Lana made a desperate grab for something substantial but only came up with air as everything around her whirled. Closing her eyes, she braced for a jarring collision with the hard tile floor. She landed with a thud, the breath leaving her lungs, but she didn’t experience the pain she’d expected. Instead, a pair of strong arms caught and held her tight against a broad, muscular chest. It was still hard but more forgiving than the floor.
“Easy, darlin’, I got you,” Beck murmured in his southern drawl.
She looked up, trying to focus. When she saw two of him rapidly whirling, she clutched at his shoulders.
“Lana, are you all right?”
“Dizzy.” She blinked, trying to merge the two images of her handsome boss into one.
“That does it.”
Suddenly, she was moving again. This time not spinning or falling, but with purposeful intent. Although when she opened her eyes and saw the ceilings above her, some finished, some still waiting for her to paint, it set her off-kilter once more. Her fingers dug in, fisting in his shirt.
“Beck?” she asked, her voice sounding weak and rather pathetic. “What are you doing?”
He didn't answer, only kept on walking, out of the room and down the main corridor to the front doors.
“Can you at least tell me where you are taking me?”
“To the doctor,” he informed her as he quickly descended the flight of stone steps to the sidewalk, the only one in the city, poured only days before. “You’re dropping weight as though you’re training for a marathon, down at least twenty pounds in the six months I’ve known you, and you didn’t have it to lose in the first place.”
“Have you seen my butt?” Her attempt at humor fell flat.
“Lana,” he shot back sharply. “I'm not joking around.”
“Okay, but I’m fine. I forget to eat sometimes. I skipped breakfast this morning.”
At the corner, he turned left and strode toward the clinic located across the street and halfway down the block. “You don’t eat enough to keep a bird alive, dammit. And with the long hours you put in, and the distant look in your eyes when you don’t know anyone’s watching, I can only assume you're still mooning over your general.”
“Do people still say mooning?”
“Dammit, Hartman, I’m serious.”
“And I don’t want to talk about it!” she snapped back. “You can put me down; I’ll walk the rest of the way. People are beginning to stare.” She struggled to get free, but his arms only got tighter, and it was a good thing because her head still wasn't right, her erratic movements made it spin more. Resigned to the fact she needed help, she stilled, though she didn't relax. And she didn't do it without setting him straight. “Another thing, he’s not my general. It’s been over for more than a year.”
“Yeah? Is that why after work you pout in your beer at the pub or slink off to your apartment alone? On a planet where the men outnumber women one hundred-to-one, a pretty, single girl like you should have a busy social calendar.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Yes, and General Trask is the reason. Admit it.”
She glared up at him. “Shut it, Beck.”
“Prove to me you’re not wallowing in a deep, dark funk, still in love with the guy, and I will.”
By this time, they’d arrived at the white-sided building with the red cross on the sign. As if she were no heavier than the bird he’d accused her of being, he shifted her weight to the arm behind her back and used the hand beneath her knees to twist the knob on the old-fashioned hinged door.
Once inside, upon seeing the empty lobby, he barked, “Yo,” in his usual no-nonsense way. “One of my workers needs to see a doctor, now.”
From the edge of her double vision, Lana saw a figure appear in the open doorway to the back of the clinic. “One of our physics is out today, sir. The other is with another patient. I am in training but proficient in the evaluation and treatment of basic human ailments. If this is satisfactory to you, come this way.”
Despite her fuzzy state, Lana recognized her voice. A wave of apprehension swept through her. “Put me down,” she insisted while twisting to get free.
“No, you’re seeing a medic before going back to work. That’s an order.”
“Fine, then, I quit!”
Shocked, he stopped mid-stride. “What the hell is wrong with you? You practically beg for this job, and now you’re going to toss it away over a simple checkup?”
“I believe I am the reason she is resistant.”
Lana didn’t look up, but she saw when Beck did. “And why would that be?” he asked.
“I’ll leave that for Lana to explain,” she replied.
Feeling sick from more than the dizziness, she swallowed before she looked into blue-green eyes identical to those haunting her dreams.
“Adria,” she murmured. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Too bad I cannot say the same about you,” the dark-haired beauty replied coolly.
Beck’s arms around her tensed. Lana didn’t explain the other woman’s reaction or the frigid cold pervading the room, she was too busy nursing the sting of the harsh words while at the same time hiding the joy of seeing Trask’s sister after so long.
Of course, Adria would be angry. She was a devoted sister, and Lana had hurt her beloved brother. How she’d left things couldn’t go unaddressed, and she blurted out, “I’m sorry. I would have liked the chance to talk to you—”
“Before you abandoned my brother so cruelly? I don’t think a meager ‘I’m sorry’ is sufficient for crushing a warrior’s heart, and wounding his pride, do you?”
“I never intended to do either of those things.”
“But you did. Such action is unpardonable,” she snapped. Then, her eyes, so much like Trask’s it hurt Lana to the bone, narrowed and she demanded icily, “If you've come to grovel or wheedle your way into his good graces, I must insist you stay away. My brother wants, nor needs, any part of your kind.”
She let the insult roll off her back, shocked by what else she had said. “How would I see him? Unless... Do you mean—? Trask is here? On Terra Nova?”
“Where he might be isn’t your concern. He doesn’t need your interference. You’ve already done enough damage already.”
It was true, but it didn’t make the hurt any less to take.
“He is just now starting to act like himself,” Adria went on to say, “after you gutted him and, heartlessly left him to grieve for the female he believed was his lifemate.”
“You know I wasn’t his mate,” she whispered, agonized by hearing how much he had suffered.
“We aren’t all about science and testing, Lana. We have emotions and feelings the same as humans do, and Trask’s were wholly engaged. He bonded with you and thought it was until death. When you left, it was like you’d cut out his heart, you coldblooded bi—
“That is quite enough!” Beck barked with unquestionable authority. “This woman is here as a patient, in need of treatment. If this is your bedside manner young woman, you need to be retrained. Call the doctor or get someone else, now.”
Although he’d interrupted Adria's harangue mid-syllable, Lana had no trouble filling in the blank. She had been a bitch, intentionally so. “Please. I’m feeling better,” she told her friend quietly. “Let’s go.”
“Not until you see a doctor.”
“You are correct, sir,” Adria said in a much softer tone while staring at Beck as though seeing him for the first time. “My outburst was unprofessional.” She glanced down at her hands appearing surprised to find them empty. Now flustered, her eyes darted around the small room, before she rushed to pick up a computer tablet off the counter. “There is no one else available other than me. The only physic on duty is busy with a worker injured by a laser saw, and the two nurses are assisting him.” When she faced them again, she’d seemed to have regained her composure. With her shoulders back, she stood every one of her six feet three inches, and her fac
e was a mask of professionalism. She met Beck’s gaze directly. “I am quite competent, I assure you. Of course, you can wait for our physic, if you’d like. But I can’t say how long he will be.”
“I thought the only physic was available on the Intrepid. Where is Dr. Juna?” Lana asked. She’d be more comfortable with the Odyssey’s physician she’d known for years.
“She has traveled to Primaria to train on a piece of healing equipment our researchers have developed. It isn’t new, but an upgrade to our existing Optimed Healing Accelerator which will expand our cell regeneration beyond flesh wounds and bones. The medical team is very excited about it.”
When she spoke of the technology, animation returned to her lovely face. Adria had an infectious, youthful spark, and once, before everything fell apart, they’d been friends. Lana had missed her, but until now, hadn't realized how much.
“I didn’t understand most of that, but progress is always a good thing.” It felt strange having a conversation while held in someone’s arms.
Adria didn't seem to find it odd, but her gaze drifted to Beck and back, and no longer pale, a rush of color painted her cheeks as if embarrassed by her exuberance.
“I’m sure this is nothing but a passing spell of dizziness,” Lana explained. “But to reassure the overcautious man who toted me in here, please, do the exam yourself.”
Beck grunted softly. “To be overcautious would infer my concern is unnecessary. Since you almost cracked your head open with me as a witness, my concern is not only necessary, but vital. Further, I agree, she may proceed, but only if her obvious personal issues can be set aside, and she can care for you like any other patient coming through her door, whether human or one of her kind.”
Lana looked up sharply at his last remark. He'd misconstrued Adria’s comment, she was sure of it. Unlike some Primarians who were adamantly opposed to the integration of their two species, she had opened her arms and heart to Lana as she would a sister. As thanks, Lana had stomped her welcome flat.
“No, Beck, I don't think—”
“Otherwise,” he continued, speaking over her, “we will wait until one of the other professionals on staff is available.”
“Kincaid,” she snapped, irritated by his overprotective, overbearing manner. He would fit in quite well with any warrior of her acquaintance. “I’m sure that isn't necessary.”
“No, Lana, he is correct. My behavior was inexcusable. But I assure you both, I am in control of my emotions.”
He grunted yet again, making her want to smack him. ““I'll leave it to you to decide, Lana.”
She scowled up at the maddening man. “Gee, thanks, but I thought I already had.”
This earned her a stern look, to which she wisely didn’t reply.
“Please, follow me.”
Adria led them into the back, and Beck didn’t make any move to set her down, his long strides easily keeping pace.
“This is embarrassing. I can walk, you know.”
“Embarrassing is falling flat on your face from passing out, Lana.”
She blew out an exasperated breath but didn’t otherwise reply because they had entered the exam room and he was setting her down on the table.
“You lost consciousness?” Adria asked while entering information into her tablet.
“No, he’s exaggerating. I skipped breakfast, and later, while up on a ladder, moved too quickly and the room spun.”
“Is this the first time?”
“Yes.”
“Could you be breeding?”
She let slip a dry, unamused laugh. “Not unless I’ve been chosen for another immaculate conception.”
Adria angled her head, her smooth perfectly arched brows drawn together. “I don’t understand. I’ve never heard of this kind of conception, and our study of humans has been quite extensive.”
“Bad joke, sorry.”
“It's a good thing I'm in desperate need of painters,” Beck grumbled.
“Why is that?”
“You need your day job,” he answered pointedly, “because your material as a comedian sucks. Be serious.”
She wrinkled her nose at him.
“Does that mean you are impregnated or not?” Adria inquired. “This is your new mate, so there is a chance, isn’t there?”
“No!” they exclaimed at once.
“He’s my boss.”
“She works for me.”
Again, they spoke at the same time.
“We’re friends. Nothing more,” Beck clarified.
“I meant no offense,” Adria replied, her gaze shifting curiously between the two of them. “Pregnancy is always the first thing we suspect when we hear of dizziness in a human female during her childbearing years. Since we've ruled this out, let’s get a basic vital functions scan.”
She withdrew a wand from the pocket of her long tunic worn over a floor-length skirt. No pants allowed off-world for Primarian women, either, Lana surmised. After passing the scanner over her from head to toe, Adria entered something on her tablet and a 3D graphic projected from the screen, which she studied briefly.
“The readings appear to be within HNR,” she announced.
Lana pondered this for a moment, but Beck didn't have the patience.
“And that means what?” he asked.
She looked up. “Sorry. Human Normal Range. Were you dizzy before you passed out? And what about your appetite? You’ll pardon my saying so, but you look terribly thin compared to the last time I saw you. Skipping meals will only make the problem worse.”
Lana grimaced upon hearing the comment on her appearance twice in an hour.
“I apologize for being blunt,” she rushed to explain, “but there is no reason not to be if we are to determine the cause of your dizziness.”
Adria’s gaze swept over her hair, which she’d tied back still wet from the shower that morning. It tended to frizz in the humid Terra Nova air as it dried. Self-consciously, she smoothed the loose tendrils around her face.
“You used to glow. It’s gone now, and your skin is pallid.” She continued her perusal, eyeing her baggy clothes. “Is this the same illness as before, or something new?”
“The dizziness started this morning.”
Never one to hold his piece, her know-it-all boss offered his opinion. “She doesn't eat enough or forgets altogether. How do you forget to eat? When she got dizzy, if I hadn’t been there to catch her, she would have fallen at least six feet.”
Adria’s beautiful aqua gaze met Beck’s for a moment then turned on her. Warm with concern, rather than the icy look that had greeted her, the uncanny resemblance to Trask made Lana’s chest ache, and she had to look away.
“I was a little nauseated this morning and skipped breakfast; it’s nothing, not like before.”
“No migraine headaches, vomiting, or tremors?”
Adria listed off the other debilitating symptoms Lana had suffered with for weeks while on Primaria. They’d subsided, a few weeks after Lana left for Earth on the Odyssey, but she never regained her appetite, or the weight, and had lost a few more since then. She’d told Trask he was the cause, but she didn’t believe it, not really. Stress, guilt, and depression could cause the same symptoms and worse. But she’d grabbed onto any excuse, pouring more salt in his gaping wound, to get him to let her go.
“Nausea can be a symptom of something more serious. I’ll be back to take some blood samples.”
When she left, Lana twisted to confront her friend, but found his eyes locked onto Adria’s retreating form. Her irritation with him suddenly dissipated.
“She’s stunning, isn’t she?” Lana commented wistfully. “But then I haven't seen an unattractive Primarian yet. Even the elders are handsome. Except for their white hair, they don’t seem to age—barely a wrinkle.”
Another reason her decision was sound. As fair skinned as she was and after having worked outside in the dirt digging up rocks and soil samples for so many years, while she dried up like a wrinkled old p
rune as she aged, Trask would remain youthful and gorgeous. It was a ridiculous excuse, but she often grasped at anything to justify what she'd done.
“How do you know her?”
“You can’t guess? The resemblance is remarkable.”
He shook his head.
“She’s General Trask’s sister.”
“Which explains the cold greeting. I thought they'd made a mistake and stationed one of their Purists amongst us, which would require immediate correction.”
“No, I’m sure her contempt is reserved exclusively for me. She was charming when I arrived on Primaria as if I was...”
“As if you were what?”
“Family,” she whispered. “This snappishness is uncharacteristic, but not unexpected. She adores her brother, and he dotes on her. After his parents died, his mother during their tragedy and his father when he was barely of age, Trask was left to raise her. It wasn’t an uncommon situation after the meteor storm took out half their women.”
“Was she afflicted by the radiation?”
“Yes. And she has vowed never to take a mate. She is one of the few women with a career outside the family business. Since Trask is a warrior and his business is the Army, she could hardly enlist and work for him. When she expressed an interest in the healing arts, he agreed.”
“Their ways take some getting used to, don’t they?”
Her eyes nearly crossed at the absurdity of his question. “Try being captured and mated to one then ask me again.”
He huffed a laugh. “I’ll pass on that, thanks.”
The visual of her very large, very masculine, badass boss as a captive mate, being punished in the traditional Primarian style—bare-assed over an even bigger brute’s knee—was so ridiculous her lips twitched. She'd have to store the image away and haul it out the next time she started weeping inconsolably.
When Adria returned with a large, shiny, device closely resembling a blaster, and approached her with it, Beck moved quickly to her side. “What the hell is that for?” he demanded sharply.
Defying the General Page 21
