I patted the necklace again, for effect.
Tia smiled. “I’m so glad to hear this. Get a good night’s rest and we will come by tomorrow to visit with both of you and share in the celebration.”
“Another celebration!” I exclaimed. “But maybe you can wait until the following day? I want to do a little celebrating with Deek… alone.”
I winked at her. She blushed, but winked back.
“The following day then.”
I waved at the screen as Tia reached toward the display and pressed a button that ended the call. The screen went black and I dropped my hand, and my smile.
I exhaled, then spun my chair about. “Think that worked?” I asked.
Dax and Sarah stepped into the room. One of the head guards joined them.
“He’ll come for the necklace. Soon, before Deek returns,” the guard said. He had no emotional connection to this, but he was no less angry with it. “Once Deek is here, he won’t let you out of his sight and any attempt to retrieve the necklace will fail. Engel knows that.”
“Now you go to bed and wait,” Dax said, his mouth grim. He’d fought the Hive for years but was bothered by evil happening on Atlan. By Atlans.
“As bait,” I added.
***
Deek
I awoke to one of the military physicians waving a ReGen wand over me. Gods, I kept falling asleep. Why did I keep waking up to crazy shit? First it was Tiffani seducing me—which looking back, I didn’t mind at all—then Seranda, and now this.
“Leave me the fuck alone,” I growled.
“I’m sorry, Commander,” he replied. “We need to assess you.”
“Before execution?” I asked, swiping the wand away.
“For Rush.”
My hand stilled. “Rush?”
Why the fuck did he have to test me for Rush? I lay there and let the Atlan do his work.
“As expected. You have enough Rush in your bloodstream to take out a Zoran.”
“The three-legged predator from Sector 3?”
He nodded as he continued to pass the wand over me. “The readings show seven times the amount an addict pumps into his veins. Give me thirty seconds to neutralize it.”
The wand’s color changed from orange to blue. I’d been injured enough times to know to lie still and let the wand do its job.
The doctor put the wand away and moved away from the bed. I stood, shook my head and assessed how I felt. “Holy fuck, Doc. What is going on?” I asked.
“You were drugged.”
I gave him one of my commanding looks that had the newbies quaking in their boots. The doctor didn’t even blink. “From our intel, it appears someone has been drugging you with Rush to make it seem as if your mating fever has overridden your mental faculties.”
I took a deep breath, then another, enjoying the feel of… nothing. For the first time in a fucking long time I felt normal. “You mean someone wanted it to make it appear as if my mating fever was uncontrollable.”
He nodded. “Yes, and to have you executed.”
“You mean premeditated murder. Who?”
The doctor held up his hands. “I am part of the medical unit, not the guards. It was recommended I test you for Rush. You can thank your mate for that. She is a very clever woman. You are a lucky man.”
“What do you mean? My mate asked you to test me for Rush? She’s from Earth. How would she even know of its existence?” Rush had been outlawed more than twenty years ago. Its use was so rare, no one bothered to test for it any longer. Use of the drug on a fellow Atlan was the lowest of low, so without honor that most warriors never even considered the possibility. “Who gave it to me?”
“I do not know, Commander. You will need to ask your mate, or Warlord Dax. But you are now free of the drug and no longer in my care.”
Yes, he healed people. He didn’t arrest them.
“If you proceed down the corridor, the head guard will be waiting for you. I am told that two of Warlord Dax’s personal guards are waiting to escort you home.”
The grav-wall was down, so I stepped into the corridor. “Doc?”
He followed, paused when I did. “Yes?”
“What if it wasn’t Rush? What if it really had been the fever?”
The Atlan pursed his lips. “Then I would have signed your execution order.”
I nodded once, then took off down the hall. Whoever did this to me was going to pay. Now I just had to find out what the fuck was going on.
“Guard!” I called, ready to hunt my enemy.
When I reached the end of the corridor, I saw two warriors wearing the colors of Dax’s house and felt my body relax, but not much. As I approached, the older of the two men stepped forward, saluted. He looked about my age, and carried himself, and his weapon, as if he knew how to fight.