“What are you going to do?”
“A routine examination. Blood samples and physical measurements, nothing invasive.” Veyalor’s tone was professionally neutral. “We need to establish current baseline data before we proceed with the next phase.”
“The next phase?” she asked sharply. “What does that mean?”
“On the table, female.” The Tandoran guard stepped forward, reaching for her arm. She flinched away from the guard’s touch, and his tail lashed angrily.
“She asked a question,” he heard himself say. “Answer it.”
Veyalor’s attention shifted to him, one eye ridge rising in what might have been surprise. “Captain Becsul. I wasn’t aware you had been assigned to observation duty.”
“I’m making sure the subject is treated properly. As I was ordered to do.”
It wasn’t technically a lie. Naran had told him to ensure the female’s needs were met. He was simply interpreting that order broadly.
Veyalor studied him for a long moment, then turned back to Melissa. “The next phase involves hormone treatments to prepare your body for insemination. The timeline depends on the results of today’s examination.”
The color drained from her face. Her hands trembled before she locked them together, hiding the reaction.
“And if I refuse?”
“You are not in a position to refuse.” The words were matter-of-fact, without cruelty but without compassion either. “On the table, please. We can do this the easy way or the difficult way.”
For a moment, he thought she might fight. He could see it in the set of her shoulders and the tightening of her muscles. Part of him wanted her to. He wanted an excuse to intervene, to pull her away from all of this and damn the consequences.
But she was smarter than that. She looked at the guard, at Veyalor, at the equipment surrounding them, and she made the calculation that any intelligent person would make.
“Fine.” She crossed to the table and sat on its edge, her movements stiff with suppressed anger. “Let’s get this over with.”
The examination proceeded in tense silence. Veyalor drew blood, checked her vital signs, measured her body temperature and blood pressure. Becsul forced himself to watch, to bear witness, even though every touch the doctor made, impersonal and clinical as they were, set his teeth on edge.
Then the Tandoran guard stepped forward.
“Restrain her for the pelvic examination.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Veyalor said. “She’s cooperating.”
“Protocol requires?—”
“I said it won’t be necessary.”
The guard’s eyes shifted between the doctor and Melissa. Something in his posture changed—a subtle stiffening, a slight forward lean that Becsul recognized from years of reading body language.
He’s going to do it anyway.
The guard reached for her wrist, and she jerked back instinctively, her elbow catching the edge of a metal tray.Instruments clattered to the floor. The guard’s grip tightened, his fingers digging into her flesh, and she gasped?—
He was across the room before he consciously decided to move. His hand closed around the guard’s wrist, the pressure just enough to make it clear how easily he could snap the thin bones. The Tandoran froze, his eyes swiveling to meet Becsul’s gaze.
“Release her.”
“Captain, this is not?—”
“Release her.”
The words came out in a growl, low and dangerous. His tail lashed behind him, the rage building in his chest like a fire looking for fuel. He knew he was making a mistake and revealing too much, but he couldn’t seem to stop.
The guard’s hand opened. Melissa pulled her arm back, cradling it against her chest. Red marks were already forming where his fingers had been.
