Page 72 of Taken By the Convicts
Trapped? Use? Fucking Jayce had done something. Ivan scrubbed his face. The more he thought about her down there all alone when the rest of them left for the shifts, about how she had nothing to occupy her mind. Fuck, she was right. He’d caged her. But how the hell was he going to give her what she needed and keep her safe?
“We’ll find a way to make it better,” he promised.
“Will you allow me to return here, to fulfill my shifts?”
If he lied to her, she’d never forgive him. But that was better than seeing her hurt. “You need to trust me, Melina.”
“Your word, Ivan. Or I don’t leave.”
“Fine, stay here,” Ivan said as he stormed away from the med-center. He wasn’t giving in to blackmail. Sooner or later, she’d want to leave. His gut tightened. What if he was wrong?
He wanted to glance back, but that was when he realized Crusher wasn’t walking with him. He’d stayed behind. Shit, now he’d have to send Zev back here to reason with the man. Melina was weakening this unit, separating the men, and making herself a target in the process.
Chapter Nineteen
MELINA
“Before you insert the sensor in the muscle, make sure you zero out the gauge on the panel,” Dr. Castor said to Melina as he demonstrated on the patient who’d been shot by a guard. The sonic blaster had disrupted his central nervous system, causing labored breathing and muscle spasms.
“How many affected versus unaffected muscles should I test before setting the panel?” she asked.
“Assume all muscles are affected, even if you don’t notice anything visually. I test a minimum of three. Five, if I don’t have any emergencies waiting for me.”
The fair-haired doctor finished the procedure while she took notes.
“Thank you, Dr. Castor. I have so many questions still, not only about this procedure. I hope you don’t mind. I know it’s not why Manager Thorne asked the manager on Narkos to send you here, but Thorne doesn’t understand my shortcomings.”
“First of all, call me Vaughn. Secondly, you don’t have any shortcomings. Just a bad situation. You’re right to ignore inventory for now. Find the right med-tech, one you can hold accountable, and assign him the task. Once he’s accountable, theft will decline. You have a lot to catch up on.”
“I don’t belong in this position.”
“You’ll do fine. You’re bright and you have the basic training. Don’t psych yourself out. I’ll give you a crash course while I’m here. Which is only seven days. I hope you’re up for some all-nighters.”
“Yes!”
“Your unit won’t mind?”
“My unit. . . They will understand.” They wouldn’t, but they didn’t have a choice. She needed this time with Vaughn to ask all of her questions about the equipment and basic procedures she hadn’t dealt with since med school.
“May I ask you a personal question?”
“You can ask. That doesn’t mean I’ll answer.”
She liked this man. He was easy going in a way that reminded her of Zev and serious like Ivan. Oh, how she missed her guys.
“Do you ever get jealous of Hannah’s other husbands?”
“Frustrated, more than jealous. We all have different shifts, which means we get some private time with Hannah.”
“And she can come and go as she wants?”
“She’s not a prisoner, at least not to our unit.”
Good for her.
“But that doesn’t mean we let her go without an escort. The situation has improved immeasurably on Narkos in the past few months, but it’s still a planet of Level 4s.”
That made a difference. Level 4s had a chance to earn their way home to Argus or whatever planet they came from. Level 5s never left the prison planet once they arrived. Melina would be on Veenith for the rest of her life.
