“I’m sorry, I didn’t ask.”
He nods and pats his medical pouches as he walks away. I’m certain he’ll check on me later.
Marne is the voice of calm reason, a hair taller than me, and three years my senior, with a light blue coat and the quickest claw draw of anyone on the force, save for maybe Azrim. No matter what shit goes down, he remains collected. “Never think you have to go through your struggles alone. We just wish we’d known so we could’ve been there with you two.”
Davarok swings his jerky toward me like he’s going to say something more, but I hold up my hands. “Can we talk in a minute? Tessi needs my attention right now. And I am at theedge.”
Marne motions the crews out of the room, walks up to me and pulls my forehead to his.Brother, you have us. I know youdon’t want to ask for it, but we are here whether or not you like it.
Thanks.
He releases me and backs up, taking one last glance at Tessi and the staff before following our teams. General Viriden joins them, motioning to Marne that he wants a word.
The nurse points to the spot on Tessi’s neck. “It’s straight in there. I can’t get deep enough with the tweezers without cutting her open or connecting a vacuum line. As much as I don’t like this, the general wants it done.”
“Do you have any sort of tranquilizer antidote to give her?”
“Already administered. But she’ll need an hour to process it and a night of rest before she’ll be upright. Alcohol affects meds.”
I pinpoint the barb still in Tessi’s neck, guide my tongue to it, and work my mouth around her flesh until I detect the end. Then I settle my teeth, partially spread, over the entry wound, suck, and nip the barb out the moment I sense the end between my teeth.
Spitting it into a tray, I work the taste of Tessi’s blood around in my mouth and realize there’s something else to her that no one’s mentioned. Before the nurse can bandage Tessi’s neck, I lick the drops of blood from her flesh again and again, until it stops bleeding altogether.
Tessi is mine.And my Shifter won’t let her precious blood be wasted on a bandage. As I clean her, the nurse stutters like she isn’t used to such behavior.
I notice a scar pattern peaking out of the collar of Tessi’s race suit that makes my stomach turn. I ease the fabric aside and stare at the claw marks.
A Myndrous got a lot closer to her than I realized. I know they’re not Mindoran by the broadness of the slashes.
I press a kiss atop her marked shoulder.No one will hurt you again.
Tessi squirms and arches on the bed. Veins rise in her neck. She pants and moans like she’s having a nightmare.
I look up at the biostats but can’t see whatever it is that’s making her behave so oddly. “What’s wrong with her?”
The Isonian nurse smirks. “Nothing. Just a hormonal dream. Do you want to see what she’s dreaming about?”
I’m not sure I do.
She switches on a nearby screen and walks out of the room. “Just remember yourorders, sir.”
The screen sharpens to a blurry image of me atop the mountain, looking down at her, then another of my backside from when I carried her off the mountain. The image flashes back to when I shifted over her after I pulled her up the hillside.
Tessi hums a note in lust.
Her unexpected desire for me makes me reach out and run a hand over hers.So you do want me? And all that initial hesitation on the mountain wasn’t really hesitation, it was protection.Her life has led her to resist things she wants, something I can relate to.
But as I stare down at her beautiful face, I see her brows knit and the screen flash to my left. I watch it as her view of me switches to something far more sinister. The flashes are so brief that I can’t quite catch what she’s seeing.
Opening the recordings, I highlight the flashes and scroll until I get the clearest image.This can’t be normal.But if I call the nurse or Viriden in, they’re going to know what Tessi is dreaming about. And that has been expressly forbidden by Viriden.
And yet I know he needs to see what I’ve found.
“Viriden?” I call over my shoulder.
He steps inside, notices what I’m looking at and walks over. “That’s impossible. Tessi wasnt even born yet. She couldn’t have a memory of them.”
“Who is it?”
