Page 4 of Bonded

Her body heaved, back arching so far that I was afraid she would hurt herself. Her eyes opened again and rolled backward.

“Hold her down! She will injure herself.”

The command was unnecessary, as Ruzan had already clamped his powerful arm around her middle. He wrapped a gentle hand around her throat, keeping her head tucked beneath his chin. He captured her legs between his. She was as immobilized as a creature could be.

I furiously tapped on the console, trying to calibrate the injections in her body. Ruzan’s gaze urged me on. Through the ship, I could feel his fervent belief that I could figure out what was wrong with our soul and fix her.

“Hold on, hold on.”

“I’m never letting go.”

The female shuddered, her breaths coming in rapid gulps. After another full-body spasm, she was finally still.

“By the ancestors, is she—?”

“She’s alive. Sedated, but alive.” A steady beeping on my tablet confirmed my words, and Ruzan sighed in relief.

The warrior brushed his lips against her temple. He hummed some more, purring the calming harmonics against her.

“Her brain scans—all her scans—read normal, blessed be.”

“Now what?”

“Now, we wait.” I calibrated the controls and monitors; I had to be grateful that human physiology was readily available on the ship’s records. After a few more minutes, I had her medical profile complete and a range of biometrics for compliance. With all that, the nanotech could do their work in her body.

It took a bit of convincing and a lot of lullabies later until I could coax Ruzan away from the female. Our soul. My soul. Even as I closed the healing pod, he wrung his hands like a new mother.

“What if she needs us?”

“Then we will be here for her. For now, she needs the healing more than our presence. There’s nothing more we can do for her. And,” I added, since Ruzan looked like he was about to speak up, “our presence might even be a distraction and take away from the healing efforts.”

The last admonishment cut through his wall of emotions, and he could finally listen to reason.

Ruzan nodded, a heavy furrow creasing his brow. “The faster her healing, the faster she can wake.”

“Exactly,” I said. I steered him away, handing him his clothes so he could dress. He took them and dressed automatically, for which I was glad. I didn’t want to force his clothes on him. “Come, we need to update the captain, anyway, and connect with the ship. Not to mention, we left a bunch of work for the others without an explanation.”

Even though I pushed the bigger man out of the medical, I was the one who looked back at the softly glowing healing pod. Then I did something that I hadn’t done in years, not since I was in the black depths of that prison colony.

I prayed.

PRIYA

Iwoke in a wash of blue and violet light. Warm, clean, and clothed, I looked down at myself, wondering why this wasn’t quite right. Maybe this was a dream? I had many of those, too, since there was nothing much to do in the little cage that they kept me in.

The cage.

The cargo carrier.

The aliens.

Oh god. The aliens. I clawed the pod. They put me here. There was danger. An explosion. Something.

Dammit. I couldn’t remember. I couldn’t even remember whotheywere. Were they government officials? I thought they were.

The more I tried to think of a time before now, the more the memories or images push away from me. It was like trying to grip water in my hands. I remembered being at home, and the police raiding my place. The trial that came the next day, and waiting to board a ship. Or was it a transport vehicle?

And now, I was in this strange environment.

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