Haven 4 AVOW - Sandra R Neeley Page 0,77

her back and took a deep breath. She took stock of her body and realized that the pain was gone. She’d managed to get through yet another fertility treatment. Then the nausea hit and she got to her feet, planning to run toward the cleansing chamber, but instead tripped over a piece of furniture. She tumbled to the floor, she called out to the ship’s computer. “Missy, lights!”

Picking herself up off the floor, still surrounded in darkness, Synclare became even more and more confused when she realized there was no soft floor covering beneath her. The floor was cold, hard metal.

“Lights on!” Synclare said again.

The lights in the room she was in responded and Synclare’s breath caught. She was in a room she’d never seen before. And the nausea hit her again — hard this time. She slapped her hand over her mouth and spun left, then right looking for a cleansing chamber, a garbage pail, anything. Her eyes fell on another door and rushing into that room, she found herself in a cleansing chamber. Falling to her knees in the cleansing unit, she vomited until she was weak and shaky from the exertion. Then the tears came as the confusion about where she was and why she wasn’t in her rooms returned. Had Lo'San had her removed from their quarters since he no longer wished to be mated to her?

Synclare pulled herself up off the floor and used the walls of the small cleansing room and sleeping quarters to steady herself as she went back into the bedroom. Her gaze bounced around the room as she looked for anything that looked vaguely familiar. Then she saw it — a vial of the medication she’d been prescribed by Doc to battle the side effects of the fertility treatments, and beside it a piece of paper.

Synclare took a seat on the bed she’d awoken in with the paper grasped in her hand. The first thing she noticed when she unfolded it was that it was the same block style lettering that Lo'San used when writing her love notes. Her hand trembled as she read the words, but before she got to the end of the letter, her mind was spinning.

~Sink Lar,

You were correct in your efforts to reunite myself and my family. Spending time with them has made me realize the importance of them in my life and the emptiness caused by their absence. I have made arrangements to rejoin my people. I am fortunate Ph’eel considers me worth adding to her household after my insults to my people, and fortunate that she has promised me many young ones on my return. I am sure you can see that our mating was a mistake as well. After learning of your past, it is of no surprise that your body cannot provide me with young ones — it has been poisoned through your own actions. I am sure you understand my position. I have made arrangements for your return to your home, and provided you with more than half my credits so you will be able to provide for yourself. I wish you well in your endeavors.

Lo'San.~

Synclare sat on the bed, her mind reeling. She remembered Lo'San saying they should have just remained as they were, but she never dreamed he’d have her removed from the ship and returned to Earth without even asking what she wanted. The tears began to stream down her face and she crumpled the paper in her hand, balling it up and throwing it against the wall as she sobbed through her tears.

Eventually she looked around the room again, still not knowing where she was. “Can’t be on Earth already,” she said. She knew she’d not slept for three days, and that’s how long the journey from where Command Warship 1 was orbiting to reach Earth took. “I’m still on the ship, at least,” she said, swiping at her eyes and standing up. “Gonna find Vivi. I’m not going home. He’ll just have to deal with it,” she said aloud. “Missy? Where is Vivi? Please tell her I want to speak with her. Tell her I need to speak with her!” Synclare said, choking back another sob as she walked toward the door of the room she’d been moved to.

The door slid open, and Synclare stepped through it before freezing in place. Two males in deep purple uniforms she recognized as being from the Unified Consortium Defense Force stood at attention as she stepped into the corridor.