At some point, the pain stopped, and Tina rose through the layers of darkness. Light flared behind her eyes, and with a flutter, she opened them. Oh god, where was she? Why couldn’t she remember anything? Her eyes stung for a moment as bright light rushed in. A few blinks and she could see the panelled ceiling above her.
Faces appeared in her line of vision, faces she knew, her new colleagues, and her initial spurt of panic started to subside.
“Tina, can you understand me?” Doctor Tragesh asked.
“Yes.” She spoke into the mask that covered the lower half of her face. What a strange question.
“Good, good. You’ve had quite an adventure, and it’s not over yet. Your temperature is still elevated, and your lungs are not working at one hundred percent efficiency. The mask needs to stay on for a while longer.”
Tina nodded and flexed her arms, attempting to stretch some of the tightness out of her muscles only to find herself strapped down. Her heart skipped a beat, then started to pound. Why was she strapped down? Why couldn’t she remember? With the serious blank in her memories, she couldn’t remember how she had come to be in Medical.
And that was where she was. Normally, she would recognise her new workplace just by the scent, but with the mask over her mouth and nose, medicated air was all she could smell.
It was strange being on the other side of things. She hadn’t been sick in years. Usually she was the one treating a patient. Usually she was the one fiddling with equipment and running tests.
They’d put her in one of the intensive care capsules, and even though it was unlikely she was contagious, she must have been close to death. Each capsule had its own air supply and all the equipment a doctor could need to administer almost any test and even perform surgery if required.
The room hummed with the noise of all the monitors and machines, and with a jerk, Tina became aware of the slight discomforts of tubes, wires, and monitor pads attached to her naked body.
“What happened to me, Doctor Tragesh? How did I end up in here?” Tina strained against the bands keeping her immobile.
Doctor Tragesh placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Do you remember the raid, Tina?”
Oh god. The raid! Screams and smoke, flickering lights and fear filled Tina’s mind. All she could do was nod her head, quite the accomplishment with the mask holding her almost immobile.
“They found you unconscious when we returned to the station. It took eight hours for us to come back, and we aren’t sure how long you lay there injured. Something bit you, and it wasn’t until we were able to draw blood for analysis that we discovered it was a Morgath. It’s very exciting, Tina, as you are the first human ever to receive a bite from one. We’ve been monitoring your progress for the last three weeks. It’s the fastest transformation ever recorded. Usually, a Morgath transformation takes six months if the female doesn’t commit suicide.”
Tina’s mind whirled by the time the doctor had finished speaking. A Morgath. Three weeks! Memories started to assail her, and a deep shudder made her bonds creak. A deep ache started low in her belly, and heat spread through her limbs as she remembered the harsh growl of the male’s voice.
An alarm sounded from somewhere close, and Doctor Tragesh left, she assumed to check the monitors stuck to her body. Tina took a deep calming breath, and another. She honestly didn’t mind them studying her. She was also a medic, after all. If she had been the doctor in charge, she would want to study the patient as well, but she didn’t want them knowing that just the thought of the Morgath male made her pulse pound and an embarrassing slickness ready her sex.
Tina frowned. That shouldn’t be happening. She’d had the blocker before leaving Earth. She shouldn’t be having a sexual response to anything. Doctor Tragesh would be able to tell her what was going on. She’d have to remember to ask him.
It was embarrassing enough that doctors and medical students would be pouring over her transformation records—now her arousal would be documented for them all to see. Tina strained against the bonds holding her down, wanting nothing more than to get up and escape. The heat in her face compounded the heat building in her body. Damn traitorous body. How could it do this to her?
Doctor Tragesh returned with a smirk on his face and a twinkle in his eye. “You’re going to be here for a little bit longer, Tina. Can I get a learning pod sent up for you? If I were in your position, I would want to know everything I could find about the species that had changed me.”
“That would be great, Doctor Tragesh. I’m a little light on that particular species. The Coalition did not include the Morgath in my studies, and can you release me? Please?” Tina would beg if she had to. She was helpless and vulnerable strapped down to the medical bed, a situation she hated.
“No. The species of the Outer Rim aren’t included in the Coalition’s study regimen. They don’t come into Coalition space often, and we hardly ever have to treat one.” He looked at her for a long moment before reaching for her bindings. “If you try to leave, Tina. I will restrain you again.”
Tina nodded and waited, keeping her body relaxed while Doctor Tragesh released her, then waited with growing impatience for one of the techs to arrive with the learning pod. The male handed her the small device and raked his gaze down her barely covered body, a leer twisting his lips. Tina ignored him and the way her skin crawled. Instead, she powered up the tablet and waited for it to come online.
A marvel of educational learning to the humans, the pods imprinted the information straight into the brain. A quick scan from the machine read her brain’s signature and put the information into a format that her brain could assimilate. Every species was different, and the pod’s ability to adapt its information to suit the species using it was a technological marvel.
“Give me all the information available on the Morgath,” Tina instructed the pod when a welcome in Coalition Standard scrolled across the screen.
A moment later, a light stream emitted from the pod as it scanned her, reading her brain waves. A few seconds later, the pod emitted a series of flickers, and the data was rolling through her mind. Species specs, mating habits, a detailed description of the Morgath world and social structure, even an image of their royal family, and the history of the Morgath’s attempts to be accepted into the Coalition, and last but not least, all the medical details of the transformations of several species into mates. All of it there for her to sift through at her leisure.
A roaring started in Tina’s ears as she delved into the information. Oh, fuck! This couldn’t be happening to her. Why had he chosen her? Why couldn’t he have left her alone? Her chest tightened, and breathing became difficult. A panic attack. God, she was having a panic attack.
“Breathe deep, Tina. Everything will work out, just breathe through it,” Doctor Tragesh encouraged as he rushed over to her.
Tina’s heart raced as her body trembled, sending the monitor’s alarms blaring through the room. Her stomach churned, and she gasped into the mask. Everything became a blur as tears swam in her eyes and blinded her.
Oh god. Everything she’d worked so hard for was gone. Her dream. Gone. Every hour of study, the fight she’d put up to get accepted into the space program. Gone because of one male. One freaking bite, and her life had changed forever.
“I’m going to give you something to help, Tina. Don’t jump when you feel the dermal injector.”
She could barely hear Doctor Tragesh’s voice through the roaring in her ears, but the touch of the dermal injector against her neck was cool, and Tina flinched away at the slight pain as it pushed the medication through her skin.
She started to calm down, her breath evening out and her heart slowing. Her eyelids became heavy, and her body started to relax. “What did you give me?” she asked, but it came out slurred. The sneaky bastard, what had he just injected into her?
“A sedative. By the time you wake, you should be feeling much better. Sleep well, Tina, you need to be strong for what comes next.”
&n
bsp; She knew that. From what she’d just learned, the Morgath society was not for the faint of heart, and her mate would be back to collect her, there was no doubt about it. They always came to collect.
Two days later, Tina had sifted through every piece of information the pod had flashed into her brain. Doctor Tragesh decided to let her out of Medical when her fear and panic shifted to become a stubborn refusal to be some weak-willed ninny that cried about the sudden turn her life had taken.
She could cling to her fear and refuse to accept the situation, but that would get her nowhere. The Morgath male would come for her, and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Morgath males always collected their mates, and heaven help anyone who stood in their way. There was no running, no hiding, only the inevitability that became her fate the minute he chose her.
But that didn’t mean Tina was just going to roll over and play submissive little mate. She would fight for what she wanted, and she wanted to study the Morgath. She wanted to understand how the mating process worked and exactly what had happened to her body. Her dream wasn’t dead, just changed a little.
But Doctor Tragesh threw up a roadblock. You are still far too fragile to be reading your file, Tina. He promised he’d let her have it when he thought she was strong enough.
It annoyed her no end, but she had to agree with him. She was still fragile. Not physically. No, her body was in fantastic condition, strong, agile, and ready for anything, but inside, she was a mess.
She was spitting mad with the male who had bitten her. From the Coalition’s file, she now knew the Morgath usually selected their mates from one of six species. She couldn’t understand why the male had chosen her, why he’d chosen a human. The differences between their species were extreme.
But she was going to make him explain it to her even if she had to use force to drag the information out of him. Maybe if she understood his reasons, she wouldn’t feel so conflicted. She didn’t feel conflicted about what she wanted and what she intended to demand, though.
No one knew much about the Morgath from a medical point of view, especially their breeding habits. The only piece of information she could glean from the pod’s data said that they were a male-dominated species who had to steal their mates from around the universe. It was such a barbaric practice, but it seemed it was common knowledge, and it boiled Tina’s brain that Administrator Parker hadn’t warned her when he offered her the position available on Deranti Station.
In fact, the position on Deranti was the only one he’d offered her, which seemed a little suspicious to her. After her three months of intensive training at The Fortress, the only position Administrator Parker could find for her was on Deranti, at the far edge of Coalition space, in a sector known for raids and incursions by the pirates of the Outer Rim.
She’d had to accept the position or go home, and Tina had no intention of going home. She wasn’t the only woman offered a suspicious position, either. Three of the other women she’d arrived at The Fortress with also received dangerous positions.
All the women who left Earth were under the control of the men in charge of the humans in space, and most of those men made it clear they believed women didn’t belong in space.
Now it appeared her time on Deranti was about to end. Just when she’d started to settle in and make friends, she’d be off to another planet, and god knew what kind of life. One thing was obvious to Tina—in a male-dominated society like the Morgath’s, insecure, weak women would not survive. To have any kind of life she’d be happy with, she’d have to stand up for what she wanted.
Tina hoofed it through the station, dodging occupants and visitors, slipping around shipments of goods on their way to the retail sector. Deranti was a trading station. You wouldn’t know from its appearance, though. In the high traffic areas and recreational areas, the service personnel polished everything to a high shine. Only in the docking areas and freight ports did the station look more like the well-worn stations Tina had been on before.
She moved through the busy corridors, checking the signs on the walls written in Coalition Standard, to make sure she didn’t get lost this time. Even after the time she had spent on the station and the changes to her body, the gravity on Deranti was still a little off, still a little heavy compared to Earth.
Whatever the Morgath male’s venom had done to her caused her hair to grow while she changed, and now the mass was not only blood red instead of the faded orange-red it had been most of her life, it was also down to her backside. So she had an appointment with the station beautician to do something with it.
She had more hair than she’d ever had in her life, and she was useless at doing hair. A utilitarian ponytail was about all she was capable of doing, so cutting some of the heavy length off was her first priority. She’d never wanted to waste her money on one of the styler devices that were all the rage on Earth before she left. They’d probably rip all her hair out.
Walking through the station, clothed for the first time in weeks, was a little surreal. Being up and about and not connected to almost every monitor in Medical was brilliant. Every little movement, every time her heart rate shifted, they’d recorded it and studied it.
Doctor Tragesh had a detailed record of every time the thought of the male who was going to be her mate sent arousal throbbing through her body. What would he look like? He’d be a combination of Morgathian and Human. He’d definitely have wings, and every time she thought about them, heat hummed through her body, sending the monitors crazy. Her body’s reaction to the male was starting to drive her crazy. She had never reacted to a man like this before.
Parts of her body were sore and abused even with the healing from Doctor Tragesh. Human bodies weren’t designed to have tubes and pipes inserted into them for long periods of time. Doctor Tragesh had offered to regenerate her, but Tina was so desperate to get out of Medical she declined. She should have taken him up on his offer. How much further was it anyway?
One of the busiest stores on the station, the beauticians provided services for every species in the Coalition. Tina had investigated them on her second day on the station. Now she had no need of their services other than to cut her hair, because there wasn’t a single hair left anywhere else on her body. They were gone, like magic. Tina grinned again as she walked towards the beauticians. That was one thing about her transformation she wasn’t going to complain about. The front of the store showed every chair and station filled except one. The chair right in front of the window.
Sitting in the seat of the station’s beautician parlour became an uncomfortable endeavour because of the seam of Tina’s suit rubbing on delicate flesh. The med tech who had retrieved her uniform from her quarters was Brishnalian, and they didn’t wear underwear. Really, Doctor Tragesh should have sent someone who knew humans.
“Your hair is looking lovely after your transformation, Tina. What would you like me to do to it today?” Paxar, the Ramberl technician, asked.
It seemed everyone on the station knew what had happened to her. Some people avoided her as she’d walked over from Medical. Some stared at her with curiosity, and others looked at her with disgust. Tina ignored them all. It wasn’t like she cared what they thought of her.
Paxar sifted through her hair with his four hands, stroking and combing the length with his fingers.
“I want you to cut it off to my shoulders please,” Tina replied.
Paxar clicked his disapproval. “Many societies cherish long hair. Are you sure you want to do that? Growing it out will take a considerable amount of time unless you want to pay to have it regenerated.”
Tina nodded. She knew that, and it wasn’t a problem. “Please, I’m not good with hair. If it’s a manageable length, I can just tie it up and not have to worry about it.”
A deep heavy sigh was all the answer she received. Paxar moved away to get his tools ready, and Tina looked in the mirror for the first time.
She’d tried hard not to look at the changes to her body as she’d dre
ssed in Medical, but she hadn’t been able to miss the slew of creamy scales that wrapped around her waist and covered a good portion of her back. They were as sensitive as her skin when she stroked them, and smooth under her hands.
Startled vibrant green eyes looked back at her out of a face she hardly recognised as her own. Shit, was that still her? Tina’s mother had always told her she was beautiful, but with her faded red hair and eyes bordering on hazel instead of green, Tina had always thought she looked washed out.
Pale peaches-and-cream skin with a slew of freckles across her nose had kept her from the sun and any kind of tan. She had never trusted the skin-dying products available, no matter how safe they purported to be. She had never believed the companies’ claims. Her eyebrows were her favourite feature of her face. They arched gently over her eyes, and she barely needed to do any maintenance on them to keep them in a nice shape. At least they hadn’t changed.
Now, they framed her bright green eyes and made them her most compelling feature. Something was different about her face, but Tina couldn’t put her finger on what it was. All she knew was she didn’t look like the woman she had always been.
What else would this male steal from her? The hot ball of anger that had been burning in her gut for the last two days flared and Tina gritted her teeth as she waited for Paxar to return. But... at least she still looked human. Maybe the changes she’d gone through were only superficial.
A strange sensation started in the pit of her belly, a gentle pulling sensation that wanted her to get up out of the chair and let it pull her along. Sheer force of will kept Tina sitting in the chair, but as Paxar returned to stand behind her, the force of the sensation increased.
The technician’s hands tugged at her hair as he braided it into one long rope. He applied a sealant next, from the base of her head to the very end of the braid.
“Do you want to take your hair with you?” Paxar asked.
Claimed (Project Destiny Book 1) Page 2
