Mine. The beast was howling inside me, in pain. Denial. But Megan wasn’t ours. She’d been matched. Promised to another. I would not be the selfish asshole who ruined her life, who took her when I knew that wasn’t what she needed. I couldn’t make her happy. Hell, I doubted I could make any woman happy. Killing, I was good at. But the rest?
The doctor pushed her buttons and adjusted the settings. I grunted as I was pushed into the chair. My beast allowed her assistant to maneuver me, perhaps because she was Atlan, but most likely because the chair faced Megan and we could keep her in our sights. If the doctor thought to remove me from the med unit, I wasn’t sure what my beast would do. I knew Megan wasn’t mine, but the beast wasn’t listening.
He was a shit listener.
Perhaps the doctor was right and my fever was out of control. I couldn’t talk to my beast any longer. It was mindless. No, not mindless, focused. On one woman. Megan.
“I’m sorry about this, Nyko, but you don’t have time to go back to Atlan and find a mate the old-fashioned way. We need to get you matched as quickly as possible.”
I was only half listening, my eyes on Megan as the commander’s voice came through the comm system to the other doctor.
“All clear, Doctor. Get it handled and get her off my ship.”
The doctor nodded, and I noticed he took her bag, opened it, and grinned. No, not grinned, smiled like he’d just won the biggest prize on the planet. “She’ll need transport to I.C. immediately. Notify Doctor Helion.”
“How long, Doctor?” the commander asked.
The doctor shook his head, closed her bag and set it aside in a locked compartment. “I don’t know. Depends on the extent of the damage.”
Damage? What damage?
“Inform me as soon as you know something, Doctor.”
“Yes, sir.” The doctor ended the comm and they gently pulled Megan’s helmet from her head. Her skin was smooth and a deep, warm brown, her lips full. She looked so peaceful, like she was sleeping, But I knew better. I tensed to rush to her aid should she cry out in pain, but this time she did nothing, her lack of movement as unnerving as her moans and whimpers of pain had been.
“ReGen pod ready?” the doctor asked.
“Yes, Doctor.”
“Good. Let’s get her in there.”
“But her armor?”
The doctor shook his head. “Leave it. We don’t have time.”
I watched them carry her across the small room to a white pod that lined the wall. Five pods occupied the wall on that side of the station, only one other still working to heal someone, probably from yesterday’s battle. Once Megan was inside, and the pod activated, I settled back into my chair.
But when the restraints slid out and circled my wrists, my beast fought.
“Warlord!” the doctor shouted, but my beast was too far gone.
“Start the testing. Put him under. Now.”
I fought the restraints as my chair was tilted back so I could only look up at the ceiling. The cushion supporting my head circled around to the sides and tightened, locking my head in place. I could not turn to the left or right. I felt a sharp prick in my neck, then my body stopped responding to orders as my muscles became slack.
They’d given me something to drug the beast. I blinked, slowly, as a barrage of images played across the screen in place above me. I strained to hear Megan, to check on her pod, but quickly became unable to focus on anything but what appeared on the display.
The medical staff moved around me, attaching neural monitors to my head, but their soft touches were no more than a gentle breeze on my skin and I ignored them completely. The images moved slowly at first, females from all races and worlds, blue and gold, tall and short, thin. None of them looked like Megan. The beast growled, thinking only of her until the world went black.
Chapter Eight
Megan, Battleship Karter, Medical Station Three
“Welcome back.”
I blinked my eyes and stared up at Doctor Moor. My mind was completely blank and I was confused. I looked around, but could only see the curved white walls that enclosed me in the small space. A ReGen pod. But the top was open and the pretty doctor looked down at me with a welcoming grin on her face.
I sat up slowly then, took deep breaths as the upper half of my body emerged from the healing pod. I still had my armor on, the stench of dirt and sweat and blood a bit thick in the small confines of the pod. My head was spinning, just a bit. Why was I in a ReGen pod, and why was I in full battle armor?
“What happened?” I asked, taking in the med unit. I was on the Battleship Karter. Home for the last two years. I was back. But what was I doing in medical? “The last thing I remember was the transport station.” And pain. A thousand voices fighting for space inside my head. And Nyko holding me. God, I missed his arms, his big brute strength protecting me. Which was hard to admit and even harder to accept. I’d been fighting for years, two years in the Fleet and six years on Earth before that. I was used to taking care of myself. I hadn’t counted on a man since my daddy died. That being one hard, painful lesson I’d taken to heart. Never, ever depend on a man when you can do something yourself.