Page 41 of Bonded

At least with Ruzan with her, Priya would be kept occupied. I could lose myself in recalling the meeting from earlier and analyzing what the Kaza twins knew, and how Priya fit into the puzzle.

One thing that stuck out like a beacon that I tried to ignore: that the Nokta were specifically looking at genetically-modified human females. Ones who were easily breedable.

Priya was found in a medical pod, in stasis in the middle of ship debris in open space. It was a miracle that she had survived. And yet, her stasis pod had to come from somewhere. Where did that ship go?

Priya’s friends who died.

A dread feeling came over me, wondering if Brooks knew far more than he let on. Tarvin’s off comments about a sweet smell from my bag where Priya had been…

Could she have been…?

“Vryek, we need to get to medical double time. Priya doesn’t feel well.”

Cold fire licked down my spine. “How so? Symptoms?”I set the shuttle to autopilot. We were close enough to the ship that I felt it guide the shuttle home as much as I would direct it back in place.

I shot out of my seat and headed to the back. Ruzan sat on the floor, Priya’s small body curled into herself. She was still. The faint flutter of her eyes was the only sign that she yet lived.

“What happened?” I asked.

“She was rearranging pillows and blankets. One moment, she was fussing over them, muttering to herself that they wouldn’t lay right. I tried to help, when she doubled over clutching her stomach. I swear, that was all.”

“Sing for her, as you did before when we found her.” I knelt by her. “Priya? Priya?” I tapped her cheek gently to wake her. Ruzan growled at me to treat her more gently. I ignored his gruff tone.

Priya’s eyes lifted open. Thank all the ancestors. Her pupils were blown out so wide that her eyes gleamed like drops of black oil on polished pearls.

She was going into a heat cycle. One that was triggered, and not part of her true nature given the severe onset in such a small timeframe. If it was natural, the progression would be subtle, blooming like a bud in spring, petals unfurling gradually.

This switch was not natural. Drugs? She didn’t ingest anything recently, at least not that I was aware. She had been hidden away so no one injected her with anything. A quick link with the ship concurred that she hadn’t received anything but vital life-supporting supplements when Priya was in stasis and again when she was linked.

If this unnatural heat progressed, she would invite anyone to rut her just to get relief.

We couldn’t let that happen. Especially since we were headed toward a ship full of males, many of whom reacted to mating pheromones.

“They would die before touching her,”Ruzan said through our link, sensing my thoughts.

That was a certainty. However, the other side to this was I didn’t want us to be the enemies, either. We would succumb to our base urges as surely as Priya. I did not want to risk going into a mindless rut, overriding reason for the desire to mate.

If Priya would desire to mate with us, I want it to be because of her rational mind, and not due to some altered state.

I pushed all the feeling I could into the link we shared. Though she kept herself closed off, I hoped that she could at least feel my urgency.

“Priya? We will get you to the ship. I know this is horrible timing, and I don’t want you to do anything you would regret. However, I need you to choose to bond with the ship. Please.”

Her head lolled back and forth. “No. Weak. Can’t be part of the crew. Can’t be a pilot. Can’t make weak.”

“What is she saying? Vryek, what’s happening?” Ruzan asked.

“You’re not weak. You won’t make the ship weak, either. Trust me.”

“What aren’t you saying?”Ruzan asked.

“Captain and I suspect she might be one of the missing cargo that the Nokta was talking about. They did something, so that she is going into heat.”

Ruzan stiffened. The melodies that had been rumbling from his chest stopped abruptly, leaving Priya to whine high in her throat. Immediately, Ruzan redoubled his efforts to soothe her, though his eyes were now wide with a barely contained panic.

“It’ll be fine, Priya. Trust us. I know you wanted to try linking at first to get to know what it means to be a pilot. But bonding is so much more. So much more than being able to hear what we have to say or feel what we feel. We can be strong for each other. Like you did for Ruzan. You helped him gain calm where his instincts were to kill. You did that.”

“I did?” she said weakly.

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