Chapter One
Anya Evans winced as the sound of her friend’s screams grew only louder. It was going to be a long night.
“You’re doing great, Maisie. Just breathe, okay?”
Maisie glared at her. “Easy…for…you…to say.”
Fair enough, Anya thought. Maisie was in labor, and had been for about twenty hours already. Anya had never experienced labor herself, but as a doctor back on Earth she’d done a rotation on the labor and delivery floor. She’d seen plenty of women in labor, and Maisie was holding up better than most. But still, it had been a long time and things were not progressing. Anya glanced up at the console screen that displayed a constant readout of Maisie’s vitals and the baby’s heart rate. The baby’s heart rate had started to slow, and Anya knew it was only a matter of time at this point before Maisie needed a C-section. Or, as the Zocronians called it, an ABR surgery—advanced baby removal surgery.
Anya looked up at Jarmuk, Maisie’s partner and the father of the baby, as Maisie screamed again. From the look on Jarmuk’s face, Anya could tell he knew something wasn’t right.
“What’s going on, Anya?” he asked in a tone of voice that said she better not try to sugarcoat things for him.
Anya glanced down at Maisie, whose face was red and covered with sweat. Then she looked back up at Jarmuk. “Things aren’t progressing well. My guess is that the baby is simply too big. It’s half Zocronian after all. Human bodies weren’t made to send such a giant blue baby through the birth canal.”
A look of panic crossed Jarmuk’s face. “What can we do? You have to save Maisie.”
Anya spoke in a soothing voice as she stood. “We can do an ABR surgery. I was hoping to avoid it, because the recovery time will be greater for Maisie. But the surgery itself is safe and usually quite quick.”
“Just get this baby out of me!” Maisie yelled in the brief moments between contractions. Then the next contraction hit and she was screaming in pain again. Jarmuk tried to reach out and brush a sweaty strand of hair back from her forehead, but Maisie swatted him away. She would find no comfort until this long, painful labor was over.
“I’ll go talk to Kromin and get the operating room ready,” Anya said as she stood. Maisie didn’t seem to hear her, and Jarmuk was too terrified to make any sort of reply, so Anya slipped out of the room to find Kromin, the Zocronian doctor who ran this small hospital pretty much singlehandedly.
He was already in one of the operating rooms, prepping things for the ABR surgery. He had known this was coming. He looked up when he saw Anya step inside the doorway and raised an eyebrow at her.
“I take it you’ve told Jarmuk and Maisie to expect surgery at this point.”
Anya nodded. “I was coming to set up a room, but it looks like you’ve already started.”
“Of course. It’s been quite obvious for a while that natural labor isn’t going to work in this situation.”
Anya bit her lip, annoyed at the know-it-all tone in Kromin’s voice. Outside of the hospital, Kromin was usually nice enough to her. And he was always nice to his patients at the hospital. But he didn’t like having Anya around. He wanted to do things his way in his hospital, and he didn’t appreciate a human medic butting in with opinions or advice. Normally, Anya tried to stay out of his way as much as possible. When she’d first arrived in Zocrone, she’d been excited for the chance to learn more about the Zocronian medical methods. In her mind, learning about another species’ advances in medicine could only improve her abilities as a doctor. But Kromin hadn’t wanted to give her a job in the hospital, and so she’d given up on working here and had opened her own small clinic on the other side of the city dome.
That had lasted for about a month. Rent was too high, and no one wanted to come to her clinic when Kromin’s tried and true hospital was available. Anya had closed up shop and wondered if perhaps her medical training was just going to go to waste for as long as she remained on the planet of Zocrone.
But tonight was different. This was Maisie. This was one of Anya’s best friends, and neither Maisie nor Anya were going to put up with Kromin keeping Anya away from the hospital while Maisie was in labor. Kromin had reluctantly agreed to let Anya stay after Jarmuk had threatened to let Maisie have the baby at home under Anya’s care if Kromin didn’t allow Anya into the hospital. Jarmuk himself trusted Kromin more, which Anya supposed made sense. After all, Jarmuk was a Zocronian, and he’d grown up with Kromin. The two men were close friends. But Maisie wanted Anya, and one does not argue with a woman in labor.
“I should do the surgery,” Anya said, trying to keep the statement from sounding too much like a challenge. “I think Maisie would be more comfortable with me.” She wasn’t trying to antagonize Kromin right now, truly. But Maisie was her friend, and Anya had been Maisie’s primary doctor for years. Besides, Anya had far more experience with human patients than Kromin did. It just made sense.
But of course, Kromin wasn’t going to give in that easily. He scowled up at Anya, his fog gray eyes turning black with anger. “No way. This is my hospital. I’ll do the surgery. You can assist, because you sort of know what you’re doing and I do need an assistant for a surgery this involved. But I’m not letting you be the primary physician on this. End of discussion.”
Anya chewed her lower lip, trying to decide how to respond. Part of her wanted to argue with him. She knew if she dragged Jarmuk and Maisie into this, Kromin would be forced to let her take the lead on the surgery. Maisie would want Anya to be the doctor in charge, and Jarmuk wouldn’t argue with what Maisie wanted. But at the same time, Anya didn’t want to put the stress of that decision on Maisie. Maisie was going through enough right now without having to referee an argument between the two doctors on Zocrone. All Maisie wanted was to get the baby out, and so, Anya sighed and nodded.
“Fine. Let’s just get this done quickly. The baby’s heart rate is dropping steadily.”
Kromin looked up at her and scowled again. He must have suspected some sort of trick on her part, because Anya didn’t usually give in that easily. Anya met his gaze and scowled right back.
“Don’t think this means I approve of your bad attitude toward me,” she told him as she placed her hands on her hips. “But right now, this baby is more important than any feud I have with you. So let’s just get this done for Maisie’s sake and the baby’s sake.”
The scowl did not leave Kromin’s face, but at least he didn’t say anything rude. He, too, knew that there were more important things at stake right now than the animosity between the two of them. Anya studied his features for a moment, staring at him under the guise of being angry. But really, she was thinking that he looked so damn good, even when he was angry. Even if he did treat her like an asshole. His deep blue skin set off his dark brown hair quite nicely, and his eyes were gorgeous even if they were full of anger right now. But it wasn’t just his coloring that made him so attractive. It was his shape as well. Even underneath his white doctor’s coat, she could see the defined muscles of his biceps. He was also tall, even for a Zocronian, and Anya had always been a sucker for tall men. His broad shoulders weren’t too bad, either, and she knew he had a fantastic set of abs underneath his doctor’s uniform. She’d seen him swimming several times now, and had always struggled not to stare at his perfectly sculpted, perfectly blue stomach. And of course, the rough, chiseled line of his face was enough to make her swoon as well. His body was pretty much perfect.
If only he’d had a decent personality to go along with that perfect body. He glared at her now, his ridged, Zocronian forehead furrowed in a way that only defined the ridges even more. Anya forced herself not to sigh in frustration again. She would remain professional and work with him as well as she could for the next hour or so, until Maisie and the baby were both safe. But that didn’t mean she had to like him. Handsome as he was, his caustic personality was a struggle to put up with. Without another word to him, Anya turned on her heel and headed out of the operating room. She needed to focus on Maisie right now, and not on her maddeningly conflicting feelings about Doctor Kromin Zebbo.