“It’s not that simple, I’m afraid.” The doctor nodded to one of his assistants. The young woman moved to Megan’s side, running a ReGen wand over her head, exactly the same way they’d been doing for the last ten minutes. Nothing was happening. The color on the wand wasn’t changing to indicate she was healed. The device was accomplishing nothing, which meant her crisis was severe.
Power built in my shoulders, the beast surging to break free, but he couldn’t help our mate. Not right now. So I shoved him down with a brutal, merciless push. “You told me she was fine. You told us both she could resume all of her normal activities.” Fucking and playing and racing around that training course like a maniac. “Doctor?”
He moved to her abdomen, scanned there. Entered some more data into his tablet. Walked to her head. Lifted one eyelid. Looked. Dropped it. Lifted the other.
“Doctor?” I repeated, this time loud enough to make heads turn.
He moved to walk past me and my hand shot out, wrapping around his throat before he could blink. He was big, a Prillon warrior in his prime, but I was ready to tear him to pieces if he didn’t stop fucking around with his data and actually help Megan. “That is my mate on your table. And I am not a patient man.”
His only response was to lift a brow and pull my hand from his throat. “Calm down. I have a comm out to Doctor Helion. He’s going to meet you at a transport station in sector 523. He’ll remove the implant and place Captain Simmons in a ReGen Pod for repair.”
“Put her in one here. Now.” Was the man an idiot? She was bleeding. Why transport her somewhere else?
Doctor Mersan shook his head, and it was then I saw the darkness behind his gaze, the worry. “We’re trying to stabilize the bleed with the ReGen wands, but the pods are for slower, deeper repairs, and the implant is reactivating two or three times a minute.”
I had no idea what that had to do with anything. “What does that mean? What is it doing to her?”
“It means we can’t stop the bleeding. As soon as we heal the tissue, the implant destroys more.” Doctor Mersan walked past me, this time placing a hand on my shoulder, as if offering support, or condolences. “If she doesn’t have the implant removed in the next few hours, there won’t be anything left of her brain to save. It’s killing her.”
The comms sounded, and Commander Karter’s voice came through the speaker. “Doctor. This is Karter. We’ve got Doctor Helion standing by. We can transport her directly out of medical.”
“Understood. Standby.” The doctor waved over several more medical officers to assist him, but when I realized they were trying to lift and carry Megan from the table to the transport pad on the far side of the room, I pushed them out of my way and lifted her into my arms. If anyone was going to carry her, it was going to be me and there was no fucking way I was being left behind.
I walked to the transport pad and stood, facing the doctor. “Do it.”
“Warlord, I’m afraid Doctor Helion only authorized one transport—”
My beast growled and I felt my face begin the change. If he thought I was going to allow them to send my Megan halfway across the universe in her current state, he was out of his fucking mind. She was mine. Mine to protect. “She wears my cuffs. Send us now.”
I didn’t need to say anything more. He knew as a mate, I would not tolerate being separated from her. He also knew the pain the cuffs would give us both if we were apart. Not for the first time, I was grateful for the heavy metal locked around my wrists, my link to Megan.
The doctor sighed, but spoke up loud enough for the commander to hear. “Two to transport in three…two…one.”
I didn’t hear anything else as the cold, twisting pain of transport pulled us to a new, unknown place, and to a man I hoped could save my mate’s life.
* * *
Nyko
The transport station was small, even smaller than the mid-station off Latiri 4. The push-pull of transport faded and I swayed for a moment as my head cleared. Megan was curled against my chest, her eyes squeezed tightly closed as if, even unconscious, she was in pain.
“I will take her now, Warlord.” A large Prillon warrior wearing green stepped forward. His skin was bronze, his hair the color of copper and his eyes a dark brown, like Megan’s. He was from an old family, one of the original families, if I had to guess. Which meant he was probably wealthy and powerful and used to getting his way. Instead of soft medical clothing as I was accustomed to, he wore full armor, thick and plated against ion blasts, just like mine. But it was dark green, a color only doctors wore. I’d never seen armor like his before. The man held out his arms as if I would simply hand over my mate like a delivery boy.
“She’s mine.”
I said nothing more but waited until he met my eyes.
“Fine. Fine. But if I don’t get her to surgery, she won’t be for long.”
I growled, I couldn’t help it. This Prillon was, no doubt, the doctor who’d put the damn thing in her head in the first place. He was responsible for her pain.
We stared at one another for a few seconds, my gaze locked to the unrelenting and unapologetic eyes of a Prillon warrior. He could save her and I could not. I knew if I wanted Megan to live, I had to let this male take her from me. But not here. Not yet. “Transport us to your medical station.”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s not possible, Warlord. The location of the I.C. command center is highly protected. I can’t bring unauthorized personnel onto base.”
What. The. Fuck? I took a step back, held Megan even tighter against me. “Fuck your protocols, Helion. I’m not leaving her. She’s my mate.”
“You know who I am?” His copper eyebrows winged up.