Page 7 of Venomous Heart
The female scoffed, then turned to the human male.
“Really, Jonah?” She crossed her arms across her chest. “Isn’t this why you were elected, to communicate with our blue overlords? If I had known you’d lose your tongue when one of them was present, I wouldn’t have voted for you!”
Arlen turned sideways to see a deep red flush covering the male’s cheeks. Jonah shot a glance at him, only to look back at the female with a sheepish shake of his head.
“I had no idea he’d done that.” Jonah inhaled deeply, then turned to Arlen. “This is Doctor Ava. She runs the medical clinic.”
Arlen’s gaze went from Jonah to Khal, then back to the female.
“DoctorAva?” As he insisted on the qualification, the female’s pupils moved in the sea of purple of her irises, elongating slightly in the characteristic manner of an Avonie. Arlen frowned and shot a quick glance at his Relany officer. The officer paled, then quickly turned to his screen, typing furiously on the keyboard. “If you truly have the medical qualifications, then why was there no record of your presence on site?”
“Do you really think Knut advertised having a hybrid for a doctor? What do you think Prime Councilor Aav would have done if he’d put someone like me on the official payroll? That would have made for great publicity, don’t you think?” The female began talking in a singsong, mocking tone, her brows raised high and her eyes wide. “Come to Trade Minister Knut’s planet-estate, where you can buy the finest illegal hybrid the black market has to offer—if you can escape the Ring’s justice afterward!”
She glared at him for long seconds, then rocked back on her heels and pursed her lips in a mocking half-grin. At the sight of her open derision of his authority, Arlen’s jaw tightened involuntarily. He locked in on her, the rest of the people in the room fading to the back of his mind, and he took a step forward, pulling the entire weight of his impressive Eok frame and uniform along with him.
She didn’t even flinch.
“If you know what is good for you, then you will not insult the Commander of the Eok armies on Aveyn.” Arlen spoke slowly, with exaggerated control. “As for the medical supplies, they will remain under my control until I can verify your qualifications.”
She scrunched up her face, then uncrossed her arms, all traces of mockery gone from her features.
“I have many critical patients in need of those medicines, Commander Arlen.” Her voice was soft now, and deadly serious. “Three of them won’t survive the next day without nanites to control their infections, and there is a pregnant woman about to give birth. If you refuse to give me access to the supplies, you’ll have to evacuate them, but I don’t recommend it. First of all, most won’t go willingly, and second, it might be more detrimental to their health than helpful.”
He studied her delicate features for signs of treachery, but found only open concern.
“If they won’t accept help, then they will be responsible for their own doom.” He heard the cruelty in his own words, and a jab of regret stabbed through him when he saw the pained shock in her eyes. “My position doesn’t allow me to compromise on the Ring’s medical standards. I am sorry, Doctor Ava.”
“You can’t be serious.” She shook her head, then took a quick step forward until she stood right in front of him, close enough that her soft female smell entered his nostrils.
Arlen tried his best to ignore it but he couldn’t help it. He inhaled deeply, coating his throat with her pheromones. She smelled soft and clean, female in every way.
“What about the children, are they responsible for their parents’ fear as well? I have a three-year-old with pneumonia in there. She won’t last the night without the infection nanites. Please, I am begging you. You can remove me from my post when you get another doctor on Aveyn, but don’t punish them for what Knut did. He’s the one who paid for my medical training, and paid to keep it a secret.”
Arlen looked down at Ava, at the fierce determination in her startling purple eyes, the way her mouth hung slightly open.
“Representative Jonah.” It took a taxing effort—way too taxing—for Arlen to look away from the female and turn to the human male. “If you vouch for Doctor Ava’s capabilities then I will release the medical supplies to her control until a replacement can be summoned.”
“I vouch for Doctor Ava.” Jonah nodded, his face grim, but without any hesitation. “She is fully capable of serving as a medical doctor. There is no need for a replacement.”
Arlen turned his back on both of them and went to stand beside Khal. “That will be for me to decide. For now, you are all dismissed.”
A second later, he saw Jonah leave out of the corner of his eyes. A short while later, the light sound of a female’s steps echoed off the walls.
Doctor Ava was gone, but Arlen’s heart still raced painfully in his chest. It took all of his years of hard-earned discipline not to turn around to watch her leave.
That female is dangerous. More so than an entire year of combat at the Frontier.
3
Ava
“When do you think I’ll see one?” Uril fidgeted on the steel table as Ava tried to get the reader to set its baseline for the heart hologram. “I bet they’re every bit as big and strong as I read about. You’re so lucky you met one!”
Uril’s enthusiasm for the Eok warriors had only grown since Ava had told him about her meeting. He had always been fascinated by the different species of the Ring, the warrior types especially.
“Lie still, it’s almost over.” Ava’s tone was cutting, and she immediately felt a pang of guilt when Uril stopped squirming and lay rigid on the medical table in the surgical room, subdued and remorseful. In a softer voice, she added, “They’re big and blue, and yes, I bet they’re strong too.”
Uril nodded silently as Ava ran the short-wave scanning wand over his chest one more time, slowly moving the device until a clear picture appeared on her hand-held screen. She stared for a moment as her heart began to pound, then pasted a smile on her lips.
