Page 3 of Healer Hunted

Three years stuck on a slavership or stationed at an arena to doctor the injured gladiators that cycled through… That had taught me differently. My empathic gift was too strong for me to face that kind of stress, I was tired, wrung out from it all. Being aboard the Vagabond with the freed males, treating them only for minor scuffles while I could do research in private in the extensive labs aboard the ship, I’d discovered that’s where I wanted to be.

I was anxious to find out if they were alright, and if they were looking for me. Everything about how Ziame and the males ran the ship told me that they would, that they wouldn’t give up on me. There was just this tiny kernel of doubt sometimes that I was really part of them. Sensing their emotions, I knew none of them resented my presence, that they did like me. Yet I wasn’t a gladiator, not really, even though they males had made me attend all their training sessions. I was in far better shape than I’d ever been.

Surveying the lavish rooms I was stuck in, I concluded there was nothing here that could be used as a weapon. Not unless I fancied hitting the guard over the head with one of those brocaded chairs, or maybe I could try wielding that heavy stone side table, that one looked slightly too wide to fit through the door though.

Pacing over to the huge picture window, I stared out over the beautifully manicured landscape that surrounded the resort. It was all carefully protected and regulated beneath the thick shimmering dome that cover the place, protecting it from the fine ash rain that regularly fell on Jihari.

It was a planet with several hundred active volcanoes, mineral-rich, and supposedly with strange lifeforms living inside the hot cores. In the distance a second, much smaller dome was just visible, glimmering against the blue-gray rock of a huge mountain range. The scientific outpost that studied these strange, heat-loving beings. Three years ago, before I was taken from my home and forced to work for the crimelord Drameil, I’d avidly followed the scientific articles detailing the research coming out of this place.

If I were to try and escape, my best bet would be to head for that outpost, to escape on one of the science vessels that came and went with supplies. There was a landing area just outside the resort dome, where guests came and went with shuttle lines from Aderia to here, or with private vessels. I knew the security on that port was extremely tight, my mother would ensure that place was locked down so I couldn’t slip from her grasp.

My skin prickled at the thought of seeing her, so I rushed to get rid of the feeling by taking a shower. I needed to wash up and get out of this spacesuit anyway, there was no point wearing it. I had no helmet for the suit, and when I pulled it off, my fingers located a puncture hole on the back. I had a matching little bruise on my skin in the same location, where they’d jabbed me with some kind of sedative.

The monkey allowed me to set him on the counter, where he promptly made a nest with the hand towel carelessly thrown on it. I had a feeling that this room had freshly been vacated and they’d only bothered to strip the bed before they threw me in it. A theory confirmed when I noticed two of the three huge towels the room supplied were carelessly thrown in a corner, clearly still damp. I curled my lip in distaste but stripped and got into the shower anyway. Maybe the warm water would ease my head a little, it was still pounding as if I’d drank Aderian wine with the gladiators again. As the only Aderian on the Vagabond, you’d think I’d handle the liquor better.

*

Noa

As I did the rooms closer and closer to the looming Rummicaron guard, I was starting to get more and more nervous. Soon I’d have to talk to him, tell him I was supposed to do that room too. Fail to ask, and I knew I would get punished for not completing my list, but I was pretty sure the guy was going to bite my head off for asking.

I’d never spoken a word with any of the half a dozen Rummicaron guards in charge of security at the resort. They looked too much like sharks for me to feel comfortable around them, too alien. Most alien races I’d met here hadn’t been so different that I struggled to understand how they’d come to be. The Aderians for example were pretty close to humans, except for their freaky eyes, pointed ears, and anthracite skin.

With only one set of clean towels and sheets left on my cart, I eyed the guard, meeting the flat, gray eyes when he looked right back at me. I stiffened my spine and curled my lip in an attempt to look tough, “I need to clean that room.” He opened his huge maw and displayed several hundred sharp, hooked teeth, and a gaping hole that led straight down his gullet. He snapped it closed with an audible clack, then stepped aside, and slammed a hand on the door panel.

The suite room door slid open soundlessly and I tried to hide my unease as I pushed my entire cart into the room ahead of me. Unlike in the previous rooms, I was fairly certain I wasn’t allowed to just leave the door open while I worked.

There was no one inside the suite, but I heard a shower running so someone was home. I surveyed the place, noting that it was the same as always, except the bed had already been stripped of all the sheets. I started there, keeping my front to the door to the bathroom so I wouldn’t be surprised by whoever was in there.

I was still startled when the bathroom door opened and an Aderian male suddenly stood in the opening. Steam curling out of the room from behind him, his body draped in a silky gown and little else, it clung far too much to his still slightly damp skin so it outlined his strongly defined muscles. From the thick curve of his bicep to the slabs of his pectorals, down to the ridges that made up his abdominal muscles.

A long screen of silky black hair draped over one shoulder, already blown dry and shimmering blue-black. He was tall, with thickly muscled thighs, but he wasn’t bulky with all that muscle, sleek and understated instead. At least, he would be, if he was actually wearing clothes. In this silky gown, it was almost obscene.

Drifting my eyes over his pelvis, his package was clearly outlined against the thin fabric. A shocking rush of heat spiked through my body at the sight. It was followed by a rush of panic. I hadn’t let myself feel anything but the fear and the anger, hadn’t had the time or inclination to feel any kind of arousal, and this rich asshole just brought out of me by being too dang sexy? I couldn’t stand it.

To jolt myself back to the reality of my situation, I forced myself to look him in the eye. Into his freaky, evil-looking, black eyes. Yup, that did the trick. Those shimmering pools of black immediately put thoughts of the Dragon, thoughts of the Dumb duo in my head, I couldn’t feel any semblance of arousal for him after that.

Then there was a chittering kind of noise and the guy, who had only stared at me without saying anything, turned into the bathroom and came back with what looked like a little monkey. “Hello,” he said, “Thank you for making the bed.” And then he just continued to stare at me, all the while petting the little monkey, like he was a supervillain from a cartoon, petting his cat.

I stared back, then eyed the freshly made bed, and the dirty pile of room service dishes on the table near the window. This place hadn’t been cleaned yet, but this guy was not the same guest as the one who’d been here yesterday. I knew it because I remembered being the one bringing up that tray of dinner last night. I remembered greeting the Xionian guest and the way he’d glared at me over his beak, his red feathered ruff standing up in a display of distaste.

This situation was getting weirder and weirder, like why did a guy with a bodyguard out in the hall stay in a room that hadn’t been cleaned yet? This made no sense. My eyes darted to the door behind which the Rummicaron guard stood at his post. Rich Aderians often traveled with a guard like that. Their alien faces were hard for me to decipher so I hadn’t a clue if that guard was one from the resort or one this guy had brought with him.

The Aderian male sauntered over to a nearby chair and draped himself into it, the sash around his waist only barely keeping the thing closed enough to keep the pertinent parts covered. The monkey stayed curled on his chest, brown eyes staring at me just like his master’s black eyes. “You are human,” he said, “How did you end up in the Zeta Quadrant? You’re a long way from home.”

I curbed the instinct to touch the fancy lace slave collar around my neck. Was this guy serious? Didn’t he know I wasn’t here by choice? I felt anger surge through my body, the kind of anger that had sustained me the past three months. Opening my mouth I did what I’d been expressly forbidden from doing; I snapped at a guest.

“Oh, I don’t know. The work opportunities were just soooooo much better out here than back home,” I drawled sarcastically. I popped a hand on my hip, flatting the palm on the black cotton fabric that covered the bright pink underskirt. Immediately his eerie black eyes followed the movement, lingering on my hip before sliding down my stocking-clad legs. The transparent hose did nothing to hide the colorful tattoos that painted my skin.

“I see,” he murmured, shifting his body a little before he got up and stalked passed me to the wardrobe in the corner. He flung it open and stared at the empty interior, his brows lowered into a frown. “I don’t suppose you can arrange for some clothes?” he asked, turning partially so I could see how the robe was now gaping open, revealing a V-slice of his chest. His skin was that marvelous anthracite, lustrous with silver. I rapidly swung my eyes away from him so he couldn’t provide any more temptation than he already was.

“I’m just the cleaning lady, go get your own clothes,” I snapped and then I fled into the bathroom so I wouldn’t have to look at all his tempting bare skin. Only after I’d slammed the bathroom door behind me and spent a good five minutes fanning myself and splashing cold water in my face did I realize I didn’t have any of my cleaning supplies with me.

My face heated in embarrassment, what would he be thinking about me? The weird cleaning lady that could only stare at his sexy chest and yell at his face? Trying to at least pretend I had been doing something in here, I collected all the dirty towels, holding them like a shield in front of my body when I stepped out.

The Aderian male was standing at the open door to the suite when I exited the bathroom. His incredibly long black hair hung down his back, hiding his backside from me almost down to the back of his knees. That had to be so impractical when he had to go number two. As if he heard my thoughts, though more likely just because he sensed my presence, he tossed a look over his shoulder my way, a smirk curling his full dark lips, revealing just the tip of a sharp canine tooth.

“Yeah, seriously, I need clothes, get them,” he demanded of the Rummicaron guard. When the male didn’t respond, the Aderian rich guy rolled his eyes and sighed, “I know you can’t leave your post, wouldn’t want me to run off and get into any trouble. Just…” He flapped a long-fingered, fine-boned hand at the guard, “Call someone on your com and get them to deliver me some damn pants. I know there’s an internal system that still works on this planet!”