Page 6 of A Monster’s Future

Why had no one told me this?

I sent Dana a “what the fuck!” look, and she looked just as confused as I was. Don’t tell me the grumpy, overprotective medic found out I was going and decided to play chaperone. Oh, hell no!

“Why is she here?” Grtirr demanded.

Oh-ho! So he didn’t know I was going.

“Julie is not healthy enough to join us on this trip.”

Not this crap again!

“Says who?” I demanded. “According to my medical reports, I’ve had normal kidney function for over a year, and I have no deficiencies. I’m in perfect health.” I hadn’t wanted to go on this trip at first, but now that Grumpy Grtirr was actively opposing it, you betcha I was going if it was the last freaking thing I did.

“Grtirr.” It was Krxare who spoke. “We had her medical files reviewed, and they say she is more than healthy enough for this trip.”

“She isn’t going.” Grtirr reached for me.

The moment we touched, my heart started the stupid racing thing it did whenever he had to touch me for my medical screenings. But before he could snatch his hand away like he usually did, Ashtrr was there putting himself between us.

The two growled at each other until Krxare yelled, “Enough.”

Chris stepped forward, looking like he had no patience for any of this on a day like today. “Julie will be there on behalf of the Ellaston Gazette. If you have a problem with it, the expedition can proceed with one less guard.”

Then Chris hooked his arm through mine, and we started walking toward the ship.

“Thanks,” I whispered for his ears alone.

Then, as if that simple action decided it, everyone was wishing us good luck, and we were all filing into the warship. Was an entire warship overkill for transporting less than two dozen of us and a handful of sample ore? Sure, but the other parties involved and everyone else watching this monumental exchange didn’t need to know the warship was mostly empty. The point was to make everyone think we had a whole damned army.

It was a fake-it-till-you-make-it sort of deal. We couldn’t actually bring more people with us, because Nova Vita would use this chance to attack Ellaston otherwise. Guerrilla tactics always came in handy for the underdog.

“I’m sorry about that,” I said as Chris guided me to the seat I was supposed to stay in for the duration of the liftoff. “I don’t know what the head medic has against me.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s his problem, not yours,” Chris murmured before moving over to his seat.

The seats were more like pods, with harnesses that held us in place and a clear, glasslike shield that closed over our faces and bodies. Since none of us humans had actually traveled in space before—except Kat, who’d been off-planet once with her former corrupt politician boss—we were supposed to wait for a Kadrixan to come make sure we were strapped in properly.

Just take a wild guess who showed up to fix mine.

You got it! Mr. Grumpy Medic himself.

Chapter 4: Grtirr

Nobody told me Julie was going to be on this trip. Avoiding her had been the reason I’d decided to volunteer in the first place.

After Chris and Julie had walked away, Krxare had approached me and quietly given me the option to step down from the mission. And a logical warrior would’ve done just that. It would’ve solved my problem. Julie would be off-planet, and I wouldn’t have to worry about avoiding her.

But the thought of her alone on the human space station was enough to have my instincts roaring and my brain making illogical decisions. Not that she’d actually be alone; there were many people, both human and Kadrixan, with her. But I didn’t trust any of them with her safety. None of them would protect her the way I could.

And then there was Ashtrr.

My claws dug into my palms as I stalked down the shuttle’s aisle, checking restraints with more force than necessary. Ashtrr had given her an overly friendly smile. It was too warm and familiar, like he’d already had a claim on her. As if he knew her in an intimate way.

The thought made my blood burn.

Every year since her arrival, I sent her the same damn message: "You have not been cleared for participation in the rut." Then I locked myself in the bowels of the stronghold, in the ship’s lower decks where no one ever went, where I wouldn’t have to hear the sounds of the pleasure and rutting.

When the need became unbearable, I’d emerge, find a willing female, and do what I had to do. They were brief, empty encounters, a means to clear my head so I would not become violent and harm those around me. There had been no pleasure in it, at least not for me. It was like my body somehow already knew that Julie was my mate and being with anyone else was sacrilegious.