Drasus

Nevving female! Even after my eyes close, I can scent her, hear her clothes rustling, feel as she covers me over with the blanket and squeezes the pillow behind my head.

I should hate it. I should hate her for the paraxio which is taking me on another wild ride into my unconscious mind. Getting free of the stuff was one of my aims after Drega left. I need to shift and I cannot, not while I'm out of it, filled with a drug designed to make a Sarkarnii feel only pleasure.

Whereas I feel nothing at all.

There is only the scent of the female clinging to my nostrils, invading my mind, making me…

My hips twitch, and I growl at the pain which wracks my body. I cannot be going into rut for this female, surely?

I'm barely conscious, I'm barely functioning. Even when I do behave like a warrior, I get Drega forcing more paraxio into me, berating me for mistreating the younger warriors, even as I attempt to protest their lack of respect.

Drega, who informed me until I could be trusted, until I was strong enough to shift, I would be kept unconscious. I guess I must have dislodged the system he was using, given the nevver can't be around paraxio, which is how I ended up awake and not wishing to soil myself.

I didn't need her help. The female. Coral. I didn't need to scent her, to touch her, to want to shift like a Sarkarnii possessed. I needed her away from me. I had to make sure she didn't get any closer.

Except my body let me down and she practically had to carry me back to my bed.

I know one thing for certain. When I see Drega again, I will kill him.

"Eat." His not so dulcet tones break into my unconsciousness, and I snarl as best I can.

I'm propped up in bed, the tube removed and a platter of meat on my lap. Drega is bustling around, his tail shifted and flicking back and forth.

I am intensely hungry. I scoop up the food like a feral Mosum and cram it into my mouth.

"Female?" I spray at him.

"Coral said she found you awake," he says without looking at me. "It sounds like you're making some progress. I think we could probably reduce the paraxio infusions and see if you can shift in the next few ticks."

"Shift," I growl, spearing a thick slice of tralu on a claw and shoving it down my throat.

"And maybe we could work on your finer manners?" Drega is next to the bed in a move I didn't see at all.

I blink up at him, chewing slowly.

"What manners?"

Drega shakes his head and reaches across my chest. I snap my teeth at his arm.

"Seriously, Drasus," he snarls at me. "I'm taking out the port for the paraxio. But if you're going to go full Daeos on me, I'll leave it in. Especially if you're considering a trick like the one you pulled on Dynos yesterday."

I settle back on the pillows. "That warrior needed to be taught a lesson," I say, managing to get another slice of tralu into my mouth as Drega fusses around the port.

"And you had to be the one teaching him?"

"Seems like no one else bothers," I growl.

Then I yelp involuntarily as he pulls the port directly out of my flight lung. "Nevver!"

"It's nevver of the High Bask to you, warrior." Drega half snarls, half laughs. "Gets a warrior every time, that particular maneuver."

"Any chance you could stop doing it?" I ask, attempting to rub at the area and finding my hands knocked away as he continues to poke around the wound.

"No." Drega stands back to admire his handiwork.

"What the nev is this?" I glare at the thing on my chest.

"It's a plaster. The human female who is a healer showed me how they make them on her planet."

I go to pick at the white square on my scales before I have both hands unceremoniously clutched together, and because I'm as weak as a sarkarnling, I can't dislodge him.

"Don't touch it," Drega says. "It's there for your own good."

"But it's sticky," I grumble, "and it itches."

"How can it possibly itch? I've only just put it on." Drega turns away.

I brush at the thing. "Looks stupid."

He has his back to me. His shoulder drop and his tail lashes. "It matches its owner, who stupidly thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with a warrior when he wasn't able to stand upright without assistance."

"Did I lose?" I shove another lump of meat into my mouth.

"Not the point, Drasus, and you know it. You've been badly injured—collapsed flight lungs, damaged accelerant sac, accelerant poisoning, multiple broken bones." He lists my injuries as if I'm not aware of every single one. "You needed blood from another warrior to keep you alive, and not being able to shift has made your injuries worse." He clicks his tongue and I want to kill him. Again. "We need you at full strength as soon as possible." He finally turns to face me. "And given how well you responded to Coral, I'm proposing she continues with your care until you are able to shift."

"What?" The piece of tralu I have in my hand falls back on the platter.

"You're eating without assistance for the first time in ten ticks. Whatever she did, it had a substantial effect on you," Drega intones.

I look down at the platter and back at him. I mean, he is right, but even so.

"And what if I don't want a female caring for me?"

"You'll have to tough it out, warrior," Drega says, folding his arms, "because it's either this, or I put the paraxio port back in." He cracks a smile, and not a good one. "But from what I've seen so far, this won't be tough for you at all."

If I could have moved under my own muscle power, Drega would most definitely be dead, as the nevver grins at me, like he defeated the spaceworms all on his own.

"You will pay for this, Drega," I rasp, but tiredness overwhelms me with a suddenness I wasn't expecting.

As the platter is drawn out from my limp hands, Drega gently smooths a hand over my forehead. "I look forward to the day you fight me, honorable warrior."

And then all is darkness.