Moon(32)

Justice spoke next. “That’s where Moon met Dr. Yards. She was his shrink. The ones put in charge of us after our release not only wanted us to adjust to life outside Mercile but they wanted us to learn modern technology while giving us mental-health care.”

“I was Moon’s therapist,” she corrected, though she knew she’d always be a “shrink” to Species. “From what I could tell by our conversation, he believes that he’s still living at the motel. He’s come a long way though. He remembers me.” And he remembers that I left him. She decided to keep that part out. “He had a normal conversation with me. That’s a huge improvement from him saying one or two words. I think he’s slowly recovering. I’m hoping more memories will come back and he won’t have a huge gap of missing time.”

Harley growled. “Fuck.”

“That’s good.” Justice didn’t look convinced though. “Isn’t it?”

“I think so. I’m hoping his full memory will return. We need to allow him to ease into it. I don’t want to risk big shocks setting back his recovery. It’s a possibility. The chains and the cell distress him. I called this meeting to ask if we could upgrade his living conditions.”

“I will need to assess him,” Treadmont stated, shooting Joy a frown. “We don’t know her well enough to trust her judgment. I want Dr. Kregkor to talk to him.”

“Not that asshole,” Harley grumbled.

“I agree.” Fury shook his head. “That’s the last human you want to put in close quarters with Moon. I’m completely stable and I want to knock that jerk on his ass half the time I deal with him.”

“Who is Dr. Kregkor?” Joy didn’t like the sound of the guy.

“He is a shrink assigned to us by the US government.” Justice answered, not sounding happy about it. “We’ve stalled him from visiting Moon. That’s why we called you in.”

“I read that the NSO was totally under Species control.” She was confused. “That’s not true?”

“It is.” Justice leaned back in his chair. “It was a concession I made. It was easier to agree than argue. He has no real power here, and though he rubs a lot of our people the wrong way these days, it’s good publicity if the public knows we have a head shrink on staff. Otherwise I’d have him permanently escorted to the gates and banned entry.”

“Why would anyone care?” She didn’t understand.

“It makes a lot of humans feel safer if they believe we are all getting therapy.” Justice sighed. “We do what we can to minimize negative feelings directed toward Species and our publicity team thought someone sanctioned by the government would alleviate some of their fear of us.”

“As if we’re regulated in some way.” Fury snorted.

“Kregkor is annoying, but manageable. He has a confidentiality clause in his contract.” Justice stared at Joy. “We didn’t want him near Moon after how he dealt with Obsidian.”

“Who?”

“Another Species male with issues,” Tiger informed her. “The shrink would have suggested we put Moon down.”

“Kill him?” That shocked her. The logical part of her dismissed that assessment of the doctor. It was no secret that New Species disliked and distrusted most of her colleagues. No professional therapist would ever disregard a client’s right to life or fight to safeguard them. He was more than likely a bit pompous and arrogant, hence their aversion to him.

“Yes. The guy is a prick,” Harley stated. “What do you think we should do, Joy?”

She decided to be honest. “There are so many unknown factors. Species and humans are virtually alike yet the altered DNA introduces many variables.”

“I resent that.” Harley glared. “I’m nothing like humans.”

“You have human genetics too,” she reminded him, taking off the kid gloves. “You might not want to admit it after what was done to you but it’s true. A mirror will assure you of that.” She stood, too antsy to sit, focusing her attention on Justice. He was in charge. “Do you want to know what I think? That’s why we’re here, right?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. I’m not sure what to do. We could tell him the truth and hope it triggers memories. It could backfire though and hurt his recovery if the shock is too great. The Moon I knew might not have handled it well, perhaps gone into a rage, but the Moon I saw in a video isn’t the same as he used to be. He seemed better adjusted. I want to believe he could process the truth but I’m not sure.”