2. Med-Pod Coffin
MED-POD COFFIN
ISABELLA
W armth. A spreading, burning warmth that envelops me from head to toe.
Itchiness. Like the scratchiest sweater everywhere and nowhere all at once.
Brightness. Blaring into my eyes, miles of white as far as the eye can see.
Those are the first three things I notice when I awaken.
I open my eyes to see the inside of one of the special med-pods they use here on Aesirheim. When I saw them for the first time at the center, they looked awfully claustrophobic. It made my skin crawl to think about being trapped in one of those things, like some kind of high-tech coffin.
I vowed at the time that I’d never go into one of those. At least, not willingly. But as my body rouses toward consciousness once more and I realize my predicament, I have to admit it’s a lot more comfortable than it looked from the outside.
I could just be really high on whatever drugs they gave me.
I wiggle my fingers first. Then my toes. All still there. All attached. Some sort of warm gel envelops my lower body, and there are faint holographic readouts on the outside of the pod. My fingers twitch and come into contact with the gel. It covers my hand and moves up my arm, feeling like a warm, wet massage. All fear, all pain soaks away in its wake, and instead of panic, I feel peace.
This isn’t so bad. It’s like taking a hot bath back at home…but with alien massage slime instead of hot water and bath beads.
My vision sharpens; the gel retracts, leaving a trail of heat in its wake.
Oh. Right.
Heat.
The novelty of the med-pod and the strange slime almost made me forget about my ‘little problem’. Almost. Suddenly I’m not so sure the wetness between my thighs is just from the warm slime anymore. My mind buzzes; my hole clenches around nothing.
Empty. So empty. And my only chance at relief gave his life to protect me.
I might be physically healed, but I’m pretty sure there’s no cure for a broken heart. Or this gods-blasted heat.
Images of the raid still flash through my mind with violent clarity. Bjornick, my assigned alpha, taking up arms to defend me and our neighbors. Bjornick, overwhelmed and outnumbered. Bjornick, as his dismembered head landed at my feet and they came for me next…
I shudder, and even the sedative properties of the slime can’t stop the searing pain in my chest.
We might have been good together, the two of us. After all, we were matched. Too bad I’ll never know. We only had one week to get to know one another, and now he’s gone. Whisked away like so much dust in the wind. I swallow the lump in my throat and float further into the drug-induced haze, wondering what could have been.
I signed up for the surrogate program as a last resort. I had an asshole of an ex-fiancé to escape from. When I realized the depth of his depravity, I knew I needed to get away. Far away.
Off-planet is about as far as you can get.
Yeah, I knew they’d pair me with an alpha and I’d have to have his child. However, if the stories I heard were true, it had to be better than taking my chances on Earth with Adik.
We didn’t have to be soulmates or even lovers, but I needed the protection that the ISA and that Aesirheim could provide. The shot that should have triggered my heat clashed with my menstrual cycle — talk about bad timing — but I figured that meant I had more time to get to know the strange new alien alpha before we went to bed together.
That little delay had almost cost me everything.
In the week we’d spent together, he proved that he was everything my ex wasn’t — kind, caring, and gentle. An utterly affectionate cinnamon roll who simply wanted to adore me and agreed that he didn’t want to rush into anything physical. He wanted to wait for my heat to kick in fully as well, so we waited for the right time to conceive our child.
After we waited, the raiders came to ruin everything.
Bile churns in my stomach and threatens to come up. I need to sit up. I need to get out of here. But I can’t move — not enough to unlatch this thing, anyway.
Wait a second. I can’t move!
The beginnings of a panic attack start to take hold. Memories and sensations filter back in, reminding me just how very screwed I am. An urgent beep comes from somewhere outside the pod. That’s probably not good.
Craning my head back and forth, I can’t see a lot. My breaths come in short gasps that fog up the clear viewport and blur the world beyond. There aren’t any other pods in here that I can tell, but there’s a huge light above like what used to be in our dentist office on Earth. Its blinding glare gives me tunnel vision, and only through the corner of my eye do I see a door open and a figure walk in.
They’re standing right next to the pod, tapping at something — maybe the controls? Then the beeping stops, and the lid of the pod whisks open, the slimy gel draining away.
“Oh, good.” A voice says. All I can see is a stark silhouette. “You’re healing up nicely.”
Footsteps. Another voice, this time one I can recognize: Orvox, the head ambassador of the Intergalactic Surrogacy Agency. If she was here, that meant…
A new wave of fear washes over me. If my alpha — it feels so strange to call him that — was dead, what would happen to me now?
Would they send me back to Earth? Would they match me with a new male?
There’s that rising panic again. I can’t go back to Earth. I just can’t. I’m a sitting duck down there. Good as dead. The police didn’t seem to care. Adik was too much of a smooth talker and never left evidence for them to find. At least up here I have a chance.
And there’s something else there, too. Something I did not notice before in the wake of the panic and confusion. A sweet, subtle scent that lingers just outside my periphery. The scent of an alpha.
It is not like the stagnant, rotting smells of the men that captured us. It’s pine, cinnamon, and the starry sky on a clear summer night.
Visions of a different sort float through my consciousness, looking for an anchor. Strong, golden arms holding me against a wide, flat chest. Fierce eyes like embers, threatening retribution on my captors. Tenderness and caring as the compound and the kidnappers faded into the distance…
“Bjornick…?” I mutter, still half out of it.
I turn to one side and see the kindly face of Orvox blinking down at me.
No. Not Bjornick. Her.
“How are you feeling?” She asks, holding out a kind hand to help me up. I’m still bleary headed and the throbbing heat pounds between my legs, but I’m not in pain anymore. At least, not physical pain. Not of that kind, anyway.
“Um.” There’s too much on my mind to pick a single thing to focus on.
“You’ve been through a lot. It’s all right.” She helps me over to an exam table and pulls a blanket out of a nearby cabinet, handing it to me. It’s a small gesture, but my fingers work their way through the chunky stitches and the softness comforts me. Too bad it can’t come even close to wiping away the violent images that crop up every time I close my eyes.
“Thanks,” I mumble, holding the blanket close. I’m hot and cold at the same time. Too alone and not alone enough. I need to be touched. No, I need to stay in my safe little shell and ride this out.
Ugh, who knew heat was so confusing?!
“Can I get you anything? Some water, perhaps?” Orvox has the same serene, motherly look she always does, but this time it’s a little unnerving. The man who was supposed to protect me was murdered before my eyes. I was kidnapped, injured, and then subsequently rescued by yet another alien alpha. Then they stuck me in that med pod for who knew how long, and I was supposed to be casually okay with all of that?
“Water sounds good.” My throat scratches and burns with each word. I have a million questions, and I’ll need my voice to ask them.
But where do I even begin?
* * *
One cup of electrolyte-infused water later, I’m feeling a bit more human, but just as confused as ever. Orvox is still talking, trying to explain something about the fine print in the ISA contract, but I can’t focus no matter how hard I try. That stupid, lingering scent is still there, just out of reach.
I may as well just tell her to leave. All I want to do is be alone at this point. But then again, that’s not totally the truth either.
What I really want is whoever has that delicious scent to take me to bed and fill me so thoroughly I can’t walk…
To make me scream out until my voice breaks and there are no thoughts left, just wave after wave of ecstasy…
“Isabella? Are you listening?” Orvox’s voice jolts me out of my fantasy. I blink and look up at her, mouth agape like an idiot.
“I, uh, zoned out for a moment there.” I admit. “Sorry.”
“You sure you’re feeling all right?” She frowns, putting a hand to my forehead. “You can stay here as long as you need, you know.”
“I’ll be okay.” My heart thunders in my chest with one goal and one goal only:
Get out of here. Find that smell. Or that alpha.
I’m about to ask her if she has anything to help with the heat symptoms, but then she says something I don’t expect.
“What I was saying was, that male alpha that brought you here, he’s still waiting outside. I don’t know what he wants, but you know it’s not safe for an omega in heat to be around an unmated alpha like him. I can make him leave, if you want.”
“No!” The words tumble out far too hastily, before I even have time to process them. I take a breath, calming myself after seeing Orvox’s shocked expression. “I mean, no. That’s all right. I would like to thank him first.”
I hop up off the exam table and wobble on my feet before righting myself. “For saving my life,” I add.
Orvox moves toward the door like she is about to resist, but she stops herself. “If that is what you want,” she says at last. “If you need help, you can always call using your communicator. We’ll be right here.”
I’m already out the door, but she’s still calling after me. Something about stipulations and contracts, but that’s not what matters right now.
I’m just trying to be nice. Gotta thank the guy that saved my life, after all. That’s all it is.
Definitely not due to the hot, heady memories of his toned body against mine or the almost feral growls he used to menace the attackers.
Definitely not. Been there, done the whole ‘gruff alpha’ thing before back on Earth. I know that alphas are bad news. Not falling for it again.
…or so I hope.