by Sarah Marsh
Even though she knew the space station was going to be full of people, it was still a shock when the shuttle doors opened and the docking bay was a hive of activity with personnel running around going about their jobs. Seeing all the various shades of grey- and black-skinned men really made it hit home that she was about to land on an alien planet. It did make her feel a little bit better that most of the aliens in question were dealing with seeing her much less smoothly. She noticed more than one of the males walk right into some fixed object as their curious gaze followed their group as they walked.
“Why are they staring?” Ali whispered to Conn once they were out of the noisy hangar bay.
“You are the first Earthling that has visited our planet. Naturally, they are curious, and you are quite a striking female,” Conn answered with a wink that had her blushing again.
There were two other people in the lift with them at the time, and their whispered exclamations when her cheeks turned red made her feel a little like a bug under a microscope until Kal gave them both a nasty look and they quieted down.
“Alison, when we exit the shuttle on the surface, you will be escorted straight to the med facility to see if our doctors can help with your virus side effects. We will be going to be debriefed by our superior officer, but we will come to check on you once we have been released, okay?” Tannen explained as they boarded the small shuttle, and he strapped her into the seat and made certain her restraint belt was secure.
“Okay,” she answered, trying to sound braver than she felt at the moment, which in turn just made her nerves even worse. The lovely lunch that she’d enjoyed with Kal was now an ominous pile of rocks in her stomach.
“Are you all right, Ali?” Kal asked, taking her hand once he’d strapped into his own seat.
“Just nervous.” She gave him a forced smile.
“Kal, Commander Vaughn will be waiting for us when we land,” Conn added, as he looked pointedly to where they had joined hands and then back briefly towards a small camera-like device in the ceiling.
“Everything will be fine, Alison,” Kal said, as he reluctantly released her hand and placed his own hands on his lap with a slight frown.
Thirty minutes and some turbulence later, the shuttle engines finally turned off, and Conn emerged from the controls to open the doors for them. No one said anything as they walked down the steps, Alison in between Tannen and Kal, and onto the smooth black pavement below. There was a small party of people waiting for them, and an older man in dress uniform stepped up to clasp Conn’s arm in greeting.
“Captain Drogan, I’m glad to see your safe return,” the older man said with an easy smile, as he nodded towards Tannen and Kal before turning his eyes onto Alison. “And with such interesting cargo this trip!”
“Commander Vaughn, this is Alison Baker of Earth.” Conn introduced her, right before Alison noticed the only other woman in the group push her way to the front of the crowd.
“Conn! Finally, you have come back. Now we can get this pesky contract signed and formally announce our bonding,” the woman practically yelled as she came up and kissed Conn’s cheeks in a way that Alison didn’t care for at all.
“Shara, it’s so nice to see you,” Conn said awkwardly, as he took a small step back to return an appropriate level of space between them.
Alison could tell from the looks on their faces that none of the men had expected Shara to be here. She took a closer look at the woman who, if she was honest, she’d disliked in her mind ever since she’d heard of her existence. She was exceedingly beautiful of course. Shara must have been about 5’8” tall, slim, and her dark pewter skin looked rich and supple next to the deep purple of her silk dress.
But it was her face that really was the most stunning part of her. She had a voluptuous mouth and amazing bone structure, all framed with shiny, long black hair that was braided and fell to her waist. Shara’s bright violet gaze snapped to Ali, and her pretty eyes narrowed like a hawk sighting its prey.
“Is this the poor creature you rescued from the Warg ship?” Shara asked in a nauseating voice chock full of fake concern. “Why, Father’s doctors were almost beside themselves at the thought that they’d get to study a completely undiscovered primitive species!”
Why, you little bitch! Ali fumed to herself as the woman referred to her as pretty much on the same level as a cave-person. Clearly the older man was in charge here, and Alison didn’t want to make a bad impression in front of the men’s boss so she reluctantly bit her tongue. She was placated a little bit when she saw the looks of dislike and irritation on Kal and Tannen’s face at Shara’s comments.
“Well, Shara, now that you’ve said hello, why don’t you run along while I get your men debriefed.” Even Commander Vaughn rolled his eyes slightly as he encouraged his daughter to move on.
Alison’s instant emotional pain when he’d referred to Conn, Tannen and Kal as “Shara’s men” was concerning. She’d been afraid she was getting attached to them, even though she’d known about their pending contract with this horrible woman. But the three of them were so amazing, how could she have resisted their attention? After being alone for so long, having that kind of affection showered on her would have made any woman putty in their hands, wouldn’t it?
Clearly she’d been foolish to hope that they would also grow attached to her and perhaps want to continue their relationship. All three of them had been distant and not initiated contact with her since they’d boarded the shuttle. The only conclusion she could make was that their time together had been strictly for their convenience and to stop the side effects she’d been experiencing from the virus. Alison’s eyes began to tear up, and she couldn’t even bring herself to look at the men who had saved her as the doctors introduced themselves and ushered her away to the doors on the other side of the room.
Chapter Sixteen
Kal was furious when that horrid woman insulted their Alison right in front of everyone. He’d been shocked that Shara was there at all, as she’d never shown much interest in greeting them in the past when they’d returned home. It would have been career suicide to reprimand her for it, since her father was their commanding officer, and technically their bond group was officially courting her as far as their society was concerned.
This was also why Conn had to remind him not to show affection or touch Alison unnecessarily while they were being monitored in the shuttle. It would have been seen as the highest act of disrespect to make any kind of advances towards an unattached female while you were in bond contract negotiations with another. Shara would have been shamed, and her reputation tarnished, although that was hardly less than Kal thought she deserved after how she’d treated Alison just now. He needed to be forthright in his opinion of Shara to his bond mates immediately. There was no way in hell that he would attach himself to her in any way.
“I can’t believe you didn’t say anything to that harka beast when she insulted our Ali.” Kal turned and snarled at Conn as soon as their debriefing was over, and the Commander had left them to their privacy.
“What would you have me do, Kal?” Conn yelled back. “The Commander has no more patience for her games than we do, but even he would have had to discipline us if we’d publicly shamed his only daughter!”
“Did you not see Ali’s face?” Tannen asked, sitting to cover his face with his hands. “She was heartbroken, and we let it happen—and did you see that Doctor Gend was waiting to escort her to medical? Conn, you know he has a reputation for supporting alien segregation. I don’t trust him to have Ali’s best interests in mind over his scientific academia.”
“The Trade Corps would never allow us to contract with Alison with any kind of reprimand on our permanent record.” Conn paced the room. “This way they have no leverage to deny us once we formally break ties with Shara.”
Kal was shocked into silence as Conn voiced the very thing he was hoping for. Kal knew that Conn had known Shara since childhood, and he’d always seemed to act as though he’
d cared for her. That was why Kal and Tannen had let it go on for as long as it had, but it was a relief to know that his feelings for Alison were mirrored in his other bond mates.
“You wish to break negotiations with Shara?” he asked carefully, almost as if he’d jinx it by saying it out loud.
“Of course!” Conn growled at him as though he was insulted. “Do you think that I would have treated Ali like that if I did not have honorable intentions towards her?”
“Both of you calm down,” Tannen interjected. “Clearly all three of us have feelings for Ali and want to be rid of Shara for good, do we not?”
“Gods, yes,” Kal growled as Conn simply nodded in agreement.
“Good. It’s been hours since Alison went with the med crew. She should need us soon.” Tannen moved towards the doors. “Let us go find our girl then.”
****
The doctors had been poking and prodding her for hours now, and Alison was exhausted. On top of that, she’d begun to start having the hot and cold flashes that signified the virus was rearing its ugly head.
“Umm, excuse me?” she said to the man who was taking yet another blood sample. “I think my symptoms are coming back. Will Conn and the others be coming to see me soon?”
“Why would Clan Drogan need to see you, Alison?” The man looked puzzled at her question.
“Tannen was treating me for contact sickness because of the virus. He said that he sent all the results to you ahead of time. Didn’t you get them?”
“Oh yes, we received Doctor Drogan’s preliminary exam reports on your condition, but we are quite confident that we can treat your symptoms fully with medication here.”
Alison was momentarily distracted by how adorable it was that the other clan members had taken Conn’s last name, right before she remembered how many medications Tannen told her he'd tried to alleviate her pain.
“But he tried a bunch of medications. It never stopped the pain.” She began to worry when another cold sweat broke out all over her skin, making the monitors attached all over her beep faster along with her heart rate.
“Doctor Gend, her vitals are elevating quite quickly now,” the younger doctor said aloud as an older gentleman came into the room.
“Hello, Earth female, I am Doctor Gend. I am in charge of your care here, and I assure you we have the best medical facility here on Dolak,” he said in a superior tone as he motioned for the younger man to give him the handheld device with her test results on it. “We’ll start her on a fifty percent dilution of the serum. I am certain it will work.”It didn’t work. And neither did the next two batches of shots that they gave her as she continued to writhe in pain and sweat on the bed. Alison was almost delirious with the aching that was racking her body now. They’d tried to give her pain meds as well, but were hesitant, not being familiar with her body chemistry and metabolism. She prayed for Conn, Tannen, and Kal to show up and make the pain go away, but hour after hour went by and there was no sign of her former rescuers.
“Doctor Gend, there were a significant number of notes sent on Alison’s condition. The serum isn’t appearing to help her and her vital signs are becoming alarmingly erratic. We need to try the contact therapy they were treating her with.”
Ali heard the younger doctor talking not far away in the room, although the lights were making her feel like her head would explode so she kept her eyes closed tight.
“Please, help me,” she whimpered. “Please, make it stop.”
“Sir,” the young doctor insisted. “We have to do something. She’s a live person, not a lab specimen for you to experiment on.”
“How dare you!” the older doctor yelled, causing her ears to ring painfully. “Remove yourself from this lab immediately. You no longer work here.”
“This isn’t right. I’m going to Commander Vaughn about what you’re doing.”
Alison cracked her swollen eyelids open just enough to see the younger man look at her as though he was frightened to leave her in the older man’s care. It terrified her to think what this doctor might do to her. How could Conn, Tannen, and Kal leave her here with these monsters?
Chapter Seventeen
Conn stood in front of the desk at the medical center with a fierce scowl on his face, with his two bond mates in a similar state behind him.
“What do you mean we don’t have clearance to see Alison?” He tried not to lose his patience with the desk attendant. “There must be some mistake. Check again with Doctor Gend, please.”
He could hear Kal growl behind him when she rolled her eyes and called up to the labs to inquire.
“Yes, sir. Clan Drogan is here to visit the Earth female,” she said into the headset. “Yes, sir. I told them already, sir, but they insisted I check again. Sorry, sir.”
She looked stressed, and they could almost hear the older doctor yelling at her over the communicator. Conn had never liked Doctor Gend. He’d always been a pompous male and he had a reputation for being rather callous with his patients. Conn hated to think how a sweet, gentle female like their Alison would fare under such circumstances.
“Doctor Gend says that you don’t have clearance to see the patient and your presence is no longer required for her treatment.”
“Can we at least get an update on her condition?” Tannen asked, stepping up to the desk.
“Doctor Gend said that if you did not leave that I was to get security to escort you off the premises.” The female looked apologetic about that.
“Conn, we cannot leave her here!” Kal growled out.
“I don’t like this, Conn. He’s being evasive by not giving us an update on her condition,” Tannen added, only making Kal growl louder until he couldn’t hold back any longer.
“I don’t care if it does cost us our commission, Conn. We need to get to Alison and make certain that she’s all right!”
“We agree on that,” Conn said, before turning to look back at the desk attendant, whose eyes were now as wide as saucers with the three enraged males that now had their full attention on her. “Commander Vaughn will be in the shuttle hangar. Let’s go.”
****
“Commander, Commander!”
Tannen looked up as the three of them hurried towards their commanding officer, and he began to worry when he saw one of the younger doctors from the medical center running towards Commander Vaughn in an obvious panic.
“What is it, Doctor? What’s happened?”
“Sir, Doctor Gend has gone crazy.” the young man wheezed between huge gasps of air. “Alison Baker’s condition has deteriorated, and he’s refusing to fall back on Doctor Drogan’s treatment plan. She’s in a tremendous amount of pain. Doctor Gend just fired me and told me to leave the building when I tried to reason with him.”
“That old male has finally gone too far.” Tannen cursed as his clan mates became visibly upset to the point that the security guards were beginning to inch closer to their group. The idea that Doctor Gend would justify the suffering of any patient under his protection was infuriating, but that it was happening to their Alison was more than he could bear.
“Commander, we must see Alison now,” Conn said in an almost panicked tone. “You have to stop Doctor Gend or I will not be responsible for what happens to him.”
The Commander looked at the three of them standing there for a moment, and then nodded his head in agreement. “Take me to him right now. Lieutenant Brokk, I need three of your men with me.”
It only took a few minutes for them to reach the upper floors of the medical labs using the emergency elevator. This way, they bypassed anyone who might alert the crazy doctor to their arrival. Tannen couldn’t say he was overly surprised that this confrontation had finally come to pass with the ancient doctor. There had been more than one complaint against the brilliant but arrogant Doctor Gend. Tannen had made several himself about the male’s antiquated and biased views on the segregation of their people from the landed aliens who now resided on their planet. It was common knowledge in the m
edical circles that many had tried to have him removed from his position as head of the Trade Corps medical facility, but each time the petitioners had been overruled. Tannen had never trusted the man’s ethics
When they reached the lobby on the medical floors, Commander Vaughn stopped and turned towards Conn, holding his hand up to stop them.
“Conn, I realize you are concerned for her, but I don’t know what we’re walking into up there. I’m going to ask you to stay here until we reach the lab, and once things are stabilized I will send a guard for you.”
“Like hell!” Kal started to move past the Commander, but Conn grabbed a hold of his bond mate.
“I understand, Commander. We will wait here.”
Even Tannen had a difficult time not rushing past them all and taking the elevator to the top floor. He wanted to see Ali now. But he followed his Captain’s lead and tried to calm Kal as well while the other four men walked away from them in a hurry.
“Conn,” Kal yelled as he pulled away from them, “why did you agree? We need to see Alison now. He could be hurting her!”
“Stop, Kal.” Conn grabbed his mate’s arms once more. “We trust the Commander. He is an honorable male. You know that. You’re just concerned for Ali’s welfare, and we are as well.”
“Fine, but he doesn’t fetch us soon, I’m going up no matter what the cost.”
Chapter Eighteen
Alison was huddled in the corner on the bed crying, her arms wrapped around her knees as she rocked back and forth when Commander Vaughn walked into the room and stopped abruptly when he saw her. She was in too much pain to concern herself if the angry look on his face was her fault or not.
“Why are you interrupting my work Commander, and why do you have Doctor Bard with you?” the older doctor asked in a haughty tone, “He no longer works here and therefore does not have clearance to be in the lab.”
God, what an asshole. Alison thought to herself as she grit her teeth as another wave of pain went through her body causing her to moan.
