"Get down here now."
"I can't." Frustration bled through Tarrick's voice. "There's a solar storm rolling in. My instruments are already going haywire. I'd be flying blind through electromagnetic interference thick enough to fry my navigation systems."
"How long?"
"Four hours. Maybe six. The storm front is massive, Cristox. If I try to land now, I'll crash, and then we're both useless to her."
Six hours. I looked down at the woman in my arms, her face peaceful for now, completely unaware of the chemical time bomb ticking through her bloodstream. Six hours that might as well be an eternity.
"Keep your comms open," I said. "The second that storm clears..."
"I'll be there. I promise. And Cristox?"
"Yeah."
"You know what you need to do. It might be the only way to keep her alive."
I closed my eyes. "Don't."
"If she wakes up before I get there, the venerem will burn through her system. Her heart could give out. The only way tometabolize it, to process it out of her body before it kills her, is to..."
"I know what it requires." My voice came out harsh.
"Then you know you might have to fuck her."
The words hung in the air between us, brutal and clinical. Venerem was designed to be metabolized through sexual activity. The biochemical cascade of arousal and release broke down the compound's molecular structure. Without it, the drug would continue building in her system until her body couldn't take it anymore.
"She can't consent like this," I said. "She's unconscious. Drugged."
"She'll die if you don't. And if she wakes up in the grip of it, she'll be in agony. The venerem will make her desperate, Cristox. It's designed to force compliance, to make the victim beg."
I looked down at her face, so beautiful and peaceful. The thought of touching her like that, of using her body even to save her life, made my stomach turn. But the thought of watching her die, or worse, watching her wake in the grip of chemical hell, burning from the inside out...
"If it comes to that," Tarrick said quietly, "you won't be taking advantage. You'll be saving her life. That's all."
But we both knew it wasn't that simple. Nothing ever was.
The connection went silent, leaving me alone with her and a countdown I couldn't stop.
I carried her deeper into the cave, finding a chamber that offered both shelter and concealment. The stone was cool, the air still and quiet. I laid her down on the flattest section, then pulled emergency thermal blankets from my pack, using one to create a makeshift bed beneath her and covering her with another.
My medi-kit had limited supplies, but I found what I needed. A broad-spectrum sedative that would keep her under, hopefully buy us time. Maybe enough time for her body to process some of the venerem naturally, though I knew that was wishful thinking.
I pressed the injector to her neck, watching the hiss of compressed air deliver the dose. Her breathing deepened, evened out. Peaceful.
Goddess, she was stunning. Even now, even like this—unconscious, drugged, vulnerable—she took my breath away. The curve of her cheek, the way her lashes rested against her skin, the soft part of her lips. Her hair spilling across the thermal blanket like liquid sunshine.
Under any other circumstances, I would have been the one begging. She was exactly the kind of beautiful that made males stupid. Made them reckless. Made them willing to do incredibly foolish things for even the smallest smile.
I would give anything—anything—for this to be different. For her to be safe, unharmed, free to walk away or stay as she chose.
But that wasn't the hand we'd been dealt.
I settled against the cave wall across from her, close enough to monitor but far enough to give her space. To give myself space. My weapon rested across my knees, though the real threat wasn't something I could shoot.
The first hour passed in silence. I watched her chest rise and fall, counting her breaths. Normal. Steady.
The second hour, I let myself relax slightly. Maybe Tarrick was wrong. Maybe the dose hadn't been as high as we'd feared. Maybe her human physiology processed it differently.
