Claimed (3 page)

“I’m going to give you something to help, Tina. Don’t jump when you feel the dermal injector.”

She could barely hear Doctor Tragesh’s voice through the roaring in her ears, but the touch of the dermal injector against her neck was cool, and Tina flinched away at the slight pain as it pushed the medication through her skin.

She started to calm down, her breath evening out and her heart slowing. Her eyelids became heavy, and her body started to relax. “What did you give me?” she asked, but it came out slurred. The sneaky bastard, what had he just injected into her?

“A sedative. By the time you wake, you should be feeling much better. Sleep well, Tina, you need to be strong for what comes next.”

She knew that. From what she’d just learned, the Morgath society was not for the faint of heart, and her mate would be back to collect her, there was no doubt about it. They always came to collect.

Two days later, Tina had sifted through every piece of information the pod had flashed into her brain. Doctor Tragesh decided to let her out of Medical when her fear and panic shifted to become a stubborn refusal to be some weak-willed ninny that cried about the sudden turn her life had taken.

She could cling to her fear and refuse to accept the situation, but that would get her nowhere. The Morgath male would come for her, and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Morgath males
always
collected their mates, and heaven help anyone who stood in their way. There was no running, no hiding, only the inevitability that became her fate the minute he chose her.

But that didn’t mean Tina was just going to roll over and play submissive little mate. She would fight for what she wanted, and she wanted to study the Morgath. She wanted to understand how the mating process worked and exactly what had happened to her body. Her dream wasn’t dead, just changed a little.

But Doctor Tragesh threw up a roadblock.
You are still far too fragile to be reading your file, Tina.
He promised he’d let her have it when he thought she was strong enough.

It annoyed her no end, but she had to agree with him. She was still fragile. Not physically. No, her body was in fantastic condition, strong, agile, and ready for anything, but inside, she was a mess.

She was spitting mad with the male who had bitten her. From the Coalition’s file, she now knew the Morgath usually selected their mates from one of six species. She couldn’t understand why the male had chosen her, why he’d chosen a human. The differences between their species were extreme.

But she was going to make him explain it to her even if she had to use force to drag the information out of him. Maybe if she understood his reasons, she wouldn’t feel so conflicted. She didn’t feel conflicted about what she wanted and what she intended to demand, though.

No one knew much about the Morgath from a medical point of view, especially their breeding habits. The only piece of information she could glean from the pod’s data said that they were a male-dominated species who had to steal their mates from around the universe. It was such a barbaric practice, but it seemed it was common knowledge, and it boiled Tina’s brain that Administrator Parker hadn’t warned her when he offered her the position available on Deranti Station.

In fact, the position on Deranti was the only one he’d offered her, which seemed a little suspicious to her. After her three months of intensive training at The Fortress, the
only
position Administrator Parker could find for her was on Deranti, at the far edge of Coalition space, in a sector known for raids and incursions by the pirates of the Outer Rim.

She’d had to accept the position or go home, and Tina had no intention of going home. She wasn’t the only woman offered a suspicious position, either. Three of the other women she’d arrived at The Fortress with also received dangerous positions.

All the women who left Earth were under the control of the men in charge of the humans in space, and most of those men made it clear they believed women didn’t belong in space.

Now it appeared her time on Deranti was about to end. Just when she’d started to settle in and make friends, she’d be off to another planet, and god knew what kind of life. One thing was obvious to Tina—in a male-dominated society like the Morgath’s, insecure, weak women would not survive. To have any kind of life she’d be happy with, she’d have to stand up for what she wanted.

Tina hoofed it through the station, dodging occupants and visitors, slipping around shipments of goods on their way to the retail sector. Deranti was a trading station. You wouldn’t know from its appearance, though. In the high traffic areas and recreational areas, the service personnel polished everything to a high shine. Only in the docking areas and freight ports did the station look more like the well-worn stations Tina had been on before.

She moved through the busy corridors, checking the signs on the walls written in Coalition Standard, to make sure she didn’t get lost this time. Even after the time she had spent on the station and the changes to her body, the gravity on Deranti was still a little off, still a little heavy compared to Earth.

Whatever the Morgath male’s venom had done to her caused her hair to grow while she changed, and now the mass was not only blood red instead of the faded orange-red it had been most of her life, it was also down to her backside. So she had an appointment with the station beautician to do something with it.

She had more hair than she’d ever had in her life, and she was useless at doing hair. A utilitarian ponytail was about all she was capable of doing, so cutting some of the heavy length off was her first priority. She’d never wanted to waste her money on one of the styler devices that were all the rage on Earth before she left. They’d probably rip all her hair out.

Walking through the station, clothed for the first time in weeks, was a little surreal. Being up and about and not connected to almost every monitor in Medical was brilliant. Every little movement, every time her heart rate shifted, they’d recorded it and studied it.

Doctor Tragesh had a detailed record of every time the thought of the male who was going to be her mate sent arousal throbbing through her body. What would he look like? He’d be a combination of Morgathian and Human. He’d definitely have wings, and every time she thought about them, heat hummed through her body, sending the monitors crazy. Her body’s reaction to the male was starting to drive her crazy. She had never reacted to a man like this before.

Parts of her body were sore and abused even with the healing from Doctor Tragesh. Human bodies weren’t designed to have tubes and pipes inserted into them for long periods of time. Doctor Tragesh had offered to regenerate her, but Tina was so desperate to get out of Medical she declined. She should have taken him up on his offer. How much further was it anyway?

One of the busiest stores on the station, the beauticians provided services for every species in the Coalition. Tina had investigated them on her second day on the station. Now she had no need of their services other than to cut her hair, because there wasn’t a single hair left anywhere else on her body. They were
gone,
like magic. Tina grinned again as she walked towards the beauticians. That was one thing about her transformation she wasn’t going to complain about. The front of the store showed every chair and station filled except one. The chair right in front of the window.

Sitting in the seat of the station’s beautician parlour became an uncomfortable endeavour because of the seam of Tina’s suit rubbing on delicate flesh. The med tech who had retrieved her uniform from her quarters was Brishnalian, and they didn’t wear underwear. Really, Doctor Tragesh should have sent someone who knew humans.

“Your hair is looking lovely after your transformation, Tina. What would you like me to do to it today?” Paxar, the Ramberl technician, asked.

It seemed everyone on the station knew what had happened to her. Some people avoided her as she’d walked over from Medical. Some stared at her with curiosity, and others looked at her with disgust. Tina ignored them all. It wasn’t like she cared what they thought of her.

Paxar sifted through her hair with his four hands, stroking and combing the length with his fingers.

“I want you to cut it off to my shoulders please,” Tina replied.

Paxar clicked his disapproval. “Many societies cherish long hair. Are you sure you want to do that? Growing it out will take a considerable amount of time unless you want to pay to have it regenerated.”

Tina nodded. She knew that, and it wasn’t a problem. “Please, I’m not good with hair. If it’s a manageable length, I can just tie it up and not have to worry about it.”

A deep heavy sigh was all the answer she received. Paxar moved away to get his tools ready, and Tina looked in the mirror for the first time.

She’d tried hard not to look at the changes to her body as she’d dressed in Medical, but she hadn’t been able to miss the slew of creamy scales that wrapped around her waist and covered a good portion of her back. They were as sensitive as her skin when she stroked them, and smooth under her hands.

Startled vibrant green eyes looked back at her out of a face she hardly recognised as her own. Shit, was that still her? Tina’s mother had always told her she was beautiful, but with her faded red hair and eyes bordering on hazel instead of green, Tina had always thought she looked washed out.

Pale peaches-and-cream skin with a slew of freckles across her nose had kept her from the sun and any kind of tan. She had never trusted the skin-dying products available, no matter how safe they purported to be. She had never believed the companies’ claims. Her eyebrows were her favourite feature of her face. They arched gently over her eyes, and she barely needed to do any maintenance on them to keep them in a nice shape. At least they hadn’t changed.

Now, they framed her bright green eyes and made them her most compelling feature. Something was different about her face, but Tina couldn’t put her finger on what it was. All she knew was she didn’t look like the woman she had always been.

What else would this male steal from her? The hot ball of anger that had been burning in her gut for the last two days flared and Tina gritted her teeth as she waited for Paxar to return. But... at least she still looked human. Maybe the changes she’d gone through were only superficial.

A strange sensation started in the pit of her belly, a gentle pulling sensation that wanted her to get up out of the chair and let it pull her along. Sheer force of will kept Tina sitting in the chair, but as Paxar returned to stand behind her, the force of the sensation increased.

The technician’s hands tugged at her hair as he braided it into one long rope. He applied a sealant next, from the base of her head to the very end of the braid.

“Do you want to take your hair with you?” Paxar asked.

Tina’s gaze snapped up to meet his in the mirror. Ramberl eyes were a disturbing reversal of what she usually saw—a white iris with no pupil and colour around the outside. Paxar’s eyes were a soft lavender that complimented the faint purple of his skin tone.

“Why would I want my hair?” Tina queried. Who would want their hair? How strange.

Another click of his tongue and he replied, “Sarchin merchants will pay well for hair. Their males lose their hair when they go into heat for the first time, and hair replacement is a big business in their world. One could make a tidy profit selling it on the Sarchin Orbital Station.”

Making money wasn’t the issue. Her position paid quite well, and when she finished her internship and became a qualified medic of the Coalition, her pay would increase exponentially. Getting to Sarchin would be an effort unless one of their merchants came to the station, and Tina had no idea how much longer she’d be here. The Morgath male could be back for her any day, and besides, she didn’t want her hair. Selling hair was... strange.

She looked at Paxar’s reflection in the mirror. “You can have it, Paxar. Sell it to the next Sarchin merchant who stops at the station and use the money to do something nice for yourself.”

His eyes widened so far, Tina almost giggled. “You are serious? You would let me have your prized hair?”

Tina nodded and smiled at the shocked technician. A wide grin split his face, and she caught a glimpse of a set of teeth that resembled those of a shark. A shudder raced down her spine. Give her nice straight teeth any day. She’d probably mutilate herself with teeth like that. Paxar started to hum in pleasure as he readied his laser cutter.

The pulling in Tina’s stomach morphed into butterflies. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she let out a shaky breath. God, it was just a haircut, so why was she so nervous?

Chapter Three

“Captain, the Station Master has granted us permission to dock with Deranti, and you have three hours to collect your mate. Hivris and Seldin will meet you at the airlock.”

Sorvar surged to his feet as his Commander’s voice came through the ship’s communications system. It was about fucking time!

“Thank you, Commander. I’ll be waiting at the airlock,” he replied.

After a stretch and a deep groan of pain, Sorvar left his quarters and headed for his ship’s air lock. Gods, his body ached. Every movement hurt, every muscle was tight, as if he’d fought a battle and only just survived.

Bavric had recommended he take more time to recover his strength, but the bone-deep urge to claim his mate almost drove him mad from the minute he’d woken. No other male described the pull quite the way it was affecting Sorvar.

The gut wrenching need to sink his cock and his teeth into his mate dragged him through the ship. He needed to get to her. He needed to find her and claim her. Maybe then he’d find some peace from the insistent need clawing at his gut. He barely noticed the slight jolt as the ship docked with the station, then he was stalking through the airlock and out into Deranti Station, his two guards tagging along behind.

Sorvar took a moment to get his bearings. He didn’t have complete control of his body yet, but finding he was still as big as the other males of Morgath had pleased him.