Did she know what she was? Surely she would have mentioned it in the woods. He had glimpsed her passport and the photos of her parents. The man in the picture didn’t look anything like a Harcos male. He had the smaller, leaner stature of these Earth-descendant humans.
“Her things were on the stretcher. We’ve got them in the private room they’re prepping for her stay tonight. Maybe there are some answers in there. It’s possible she has a father among our active ranks or our retired servicemen. He might not even know she exists. She might even have property rights.”
The doc’s statement caused a flutter of panic in Venom’s core. What if she wasn’t eligible for the Grab? Any man who had served could exempt his daughters from the ritual. Would her father—if he was still alive—try to break their union? Venom’s gut soured.
“Obviously I won’t say anything to anyone, Venom. The confidentiality of the medical branch protects the two of you. She’ll have to be told of the results of her blood test but that doesn’t meant the two of you have to share it with everyone else.”
Venom nodded and thanked Risk for fixing Dizzy. As he waited for a medic to escort him back to the recovery area, Venom tried to make sense of this new piece of information. He didn’t know what to do about it. Dizzy had said she had nowhere else to go but if she had a father out there somewhere…
He couldn’t bear to think about the possibilities.
The squeaky wheels on the janitorial cart made him wince. He lifted his gaze to Pierce’s and saw a great deal of interest there. No doubt Pierce had heard everything. So much for secrets.
Chapter Four
Dizzy came awake to the strangest beeping sounds. A little woozy and shaky, she blinked rapidly and tried to figure out where the hell she was. Before her mind cleared away the fuzzy thoughts preventing her from making sense of her surroundings, a familiar face appeared above her. Icy-blue eyes, so dark with concern, peered down at her.
Venom.
The memories of her strange morning came flooding back. She remembered the frigid cold, the deep snow and the panic that had gripped her as she rushed into the forest. The phantom sensation of those muscular arms of his wrapped around her and his tongue insistently dipping between her lips caused her belly to wobble. Still a little confused she reached up to touch her neck, fully expecting to feel his white collar there, but encountered only naked skin.
“It’s in my pocket, sugar.” Venom eased onto the bed, his hip against hers, and brushed his bare fingertips along her cheek. “You’re in the infirmary aboard the Valiant, the battleship where I’m stationed.” Lifting her hand, he kissed the back of it. “You scared me, Dizzy.”
Scared him? Hell, she had terrified herself. Never in her entire life had she felt such stabbing pain. Passing out cold had been a blessing because the searing-hot ice-pick-through-the-brain sensation had finally stopped.
Looking up into Venom’s taut face, she read the worry clearly. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“Scaring you.” Her voice sounded a bit gravelly so she cleared her throat.
“You don’t have to apologize for that. Are you thirsty?” He reached for the small blue cup and matching pitcher on a rolling tray.
“Very.” Her mouth was so incredibly dry. Realizing she was flat on her back, she started to sit up but Venom’s huge paw gently flattened against her chest. Her questioning gaze flicked to his face. “What are you doing?”
“Easy,” he said calmly. “You’re not supposed to sit up too fast. Let me handle it.”
She was too groggy to argue with him. He flipped out a panel attached to the side of the bed and tapped at some sort of screen. Though most technology was forbidden on her planet, the area of The City where she lived had been teeming with illicit and black market goods, including handheld tablets with touchscreens like that panel.
Slowly the bed began to incline. She expected to experience pain or dizziness as she shifted positions. Her brow furrowed as she felt…nothing. There was no swooping in her belly or aching behind her ears. It struck her quite suddenly that she could hear everything. That annoying ringing that normally plagued her when she woke had vanished.
“Venom!” She snatched his hand. “I can hear!”
The flash of fear that had crossed his face when she grabbed him faded quickly. Grinning down at her, he cupped her jaw. “You couldn’t hear well before the surgery?”
“Not always,” she said. “I had this awful tinny ring in my ears whenever I moved fast and especially in the morning.” She touched her forehead in wonder. “I’m not dizzy.”
He ran his thumb across her lower lip. “You’re still Dizzy though.”
She rolled her eyes at his lame joke. “Funny.”
He chuckled softly and picked up the cup of water. Carefully he pressed it to her mouth. “Small sips. You might be a little queasy after the anesthesia.”
She dutifully followed his directions and swallowed tiny drinks until her parched mouth and throat felt better. “Thank you.”
He set aside the cup and slid back down onto the bed next to her. Taking her hand in his, he explained, “When you passed out on the transport ship, the medics sedated you and gave you some medicine so you wouldn’t be sick again.”
She groaned and glanced away in humiliation. “I’m so sorry I caused such a scene.”
“Don’t,” he whispered gently. “You’re not the first person to get sick or pass out on a flight. It happens all the time.”
She cast a skeptical eye his way. “Really?”
“Yes.”
Feeling marginally better about embarrassing herself, she reached up to touch her left ear. Venom’s hand shot out with lightning speed to stop her. “No.”
She frowned at him. “Why can’t I touch my ear?”
“You have tiny incisions. They’re already healing but you shouldn’t touch them.”
She gulped nervously. “What did they do to me?”
“They used a thin probe, like a fine wire, to bust up the obstructions that were causing your dizziness and nausea and that ringing in your ears. They did it with lasers and sonar waves.” He glanced at the partly open door. “I can ask one of the surgeons to explain it to you.”
“Later.” She was certain the doctor would come in to speak with her eventually.
“They inserted some drains to make sure fluid and deposits won’t build up there again. You’ll have to have them checked periodically but the docs expect you’ll have no issues in your recovery.”
“When can I leave the infirmary?”
“I’ll take you home in the morning. You could leave now but I want them to keep you overnight just in case.” He gazed at her with such intense desire. “I’ve waited a long time for you. I don’t want anything else to go wrong.”
Though his voice was naturally gruff, he spoke with such tenderness. She still couldn’t quite reconcile this big menacing soldier with the genuine kindness he showed her. Since pulling her onto his lap out there in the snowy forest, he had treated her like some kind of precious prize to be protected and cherished.
“How long have you waited to enter one of these Grabs?”
He wrapped some of her pale hair around his thick finger. “Years. Over ten,” he clarified.
Her lips parted in shock. “Ten years? But—why wait so long?”
“I wasn’t…” His jaw tensed. “It wasn’t the right time for me to bring a woman into my life until recently. This new deployment here above Calyx is long-term and stable. It’s relatively safe here, all things considered and a good place to start a family.”
The longing in his voice cut through all her anxiety over the rather rash decision she had made back in the forest. She wasn’t silly enough to think it was going to be easy to build something real with Venom—but she didn’t doubt that he was sincere about all the things he had promised her when he knelt in the snow.
Venom traced the ugly scars on her throat. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d been trea
ted on the Indefatigable after you were wounded in the bombing?”
She shrugged. “I assumed it was obvious. How else would I have survived these types of injuries? I mean, there are some underground doctors in The City but none of them have trauma training.”
He ran his fingertip along a gnarly bump. “Do you know who brought you onto the ship?”
She shook her head. “I don’t have any memories of my time in that ship’s hospital. They used heavy sedation to force accelerated healing on me. They dropped me back on Calyx in my father’s care while I was still sedated. I think they had me up here for like a week.”
Venom looked annoyed. “They just sent you back like that? What if you’d had complications?”
“There was a medical team in The City center but I recovered without any problems.”
He let his hand fall from her neck. “Did your mother work in the embassy?”
“No. Why?”
“I wondered why you were extended the courtesy of our medical care. I understood that most of your people who were injured in the bombing refused our offers of aid. Did they take you because you were so young?”
Dizzy hesitated and picked at the edge of the crisp gray sheet covering her lower half. She didn’t want to lie to him, not at the very beginning of their relationship. However bizarrely it had begun it felt as though it had long-term potential. She didn’t want an untruth between them this early in the game.
Finally she sighed and admitted, “My mother was having an affair with one of the men at the embassy. One of your men. I didn’t know it until about a week before the bombing when I heard my parents arguing about it. I started following her to see what made this other guy so special that she’d break up our family and then…well.” She touched her neck. “I woke up back in my bed at home almost ten days later.”
“I see.”
Feeling the need to defend her mother’s memory, she added, “My mom was a good woman. She loved me and she was such a great mother to me. She fought to have a career and was incredibly successful at it. Everyone loved her and—”
“Dizzy.” He spoke firmly but gently. “I’m not judging her.” He tapped her hand. “Did you know who the man was?”
She frowned at him. “Why are you asking all these questions about my mom’s affair?”
“I’m sorry.” He held up his hand. “I shouldn’t pry. It’s the tactician in me. I want to know all the angles.”
“Look, even I don’t know all the angles behind that story. Frankly I don’t want to know them. Whatever my mother was doing was really none of my business. She’s gone now. None of that matters anymore.”
Venom remained silent for a few long moments before tipping her chin. “You hungry?”
“What?” His question took her off guard.
“It’s almost dinnertime. Would you like to eat?”
She hadn’t had a bite since breakfast with Ella. The thought of her best friend sent pangs of sadness through her. Venom must have seen it on her face because he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“My friend,” she said. “I just realized I’m probably never going to see Ella again.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Well…I understood that most brides who are taken never have contact with Calyx.”
“That’s not true. We try to establish contact between new mates and their families whenever possible. So long as your friend passes a background check I don’t have any issue with you maintaining regular contact with her.”
“How?”
“We have a mail service now. Paper letters,” he explained. “We have couriers who route them to your planet. There’s also a new face-to-face visitation program. Relatives and friends from Calyx go through a background check for approval and then we bring them to the observation deck here on the Valiant or the Arctis for the initial meeting. We hope to progress to overnight and then forty-eight hour visits in the near future.”
After all the terrible things she had heard about the brides taken in Grabs, Dizzy was taken aback by the consideration put into the visitation policy. “That’s nice.”
“The top sky and land corps commanders in this sector, General Vicious and Admiral Orion, are trying to be more sensitive to the needs of the new mated couples.”
“Mated?”
“Married,” he clarified. “We call them mate bonds or life bonds on my planet but you call them marriages.”
“We do things a bit differently,” she said with a smile. “You know, dating instead of chasing. That kind of thing.”
“Chasing and dating aren’t too far apart.” His teasing grin made her smile. “We’re doing wedding ceremonies now. Vicious married a woman from Harper’s Well in a proper Calyx-style ceremony. It was the first official one on this ship. They did the rings and everything.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” He tilted his head as if to study her. “Would you like to try something like that?”
“Um…”
“When you’re ready, we can discuss it.” He slid off the bed. “I’m going to get us dinner. Don’t move.”
She gestured to her surroundings. “Where would I go?”
“I meant don’t try to get out of bed or move around too much. You’re supposed to take it as easy as possible for the next few hours.”
Considering how good she felt and how grateful she was for no longer having that stupid sickness, she wasn’t going to tempt fate by going against doctor’s orders. “I’ll be a very good girl.”
Venom’s eyes narrowed briefly. Something fierce and primal sparked in those pale-blue irises of his. He bent down and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be right back.”
When he was gone she sat up a little straighter in the bed, adjusting her position slowly and cautiously. She was still taking in the strange surroundings when the transparent door slid open again. It wasn’t Venom who came into the room but a dark-haired, green-eyed doctor in a bright-blue uniform quite unlike the ones the other soldiers wore.
He smiled warmly. “My name is Risk and I’m the surgeon who treated you today.”
Her eyebrows rose sharply. “A surgeon named Risk?”
He laughed as he moved closer to her bed. “My class at the academy was a bit wild.”
“Your class?”
Risk nodded and pulled up a chair next to the bed. “When we’re accepted into one of the military academies they take away our birth names and assign us numbers. Later, when we graduate, we earn a new name at the pinning ceremony.”
“That’s awfully tough.”
“It’s part of the process of building us up into strong men.”
Building them up? It sounded like a way to break them down but she didn’t want to offend him by saying that. “Thank you for fixing me.”
“It was my pleasure. I rather enjoy working on these simpler cases. It’s a nice break from the traumatic injuries I typically treat.”
She could only imagine what kind of awful things this man had seen as a doctor in their gruesome battles. He turned his rectangular tablet toward her. The bright screen was filled with the most amazing animated images. “Is that me?”
“It’s all you—your brain, your auditory system, your eyes.” He tapped each one with a blunt stylus to enlarge them. “Other than the issues you presented with when you were brought into our emergency unit you’re in perfect health. Would you like me to explain the procedure I performed?”
“Yes.”
Risk walked her through the surgery and explained in detail how she had developed the condition and the way it had been exacerbated by the bombing. When he was done, Risk caught her marveling at the tablet in his hands and extended it toward her. “Here. Check it out.”
She hesitated before taking the device. “Thanks.”
“Venom will give you one in a few days.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Everyone uses them here. You’ll be amazed at how much you can do on it.”
“Like wh
at?”
“Do you like reading?”
“So much.” She perked up at the very idea of having access to books.
Risk leaned closer to tap at the screen. Suddenly a digital library appeared in front of her. He touched a title and pages appeared. “You can pack thousands and thousands of books onto your tablet and organize them any way you’d like.”
“Wow. Wow.” She didn’t know what else to say as she flipped through the digital pages. “It’s been years since I’ve been able to read a whole book.”
Risk shot her a strange look. “What do you mean?”
“When I was a kid we had a private library that my parents kept locked up and hidden away from visitors.” She decided to skip the parts about her family losing everything. “Later, when I went out on my own, I started buying my own books but they’re so expensive. I usually visit the library or hit up the secondhand shop a few streets over from my apartment. All of the books I get that way have been censored.”
“Censored?”
“There might be entire paragraphs that are blacked out. Sometimes they cut out the offensive lines. It’s like looking through a window.”
“That’s ridiculous. What’s the point of reading a book if the best parts are missing?” He moved in a little closer. “What kinds of books do you like to read? I heard they recently added a romance section in the library for the wives. Apparently it’s very popular—and steamy.”
She caught his playful tone and smiled at him. “Why do I get the feeling that if I kept browsing your library, I’d find a whole section of romances?”
Risk laughed. “I won’t dignify that accusation with a response.”
As Dizzy tapped the screen to exit the library, she wondered if it would be possible to use the device to help her design her clothes. “Is there a way to draw on this thing? I saw the way you used that stylus to make lines while you were explaining my surgery. Is there a way to freehand draw?”
“Sure.” He took the tablet from her. “There are all sorts of applications you can download. The virtual storefront is fairly intuitive when it comes to searching. Once you’re comfortable with your device you’ll have no problem finding what you need.” He turned the tablet toward her to reveal a blank page with a long stripe along the bottom and pressed it back into her hands. “How about this one?”
Saved by Venom: 3 (Grabbed) Page 6
