Chapter 10
He’d cut off his hands.
Sasha had seen things. In the last two years, there was all kinds of stuff she could never unsee. Even when her father was alive, they lived in a lawless sector where violence was more common than kindness.
But the icy justice Constantine Kane delivered with a slice of his blade outdid everything she had ever experienced. This was a male who did not tolerate liars and lawbreakers.
The smell of the violence, his rage, the doctor's fear, and the other alpha's bloodlust response were enough to make all her senses twist and tumble.
Unfortunately, she didn't just smell it. She could feel it, every cutting, painful, and ugly emotion from every person in the room.
The two combined were too much. She twisted to the side of the bed and emptied the contents of her stomach. The little she’d had had for breakfast came up, and then she kept heaving, leaving her hardly able to take a breath.
Then Kane was there. One arm went around her and the other held her hair back from her face. He bent in close and made soothing noises, calling her his beauty, telling her she was remarkable, and promising she would be better soon.
He was so good at the comforting that an errant thought entered her mind. He would be such a good father. Maybe he didn't want a breed-mate because he already had plenty of children. Sexually active alphas produced children. He had a harem of women to give them to him, one of whom was a breeder.
She couldn't guess his age. Alphas had a life stage that made them look between thirty and forty, and they could park at that stage for quite a while. He could have a hundred children hidden in that massive compound of his, tucked away in the halls of his beautiful home.
As soon as the thought came, it was gone. She couldn't stop heaving and her body was clenching with a spasm that felt like it was going to crack her bones. She started to panic, unable to breathe. Then a noise seeped into ears, her head, her nerves—a soothing, warm balm.
A masculine purr.
She gasped and spit, trying to turn and look at the male who purred for her.
The sound faltered, as if the owner were as surprised by it as herself. High pitched and whiny, she made noises at him not to stop. He petted her hair away from her face and wrapped her in his coat. When he brought her to his chest, the purr started again.
They moved to a new room. He got a new nurse who helped her rinse her mouth, put on her tunic, and gave her warm, honey sweetened tea.
Kane had his data pad out and was working at it while making commands. He was more than just a man her father respected or Merrick hated. Everyone respected him.
He had security locking down Dr. Cassington's office, nurses, and assistants within minutes, demanding an investigation and inspection of the entire clinic.
A man in officious Administrator robes came, took notes and made promises, but Kane wanted the superior-in-charge's name and insisted they both be in his office tomorrow.
The office where he did his head popping.
The second nurse, Sara, was more understanding than the last one.
She was also much older, a mated breeder.
Her husband, Doctor Bruns, was finishing with another patient on the other side of the office before he could get to Sasha.
Sara encouraged the girl into drinking two cups of the tea, a bottle of water, and a mug of meaty broth, which Sasha politely declined.
"My dear, you need food in your stomach.
Just go slow. I'm going to be getting you all kinds of medication that will help you rest comfortably at home, but you can't take it on an empty belly.
You need to eat and drink every four hours.
Absolutely no less than every six hours, or you will be in the emergency room with this frightening alpha of yours.
" Her smile was gentle and amused. "You don't want that, do you? "
Behind them, Kane grunted. He took the soup and spoon from Sara and started feeding Sasha. She made a face at him, scrunching her nose. He tapped her nose with the spoon, then filled it and held it to her mouth. Sasha opened for him.
Sara cooed with delight. "Oh, what a good alpha. I know your mother, sir. She is going to be thrilled."
Sasha's mouth dropped open. Soup went in.
She gulped the unexpected offering. She knew that Kane was much older than her.
Maturity went along with the unbeatable dominance thing he had going on.
That this giant, killer of men had such a normal mundane thing as a mother who loved him was just another in a long, long list of surprises the day had brought.
If his loving mother was alive, he could be living the effects of her breeder blessing, which meant he could be older than her father had been when he was killed. Much older.
"My husband will just run a couple tests to check your heart and lungs. He doesn’t trust the machines.
We find that the biggest risk to a difficult first estrous has less to do with the vagina and more to do with the strain on your respiratory system and heart.
If your alpha likes, we can check fertility and all of that in about two months—but you don't need that today. "
"Why did that other doctor want to do all that other stuff, then?"
"My Bruns and I, you understand, we are only in this office about six times a year. We are working on a pet project of his and travel to different locations. So, we didn't know about what was happening here.
"The other doctor, he was following outdated procedures and taking some liberties. He won't be doing that anymore."
Nope. He would not. Kane had ordered that he receive no medical attention. The man was already dead.
"I do have some questions. Your records are strange, my dear. Do you mind? Can you answer?"
"She can," Kane answered for her.
Sasha cut her eyes to him. Kane's cold, shuttered facial expression didn't match the weird thing that had happened to his eyes, or the way his nose flared every time the pain gripped her and that wet came out of her.
There was a rigidity to his body that made it feel like he was keeping himself in check.
Despite the scary beast that he was, that didn't give him the right to answer questions for her.
He pushed more soup past her lips and looked at her pointedly.
Sasha swallowed. "Yes. Alright."
"Thank you. So, you made all your regular checkups as a child. But there also seems to be some injuries. Broken collar bone, broken radius, some broken fingers. Do you remember these?"
Sasha looked at her hands. "No."
Kane tipped her chin up with his thick finger. He offered the filled spoon again.
"That's fine. Did you know that those injuries healed abnormally fast?
It looks like your father and a drone named Silas took you to a free clinic for these appointments.
It says here that they had to re-break your fingers because they healed too fast and in the wrong way.
The bones were offset. Do you remember that? "
"The re-breaking, yes. I think was eight."
"Cause of original injury?"
"What does it say?"
"All of your injuries are listed as childhood accidents. I don't believe that to be true. They are very consistent with physical abuse." Sara's eyes held kindness, but her expression was determined—a woman after the truth.
Her father had protected her mother. He felt bad about her insanity, bad about giving her a baby girl she didn't want. He said it to Sasha all the time. Maura was insane, but it wasn't her fault. They just needed to be more careful.
It didn't matter now. Kane needed to understand the levels the woman would go to hurt Sasha. She had come to him for help, for shelter from the threat of her mother that would follow Sasha even after Maura's bones burned.
"My mother. Do you have her records? She was clinically broken when she had me."
"You were not born with a breeder's blessing, but with her curse," Sara confirmed.
Sasha nodded. "That would be it."
She grit her teeth as another wave of pain hit.
It was all kinds of awful. She wanted her bed, her pillows and stuffies around her, some of those soft blankets from the tent, a dark room, and to be left alone.
All these people smells, emotional waves, Kane's spice—it was an irritation on top of an agony.
Sasha could do pain. She had dealt with pain. But she wanted to deal with it alone, not pressed in on or picked at, forced to eat and drink when she did not want to.
"So then you healed yourself. As a little girl. Before taking a mate. You may not know this, Sasha, but that is very, very unusual. I have a few notes from your father too. They were retroactive."
"Retroactive?"
"He had a private file that he kept on you that unlocked after his death was recorded.
Many fathers do this for their daughter's future alpha.
I wish yours hadn't, though. Had we known half of what was happening in your life, the danger you were in, plus what you were capable of?
You would have been removed to a safer environment.
My husband would have sent the enforcers himself. "
"My dad was there. He was a great dad. He did what he could to protect me."
Sara's eyes went to Kane's, and they silently disagreed with her.
Feeling defensive for her father's sake, Sasha started to explain to her the depth of her mother's calculating, hateful insanity. Kane shoved a spoon of soup in her mouth and then another.
Sara patted Sasha's knee. "In your father's notes, he records your ability to heal yourself and him as well. You even healed his hangovers." Sara chuckled. "You also took care of the drones. Your father kept a stable of them." The censure in her voice was clear, but Sasha didn't understand it.
"Don't call them a stable. They worked for us. We have a pub, make flavored gin and honey mead."