Chapter 14

Lise

Ibrought Sara a cup of tea and placed it on her bedside table. “How are you feeling today?” I asked.

“Better,” she said with a smile. “Better than yesterday, anyway.”

I sat on the edge of Sara’s bed, where she lay under the covers looking way too pale and way too tired. “That’s good.”

It was no secret that periods were lasting a lot longer than normal and fatigue was beginning to take a toll. Some women, like Sara, were spending more time in bed than they were up. I could see it when I went down to the baths. They were almost empty. In the two weeks since I had arrived on Mitra, what I had seen was surprising and unsettling. More and more males were bringing meals back to their homes because their human mates were not up for going to the dining hall. More pale faces and tired expressions. No more laughing voices.

Sara took a sip of tea. She had lost weight. “Uklat is worried about me.” She waved a hand. “I’m sure it’s nothing and it will pass. All of the tests that have been done have come back fine.”

“But you’re afraid.” I brushed some hair from her face. “You don’t have to pretend otherwise.”

She sighed. “Yeah, I am afraid. Aisha, Winn, and Pirah are also in the same shape I am. And I’ve heard that there are several women in the medical lab right now on IV.”

This was news to me. This was big news to me. “Really? How many?”

She shook her head. “The medic isn’t saying. When I went there, I heard voices in the beds behind the wall. Hardly anyone ever stays in the medical center, but there are some who need to be there right now, I guess.”

“What did the medic say when you went to him?” I’d tried to speak with Gexor the previous day but the older Mitran male had refused to speak with me.

“He said I was fine.” She shrugged her narrow shoulders. “That my blood levels are lower but my life isn’t in danger. That’s a good thing.” Her lips tightened. “He told me to eat more meat.”

“Are you serious? That’s what he told you?”

She nodded. “He doesn’t know what else to do. He’s not used to dealing with humans or females, and we are both of those things. He’s used to Mitran males coming in and needing an arm sewn back on after a hunt. He’s doing the best he can.”

“Bullshit,” I said bluntly. “He’s had years to learn and prepare for human patients. Mitrans knew we were coming for a lot longer than we’ve been here. He should be well-versed in our bodies by now. Many of his patients are human, now.”

“And if all had gone according to plan, there would be a bunch of human-Mitran hybrid kids running around by now.” She smiled weakly and longingly. “I’m still hoping that happens one day. I really want children. I came here because I kept striking out in the romance department on Earth. Loser after loser.” She shook her head. “And now I have a wonderful guy whom I love and who loves me, and here I am.” She lifted her arms and let them fall on the bed. “He’s terrified for me. He wants me to go back to Earth to be treated there.”

I didn’t say it, but I thought that might not be a bad idea. If things continued this way, they would need more than what this Thrail could offer them. I reached out and squeezed her hand. “I’m going to have a talk to the medic and see what he has to say for himself.”

She turned probing eyes to mine. “Do you have any thoughts on what this might be?”

“No, but I haven’t seen any of the data that the medic and the warlord have.” Maybe once I did, I’d be the fresh eyes that could suggest a new course of action. I didn’t want to see my new friend die. I didn’t want to see anyone die. But if the cause of this wasting sickness and infertility wasn’t found soon, Sara’s mate would be right—the only way to save them would be to send them home.

I was enough like my mother in that once I got my hooks into something, I didn’t let go. I wasn’t going to let Sara, or any of the other women, down.

The medic, Gexor, did not like me. The instant I walked through his door, his face folded into displeased lines. He glanced up at the flycam with distinct displeasure.

“You.” He crossed his arms over his crisp white uniform. “Do you have a medical emergency?”

I eyed the older Mitran male and decided to try the pleasant approach first. Not that it had worked the last time I was in here. “No, sir,” I said. “No emergency. I was just wondering if you had a few minutes to talk.”

“I do not.” He looked down at his screen on his desk. “I am busy.”

“I’m sure you are, dealing with all the sick human females in Thrail Tyvor these days.”

He did not look up. “None of them are suffering from any disease or illness. They are just adjusting to our climate and environment.”

My hands twitched. “That’s what you think this is? Humans are having a hard time adjusting?”

He glanced up briefly to flick an annoyed glance my way. “Yes. As I’m sure you are aware, we have run every test and done every scan for every known pathogen or toxin that could harm them. They have all come up clean.”

“Can you explain how women in other Thrails are not experiencing the same symptoms? The fertility and fatigue issues seem to be isolated to Thrail Tyvor. Are you saying that the women there have adjusted more quickly?”

“I recall saying I did not have time for your questions. Lise, is your name?” He gestured towards the door. “I am very busy. Please leave.”

I wasn’t ready to leave. “Tell me, Gexor, did you test the water?”

“We did,” he replied curtly. “For everything, as I said. The water here is clean and safe to drink.” He looked up at me with a glare. Confrontation glinted bright and hot in his eyes. “You don’t see the Mitran males coming to me with this illness, do you?”

I blinked at him. “So, you’re saying the women are ill.”

He walked out from behind his desk and stood in front of me, glaring down. His brakas were held back with a band. His dislike of me was obvious. I wondered if he held the same dislike for my entire species, or if it was just me. I didn’t care either way. I came here for answers and I would get some. “How many women are currently in this facility?”

His nostrils flared. “I don’t have to give you that information.”

“I’m not asking for their names. I’m asking how many. That’s a perfectly legitimate question.”

“In your opinion, perhaps on your planet,” he snarled. “Here, I answer to the warlord and only the warlord.”

“You answer to your patients, or at least, you should.” I leaned in. “You have no idea what’s causing this, do you?”

“If I knew, we would not be having this discussion, would we?”

“But you’re writing it off as a weakness of my species, aren’t you?”

“I did not say that.”

I was pushing. Maybe too hard. Maybe too much, but sometimes it took persistence and hard questions to get answers. I needed this medic to see that the women in this Thrail needed more. Deserved more. They needed him to look beyond the easy tests and scans and think outside the box for what could be wrong with them. “I can see it in your face,” I said. “You don’t think much of humans. You think we’re weak, and that we will weaken your species. You don’t want us here. You’re saying the women who are here haven’t adjusted to Mitra, but if none of the other Thrails are having this problem, you can’t write it off as nothing.”

Through his white cloth uniform, I could see the spikes on his arms and shoulders rise off of his skin. His nails lengthening into claws. Whoa. I was upsetting him. Really upsetting him. Perhaps I’d pushed too hard.

For the first time since stepping foot on Mitra, I wondered if I was safe with a Mitran. I had not seen a male raise his spikes in my presence because of anger toward me. That alone was alarming. “I advise that you leave right now, human. Better yet, get on a transport and return to your planet where you belong, and take the rest of your kind with you.”

He was moving towards me, and I, having recovered some sense of self-preservation, stepped back. “Believe me, if Earth catches wind of how bad the situation here is, our women will be called back. What would that mean for your Thrail?”

But Gexor never got a chance to answer. The door to the medical center opened and the warlord walked in, followed by Dikon, the guard who had been quietly following me for two weeks.

Gexor’s shoulders and chest opened, and his face filled with triumph. “Warlord. I am glad you are here. Remove this female from my lab. She is harassing me.”

The warlord’s gaze moved over the medic slowly. Appraisingly. He lingered on Gexor’s extended claws and raised spikes. “How is she harassing you?” He asked the question casually, but I could see something else in his face. A sharpness and edge. I was no expert on this male, but my instincts told me he was not happy with the medic.

Gexor threw up his hands. “Demanding information about what is afflicting the human females in this Thrail. I gave her all the answers I have, but it’s not enough. She won’t stop asking questions.”

“It is her job to ask questions,” Adrik said calmly. “She is a journalist. She is here to gain information about our Thrail and how it runs. The problem her fellow humans are having here is the most vital thing she could report on.”

The medic wasn’t having it and he wasn’t reading any of the warlord’s cues. Even Dikon was giving the medic side-eye. “To what end? I don’t understand why we allowed such a female in our midst in the first place. No good can come of her being here. Of any of them, for that matter.”

The warlord clasped his hands behind his back, gazing at the medic through narrowed eyes. “Accepting her has given us several more battle cruisers and fighters to defend our border as agreed upon by the council of warlords. I recall telling everyone to treat her with respect and to answer her questions.” He gestured at Gexor’s spikes, which still pushed through the fabric of his white coat. “Can you explain why your spikes are rising in the presence of this female guest?”

The medic flicked a hand and walked away. “Her questioning angered me. I asked her to leave but she would not.”

“I was asking hard questions, but not unreasonable ones,” I growled back. “I’m searching for an explanation. How many women are in this place right now? Why haven’t you examined the water?”

The medic swung around, his clawed hand raised.

In an instant, the warlord was between Gexor and me, with his hand wrapped around the elder Mitran’s wrist. “Raise a hand to her and I will break it,” said the warlord.

The medic stumbled back as the warlord released him. He looked shaken, confused. “I… I meant nothing. I would not have harmed her.”

“Good.” Pal-Adrik’s arms crossed. “Answer the question. How many women are in this place and what is this talk about the water?”

“Six female humans are currently in beds back there.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder towards the other section of the facility. “And we did test the water. I’ve given you the data. We’ve tested it for everything—”

“No,” I said, cutting in. “I know you’ve tested it for things, but I mean, have you examined it under a scope? Have you looked at it up close with your own eyes? Scans and tests are meant to seek out specific things, like toxins or bacteria, but it’s possible the problem is different.”

“What else could it possibly be?” snapped the medic.

I shook my head. “You don’t even know what you’re doing, do you?”

This was the last straw for the medic. I had stretched the bonds of his ego past capacity. His red face darkened even further. Spikes busted out of his coat.

The warlord wrapped me in his arms and turned me away from the medic. “Dikon, take him out and calm him. He is to be relieved of his duties and retire to the elders’ hall. He is to stay away from our human residents.”

“Yes, Warlord.” Dikon looked alarmed by the medic’s state. “We’ll need an immediate replacement.”

“I’ll deal with that,” said the warlord. “First, I’m dealing with her.”

My mind momentarily blanked at the feeling of his huge arms wrapped around me. It was like being rolled in the warmest, most amazing, exciting blanket in the world. I looked up at him, blinking. There were no words coming out of my mouth. That was probably a good thing. I’d probably babble about how good he smelled.

I was out of breath and shockingly aroused. “Still don’t think I can stay out of trouble, do you?”

I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he smirked. “I know you can’t.”

“I pushed him too hard,” I muttered. “I shouldn’t have.”

“No. Gexor should not have lost his temper with you for asking questions. It makes him an unsafe choice for the rest of the females.” He lowered his head and spoke into my ear, sending shivers everywhere. “But now, you will come with me.”

“Are you going to carry me?” I really shouldn’t have asked that. It was a taunt, and I was already keyed up, full of adrenaline, and primed for a fight. I bit my lip, wishing I could take it back.

But he didn’t react other than leaning closer. His lips brushed my ear. “Would you like me to?” I shivered in his arms, betraying my own attraction to him. God, yes, I wanted to say. But I sealed my lips shut and shook my head.

“Good. Let’s go.”

I didn’t bother asking where we were going. It didn’t matter. I knew I was safe with him and maybe, just maybe, he would listen to me.