The Theron Residency (Brides of Theron Book 4) (2 page)

Her communicator crackled to life as Zane’s voice could be heard calling for all medical staff to gather at the emergency entrance. The victims of the accident would be there momentarily. She got up and brushed the dried grass from the back of her uniform and made her way to the hospital to see to her duties. What a day, she thought to herself. At the rally point, Zane pulled Laura aside and spoke to her privately. “You look like you need some rest so I am reluctant to ask this of you. Lars is among the injured in the crash site along with an older Theron warrior. I have called Zeb to report as soon as possible to deal with the situation. However, as much I don’t think he deserves this, Lars must be given medical treatment. His leg has been broken and needs to be set. Given that all the warriors on this planet want him dead, I see no other alternative than for you to be assigned to his care.”

“Yes, sir.” She looked over to the stretcher and saw a familiar face. “You found her! Emma!” She reached out and touched her friend and felt her hand recoil from her friend’s heated brow. Emma was burning up with fever. If Laura had to guess, it was close to 105
o
F maybe more. “Zane, you have to allow me to care for Emma first. She is burning up. Humans cannot sustain temperatures like this for long. Being the only human medical doctor in this hospital, I insist on this. Besides, waiting few hours to set a bone certainly won’t kill Lars.”

“Okay, let’s get her stable then.” Zane grabbed hold of the other side of the hover stretcher and brought Emma to the closest examination room.

Laura found it odd that the people of Theron did not succumb to fevers and infection like humans. She found it hard to believe that they didn’t even know how to treat a fever. After packing her friend's body in ice and stabilizing her temperature to an acceptable degree, Emma was transferred to a private room in the hospital and resting comfortably with Brylon at her side. Laura now had no other excuse to delay seeing her other patient. She reluctantly left her friend in the hands of her mate Brylon and the very capable nursing staff on this floor, and made her way to where Lars was being held.

On her way out, she was happy to see Jeeka waiting at the nurses’ station near Emma’s room. Jeeka took her hands and said, “I will help you restrain Lars, and then you can complete your assessment and treat the patient. I am recommending that you make sure that he is properly sedated. Zane would never forgive me if any harm came to you, and I know that Ceran would kill me personally,” Jeeka added with a tilted smile.

They made their way down the white paneled hallway and into a secured ward of the hospital. There was a window in the wall, and when she looked inside of it, she saw a battered giant warrior on the bed. His left pant leg was bloody and the leg just beneath was bent at an odd angle. He had a scrap of fabric tied around his upper thigh as a tourniquet. The leg clearly was not as it was supposed to be and the warriors who placed him here on the bed didn’t care how he was laid.

Jeeka pressed the code into the panel near the door and it buzzed opened. He was not awake at the moment, probably passed out from the pain of being thrown unceremoniously on the bed. From the bloodied pant leg, she could see the yellow sulfurous colored waves of his aura radiating from his upper left thigh. Yes, he was in an enormous amount of pain. Jeeka pried his clenched hands from the sheets and secured his hands to the rail of the bed with leather straps that buckled tightly around his wrists, as well as his right ankle. She made a move to take his left ankle, but Laura stopped him. “His leg is broken and I will need to set it. Thank you for your help Jeeka. I can take it from here.”

Jeeka handed her a small amber bottle and said, “You need to give him plenty of this. He needs to be asleep for hours if not all evening if you catch my drift.” Laura nodded as she left the room. Laura surveyed her reflection in the mirrored window and scanned the area. In the corner, closest to the mirrored window was a camera pointed in the direction of the patient. The red light was off so the camera was not on at the moment. She wondered how long it would take for them to realize it was off. She had better get to work.

When the door shut behind Jeeka and the lock engaged, she could hear Lars as he woke on the bed. She went to the curtains on the window and pulled them closed. She would have to remove his clothes to treat him. All patients, even as despicable as Lars, deserved some privacy when being treated by their physician. He had just woken up to find himself tied down to a bed in the hospital. Pulling at the leather cords fastened to the buckled braces on his leg and arms, he shouted at the top of his lungs, “You better fucking untie me now!”

Laura turned away from the windows and looked in his direction, “That is not very likely.”

“You can kiss my ass, earth bitch! What, they got you slumming it in here with me. The other Theron people in this hospital are too good for you to work on?” Lars spewed his words venomously at her.

Laura turned her glaring eyes towards her patient, “No, you can kiss my ass, Lars! You should be grateful that you have someone willing to take care of you after everything that you’ve done. It’s sad that none of your people would even acknowledge your presence in this hospital, much less treat you. So, I guess you could say that I am reluctantly accepting the duty of putting you back together so to speak.”

“Do you really think I give a shit that an Earth female is taking care of me? No! The only reason they assigned you to me was because the only thing you Earth females are good for is fucking!” He gave her an evil grin.

“Really Lars, you speak as though you have experience with one of my kind. But, you and I both know, that you are just as clueless in that department as you are about everything else. None of the females from my planet would touch you with a ten-foot pole. You are a disgrace to the Theron warrior race.” Laura checked the monitor that stood next to his bed and jotted a few notes in his chart and set it down on the bedside table.

She walked across the room and using her pass key, she opened the cabinet with all the supplies and retrieved a syringe. In order to give the correct dosage of the sedative, she really needed the patient’s weight, but this information was not available at present. She was just going to have to make an educated guess. She laughed to herself and wondered if she would win a prize if she got it right. She overestimated on purpose and drew 5cc’s into the syringe and walked over to the bed. “Look, I am going to let you suffer if you don’t shut your mouth. I’m just trying to help you for crying out loud.” She pushed the tip of the syringe into one of the ports on the IV that was connected to a needle in Lars's arm. At least someone had the decency to start his I.V. for her. “This should help to calm that foul mouth of yours.”

“Why don’t you just shut up Earth female?” Lars was trying to stare her down in an intimidating way, but he was quickly losing the battle. It wasn’t long before the medicine she just gave him made his eyes heavy and lose focus. He was mumbling something that she couldn’t quite make out and then all was quiet in the room. The only noise was the humming of the equipment by his bedside and the rhythmic sound of his breathing.

She decided that she would give the medication some time to become fully effective before resetting the leg. It was going to be hard as hell to uphold the oath she took when she graduated medical school given that she saw firsthand the damage he inflicted on two of her earth sisters Avery, and Grace. She put that thought aside and started to work.

She began to cut away all of his clothing and dropped them into the nearest trash bin and draped him in a standard hospital gown. She closed her eyes and matched her breathing to his. She could feel that the only damage to his body was to his left leg. It was only the broken bone of his femur and the muscle and skin around it. She lay down on the bed with her feet towards his face and stole a glance at the camera in the in the corner of the room. The red light was steadily blinking now so they were probably watching her. They were probably wondering what in the hell she was doing. She could not worry about what they thought. It might interfere with her focus and intuition.

Placing his leg over her chest, she again slowed her breathing to match his and scanned his body with her mind. She focused on his heartbeat and followed the blood leaving from his heart into his lungs, then making its way into the femoral artery of the broken leg. Zeroing in on the broken bone, she noticed it was very nearly a clean break. This was fortunate for him, it would not require surgery on her planet. She shoved his genitals aside with her foot and placed the arch of her foot firmly in his crotch just under the pelvic bone. Once she was settled, she pulled until she envisioned and heard the sound of the large bone snapping back into place. With her eyes closed in concentration, she saw the various types of cells rushing into the injury to begin their job of mending the break and repairing the damage.

When Laura was finished, she took a deep breath and got out the bed as carefully as she could so that she would not disturb her patient. She walked over to the storage cabinet to retrieve a vial of the miracle medicine they used on this planet. Drawing 2cc’s into a syringe, she injected him several times in the thigh hoping it was in no way pleasant. The medicine would take care of infection and speed healing. Laura returned to the storage cabinet to retrieve an antiseptic and the salve to close the wound to his skin on his thigh where his leg was crushed. She liberally squirted the disinfectant and wiped at the wound with clean gauze cloths. She liberally applied the salve and covered the wound with a pad and secured it with some sterile gauze and tape.

Once that was complete, she removed the tourniquet from his upper thigh. She found a brace to immobilize the fracture on the chair near the bed and wrapped it around his upper leg. She tightened the laces that fastened it together around the upper thigh and tied it with a double knot. The brace would only be needed for the next 24 to 48 hours until the bone had set. She was in awe at the medicines used on this planet. On earth, she would have had to dress it with a plaster cast that would surround his hips. Not to mention, it would take weeks to months of down time to have a bone broken like this heal properly. She mentally added this to the reasons she enjoyed practicing medicine on this planet.

She sat in the chair next to the bed to watch him for changes for about 5 minutes while she added notes to his chart. The pen was gently clicking on the electronic screen as she checked the boxes. Zane had the engineering staff set up a translation setting in the system for her language. Even when there was not a similar word available, she was beginning to get savvy enough to notice some of the characters of their language in order to answer fundamental questions in the medical evaluation screen.

She looked up from her work clipping the pen back where it was stored. She could tell by his aura that his pain was now under control and he would be sleeping for some time. Her muscles were sore from the setting of his bone and the use of her abilities was taking a toll on her. She expended a lot of her own energy, physical and mental, to will that bone back into its place as tall and muscular as Lars was. She looked at him with a sense of repulsion and almost felt guilty about it. Maybe, it would have been better to put this bastard out of his misery for good. She could have given him too much of the medication in the amber vial. She gave him just enough to make his body relax. Enough to relax his body that his lungs would cease to function. It would be a simple error on her part. Nobody on this planet would miss the bastard.

Wait a minute. What was she thinking? These kinds of thoughts were definitely not allowed or even tolerated by the oaths of her medical training. She decided she would give him a bit more sedative as Jeeka suggested, after all it certainly wouldn’t kill him, as long as she didn’t overdo it. After she had injected the extra sedative into his IV, she closed and locked the cabinet in the room and secured his left ankle to the bed. She buckled it a bit tight because the swelling would be sure to subside in a couple of hours. She opened the curtains and went outside closing the door making sure that the lock engaged. When she turned around, she found herself looking up into the royal blue eyes of her handsome mate Ceran, who was waiting in the hallway for her.

Laura felt the warm tears starting to fall from her eyes and run down her cheeks. Ceran took her into his arms, placing a kiss on the top of her head and asked softly into her ear what was the matter. “I feel such hatred for that man, yet I am expected to help him. I feel so conflicted and guilty because I know that the world would be a much better place without him in it. However, my training has taught me that I have to take every measure to save his life.”

“Zane called me to come and get you. He said it might be necessary to pry you away from this place. You’ve been here awhile. Come on, you need to eat. I know a great café just around the corner. You look tired and hungry. Why don’t you take a break for a little while?” Ceran said.

“Let me check with Zane to see if there is anything else I can do here,” she unclipped the transmitter from her jacket pocket. “Connect me to Dr. Zane,” she said while pushing the button on the transmitter.

“This is Zane.”

“This is Laura. I have treated the patient and he’s secured and sedated. How’s the other warrior from the crash?”

“He is unconscious and has not come to, but he is stable. We cannot do anything further for him until tomorrow. Thank you for all your hard work today. You have been her so long that I called Ceran to come and get you. Why don’t you let him take you home?” Zane added sounding exhausted himself.

“Thanks for calling him. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” after working the entire day and night she was relieved to be dismissed for the day. She called up to the nurse’s station in Emma’s ward and told them she would be going home and to call her immediately if her condition were to change in any way.

She turned to Ceran, smiled, and said, “I’m starved. Let’s go eat.” She threaded her small fingers through his large ones and let him lead her out of the hospital. They walked in silence to a little café on the corner. She paused as he opened the door and he followed in behind her pointing to the nearest empty table. When he pulled her chair out for her, she looked over to him and asked, “Did you hear anything about the other warrior? Do they have any idea who he is?”

“They're very secretive about his identity. If they know who he is, they’re not saying,” Ceran said as he looked over the menu. The owner of the café walked up to the table to take their order. Ceran ordered something he knew she liked for the both of them. After writing down the order, the owner walked away allowing them to return to their conversation. A waitress brought them each a tall glass of leppa juice.

“The ship repairs are almost complete. The outside is starting to look beautiful and the command center has all the latest technology. I can’t wait for you to see it.” She could tell that he was so excited to have his own ship. He had a full mouth that was almost too wide for his face, but when he smiled everyone could appreciate how lovely it was. Every time she saw him smile her heart would skip a beat. His teeth were perfectly white and straight. His lips were full and proportionate and he had dimples just at the corners of his mouth when he smiled real big, just like he was doing now. The color of his skin was a golden tan that gave him a healthy glow. Even though, he was a very handsome man on the outside, his inner beauty was by far extraordinary.

Just a couple of weeks ago Laura and Ceran received excellent news. Zeb’s former ship, the Pyxis, was almost ready after undergoing repairs and being upgraded after the attack by the Drylon’s several months ago. Zeb had moved his command to the newest and largest ship in the fleet, the Eternity. They found out later through the grapevine that Zeb had helped influence the decision to give Ceran command of his old ship. It seemed only natural that Zane would recommend Jeeka for chief medical officer on Ceran’s ship, and the young captain could not be more pleased. Laura was now completing her residency under Jeeka and would be stationed on her mate’s ship if and when they were deployed on a mission in the near future. With the crash of the foreign craft, she did not know if the future would be sooner than they anticipated.

“Can you tell me about the ship?” she asked trying to steer the conversation away from the crash and Lars. Ceran went on to describe all the new additions to the ship. The technological advancements that were now required by the intergalactic council for safety were incredible. The star maps had been updated with all the new wormholes included, making it even harder to get lost in the vestiges of space. Several new civilizations were found and added to the growing list of planets with intelligent life forms. Zane’s brother, Timon, was fortunate to bring home a mate from one of those planets. With new allies joining the intergalactic council, he told her that it was nice when all of the many civilizations worked together to advance technology for the whole.

They finished their meal and left the café walking back to the hospital parking lot. He gave her a minute to call and check on her patients once more and when everything was alright they got into their hovercraft and drove home to their house located in an enormous tree. She loved her home tree on Theron. The energy she felt when she was here was inviting and beautiful. She could see the colors of its aura that surrounded it like a rainbow. Somehow, when she needed it, the tree seemed to energize her. She could feed off of it when she felt depleted. It was almost like charging a battery within her.

Seeing energy in the aura of radiating colors from living objects was one of her many gifts that the doctors on earth never understood much less thought was possible. She believed that she simply was able to access more areas of her brain than the average person. The more she rationalized it; it was if she was destined to come to Theron and practice medicine here. On her own planet, she was an outsider and a piece that never fit in the puzzle correctly. In her whole life, she never felt as comfortable and accepted as she did on Theron. She settled into her position at the hospital and in her new life knowing that she would have never reached her full potential if she had stayed on earth.



She laid her coat over the back of the sofa and turned and smiled at Ceran. “Thanks for dinner. I feel much better now that I have eaten. Would you mind if I go take a bath?” She asked as she made her way up the stairs turning to him as she reached the top. “I won’t be long.”

He nodded, never taking his eyes off of her slim figure going up the stairs. With a bit of a disappointed tone, he said, “I assumed that it wouldn’t be a good night for an evening run. Have a nice bath.” He waited until he heard the sound of the door closing to the bathroom and made his way to the front door. He needed to talk with Zane immediately. He crossed the lawn to the tree next door and knocked.

Grace answered the door with her hand protectively over her belly. She wasn’t quite showing yet, but he could see the motherly glow of pregnancy displayed on her features. “Hello Ceran, I wasn’t expecting you tonight. Come in.”

“Where is Zane? I need to speak to him.” Ceran was unable to hide his frustration and Grace was quite perceptive. He could see it on her face that his demeanor was upsetting her. He was angry with the prospect of his mate being used to medically treat the Theron traitor that would cause her to question her own idea of medical ethics pushed him over the edge.

“Is something wrong with Laura?” she asked.

“No, Laura is fine. Is Zane home?” Ceran asked again. This time he tried to be a bit more pleasant. He did not want to upset her any further.

“Yes, he is in his study. Why don’t you go in and talk to him?” Grace said as she sat on the sofa in the living room picking up her knitting where she left off, silently counting her stitches.

Ceran marched into the study ready to attack his neighbor for using Laura for some dangerous agenda that was still unknown to him. “What in the hell were you thinking Zane? Are you intentionally trying to put my mate in danger?”

Zane went to grab a couple of crystal tumblers and poured each one of them a drink. “Come on, Ceran. You are a captain of the fleet. You should fully understand why Laura is the only person that could have any contact with him. It’s our custom to put the man to death for the crimes he has committed. However, in light of the fact that he might hold valuable information that we need access before he is put to death, there was no other alternative. I left it up to her, you know. Your mate agreed without complaint to accept him as a patient. She stepped in where others would not. You know as well as I do that she is an honorable physician. She would never allow someone to suffer.”

“I want to be involved in any decision that involves my mate stepping foot into Lars’ vicinity from this point forward. I should have been notified of your intentions before she was assigned to treat him. Laura is putting her life on the line and that means I’m involved now,” He glared at his neighbor. “I am not asking you Zane, I am telling you. You will keep me informed of everything,” he demanded. He hastily took the glass from Zane and tossed the contents of the tumbler back in one gulp. It was lemony and refreshing, just what he needed.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way Ceran,” Zane asked looking at Ceran’s now empty glass. “Another?”

“No, thank you. I wasn’t given all the details of what happened today. Laura only knows so much,” Ceran countered.

Grace walked in to check on the men. “Is everything alright? Where’s Laura?”

“She is at home taking a bath. She had a busy day today.” Ceran looked toward Zane for input. He did not know just how much Zane had told Grace or even if she knew that Lars was back. Given how Lars treated Zane’s mate at their last meeting, Ceran figured she had no clue that he had returned.

Zane quickly interjected, “Well, you know that we found Emma. I must admit that she was critical for a while. But, because of Laura’s quick thinking, she is stable and doing very well. She should make a full recovery very soon. Besides that, it was a hard day today. A fighter craft crashed today near to where we found Emma.” Zane held out his hand for Grace to join him on the sofa. Ceran found a seat in the chair across from them.

“I’m glad to hear that Emma is going to be alright. I only hope the people injured in the crash alright as well.” Grace smiled at Ceran and asked, “So how is it going with you and Laura? Are you making any progress with your mate?”

“Oh that. I am not entirely sure what I am doing. I have never really had a serious relationship with anyone before and neither has she. I have a feeling she is waiting for something. I just wish I knew what that was.” He looked a bit discouraged.

Laura and Ceran held hands when they were together and kissed a couple of times, and they generally enjoyed the time they spent together, but their relationship was at a standstill. He knew that he would never be able to adequately protect her until they were officially bonded as a mated couple. Neither Ceran nor Laura had a lot of experience with relationships and they would be going backward if it were not for Grace’s suggestions to him on nights like these. “Do you know what she might be waiting for? Maybe it is some earth tradition that I am not aware of? I just want to make her happy?”

Zane interjected, “So how is the ship coming along?” Ceran was happy for a diversion as he immersed himself in all the details of the Pyxis.



Grace sat only half listening to Ceran discuss the progress they were making with his ship. She found herself thinking about what Ceran asked. What could Laura be waiting for? Just then, a thought occurred to her. “Excuse me for just a minute guys,” she said as the men started to talk about Ceran’s ship. She thought she just might have a solution to the problem at hand. Now, where were they? Grace entered her bedroom and went over to the dresser where she had put her jewelry box. She moved the many small velvet boxes and fabric bags around. Near the bottom of the box, she found what she was looking for. She opened the box to inspect the contents. Now, all she could hope for was that they would fit.

Ceran watched quizzically as she approached him with a small velvet box. “They may need to be sized to fit, but my Great Grandfather had huge fingers so there is hope that they will be just fine as they are.”

He looked puzzled as he was trying to figure out what she was talking about, he opened the hinged black velvet box to find a set of rings. One had a setting with several large diamonds and there were two plain gold bands that were and polished to a high glossy shine. “What are these?” he asked.

“On earth, the traditional custom for a young couple in love is to be engaged to be married. Maybe, this is what Laura is waiting for. I can’t be sure of course, but I know for a fact that she is very fond of you. She has told me so herself. Maybe you should ask her to marry you with these rings. Doing this might get you both going in the right direction again,” Grace said optimistically with a wink.

“Could you tell me how this is done, Grace? I would be in your debt forever if this is what she wants.” He had a big smile crossed his face. No wonder the girl was smitten.

She took the box from his hands and pulled out the ring with diamonds on it. “You will have to get down on one knee.” He immediately followed her directions and placed one of his knees on the floor in front of her. She gave him a diamond ring, “You will need to take this ring with the diamonds in it, and ask her to marry you. If she says yes, you will slip it onto her left ring finger like this.” She demonstrated the ring on her finger, but the ring was a bit small for her and she could not slide it past her second knuckle. “Would you like to practice on me?”

“You wouldn’t mind?” Ceran said as he remained on his knee. When she shook her head, he took the ring that Grace had handed him and held it out to her. He said, “Will you marry me?” Grace giggled and gave her best impression of Laura’s voice and accent, saying yes. He slid the ring on her finger as far as it would go as she nodded in approval.