by Tana Stone
What was on his skin? He picked at one of the raised, gray scales and flinched when he realized it was part of him.
“I wouldn’t do that unless you want holes in your arm.”
Vox raised his eyes to the broad Drexian warrior stepping into the room. From his uniform, he knew the warrior was a commander, but the long hair told him he was part of Inferno Force. He lifted an arm to his chest in salute.
The warrior saluted back. “I’m Commander Dorn.”
“Vox of House Kalaff.”
“So you remember?” Dorn said, rocking back on his heels.
“My name? Why wouldn’t I?”
Dorn clasped his hands behind his back. “You had an invasive surgery to remove a cybernetic implant from your head. Since it was connected to your brain stem, the medical team suspected there might be memory loss.”
Vox’s fingers flew to the metal strip curled around one temple and his stomach tightened. “A cybernetic implant? I don’t remember that.”
“No? Do you recall being captured by the Kronock?”
“Captured?” His mouth went dry. “Impossible. The Kronock don’t take prisoners.”
The commander shrugged one shoulder. “Not routinely, no. Recently, our enemy has changed its behavior.”
Vox nodded, remembering what he’d wanted to tell someone in charge. “Yes. That’s what I was trying to tell High Command when I was leaving Kronock space. They’re building new ships, massive ships, like nothing we’ve ever seen before, especially from them.”
Dorn did not seem surprised.
“I saw an entire planet they’d turned into a massive factory to turn out ships,” Vox continued. “They’ve got technology we’ve never seen from them before, sir.”
“Oh, we’ve seen it,” Dorn told him.
“I don’t understand.” Vox narrowed his eyes and glanced past the warrior and out the clear door. “How could you have seen them? I’m in military intelligence, and I know we haven’t seen anything like that before. Is this really a Drexian space station or is this some hallucination, because nothing I’ve seen or heard makes sense?”
“I’m no hallucination,” Dorn said.
“Then why do I have scales on my arm and metal in my head? How can you know about the Kronock ships I saw for the first time just a few days ago, and why did a human come talk to me about living on the Boat?”
Dorn sighed deeply. “It’s been more than a few days. You’ve been missing for… a while.”
Vox started at this revelation, shaking his head. Impossible.
“As I said before, you were taken captive by the Kronock.” The commander held a hand up when Vox started to protest. “They experimented on you, injecting you with their DNA in order to make you more like them. It worked for a while and you became a kind of cyborg Drexian-Kronock hybrid.”
Bile rose in Vox’s throat as he stared at Dorn. He didn’t know what Drexian commander would make up such a wild tale, but how did he not remember any of this?
“At some point they outfitted you with one of their cybernetic ocular implants, I’m assuming so they could control you more easily, although we know from records we obtained that they also tortured and brainwashed you.”
Vox cringed as he remembered a jolt of pain and a harsh voice repeating phrases in his ear. “I was on a mission.”
Dorn’s gaze was steady. “Their plan was to use you to destroy both us and Earth.”
Vox’s palms were clammy, and he dragged them up and down the sheet. “How could I help destroy Earth?”
“Their general, whom my brother killed in an explosion, thought if he could successfully merge Kronock DNA with human, he could use that to spread his race throughout the planet. Once they’d invaded, of course.”
Vox remembered an explosion, and he also remembered a general. Krav. A chill went through him as the gnarled Kronock face flashed into his brain. “They needed a human, but Krav had failed. They needed me to take a human.”
“Which you did when we arrived at the research facility to rescue you,” Dorn said. “Luckily, your body was already starting to reject the Kronock DNA, so you became more and more Drexian. When we finally tracked you down, your body had almost shut down. If it wasn’t for Shreya and her ability to stabilize your DNA, you would have died before we reached the station.”
“Shreya,” Vox said. “The human who was in here before you. That’s how I know her. She saved me?”
“She saved you, but that’s not how you know her. She’s the human you abducted as part of the Kronock plan.
Vox felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He’d abducted a woman? “I don’t remember that.”
“Probably for the best,” Dorn said.
Vox’s face burned with shame. No wonder the woman had been so confused when he didn’t know her. “I didn’t hurt her, did I?”
The Drexian commander’s eyes dropped. “She claims you didn’t, but she has not be forthcoming about what did actually happen on Lymora III.”
“Lymora III?” His voice was a hoarse croak. “Why would I take her to that depravity-fueled planet?”
Dorn shrugged. “When we intercepted your ship, you were carrying a Perogling pleasurer, and Shreya wore what looked like a Valoushe dress.”
“How…long?”
“How long were you gone? Approximately six months.”
Vox felt the blood rush from his face. All that time lost…What had he done? What dishonorable things…?” He scraped a hand roughly through his hair. Most importantly, he suspected he owed the pretty human an apology, although he wasn’t sure for just how much he needed to ask her forgiveness.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Shreya slumped in the low-backed chair in her suite while Cerise bustled about the room, opening and closing cabinet doors.
“You must have something to drink in here,” the Perogling said, standing on her tiptoes to open the doors to the wardrobe and then closing them again.
Shreya shook her head. “Not really. I don’t usually do a lot of drinking in my room.”
“There’s a first time for everything, honey.”
“I can’t believe he doesn’t remember any of it,” Shreya said. “I’d understand if he forgot a few things, or some of the details, but to forget everything that’s happened to him since he was taken by the Kronock…?”
“They did have to do major surgery on him,” Cerise reminded her. “And the thing they removed was attached to his brain. He’s lucky he didn’t end up catatonic, or permanently damaged.”
Shreya knew Cerise was right. She should be grateful he’d survived the surgery and hadn’t suffered massive brain damage or paralysis. Especially since he’d been in pretty bad shape when they’d gotten him to the station.
Vox not remembering anything that had gone on between them wasn’t something she’d even contemplated. She’d been more worried about the fallout of them being together, or what would happen to him once he returned to the station, since he’d technically committed multiple crimes against his own people. But this? She never thought she could have been wiped from his memory.
A hard knot churned in her stomach as she thought about the blank look on his face when he’d gazed up at her. It was like he wasn’t even the same person she’d known. Part of him had been removed—the part that had stolen her heart.
Cerise rested a small hand on her shoulder. “He might get his memory back.”
“But the doctors can’t say for sure if he will. They’ve never removed a cybernetic implant from a Drexian brain before. It’s entirely possible he never remembers anything he did while he was under Kronock control, or anything that happened.”
Cerise hopped up into the chair across from Shreya, her legs dangling nearly a foot off the floor. “That might not be such a bad thing. It sounds like he did things he wouldn’t be proud of.”
Shreya swallowed hard wondering if she was one of those things he would regret having done. “I feel like I’ve been ghosted and gaslighted.
Did anything I remember really happen?”
Cerise giggled behind her hand. “As someone who heard a lot of what happened, I can tell you that you weren’t imagining it.”
Shreya’s cheeks warmed. “And he doesn’t remember any of it. I guess I don’t have to be afraid of him thinking I was too wild.”
“That’s not wild,” Cerise said. “You should hear Bulgarvi mating calls.”
Before Shreya could hear more than she probably wanted to about alien mating calls, a series of taps came from the door, followed by a beeping that let them know someone was on the other side. With a sigh, she stood and crossed to the door, swiping a hand over the panel to open it.
“There you are,” Ella said, striding into the room with their friend, True, behind her. She held a bottle of something pink, and a paper bag. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Mandy said you left the medical bay an hour ago. I thought you might be on the promenade, showing Cerise around.”
Shreya gave Cerise an apologetic look. “Not yet. I promised her I’d give her a full tour tomorrow. We’re both pretty wiped out after the trip back.”
True slipped an arm around Shreya’s waist and gave her a quick hug. “We’re all so relieved you’re okay. I knew Ella wouldn’t give up, but when they said you were abducted by a cyborg, I was so scared for you.”
Shreya return the blonde’s hug. “Actually he wasn’t a cyborg. He was a Kronock-Drexian hybrid, with a cybernetic implant.”
True laughed. “Okay, that did not make him sound less scary.”
“By the time we intercepted his ship, he was in a pretty weakened state,” Ella said. “He was babbling a lot of crazy stuff, but he didn’t seem dangerous.”
“He never hurt me,” Shreya said. “And he saved us from some pretty terrifying Xakden.”
True shuddered. “Do I want to know what a Xakden is?”
“Definitely not,” Cerise said.
True smiled at her and held out a hand. “You must be the woman who escaped with Shreya.”
“That’s me,” Cerise smiled brightly. “The day Vox walked into the pleasure house was my lucky day.”
True’s eyes grew wide. “Pleasure house?”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Shreya told her, knowing how easily shocked True was. The pretty blonde had grown up in a very religious family, and was not what you’d call worldly, especially when it came to men.
“Well, we’re celebrating you getting out of there, even if it wasn’t so bad, and finally being back on the boat with all of us other independents,” Ella said, twisting the cap off the bottle.
Shreya pulled several glasses out from underneath a cabinet, and put them on the coffee table. “I heard you aren’t an independent anymore. I heard you moved in with the Dakar on the officers’ side of the station.”
Ella waved her hand as she poured four glasses of the pink, fizzy liquid. “I’ll always be an independent at heart. You know that. But it is nice to be able to be with Dakar.”
Shreya accepted the glass Ella held out to her, feeling a lump grow in her throat. She tossed back the contents as Ella was raising her glass to make a toast.
“Okay, then,” Ella said, eyeing Shreya and reaching for the bottle to refill her glass. When she poured a new one, Ella tilted her head at her. “Are you sure you’re fine? Is there something you aren’t telling us?”
Shreya shook her head, but she couldn’t speak, the tears welling up in her eyes and making her blink quickly. “It’s Vox. He’s forgotten me.”
Ella set her glass on the table without drinking it. “I heard Mandy say he lost all the memories of being with the Kronock and basically having been one of them.”
“Considering the fact that he was tortured and did a bunch of awful things,” True said. “Don’t you think it’s better for him not to remember?”
Shreya pressed the backs of her hands against her eyes. “I know I should want him to forget all of that, but if he forgets everything that happened, then he forgets everything that happened with me.”
She didn’t remove her hands from her eyes, but she felt the room go still.
“What happened with you?” Ella asked
Shreya let out a long breath. “I think I fell in love with him. And he said he wanted to be with me. Our plan was to be matched and live together on the boat.”
“Holy shit,” Ella said. “You fell for the guy who abducted you?”
“I know it sounds crazy, but he changed.” Shreya dropped her hands from her face and saw everyone gaping at her, except for Cerise. “The more Drexian he became, the more I saw who he really was underneath the cybernetic implant and the scaly bits.”
Ella rubbed a hand over her face. “How close did the two of you get?”
“Pretty close,” Shreya said, her cheeks warming.
“So you and Vox…?” True prodded, her eyes wide.
Shreya nodded.
“More than once,” Cerise added with a giggle.
Ella picked up her drink and took a large gulp. “And now he has no memory of any of it, and you still have feelings for him?”
“Of course I do,” Shreya said. “Bloody hell. I didn’t want to fall for the guy, believe me, but I did, and I can’t make myself forget it all in a snap.”
True came over and stood behind her, wrapping her arms around Shreya’s shoulders and giving her a squeeze. “No one expects you to, but what are you going to do if he never remembers?”
Shreya shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to get over it ,then. It’s not like I’m even a tribute bride who could ask to be matched with him. I’m an independent, and I made it pretty clear in the past that I didn’t want to participate in any part of the tribute bride program.”
“I was in the same boat with Dakar, and look at me now,” Ella said. “Anything is possible.”
“But you had a guy who knew who you were.” Shreya’s breath hitched in her chest. “Mine doesn’t even remember my name.”
Ella started pacing across the room. “Then you need to make him remember you.”
Shreya looked up. “How?”
“Maybe his memory loss is like amnesia, and memories can be triggered by seeing or hearing familiar things,” Ella said. “You need to spend time with him, and remind him of things you experienced together.”
Shreya bit the edge of her thumbnail. How could she trigger Vox’s memory, when most of their shared experiences had been on a lawless planet, and in an alien brothel? She couldn’t exactly bring in a Xakden for him to fight, or install a giant X-cross in her room. She shuddered at the thought of both of those. Not even if she’d wanted to, which she didn’t.
“Didn’t you tell me this station is partly holographic?” Cerise asked, sipping the drink that was a nearly identical match to her hair.
Ella snapped her fingers, beaming at the alien. “Why didn’t I think of that? Cerise, you’re a genius.”
Shreya looked at Ella and Cerise grinning at each other. “Why do I have the feeling I’m going to regret this?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Vox raked a hand through his hair as he exited the chamber of the High Command. He’d been drilled so long he’d lost track of time, but one glance at the dimly lit corridors told him it was late.
Commander Dorn came out of the room behind him and clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder. “You did well in there.”
“I didn’t have the answers they wanted.”
Dorn shrugged. “You can’t tell them what you don’t remember.”
“All those things they said I did…” He let his words trail off, not sure if he could give voice to his question.
“It wasn’t you,” Dakar said, emerging from the High Command chamber and joining them in the hall. “It was the creature they made you into.”
Vox put a hand to his head, flinching when he touched cool metal. “Apparently, I still carry traces of that creature.”
“The doctors will remove that last part once you’
ve healed a bit more,” Dorn said. “My mate tried to explain it to me. Something about the scar tissue that had formed around the implant and not wanting to shock your system too much by removing everything at once.”
“I thought maybe it was to mark me as a former traitor,” Vox said.
“We all know you were a victim of the Kronock,” Dakar said, his expression earnest. “We all read the documents outlining what they did to you.”
“I recall flashes of pain and a Kronock voice, but little else,” Vox told them. “I wish I could tell you and the High Command something more useful.”
“There’s a possibility that the Kronock designed the implant to destroy your memories if it was removed,” Dorn said. “My mate went into more detail about it, but to be honest with you, I didn’t understand half of what she said.”
Dorn motioned for them to start walking down the corridor and the Drexians fell in step with him.
“She is the one who attended me in the medical bay?” Vox asked, remembering the woman with long, brown hair and the protruding belly. “The one who is…”
Dorn nodded, a grin spreading across his face. “Pregnant? Yes, although she refuses to stop working.” He frowned. “She claims Earth females do not lie around during their pregnancies.”
“She brought another female to see me,” Vox said. “The one I abducted.”
Dakar exchanged a glance with Dorn. “Shreya. She worked with us to develop the injections that stabilized your DNA. She’s the reason you’re alive.”
Dorn swiped a hand in front of the inclinator panel, and they stepped into a sleek compartment with pulsing lavender light.
Vox swallowed hard as the inclinator dropped down and then rotated to the side. The station was so different from the Drexian battleships and outposts he was used to, and he found the bright lights and soft colors unsettling. Everything on the Boat smelled too good, or felt too smooth, or was too quiet. Even the music piped in everywhere made him nervous. Where were the sounds of battle, the smell of burning fuel, and the wide expanses of dark metal that he knew to be Drexian?
