"Mumje."
My stomach lurched. "No."
"Cristox—"
"No." The idea made me sick.
"The symptoms match," Tarrick said quietly. "Fever, altered consciousness, hypersexual behavior directed at whoever's nearby when it peaks. How long has she been with you?"
I gazed down at her unconscious form, and how her chest rose and fell with shallow breaths. "Twenty minutes, maybe more. She escaped the compound before passing out."
"Goddess." Tarrick's voice was tight. "Cristox, mumje doesn't just make them compliant. It rewires them. Bonds them to whoever they're with when the drug fully activates. She kissed you?"
"Yes." The word came out strangled.
"Then you're already in her system. Her body's trying to imprint on you."
I felt sick. Mumje was illegal on every civilized world in the Alliance. It stripped away free will, turning sentient beings into devoted slaves who would do anything—anything—for the person they bonded with.
I looked at her face, peaceful now in unconsciousness, and wanted to put my fist through something. She hadn't chosen this. Hadn't chosen to run, to find me, to kiss me. The Kwado had taken her choice away.
And I'd kissed her back. I felt like an ass.
"How do I fix this?" I asked.
"Depends," Tarrick said grimly. "If she only got mumje, you can keep her sedated until it wears off, but..."
"But what?" I demanded.
"Remember those dead humans we found on Uridian Prime?"
My stomach roiled. Of course I remembered. Three females left in a room to die.
"Alliance medics determined they'd been given mumje along with something else. Venerem."
This just kept getting worse.
"Venerem." I spat the word like poison. Because that's what it was. An aphrodisiac so potent it turned its victims into creatures of pure need, their bodies burning with a craving that wouldn't stop until it was satisfied... or their bodies gave out.
"Slavers use it," Tarrick said quietly. "On the ones who fight too hard. Mumje makes them devoted, but venerem makes them desperate. They'll do anything to ease the ache."
I glanced down at the woman in my arms, and rage flooded through me. The Kwado had done this to her. They’d pumped her full of chemicals designed to break her, to turn her into a willing participant in her own enslavement.
"If she has both in her system..." I began.
"Then she's going to wake up with a sexual need that will feel like dying," Tarrick finished. "The combination is what they use on high-value merchandise. The kind they want broken fast and completely."
"How long does venerem last?"
"Seventy-two hours. Maybe more, depending on the dose. And Cristox?" His voice dropped. "If she doesn't get relief, if the craving isn't satisfied, her body will shut down. Fever, seizures, organ failure. The humans on Uridian Prime died becausewhoever dosed them left them alone. They burned themselves out."
My arms tightened around her unconsciously. "What are you telling me?"
"I'm telling you that keeping her sedated might not be enough. If the venerem is strong enough, her body will fight it. And if she wakes up with that drug in her system..." He didn't finish. He didn't have to.
"There has to be another way."
"Not if you want her to survive."
