,’ because her bottom was far too sore for her to imagine doing otherwise. But she would only behave as long as she needed to get herself out of this mess.
She certainly wasn’t going to be ‘property of the Imperial Realm,’ or trained, orbred, as that awful commander had suggested.
The doctor looked amused at her reaction and looked down at a computational tablet he suspended in his left hand. “I need to ask you some general questions before we begin the examination. Youdospeak Anglais, of the planet Earth, am I correct?”
She glared at him.
Perhaps she could pretend that she didn’t.
He folded his arms and cocked his head, speaking several languages from Vipheon that she did understand and a few she didn’t, asking her, in each language, if she understood what he was saying.
Then he returned to Anglais, and said indifferently. “I suppose I will just have to proceed with the examination, then.”
Her heart raced as he approached her, and she strained against the restraints. The Prateans’ eyes shifted to her and gleamed with menace, as the hair on their scruffy backs stood on end. They clutched their weapons tighter. Lana recognized them as stunners, not lethal or even causing permanent damage, but designed to mimic electrical stimulation. She had it on good authority that the long sticks could cause extreme pain, and she had heard the stories of their use in interrogations... there was a reason for the size and shape they were.
The doctor approached her and put his hand under her chin. It was the gesture of a fatherly figure, a little demeaning, a little familiar. He tilted her chin up and looked down at her. “Now, Katalana, you can either cooperate with me or feel the Pratean Stun Stick for yourself.”
Lana could not stop herself; she twisted her head defiantly and out of the man’s grip, and struggled against her restraints.
The doctor, still looking amused, stepped back and motioned for one of the Prateans to move close to her. She closed her eyes tightly and her muscles tensed, waiting for the sting of the stunner.
