Vareen & Mica (The Alliance Book 2) (7 page)

Chapter Eleven

“I don’t like it,” Mica was pacing in front of the mirrored window to
Vareen’s room. Drake and Cali stood impassively watching the doctor and Vareen
talking. “Does he have to flirt with her?”

“He’s not flirting with her,” Drake defended the doctor. “He’s explaining
her condition without
explaining
everything. It’s a fine line he’s trying to walk.”

“Tomorrow.
I’ll see you first thing. Until then try to get some rest.”
The words came through the intercom system where they
were listening.

Mica was relieved. The doctor was going to
leave.

“Doctor’s
orders.”

Mica looked furiously at Drake, one
eyebrow raised.

“That was just being friendly.”

Mica was even more enraged when Vareen
smiled back. His
 
heart constricted
painfully when she tapped two fingers to her forehead in a salute.
“Yes, Sir.”

The doctor left the room laughing and Mica
saw red.

It only took a moment for Jaden to enter
the observation room and Mica forced himself to remain calm. Drake had moved to
place himself between the two men.

Sensing the anger emanating from Mica, the
doctor eyed him cautiously. “Do we have a problem?”

“Yes,” Mica spat the word. “You need to
replace yourself as Vareen’s doctor.”

“Why would I do that?” Jaden asked,
shocked. “I think with the rapport I have with her, I’m the best chance at
getting her recovered fully.”

“It’s this
rapport
that I find unacceptable.” Mica wasn’t backing down. “To
flirt openly with a chosen mate—”

“Let me stop you there,” Jaden held up his
hand. “I have no interest in Vareen as a chosen mate. As her doctor, it is my
sole purpose to see to her health and well-being.” Jaden eyed him critically.
“If I
were
to take an interest in
Vareen as a mate she is available. From what I’ve read in the reports, Vareen
didn’t accept you as her chosen. There would be no dishonor in any male taking
an interest in her.”

Mica could feel the haze coming over him,
“I’ve claimed her.”

“Which she denied. Then you let her leave,
placing her in extreme danger. The results of which I am cleaning up.”

Mica lost his tenuous grasp on his temper
and charged at the doctor.
 
Before he
could get his
 
hands on Jaden, Drake
stopped him.

“Mica,” his friend was trying to keep Cali
out of the way in the enclosed space as he and Jaden faced off against each
other. “Now is not the time or place.”

“Mica,” Cali put her hand on his arm. “We
need to think about what’s best for Vareen. She obviously feels comfortable
with Jaden. Let him try to help her.”

“How can you ask that?” Mica couldn’t let
a single male, one who was potentially interested in his mate, to have daily
contact with her.

“I ask it because she is my best friend.”
Cali worked her way around Drake and faced him. “Vareen sacrificed herself for
my happiness. I know that you have a bond with her, that even though she wanted
to take time before giving you her answer that you already had it. Fighting
with Jaden is pointless and deep down you know it. You’re letting your guilt
make you act irrationally.”

“You don’t know—” Mica took a shuddering
breath. Guilt had been eating at him since he’d found Vareen strapped in the
medical chair. Guilt and a horrible rage.

“I do know because I feel it too.” Cali’s
eyes were brimming with tears. “I should have been there with my friends.”

“Maybe you both need therapy,” Jaden broke
into their recriminations.

“Cali, you are to stop feeling guilt.”
Drake obviously wasn’t happy that his mate was back to crying.

“That’s like Jaden ordering Vareen to
rest,” Cali laughed weakly.

“In my case, you will obey me.” Drake
pulled her close. “Vareen holds no anger toward you for what happened to her.
She has forgiven you, why can’t you forgive yourself?”

“Because Vareen hasn’t remembered
everything yet and I can’t accept her forgiveness until she does.” Cali
remained adamant and Mica silently agreed. Nothing would be right until Vareen
was better.

Jaden moved toward the mirror. Mica
matched his stance and watched Vareen sleeping in the bed.
 
If Jaden thought he was the best doctor to
help his mate, then he’d let the man live.

“I’ll allow you to stay as Vareen’s doctor
but you will remain professional at all times. It is as Cali stated. Vareen
asked for time to give me her answer, but I already know we are meant to be
mates. I will kill any man who gets in my way.”

Jaden nodded his head slightly. “I’ll
begin working to assess her cognitive abilities in the morning. You can watch
from here if you’d like.”

Mica inclined his head in agreement. He would be here watching every day
until Vareen was released. The doctor wouldn’t be free of him until Vareen
walked out of this hospital on his arm.

*****

Jaden dragged a chair closer to Vareen. Mica noted that he had the tablet
and was ready to take notes on Vareen’s reactions.

“How did you sleep last night?”

“I was restless,” Vareen admitted. “I feel like I need to catch up on so
many things. How long do you think it will take before I’m able to function
outside of the hospital?”

“We’ll see,” the doctor seemed intent. “I won’t lie to you. There isn’t’
any way
to know what you’ve lost in cognisance
until we test you.”

Mica saw him tap the tablet and smile. Gritting his teeth Mica forced
himself to watch Vareen and ignore the doctor.

“Okay. Let’s do this then.”

Mica’s heart swelled with pride at Vareen’s determination and strength.
Anyone who’d been through what she had would be allowed some time for
self-pity. Vareen jumped into what was required without moaning about her
circumstances.

“Can you tell me what level of higher learning you achieved?” Jaden asked
and his finger hovered over the tablet.

“I attended the Academy on Cestori for eight years after primary school.
My field of study was
engineering,
biological science, physical science, and mathematics. Those were required to
get into the Cestori space program. From there I took classes in advanced
caterpillar drive theory, diplomacy, self-defense, alien biology—”

Jaden laughed and Vareen
smiled
with
him. On the other side of the
mirror, Mica’s hands clenched.

“It doesn’t sound like you’ve
lost any of your logical learning. Perhaps the damage is only on the emotional
sections of your brain. I’ll ask you something that should bring an emotional
response. Do you know where Calinae Edal is?”

Mica saw her frown faintly,
“Cali is here on Titus. I saw her yesterday.”

“Do you know who she is mated
to?”

This time,
there was a more pronounced reaction. Mica
saw Vareen’s eyes water and she grabbed her head. “What is that term? Is that
like a partnership? Is that why Cali wasn’t on
The Reliant
? It
makes
sense.
She left the ship because of her feelings for that male. The one that was in
here with her. Does she love him?”

Mica saw Vareen’s back arch
and her hands grab her head. Jaden seeing her distress depressed medicine
against her neck. Mica was already heading out the door. He would be damned if
he wasn’t going to hold Vareen after seeing that level of pain on her face.

Coming around the doorway into
the medical room he was stopped by Jaden.

“You shouldn’t be in here.”

“I have to see her,” Mica
argued. “To make sure she’s okay.”

“I’ve given her a heavy dose
of pain medicine. Depending on her metabolism she could be out for a long time—”

“Then there isn’t any worry
that she’ll wake up and see me.” Mica pushed past the doctor and made his way
to Vareen’s bedside. His hands reached for her of their own accord and he
relaxed instantly at the connection.

“Contrary to what you seem to
think, I’m not trying to interfere with your claim to her,” Jaden snapped
behind him. “If you don’t take my advice how am I to help?”

Mica didn’t bother to look at
the doctor, he was too happy to finally be touching Vareen again.

“From my short time working
with
her,
it’s obvious she has very
strong reactions when emotional responses are involved. If Vareen wakes up and
sees you, I don’t know how her brain will process your presence if she has the
depth of feelings for you as you claim.”

Mica fingered Vareen’s pale
cheek. He would never do anything to harm her recovery. Quickly before the
doctor could stop him he brushed his lips against hers and then stepped back.
“I’ll allow you time to help her.”

“I know it’s difficult Mica. I
wish there was another way that didn’t involve keeping you from her.”

“I believe you.” Mica took
another reluctant step back. “I won’t allow anything or anyone to harm her ever
again. Even myself.” Turning with a sick feeling at leaving Vareen helpless
Mica stormed from the room.

“Vareen, I would like to introduce you to Mica. We talked about him, do
you remember?”

“Yes, you told me he was one of the males from the stasis pods. Why does
he want to meet me?”

“You saved his life.” Jaden bit his lip and Vareen knew he only did that
when he was prevaricating. Before she could ask what he was hiding another male
walked in.

He was taller even than Jaden, his clothing was all black. She remembered
the clothing color differed by
clans
, so
he wasn’t from the Takari.
He is Jataci
a part of her brain whispered the answer. The Jataci were in charge of
judgment
, defenses, and punishment.

This male looked more than capable of handing out punishment. He was huge
in stature. Heavily muscled with wide shoulders that tapered to an indented
waist. The stance he took before
her
had
his thighs flexing against his black pants. His face was chiseled and masculine,
with faint scars that didn’t detract from his good looks. His eyes an eerie
blue, but she remembered them being different somehow. The blue was familiar
but then so was brown. An exotic, warm, seductive brown. His face was
incredibly handsome, his mouth wickedly lush. She’d never been much of a fan of
facial hair, but on this
man,
the slight
growth of beard made him even more attractive.

“Var. I’m so happy to finally get to see you.” His voice was husky, the
timbre of it slid down her spine, causing
gooseflesh
to rise all over her body. So, he was the one that called her Var. She recalled
a male saying that name when she’d been in hydro-isolation.

The now familiar pain shot through her head and
pulsed
behind her eyelids. Closing her eyes, Vareen drew in deep
breaths and managed to get her reaction under control. The breathing helped,
along with visualizing a peaceful place.

Opening her eyes, she was able to watch Mica as he towered over her, with
only minimal pain.

 
“I warned you about this Mica.”
Jaden snapped and pressed the painkiller device against her neck before she
could protest. The pain was relieved instantly. “She needs more time to adjust.
This is too early.”

“Thank you.” Vareen wiped her eyes and tried to smile. “It wasn’t so bad.
I had it under control—”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for her to stay with you.” Jaden was
rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“What do you
mean? Stay
with him?”
Vareen asked confused.

“I have a separate guest house on my property. She doesn’t have to live
with me but at least I’ll be close in case she has an emergency. She needs to
be exposed to me or I’ll never reach her.”

“I don’t need to be exposed to anybody.” Vareen went to argue but the
males were ignoring her. “When I leave the hospital—”

“I want you to realize that if she were to be pushed too hard, her psyche
could snap completely, we have no way of knowing. She’s able to talk about
almost everything now.”

Jaden thought she wasn’t ready to leave, but she was.

“My psyche isn’t going to snap, Jaden.” Vareen couldn’t believe how rude
they were both being, especially her doctor. He’d been nothing but kind the
last week. She wouldn’t have made such great strides toward healing if it
weren’t for him.

She recalled everything except for the short time span between seeing the
four stasis pods of Mica and his friends and waking up in the hospital. About
this time
period,
Jaden had only told her
about the realignment center and the procedure she’d undergone. He only told
her because she had extreme episodes of pain when trying to recall that time
period. Jaden felt she needed to know so she could avoid pushing for those
memories since she would have to
relive
the torture she’d endured. Vareen didn’t want to do that, so didn’t push to
recall the events she’d blocked. Otherwise, she was able to hold the flashes of
pain back almost every time they happened now.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” she’d missed some conversation
that passed between Mica and Jaden while she’d daydreamed. The men continued to
ignore her.

“I understand and I’ll do everything in my power to help her. I would
never jeopardize her health by pushing her too hard. You know that.” Mica was
adamant, conviction rang in his words. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

Jaden seemed uncertain but finally capitulated. “I’ll release her to you,
but I’m putting it in her case file that it’s against my better judgment.” The
doctor handed Mica a medical device similar to the one he’d been using to stop
her headaches. “Take this in the
case
of an
emergency. It’s much stronger than the one I just used, so be very careful in
administering it. Notify me immediately if she has any change in behavior or
other symptoms. I mean it Mica. The smallest thing can be important.”

“I will. I promise.” Mica took her hand and gently pulled her forward. At
his
touch,
her head
pulsed
, but she forced her mind to calm and the
pain eased. It must have been the stress of leaving the hospital that had her
mind overworked.

Vareen attempted to pull her hand back. “Jaden, what’s going on?” she
asked the doctor. At this
point,
she was
exasperated with both men.

“We have done everything we can for you here. We talked about you being
released and Mica has offered to let you stay with him.” Jaden waved his hand
to indicate the male holding her hand.

Turning to the handsome giant she asked, “What if I don’t want to stay
with you?”

“I would arrange for other quarters for you.” Mica insisted at once.
“However, with your recent injury, I thought you might need someone close at
hand. Your friend Cali, is busy as well as Vathral. I agreed to watch over
you.”

“Vathral is here too?” Vareen was nonplussed. Nobody had bothered to tell
her that. What else didn’t she know?

“Yes. He is with Cali in Renari. You can visit them when you feel up to
it.” Jaden smiled comfortingly at her. It had the desired effect and she calmed
at the look.

“Jaden,” Vareen hurried to hug the doctor who’d helped her so much.
“Thank you for everything.”

“Vareen,” Jaden went to say more but Mica pulled her away from the
embrace.

Rather gruffly he said, “Doctor. Thank you.”

Mica was so large that he got her moving, even when she dug in her heels.

Vareen broke down and stopped trying to pull her hand out of his. The
walls of the hospital still went past her quickly and before long they’d
reached the exit. Taking in her new surroundings she was taken aback by what
she saw. The buildings were all very modern and sleek. There were different
sized tear-drop shaped pods traveling in different directions, and as far as
she could see nobody was controlling them.

“Why would you do that? Offer to take care of me…help me with a place to
stay?” Vareen suddenly felt a wave of uncertainty wash over her.

“We are…” he seemed to search for a word that fit, “friends. You saved my
life and I owe you a debt. Think of your time here as a well-earned vacation.”

“I see.” Vareen could believe an emotional race like those on Titus
having a reaction of gratitude to being saved.
 
“I don’t want you to be burdened with thinking
you owe me something. What you are doing is a lot to ask. Even for friends.”

“Var.” Mica pulled her toward a pod sitting
at
the curb of the building they’d just left. “I’m compelled to do
this for you. No arguing.”

That was a strong way to put it. Why was he compelled to help her?

Entering the pod, Mica stated, “Computer take us to the teleporting
center.”

The inside of the vehicle was very luxurious. There were two seats, both
with very plush upholstery. There was a five-point restraint system for added
safety. The windows were clear so she would be able to watch the city as they
traveled past.

“Confirmed, Welcome Mica Jataci and Vareen Nas.” A computerized male
voice spoke, “Time to arrival in current traffic is five minutes.”

The ride was so smooth, and acceleration happened so quickly the only
indication that they were moving was the way everything flashed past them.

“These pods are computerized?!” Vareen exclaimed. “Very interesting. How
do they move? How do they know you…and me?” She struggled with her seat belt
and Mica took pity on her and helped fasten it. In her opinion, his fingers
brushed against her a bit more than was required, but Vareen decided she must
be oversensitive. He said they were friends. She was reading too much into his
touch.

“The pods are magnetically navigated and propelled to avoid human
mistakes.” Mica sat back in his seat after helping her. “The computer scans the
occupants for identity as part of their programming. They know you because
you’ve been added to the computer system here on Titus.”

“Why would I be added to the computer system?” Vareen watched as the
landscape swept past. “Are we staying here in Takari?”

Mica smiled warmly at her, “You were added because I requested it.” He
turned to look outside and then back to her. “As to staying in Takari, no. We
are going to Jataci. I have a home on the outskirts of Jataci city.” Mica sat
quietly on his side of the pod watching her.

“That’s right, the Jataci are responsible for the defenses of the different
clans. Along with the courts and punishments. Your clan is centrally located
and in the tropical region of Titus.” Vareen stated absently.

“Var, did you remember us talking about that?” Mica sat forward
excitedly.

“I think I spoke of this with Jaden,” Vareen was back to struggling to
remember details of another conversation. A flash of a blanket and food in a
security cell came into her head.

“I see. The doctor was very helpful,” Mica’s lips pursed. “We’re here.”

Vareen wondered at Mica’s reaction and then shrugged it off. The building
they’d stopped at was extremely large and when they entered she saw two
security lines. Beyond
that,
there was a
booth in the center of the
room
and four
partitioned lines. She found out from Mica that lines led to the teleportation
pads. There were one each for Jataci, Renari, Metari, and Denary.

Flashing a pass at the security checkpoint Mica took her to the waiting
line designated for Jataci. Before she knew it she was being led into the
teleporting room. Then it was on to Jataci city.