Valerie glanced at Poppy before asking the men, “Whatexactly is this for?”
“We were instructed that it is an antibiotic that humansneed to take prior to arriving on Phaeton Prime. Something to do with a diseasethat you may catch that we are immune to. Since you will be accompanying us toour home planet then you should take it as well, Valerie.” Cannon walked backto the table and found two water bottles in a cooler beside the table. Hehanded each woman a bottle and the warriors excused themselves and left theroom.
Alone in the empty space, Poppy and Val stared at eachother.
“This is totally weirding me out… Do you think this is safeto take while pregnant?” Poppy asked, staring into her cup.
“Something doesn’t seem right,” Val agreed. She shook hersaround. The pill made a small tinging noise in the little plastic container.“Let’s wait to ask Rodin or Tamin before we take any meds.”
She reached for the pill Poppy hadn’t taken and shook it andhers into a tissue she pulled from her pocket, which she then put into hermessenger bag. “I’ll hold on to them until we get the okay from the docs.”Dropping the empty cups onto the table, she opened her water bottle and took aswig. Valerie walked to the table in the corner of the room and picked up afile folder.
Poppy nodded at the papers Val was leafing through. “What isthat?”
“These are consent forms for something―”
Both women stopped their snooping when the door beeped.Without either them opening it, it swished open, revealing Demascus with fourwarriors.
The bad tingles that Poppy’d had in her stomach earliermoved to full-on earthquake mode when she saw him smile.
“Oh great,” she let out on a soft breath.
Val was standing so close to Poppy that when she gripped herarm, Poppy could feel her whole body tense.
“I don’t like this,” whispered Val out of the corner of hermouth.
Nodding in agreement, she was about to ask Demascus what thehell was going on, when he spoke in the nasally voice she’d come to hear in hernightmares.
“Well hello, ladies.” Giving Poppy a toothy grin, he walkedfar enough in for the other men to follow and the door quickly closed behindhim.
“What are we doing here, Councilor Demascus?” Val asked inan authoritative voice.
“Valerie, so nice to see you.” Nodding to the men at hisside got them flanking the women, which caused Val and Poppy to move evencloser together, like sheep being herded by dogs.
“This is actually a bonus. I had just summoned Poppy buthere you are… How do you refer to it, two birds with one stone, I believe?” Hewalked forward to take the folder out of Val’s hands. He cast a brief glance atthe table, from where a warrior had retrieved their cups, which were nowmissing their pills.
“And you have already picked up the consent forms too? Hownice of you to get started without me.” He walked to the table and took a seat,flipping through the papers.
“I don’t get it. Why are we here?” Poppy asked nervously.Anything that had to do with Demascus could only be bad and his warrior thugswere definitely making her uncomfortable.
Demascus leaned back in the chair and arched his eyebrow.“Poppy, you know I do not like you.” At her surprise, he paused and smiled.“What? You think I am not going to be blunt now?” When she was silent, hecontinued, “I think you and your human species are going to spoil everythingthat the Phaeton race has strived to be.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think, does it?” Poppy shotback. She wasn’t going to just stand there and be bullied—especially by adickhead like Demascus.
Standing quickly, he walked toward the women. “No, itdoesn’t. However, now that Wheaton has a new bride you are no longer needed.”Nodding at the men who were standing at their sides, he went on, “Thesewarriors are here to transport you to Squadron Two.” Pausing when Poppy let outa gasp, he smiled again then glanced at Valerie. “And you are a bonus. We willbe able to let Earth know you will be back in orbit for transport to homewithin days. This is in fact a most wonderful bonus,” he said, clapping hishands.
Strong hands gripped her arms and Poppy struggled againstthe hold.
“You can’t do this, Demascus. I’m mated to Wheaton and Valis mated to Thorne.” Hoping to get through to the warriors who were apparentlydoing his bidding, she sent a beseeching glance to the one nearest to her.
Demascus grinned toothily. “Oh yes I can. And don’t worry, Iexplained to these men that you have been acting out of character since Hannaharrived and Wheaton showed her favor over you.” He whispered, “Who are theygoing to listen to…an emotional human or a senior Council member?”
Then he turned to Val.
“Unfortunately, I never received a bridal agreement fromThorne since I have been out of the meetings all day. If that is the case, thenwe will have no problem with Thorne going through the proper channels toretrieve you in a few short weeks.”
Valerie began to struggle with all her strength against thewarrior at her side who was gripping her arm to pull her forward. Poppy foughtthe arms holding her still, kicking her legs at any body part they could reach.She was almost loose when one of the warriors reached forward with a silvercylinder and pressed it to Val’s arm. As Val went limp, Poppy cried out inconcern.
“What the fuck was that?” she yelled, still battling to getto Val who was now being whisked away.
“That is something to make the transport a little easier foryou ladies. Don’t worry, we have one for you as well.”
Demascus gave a nod, and Poppy didn’t have time to fightbefore she felt a small prick on her arm—and then darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Feeling as if she were waking from a hardcore nap, Poppycould just about make out Val saying her name over and over again. Shaking herhead to clear it, she immediately felt woozy and regretted the action.
“Fuuuuuuuck. What the hell happened?” Poppy asked.
Opening her
