Chapter 10
Madison screamed loud and long, turning in circles, looking for something to help defend her against the intruder.
“Human, cease your screams.”
Madison stopped screaming and turned to the large figure that stood with his legs apart and his arms crossed over his chest, staring at her as if she was a sample of a virus under a microscope.
“How the hell did you get in here?”
“Your human locks are inadequate.”
“This is not happening.” She sank down on the bed and clutched her head, tempted to pull her hair out of her head. She actually lifted her hand when she remembered she only wore a thin T-shirt, and she didn’t have any underwear on, and if she lifted her hand to her head he might see more than he ever wanted to. She pulled the sheet out from the heavy red thing on her bed and tried to cover her legs. “This is a nightmare and I’m still asleep having a nightmare about a rude green alien in my room.”
“Human, you are an hour late.”
“I quit, you don’t have to teach me anything. I’ll go and work at another hospital.” She didn’t look up because if she looked at him right now she would beat the living tar out of him.
Her threat was an empty one, anyway. Without some serious money behind her, none of the other hospitals would take her.
“You will rise, human.” He tore off the sheet, pulled her upright and his eyes flashed red. “You will work where I say. At the hours I command. I expect you to behave better than the other lazy humans.”
“Unbelievable,” she muttered and grabbing some clothes she went to the bathroom. She could feel his eyes on her butt. “And get out of my bedroom. Its rude to come into someone’s home without an invitation,” she shouted over her shoulder and scurried into the bathroom. She closed and locked the door and leaned against it for a moment, waiting for her heart to stop beating overtime.
When she came out, he stood with his legs apart and his arms folded over his chest. The alien whose hologram had appeared had stood just like that. Even though they looked a lot alike, she knew it wasn’t Viglar that had made that speech. She didn’t know if it was good or bad that she knew that.
“Did you bring that?” she motioned to the pelt and did a double take. He’d made her bed with the pelt placed over it. And he’d managed hospital corners.
“I killed an Eduki for you. The red-pelted Eduki’s are the fiercest of all Eduki’s, and I faced him with courage to honor you.”
“Huh.” He thought her a stupid human. How come she suddenly get to be honored. And where did he find the animal that pelt belonged to? Nothing like that existed on earth.
“You are honored, human. In spite of your ugly hair and spindly arms and legs, you have been claimed by a fierce warrior with exceptional healing skills.”
Madison stared at him and then shook her head. “No, nu-huh, I can’t do this without coffee.”
She didn’t want to hear about claiming this early in the morning. She wanted to, but couldn’t take exception to his remark on her skinny arms and legs. Her mama always said she was so skinny she had to tie a knot in her legs to make knees.
Madison walked into her tiny kitchen. It was more a counter where she could cook than a real kitchen. It was too early in the morning for this. She couldn’t cope with Frankenstein’s monster before the sun came up. “I’m not going anywhere without coffee, so just chill.” She wasn’t going to acknowledge his talk of claiming. That way lay insanity. If she ignored it, the whole issue would go away. A shiver went down her spine. What did claiming involve for the alien? She had a hunch it entailed much more than kissing.
“You will have coffee at the hospital.”
“No, I won’t.” she took a large swallow and sighed. “It’s gooder’n grits.”
She didn’t see him move, but one moment she was telling him how it was going to be and the next she was hanging over his shoulder. She pummeled his uniformed back. “Put me down. Ouch, you freak, you broke my hands.”
He put her down, checked her hands, and then threw her over his shoulder and carried her outside.
“Let me go, I need my bag, I need to lock my door.”
With her still over his shoulder, he turned back and touched the door. “It is now locked.”
“What did you do to my door? I’d better be able to get in tonight.”
He didn’t answer her, but walked out to the street and put her in the car that stood outside. She complained the whole way to the hospital. He ignored her but she had six brothers. She knew how to be annoying. She could keep it up for hours. He might be a tough nut, but she’d crack him eventually.
“Do I carry you?” he asked when they stopped at the back of the hospital.
Glaring at him, she opened the door and got out. She headed for the cantina and he stopped her, steering her toward his office.
“This is going to get annoying real soon. And don’t think I can’t get the better of you. I’ve got six brothers. I’ve got lots of practice.”
“Practice against human males does not count.”
She gnashed her teeth, balled her fists, and seriously considered hitting him behind the knee. That would take him down quick. She could make him go down and then just walk on as if nothing happened, and the rest of the day she’d smirk in his face until he was driven out of his mind. She’d done it once with her biggest brother. It was her foolproof method of getting back at them. They never saw it coming.
Once in his office, he pushed her down into a chair and touched the wall. The most wonderful smell filled her nostrils.
He placed a cup of coffee and a plate filled with toast, bacon, and eggs in front of her. She’d never had bacon before he started feeding her, she knew what it was from looking at old commercials but never imagined how good it was.
“You will eat everything, and then we will start.”
She was tempted to eat really slow just to irritate him, but the food looked and smelled too good and the coffee was heavenly and woke her. She wolfed down the breakfast while he stood over her. A habit he took up ever since he told her he’d monitor her food intake. She didn’t care. It’d been years since she had anything this good. Her mama was a good cook, but ingredients were scarce. Madison sat back replete and smiled at him. After all, he did give her this excellent breakfast. Not that she wouldn’t get him, at a later date, for throwing her over his shoulder.
He took away the dishes and made them disappear into the wall.
“Thank you, that was a great breakfast.” She thought about his threat to have her accompany him the whole time. And it was starting to look like he expected her to report at this ungodly hour every day. She couldn’t think of anything worse than being trapped in his office with him every day. “I prefer to go to the cantina. It’s nice to chat to the other doctors. At night, when my shift starts,” she said pointedly. She always volunteered for night duty, because she hated getting up early.
He moved to another section of the wall and pressed those invisible buttons. “You will report here every morning at five and eat breakfast under my supervision.”
The damn alien was incapable of listening to her. She could get up on his gleaming desk and shout that she didn’t want to be his pet project, and he’d just continue issuing commands in that rough voice that made her shiver. “I’ve been eating my breakfast without supervision for a while now. Really, I’m quite comfortable doing such a difficult task on my own, now that I’ve reached the ripe old age of twenty-eight.”
“I will ensure you eat enough to gain the necessary weight you need for optimal health.” Obviously, sarcasm went over his head.
Madison kept her face expressionless with effort. Let him try to fatten her up. With her metabolism, it would only make her lose weight instead of gaining. After her previous hint about chocolates he’d provided some almost every day.
When he turned back to her, he had another tablet in his hand. He set it down before her.
“Study that until I come back.”
Giving the door he left through a dirty look, she started reading. Within minutes, she grabbed her TC and started making notes. The air changed, the way it did every time Frankenstein’s monster came into a space. She looked up to find him studying her TC. She’d used it to make notes since she was more familiar with it.
She sat back and rolled her shoulders that had gone stiff. Madison glanced at her watch and blinked her tired eyes. “I’ve been reading three hours straight.”
“You did well.”
She nearly fell over. A compliment, surely it would start snowing. Madison relaxed and sat back. “What was that thing you put on my bed this morning?” It had been worrying her, a nagging at the back of her mind the whole time she’d been reading the fascinating research he’d given her.
“On our planet, when a man claims a woman he gives her the pelt of an Eduki.”
“And if the woman doesn’t want to be claimed?” Her heartbeat changed, readying itself for flight.
“The Eduki is all that is needed, a female does not interfere with the decisions of warriors.”
She got up and walked to the door. “I need a break, I’m going to get some coffee from the canteen.” If he tried to stop her or make her have coffee here, she’d brain him with that tablet. “I don’t consider myself claimed so don’t even try any funny business.” It galled her that he was studying his silver gadget, barely taking notice of her after telling her something so shocking.
“You have half an earth hour,” he said without looking up.
She glared at him and went to the cantina. Rachel came to queue behind her for coffee. “What happened this morning, I saw Frankenstein carrying you out of our building.”
“And you didn’t come and help me?”
“Are you serious?”
Madison sighed and rotated her shoulders. She was stiff and sore from sitting in one position for so long. “Yeah, I don’t suppose you could’ve done anything.”
“Why did he come get you?”
“I now have the dubious honor of being retrained, since our training is so inadequate and us lousy humans can barely call ourselves doctors,” she said bitterly.
She didn’t want to tell Rachel about the E-something pelt he gave her and him telling her she was claimed. She was seriously hoping she misunderstood and that he only meant he wanted to take her on as protégé. If she did tell someone and they went to confront him he might chop of their heads.
Rachel leaned closer to her. “What? What is he teaching you?”
“He gave me one of his gadgets that work like a tablet and made me work through some serious research.” She leaned over the counter and grabbed a coffee. The cafeteria coffee was weak and not close to being as good as Viglar’s. “Rachel, I’ve never read anything like it. It’s advanced stuff.”
“Was it human or alien?”
“That’s the worst part, there’s a lot in there they didn’t teach us, but it’s old human research.” She paid for her and Rachel’s order and walked over to a table in the corner where they normally sat. “And the worst part is I now have the pleasure of being the only doctor that accompanies him on his visits to the shelter and the orphanage.”
Rachel looked at her, a strangely speculative look in her eyes. “Maybe he likes you.”
“I doubt that. He talks to me like I’m a lazy, not-very-bright child.” Madison had stood in front of him in a thin T-shirt with no underwear on, and those freaky red eyes didn’t wander all over the place. In spite of saying he claimed her, he’d been more concerned with her being late than taking advantage of her scantily clad body.
“Hmmm.”
“What’s that supposed to mean,” she snapped at her friend.
Before Rachel could answer, two other doctors joined them, curious about her trip the previous day. She was telling them about the orphanage and how he’d healed the little boy’s leg when a silence fell over the cantina. Madison closed her eyes. She didn’t have to look behind her to know why everyone was silent. The strange electricity in the air told her everything.
A long, muscled green arm, clad in that alien uniform placed a plate in front of her. “Eat, human.”