Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

E xamining the walls more closely this time, Taraxan found several additional door panels. The first two revealed only small empty rooms, but the third opened into a much larger space, the walls lined with monitors. Several of them showed jungle vistas, and he recognized several places from their journey, including the clearing with the pool. Other screens showed wide expanses of desert, long stretches of shoreline, and even isolated mountaintops.

"Have they been watching us?" Jayn asked.

He nodded grimly. No doubt they had been observing the results of their test.

"Even when we…" Her face turned bright pink.

The thought enraged him—he was the only person who was privileged to witness her pleasure—but right now, he had other things to worry about.

He inspected the room again and realized that other than the array of monitors, there was no equipment in the room. No desks, no seating, no technology hubs. Had anyone ever been in here, or were the feeds being transmitted elsewhere?

Jayn seemed to have reached the same conclusion. "Where is everyone?"

He shook his head. This place was as much a mystery to him as it was to her.

Returning to the corridor, they found one more empty room before reaching a final room filled with supplies. Some of them were clearly identifiable as Doturan, but much of it he didn't recognize. For the first time it occurred to him that he might not be the only male being tested.

He dismissed the idea. He had seen no signs of other males and right now, he simply wanted an answer to their own situation.

The other side of the hallway held only three doors—the blast doors opening into the hangar, another storage room, and a medical lab. He opened the door to it with a sigh of relief. If it was properly equipped, he would be able to fit Jayn with a translation implant. He needed to tell her how he felt, and he wanted to make quite sure she understood.

She followed him into the lab, looking around curiously as he rifled through the drawers.

"This looks like a doctor's office."

"Yehss."

"What are you looking for? A way to finish healing your leg?"

It hasn't occurred to him, but it was a good idea. There had been no sign of the testers, but if he needed to confront them physically, he would prefer to be in top shape. It might also help to reassure her if he was the first to use the medical bed, he decided as he finally located a translation implant.

He limped over to the bed and climbed in.

"What are you doing?"

"Wahch."

He triggered the healing function and the bed began to glow a soft pink. A warm gel oozed up from the base of the bed and enclosed his leg. The warmth increased until it verged on the edge of uncomfortable, then rapidly subsided. The gel parted, then slipped back into the bed.

His leg looked as good as new, only the faintest ring left to indicate the original bite.

"That's amazing," Jayn exclaimed, leaning down to stroke her soft little fingers over the newly healed skin. "It doesn't hurt anymore?"

Not only did it not hurt but the feel of her hands on him was having the inevitable effect on his cock. Her eyes widened as she saw him harden.

"I guess not," she murmured.

For a moment, he was tempted to forget their problems and lose himself in her sweet body, but there would be time for that later. He hoped.

"Yor tuhrn."

Jane took a step back as Tarax indicated the medical bed he'd just left. "Me? Why? There's nothing wrong with me."

He held up a small, clear device, no larger than a dime. "Trans-layt."

"Translate? You mean that will help me understand you?"

He nodded, and she took a step towards him. She still wasn't thrilled about using alien technology, but the thought of being able to understand him completely was a powerful incentive.

"You're sure it will work on humans?" she asked nervously.

"Ev-ree-wuhn," he said firmly.

Her pulse fluttered rapidly, but she couldn't believe that Tarax would ever allow her to come to harm. She gave a reluctant nod and he rewarded her with a white flash of fang.

After helping her up on the bed, he dropped a quick kiss on her lips, then placed the small device on her wrist.

"What's going to happen now? Oh!"

More gel emerged from the bed, pale green this time, and enveloped her wrist before she could pull away.

It didn't hurt, but she didn't like the feeling of being restrained and shot Tarax a panicked look.

"Fien," he said gently. "Kwik."

Sure enough, the gel began to withdraw a few seconds later. There was no sign of the device on her wrist and when she ran a finger over the place where it had been, she felt only her own skin.

"Jane," Tarax said, but she was too busy examining her wrist to respond.

"This is amazing."

"Jane," he repeated. "Can you understand me?"

She could, she realized with delight. Although she could still hear the underlying growl of his voice, the meaning of those sounds was quite clear. Even her name sounded different, more like the way she would pronounce it.

"I can! And you can—well, I guess you already understood me, didn't you?"

"The implant helped me to learn, but it is clearer now." He hesitated, then spoke in a heated rush. "I love you, Jane. I know you might not feel the same way -"

"Of course I do." Tears sprang to her eyes. "I already told you once. When you bit me."

His eyes snapped to the mark on her neck. "When I had the fever?"

"Yes."

"I'm so sorry I did not remember."

She smiled through her tears. "It doesn't matter. Now we both know how we feel and we're together."

She took a step towards him, and a clear barrier dropped down from the ceiling, separating them on opposite sides of the room.