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“Ah, so nice to see love blossom between the two of you. Unfortunately, Jaek you have work to do, and you, my dear Dawn, must get back to your studies,”Deimos said. His eyes flashed moments before their glow faded.
It took every last bit of my willpower to stifle the victorious roar that tickled my throat when his compulsion utterly failed. No tingling, no stabbing sensation in my brain or behind my eyes, and above all, no urge to comply. But that joy died when Jaek replied to his command.
“Yes, I have much work to do. I must go.”
His voice was almost monotone, as if all life had been sucked out of him. The shock and confusion I felt threatened to expose me. I willed myself to play along and obediently nodded.
Jaek turned to me, his face lighting up again with a tender expression. “I had a lovely time. Hopefully we can do this again… maybe tomorrow?”
“Sure. I’d love that,” I said with a smile I hoped didn’t seem too stiff.
“Great!” Jaek said with a glowing smile.
To my pleasant surprise, he didn’t leave right away, but gathered our empty plates onto the hover tray before heading for the door.
“See you tomorrow,” he said in a sweet voice.
“See you,” I replied as I watched him walk out.
Deimos stared at me for a few seconds, his face unreadable, before he nodded and followed Jaek out.
Feeling numb and utterly confused, I forced myself to sit down on my couch and activate the visors so that Deimos wouldn’t be alerted to the fact that I hadn’t immediately complied with his compulsion. But how the fuck was I going to focus on this training when my mind struggled to make sense of what had just happened?
Jaek should have been immune to the compulsion like I had been. Did I not heat his drink long enough? Did the fact that I cooled his drink faster explain why its effect still worked on him? Could the effects of his previous doses be lingering? Were males more sensitive to the drug?
Or he could be faking like I was.
That gave me pause. If he had indeed guessed what I had done earlier, then he would have expected it and acted accordingly. Frustrated beyond words to have nothing but more unanswered questions, I launched the next module.
The sooner I got this chore out of this task done, the sooner I could reflect on finding a way out when the ship next landed.
Chapter 23
Keran
The sound of voices pulled me out of the blessed unconsciousness that sheltered me from the constant pain that had become my entire world. My body was a bottomless pit of agony as the larvae ate me from within. I had lost all sense of time. I only knew that every time a handful of larvae carved their way out of me, Jaek would implant a few more eggs in a different part of my body. To my shame, I had caught myself wishing more than once that the next larvae would carve its way to my brain or to my heart and kill me.
Swallowing back a moan, I summoned my Berserker power. It had started taking longer to activate of late. I was too broken, too defeated to quickly summon the rage that fueled that ability. As soon as I succeeded, the intensity of the debilitating pain plummeted, shrinking by more than half. However, as much as I welcomed the reprieve it provided, I hated how it clouded my mind. It became harder to think and handle complex concepts.
Still, it allowed me to focus on the people talking.
“Why did you stop implanting eggs in the other two?” Deimos asked in a suspicious tone.
“Their hormones are too weak,” Jaek said in a dismissive tone. “Keran’s serotonin is far more potent. See?”
My eyelids weighed a ton, but I willed them open in the hope of also seeing whatever Jaek was showing my captor. Through blurred vision, I peered at the two males standing a couple of meters in front of me. Whatever Jaek had been showing him, he’d already move on from it. I’d taken too long.
“I’m keeping the others as test subjects. My version of the serum isn’t quite perfect, but it is significantly improved. You will be able to try it today on both the hybrids and the purebloods. Your man Kalal is currently doing just that with Keran’s crew.”
“I see,” Deimos replied.
“Contrary to what you continue to think, I don’t deny him painkillers merely out of spite. Yes, I enjoy his pain,” Jaek admitted with malicious glee. “But whenever it becomes too intense, he goes into Berserker mode, like he did just now. When that happens, he produces ten times more serotonin than any other pureblood. His serotonin is the purest, most powerful we could ever want. Harvesting from the others is a waste of time.”
Despite the hatred burning in my gut for the little traitor, hearing he’d stopped torturing my men acted like a balm on my broken soul.
“Fair enough,” Deimos conceded, his voice still sounding not fully convinced. “But why do you implant him with so few eggs? Wouldn’t he produce even more serotonin if you matched the number Zeory used with the hybrids?”
Jaek firmly shook his head, a disdainful expression settling on his face. “The extra amount would be negligible. There’s only so much serotonin anyone’s pineal gland can produce, and he’s already at almost maximum capacity. Implanting more eggs will only kill him faster with very little return.”
