Mateer

by Veronica Scott

  MATEER: A Badari Warriors SciFi Romance Novel

  (Sectors New Allies Series Book 2)

  By

  Veronica Scott

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  About the Author

  Other titles by Veronica Scott

  Copyright 2018 by Jean D. Walker

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, places, characters and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Cover Art by Fiona Jayde

  DEDICATION

  To my daughters Valerie and Elizabeth, my brother David and my best friend Daniel for all their encouragement and support!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Julie C and The E-book Formatting Fairies!

  CHAPTER ONE

  What in the seven hells did I eat for dinner? Drowsy as if waking from a deep dream, stomach churning, Megan Garrison attempted to sit up and found herself lying on a metal table, restrained at the ankles and wrists. She was in her nightgown and robe, and she vaguely remembered curling up with a good book and falling asleep. Next came jumbled memories of floating in the air, paralyzed – a terrifying nightmare she’d assured herself. And now this. “Please, someone help me,” she said, turning her head from one side to the other. “I’m going to throw up.”

  She stifled a scream as a bright yellow alien with pink hair, wearing a drab green coat that made him look like a lab tech to her, stepped to the table. He was shadowed by a guard in full black battle garb, face concealed by the visor of his helmet, weapon drawn and aimed at her.

  “Eat this,” the tech said in passable Basic, thrusting an open packet toward her lips while activating the table to tilt up at the head. Clenching her jaw, she twisted to avoid the forced nutrition until a second guard intervened to make her hold still while the tech broke off a chunk of the energy bar and forced it between her teeth.

  Megan had no choice but to chew, the taste reminding her of spinach mixed with moldy cheese, but her stomach began calming down immediately. As soon as she could swallow the last bites, she said, “Who the hell are you people? I demand you let me out of these restraints.”

  The tech put a water bottle to her lips. “Drink. You’re dehydrated.”

  She glared at him and refused.

  “Have it your way.” He shrugged. “You don’t get off the table until you’re in nominal condition. I have other subjects to monitor.” Turning his back, he walked away, the guards following.

  “Wait. Wait!” She wanted out of the restraints desperately. “I’ll drink the fluids.”

  “Good.” The alien strolled to the tableside with a broad grin of triumph, extending the bottle to her mouth.

  Megan took several long swallows and clamped her lips together before saying, “I can’t take any more right now.

  Without a word, the tech left her and his guard followed.

  “Hey!” she yelled, “You said you’d let me out of these restraints if I drank enough water.”

  The tech ignored her. Megan decided he must know as well as she did that a few swallows of water weren’t truly enough to relieve dehydration.

  Feeling a bit revived, although with annoying droplets dribbling down her chin, Megan glanced around to find there were five other people bound to tables arrayed close by, each in various stages of the nausea and recovery cycle, as she was. Stasis syndrome most likely. But why? This was nowhere on her colony world, and she’d never seen aliens like the ones moving now among the other patients. Or prisoners, to be more exact. Mounting terror thickened her throat and she had to take a deep breath, close her eyes, and center her mind. Now was not the time to give in to hysterics.

  Moans sounded behind her and the noise of someone throwing up. Turning her head as far as she could, she counted six more humans strapped to tables behind a clear barrier running floor to ceiling the length of the room. No one was attending to them although a bored tech sat at a console, playing a game from the looks of his hand-eye motions. Megan yelled. “Hey!”

  The tech who’d force fed her strolled to the table, another water bottle in his hand. As he tipped it to her lips, he said, “What?”

  “You have to take care of those people,” she said, recoiling from the proffered drink and jerking her head toward the other side of the room. “They need the special energy bar, the water—”

  “Experiment.” The tech gestured first at her and then waved his hand to indicate the prisoners on the other tables. “Half the subjects get the revival pack.” He pointed at the closed off side of the chamber. “Half don’t. Dr. Lampergg’s order.”

  “You can’t just let them die. What kind of people are you?” Her gut in knots, she fought to keep herself from screaming. She and her fellow humans were completely in the power of these mysterious aliens and the more she saw and heard, the more she feared for their lives. Being entangled in a mysterious experiment was a heart stopping development.

  He leaned close. “The kind who keep our mouths shut and do what the boss orders. Besides, maybe they’ll pull through. Part of all of this is to find out how physically resilient you humans are.”

  “I’ll take care of them if you can’t be bothered. I’m a doctor.” She struggled with the restraints to no avail. “Please.”

  He checked readouts above her head. “Calm down and you’ll be released soon. Don’t waste your energy. Any who survive will be placed in the cell with you. Help them then.” Patting her shoulder in a condescending manner, he said, “Piece of advice? Watch out for yourself – you’ll live longer here.”

  Megan was furious and, as time went by and she heard the people in the other half of the room suffering, she wept from sheer frustration and anger. What in the seven hells have we fallen into?

  Eventually, she and the other five people on her side of the room were freed from the restraints and gathered into a group by the guards. She recognized the two women and one of the men from the colony, but the other two men were strangers to her. “We should probably introduce ourselves,” she said, looking at her bedraggled companions. “I’m Dr. Megan Garrison.”

  “Silence.” The guard threatened her with his weapon.

  Startled, she retreated a step, and the other two women grabbed at her, as if to present a united front for protection.

  “Once you’ve been processed and placed in the cell, then you can talk amongst yourselves,” the guard said.

  Four of the individuals who’d been on the other side of the room were carried by guards and placed on the floor next to Megan. The two men and two women were in varying states of stasis syndrome distress but again she was prevented by the security squad from attending to them. Megan glanced at the two silent bodies lying on tables in the other room.

  She straightened as the door opened and a new alien strode in with the air of one in command and well pleased with himself. His lab coat was festooned with badges and pins, as if to broadcast his rank and accomplishments. Trailed by the lab techs, he came to where the small group of humans waited under guard. “So we have ten survivors t
hen? Excellent. I’ll want a full report of all the data.”

  “I don’t know who the seven hells you think you are,” Megan said, “But you have no right to hold us here, no right to withhold treatment—”

  One of the guards moved forward, weapon held in a menacing manner. Hands on her hips, although feeling at a definite disadvantage in her floral nightgown and robe, Megan stood her ground. The new arrival held up one hand and the guard withdrew.

  “I am Dr. Lampergg, chief Khagrish scientist in charge of this research facility.” Pointing at Megan and the others, he went on, “You are my test subjects, to be experimented on as I see fit, supplied to me by my customer. I believe you may have heard of them—the Chimmer?” He nodded in apparent satisfaction as a gasp ran through the crowd of humans. “Now, life here in the lab can be more or less grueling, depending on your attitude.” Eyebrow raised, he looked Megan up and down and she instinctively pulled her robe tightly closed. There was an underlying air of lasciviousness to his regard she found unnerving. “Will there be unfortunate, ah, unpleasantness? Yes. One cannot pursue true science without pushing the boundaries. But in between procedures and tests, you will be treated well, kept healthy, even allowed limited freedom.”

  “I don’t believe you,” she said.

  Lampergg spread his hands. “Your perception of your treatment and mine may vary, but I’m in charge. I’m not the one here to be studied.” He straightened and his manner became brisk. “You’ll be processed by the lab techs and given proper clothing, then sent to the cell. An evening meal will be furnished. Abide by the orders of the guards and techs at all time or there will be punishment. Am I clear?”

  The humans around her murmured, heads bobbing in response to his question.

  Lampergg turned to move away, and she grabbed his sleeve. “I need the proper restoratives for these four people who were denied them previously.”

  The guard grabbed her roughly and dragged her away from Lampergg.

  “She’s a doctor, or so she claims,” the lab tech said.

  “A colleague of sorts.” Lampergg eyed her more closely. “Perhaps we’ll have to chat in depth at a later time.” A swagger in his step, the scientist departed.

  One of the other humans, Harker, a deputy in the colony’s police force, whispered to Megan, “Seven hells, doc, don’t provoke this guy.”

  “Go along to get along?” she said.

  Harker nodded. “Exactly. Lull them.”

  “We’re lab rats to him—he made his belief amply clear.” She stared at the two motionless bodies, now haphazardly covered with a drab blanket. “And I’m not going to make nice. You do what you want.”

  “And that’s how you clean a fish,” Mateer finished his training session, showing off the filets he’d made from the good-sized fish he’d caught earlier.

  The cadets crowded him, clamoring to try their own crude poles and nets.

  “All right, try not to fall in, although I’m sure all of you swim better than I do. “With a wave of her hand, his companion for this outdoor lesson today, Lily Garrison, the lead teacher, dismissed the excited youngsters. Even without the dominance quotient bred into every Badari like him, the human Lily was able to make the cubs and cadets mind her by virtue of her calm air of authority. She inspired affection and he knew none of the boys wanted to disappoint her.

  As Mateer watched the enthusiastic cadets move to their own fishing holes and likely spots along the lake’s edge, he reflected how astonishingly different life had become for his people, now living in this secluded and peaceful sanctuary valley. Only a few weeks removed from captivity, the youngsters were blooming, freed of the threat of being experimented on by the heartless Khagrish scientists. The transition was more of a challenge for the older soldiers, like himself, who’d grown to maturity under the harsh rule of their alien creators.

  Apparently thinking along similar lines, Lily turned to Mateer. “You’re so good with them. It always amazes me, the way you grew up, no family, prisoners of the awful Khagrish scientists—”

  Her praise made him happy. She was a pleasant woman and as he seated himself on the mossy bank in the sun next to her, their hips touching, he searched his heart as he did every time he was in her presence, puzzled yet again not to find anything but a mild liking for her. No hint of a deeper passion like the one that had overtaken his pack’s Alpha and her older sister, when they were all still captives at the lab. Cleaning his knife on the grass before restoring it to the scabbard, he said, “The next generations have always been our highest priority, keeping them alive anyway. I have to admit it’s more fun instructing them on fishing in this safe valley than teaching them combat skills to fight and kill each other at the lab.”

  Lily shivered. “They’ll need to know how to fight, though, won’t they?” She surveyed the sky as if expecting an attack any minute. “We’re only protected in this one valley, until we figure out a way to escape the planet or call for help.”

  “Or destroy the Khagrish in the other labs,” he said, his genetically engineered fangs extending at the idea of revenge on those who’d created him and his pack brothers.

  She averted her eyes and shifted slightly away from him. Mateer berated himself for being too fierce. Lily was a gentle soul, a teacher, a nurturer. He reached for her hand and plucked a flower for her hair at the same time. “I apologize for darkening the afternoon with talk of death.”

  She gave his fingers a squeeze before shaking her own free, covering her move by adjusting the pink-and-white blossom more securely in her hair. “I prefer not to dwell on things. I’ll do whatever’s necessary once we find my missing twin Megan and the other humans from my kidnapped colony.”

  He sensed her mood remained anxious and unsettled. Before he could say anything else Timtur, the pack healer, walked up. His eyes narrowed as he saw how close Mateer sat to the teacher and as he observed the flower in her long red hair.

  “Oh, you did come,” Lily said, with a happy tone in her voice she’d certainly never used for Mateer.

  Timtur gave her a smile, although in relation to Mateer’s presence he was broadcasting unusual hostility. Keeping his eyes trained on Mateer, the healer extended a hand to the human woman. “Shall we go see how well the bad scratch young Farank suffered from his fall the other day is healing?”

  “Now’s as good a time as any.” Apparently unaware of the tension between the two Badari males, she rose, dusted off her skirt and linked her arm in Timtur’s. He gave Mateer a glare then escorted her toward the cadets fishing on the banks of the lake.

  Are you thinking of challenging me? Mateer was incredulous as he sent the thought arrowing toward Timtur over the Badari pack’s telepathic link. His fangs lengthened and his talons slid into view.

  She is not your mate. Timtur’s response was crisp. He reached to take the flower from Lily’s hair and let it blow away on the wind.

  Do you think she’s yours? To his amazement and annoyance, Mateer was suffused with an adrenaline rush in preparation for combat. He consciously took a few breaths to relax, forcing his fangs and talons to retract.

  By the Great Mother, Timtur was the pack’s healer and outside the normal rank order established by dominance. Mateer could no more fight Timtur than he could challenge Lily herself. And he knew deep down she’d never forgive him for getting into a confrontation with Timtur over her. Confusion filled his head, and he let the couple go without any further conversation. He watched them though, jealous at how closely they stood, how Lily sheltered within Timtur’s protective stance.

  Stunned by his own reactions, Mateer shook his head. Had he really been close to fighting one of his oldest friends over a female?

  The answer was an unequivocal yes. Mateer shook his head. These human females were something totally new to the Badari. He felt protectiveness toward Lily, he took pleasure in her company but, he had to admit, she never encouraged him in any way other than being her natural friendly self. Could a man find his mate and the woman
not feel the same? Was there more to this being mated? His mix of emotions was unsettling because, if he was truthful with himself, much as he liked Lily, he didn’t experience the tug of a deeper emotional pull, no sense he couldn’t live without her. She was pleasant company and that was all.

  He’d defend her from peril as he would any other, weaker individual, but not from a sense of any bond between them.

  Lily was there, however, sister to the Alpha’s mate, and Mateer was the senior enforcer, second in command only to Aydarr. And so of course Mateer and Lily would be together. Wouldn’t they? She wasn’t mated to any of the human males, according to Jill. Flo, the only other human woman in their company, held herself aloof from everyone.

  Mateer longed, deep in his soul, to have a mate, to belong to a woman and have her belong to him, the way Aydarr and Jill belonged to each other. Equal partners. But then why didn’t he feel a stronger attraction to Lily? Was she not his fated mate?

  Resolving to ask his alpha for advice on the mate bond, no matter how embarrassing the conversation got, Mateer checked on the cadets a final time. He avoided focusing on Timtur and Lily and instead headed off to the cave Jill and Aydarr had claimed as their own.

  As he was striding past the new garden plots, Reede, the other enforcer, intercepted him. “We’re wanted in the meeting room. Apparently, there’s to be a decision about where we’re going to focus next.”

  Mateer changed course, glad not to have to deal with emotions right now. Tactics and strategy were much safer, familiar topics. “Did we find the location of the other human prisoners?”

  Reede shrugged. “No idea, but Aydarr said Jill was excited.” He gave his senior a puzzled glance. “Didn’t you hear the summons?”