Page 73 of Taken By the Convicts
But being locked in the med-center wasn’t any better than being locked in the bunker. While she had her work here to keep her busy, she wanted Reece’s sweet embraces and Zev’s sensuous looks and good humor. Even Jayce, despite how mad she still was at him, had passion and depth to him that she wanted to discover. And Ivan—that hard-nosed, stubborn man who made her so mad she wanted to hit him—she needed him. She wasn’t even sure why.
Despite how much she longed for them, she couldn’t give in. They had to come to an understanding, as a unit, with her being equal to each of the men. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life in that bunker.
An escort. Would Ivan go for that suggestion? Jayce got her here safely, proving the idea had merit. She’d have to make it work.
“Hey, Doc, the fucking guard made the chains too tight,” her latest patient Radick shouted from down the hall.
“Excuse me, Vaughn, I’ll be right back.”
Melina jogged down to the room where she’d treated Radick with a nanite for two fractured ribs. When she’d left him, he’d been out cold, chained to the bed.
“The cuffs are cutting into my wrists,” he said, rattling the chains to make a point or to irritate her until she did something about it. “Take them off,” he demanded.
“I can’t. It’s protocol. Besides, only the guards have the keys,” she said, glad for once she didn’t have the keys on her. The man was as large as Reece and intimidating. She worried the chains on his wrists might not be enough to hold him. She sucked in a breath and proceeded to check if the chains were doing any damage.
The skin on his left wrist was red and irritated. The guard had indeed tightened the cuff too much, cutting off his circulation.
“I’ll have to get Davies to adjust the cuffs,” she said as she checked his right wrist next. While the chain wasn’t too tight, she noticed his prison tattoo appeared faded, almost non-existent. “This is impossible,” she said, closely examining his tattoo now.
“Get the fuck away,” Radick said, jerking his wrist out of her grip and turning his arm over to hide the tattoo. “Tell the guards I’m ready to be released or my unit will cut your fucking head off!”
He started screaming profanities and threatening to rape, gut, and kill her. Melina fled the room.
Sedgewick, one of the newer guards, came running down the hall, stopping in front of Melina for an explanation.
“Radick, the prisoner in bed 3 is ready to be released.” He wasn’t ready. The nanites had only begun to knit his bones, but she wouldn’t keep a crazed prisoner here, especially given his threats toward her. “J-just let me get to my lab before you walk him out,” she said to Sedgewick before fleeing down the hall.
“Dr. Archer?” Vaughn called from the recovery room. She had totally forgotten she’d been in the middle of a lesson with him.
“I’m here, Vaughn,” she said, closing the door to the recovery room and darkening the tint on the glass. She didn’t want to see or be seen by Radick as Sedgewick led him away.
“Everything okay?” Vaugh asked.
She tried to stop shaking, but she must have been doing a lousy job of it given Vaughn’s frown. “One of the prisoners got hostile. It happens. They don’t like being chained to the beds.”
“The chains are a good idea for your safety.”
She nodded, unable to argue.
“Ready, doctor?” Vaughn asked, getting back to business. He held up a device that had puzzled her. She was thankful for the distraction.
“Are you sure you won’t mind me inundating you with questions for the next week?”
“After what you did for Hannah, I’d let you stow away in my luggage if I had any.”
She laughed. It felt so good to laugh. She’d get through this next week, skip every meal, and survive on a few cat naps if she had to. She wasn’t going to screw up the chance to soak up as much knowledge as she could. This would behermed-center. She’d find her way on Veenith, and then she’d find her way into the hearts of her men.
* * *
JAYCE
Ivan paced the storage room.In the past week, they’d moved many of the shelves into the empty bedroom and created an exercise area for Melina, though Jayce was sure this wasn’t what a woman would want, not that he was an expert on the matter. But Ivan was sure exercise would help her work off some anxiety and stress that she’d built up in her month here.
“You know nothing about women, Ivan.”
“Like you do?”
“The space is good for exercise, but all you’ve effectively done is add a hamster wheel to the cage.”
