“So it’s a drug? Is it legal here?”
“No.” I answered before the doctor could upset her further. “The Hive uses it to speed up the metabolism and weaken the minds of their captives during the integration process. After that, it’s kept at a constant level in our bloodstreams to weaken our minds and make sure we are—biddable.”
She looked down at the captain, her eyes narrowed with thought. “So, it’s a mind-altering high, like Ecstasy back home. Makes you feel happy? Content?”
The doctor raised a brow. “I am not familiar with the term ecstasy outside of a sexual context. But, Quell is often misused by our warriors trying to cope with the dark reality of their new status.”
“Status?” Rachel stepped closer to the doctor, standing over him like a shadow.
“As less. Contaminated. Outcasts.” The doctor ignored my mate, waving the ReGen wand over Captain Brooks’ corpse from head to toe. I didn’t like the way he worded that. The warriors present did not need to hear such dark words from our healer. Our cyborg implants were a cruel reminder of how we’d fought and survived.
“You’re an asshole.” Queen Deston pushed to the front to stand next to my mate and the two women shared a look I had no hope of deciphering without the connection I shared with Rachel. Agreement. Accord. Friendship. “And Rachel is right. If he was a SEAL, he was tough. I don’t believe he would rip his shirt off at dinner, challenge us like that, and then curl into a ball and drop dead from a drug overdose. No way.”
Rachel nodded. “I want to run some tests.”
The Earth women were not happy about what had happened to one of their own.
Queen Deston tilted her head as Ander and Prime Nial flanked her, two of the scariest bastards I’d ever had the pleasure to meet. The Queen lifted her hand to Rachel’s shoulder. “Okay, Miss PhD in BioChem. Figure out what the hell really happened. He’s a veteran. He’s ours. I want answers, because this is bullshit.”
He’s a veteran. He’s ours.
The words silenced the entire room as every warrior present absorbed the two women’s reactions. We’d all been labeled outcasts. Less. But veteran was a term of respect offered by our Queen. We’d protected our people and survived the worst hell imaginable. Her acceptance and support was a balm, but it also hurt, like ripping the edges of a freshly healed wound. But it was a pain I welcomed.
“There is no doubt some on the Colony abuse Quell, but not everyone,” I countered.
Doctor Surnen rose to his feet and acquiesced with a nod. “I do not mean to offend, Lady Rone, but based on these test results, Captain Brooks was one of them.”
Rachel looked down at the captain, still on the floor. “I just spoke to him not long ago. He submitted to the brides testing protocol yesterday, seemed eager to be matched. A warrior drowning himself in illegal drugs to ease his agony, wouldn’t have gotten tested,” she countered. Yes, she’d picked up on the doctor’s ill-chosen word.
“You are new to the Colony and do not know the mental anguish we face,” the doctor countered. “You saw how upset he was by having the Hive integrations.”
“That is true,” Rachel replied, clearly thinking of the man stripping off his shirt during a dinner with the Prime. Would that have been appropriate behavior at an Earth function? “But I know Earth men. And I know human physiology and how our bodies react to drugs. That was my job.”
“Yes, and you poisoned and killed hundreds of people.”
I snarled, taking a step toward the doctor, Ryston beside me.
“Careful,” I growled, my hands clenching into fists.
Prime Nial stepped between us. “You will apologize to Lady Rone. You know nothing of her time on Earth, or her past. I believe in her innocence, as do her mates. By baldly stating otherwise, you disrespect their match, the governor of your base, as well as me, the leader of all Prillon people.”
The doctor looked contrite, but only for being called out by the Prime, not because he felt mistaken for his words.
He pursed his lips, bowed his head. “I apologize, Prime Nial. Governor.”
“Fuck this. Don’t apologize to us. Apologize to Lady Rone,” I bit out through clenched teeth.
“My deepest apologies, Lady Rone.”
Rachel waved her hand in the air as if none of the men in the room were of any consequence and spoke to the Queen. “Quell in the captain’s system means nothing. It doesn’t indicate how it got into his system. Maybe he took the drug himself. Maybe not. Maybe, he was poisoned with it. Has that drug ever caused that effect before, the black streaks in his skin?”