He bit his cheek until he tasted blood. “We’ll have to do without those,” Vash said.
The doctor’s face fell even farther. “You mean, you didn’t bring them.”
Vash cleared his throat and fell deeper into the misery of the parasite. “No. they were… they were destroyed.”
With a shocked look, the doctor shut his mouth and swallowed. “Without the omega’s genetic code, the process won’t work. I can give you the antibiotics, but they won’t cure you.”
Vash shook but decided to stay calm. “Is there another serum you can sell me?” he asked, grabbing the man’s arm. “Please. I’ll do anything.”
The specialist cleared his throat and looked away from Vash’s desperate eyes. Vash knew he was fucked. “There’s another serum, but as far as I know, it’s still illegal.”
“As far as you know?”
“Listen, you’ll get me killed. I don’t have access to this medicine. Now, if you want antibiotics, that’s what I can offer,” he said.
“Why do you need my genetic code?” Wren asked.
“When the parasite finds the central nervous system, it latches on almost immediately, gaining quick access to the host’s functions. It denies the body its right to react freely,” the doctor said.
Vash’s heart raced. He avoided looking at Wren and let the doctor continue, praying that he found the cure to his illness.
“I have developed a drug to coax it off the nervous system, but we need the omega’s code to build the bridge for it to come out through a female host,” the doctor said.
“In other words, the parasite only feeds on alphas,” Lucas said.
“Correct. We bait it and steer it into her.”
Vash collapsed to the floor. The taste of cold iron covered his tongue. “I don’t have the kits, and neither one of us can stay down here for another night while the code copies and distributes the information.”
“Then you will have to find someone else. There’s too much heat on my ass as it is.” The doctor emptied the contents of his satchel into the machine. The center closed and started to hum. Inside, the contents melted like tar. In less than five seconds, two rock hard pills came out the back end. The doctor pointed. “Like I said. It won’t cure you, but it will keep you going.”
“C’mon.” Lucas urged. “Take the damn thing. We’ll find another doctor in the barracks.”
Weighing his options, Vash had no choice but to take the weaker serum. Tilting his head back, he swallowed the first pill.
“It’s four hundred chips,” the specialist said.
Vash clenched his jaw. “Motherfucker. I was told one hundred.”
The doctor held out his palm as if it were a chalice of worship. “You were told wrong.”
Vash stuffed the remaining pill in his pocket. “We don’t have that kind of cash,” he said.
“How much do you have?”
Lucas let go of the leash and pounced. “This ain’t a fucking auction.”
As the alphas argued, Wren rolled the leash into her palms. Body nearly seizing, she coiled the chain into a loose metal knot. Killian’s eyes turned, but it was too late. She lobbed the chain against the doctor’s skull, and a dark liquid trickled down the front and side of his frantically twitching face.
She hated him. Without any reasoning, she wished him to die. The unceasing tremors that wreaked havoc on his movements made her think of the roaches that sometimes snuck in under the doors or through the air vents above her bed. She hated the way the creatures shook their amber set of wings before falling erratically onto her lips, chest, or even worse, the small hole of her ear.
Realizing her mistake, Wren prepared for more swift thrashings. She fell to the floor, tenderly scooping the side of her palm against the blood. “Please. Don’t hurt me. I’ll put him back together.”
The alphas turned and remained silent before Wren could raise her eyes to see the look of judgment on their stone faces.
“Bind the wrists of the slave,” Vash said. “And find her a new leash. She’s clearly untrained. We need to teach her the ways of our pack and integrate her.
Chapter Six