She stared around Lance's bedroom.
"It's about damned time you woke up," Lance snapped. "Don't you have to use the bathroom or something?"
The incongruous question had her blinking up at him.
"Why am I here?" She turned her gaze to the scientist. "Why are you here?" Ely's lips twitched.
"I'm here because Jonas ordered me not to be." The smug satisfaction in her expression brought a frown to Harmony's face.
"Why are you here?" she asked again.
"She's here to begin the hormonal treatments you need to keep from conceiving," Lance finally answered for the doctor. "She stayed when you hadn't woken up through her examination."
Harmony's fingers curled in the blanket at her side.
"You examined me while I slept?" And she hadn't known it? Hadn't sensed it?
She swallowed tightly as she stared up at Lance. He was watching her with tormented eyes, his expression heavy with worry.
"It was easier for you that way," Ely answered. "The examinations are very painful after the mating heat begins. This way, you didn't suffer."
"I would have been fine." She couldn't remember any dreams. She looked at Lance again, but she couldn't tell from his expression if she had spoken in her sleep or not.
"Either way, the tests are completed." Ely shrugged. "You seem to be in fine shape other than a bit of anemia that you're still suffering from. You haven't been taking the vitamins I gave you, have you?"
"Sure I have." Yeah. Right.
Ely snorted. "I found the bottle in your bag, Harmony. They've been untouched. But no worries, the hormonal therapy will set that to rights."
She moved to the black bag sitting open on the dresser across the room. "One of these a day for this first month. The mating hormones are showing up in high concentrations in your blood and fluids." She lifted the vial of pills where Harmony could see them before moving back to the bed. "You've been on injections for the past twenty-four hours, which probably explains why the heat allowed you to sleep. These will prevent conception and allow you to function through the more debilitating symptoms. Though hiding from another Breed will still be impossible."
Harmony watched as the doctor set the vial of pills beside the bed.
"What is the mating heat?" she asked then. "Why is it doing this?" Ely glanced at Lance, as though needing his permission to reply.
"He didn't ask you." Harmony tried to insert strength into her voice, but she felt as strong as a wet noodle at the moment.
Ely's lips twitched. "You remind me of Jonas when you use that tone. And that's not a compliment."
"It wasn't taken as one," Harmony growled. "Answer me."
"It's a bonding." Ely tucked her hands into the pockets of her white lab jacket as she stared down at her. "Nature's way of ensuring that you stay with the male she chose for you. From what we've been able to figure out, it's an emotional and pheromone-based reaction. We're still working on it." She shrugged again as a regretful smile curved her lips. "There is no cure, and no way to escape it."
So Harmony had heard.
"I need to get up." She was na**d beneath the blankets.
She glanced back at Lance as he moved across the room and picked up her silk robe.
"I picked up your clothes at the hotel. And your weapons." He turned back to her with a frown. "Do you know that half of what you carry is illegal?" She stared back at him silently.
Lance breathed out heavily. "Here's your robe. Are you strong enough to get up on your own?"
She took the silk from his hand.
"Leave." She didn't bother to voice it as a request.
His gaze narrowed on her.