Free The Alpha Prime Commander by Kelly Lucille

“Lena?”
    “Taken.”  It was the
first thing Cordan had said and his voice sounded like so much ground beef. 
His control was precarious.   The two Alliance officers looked at him and froze
at the sound of his voice, but movement at the bed drew their attention.
    Jackson was halfway out
of bed already, and the doctor and a big burly man who wore the insignia of a commander
rushed forward to stop him.  They both stopped mid motion when Cordan growled
at them in warning.
    “Captain.”
    “Jackson, what are you
doing?”
    Both men spoke at the
same time, and both moved past the Prime cautiously to reach the bed.
    The doctor already trying
to shove him back into bed, “We don’t even know what’s wrong with you.  You can’t
get up.”
    “Fuck that,” Jackson
muttered and then stood less than carefully and would have fallen if the doctor
and commander hadn’t both grabbed him to steady him.  Jackson was looking over
their heads at Cordan.  “How long?  How far?  I can’t feel her!”
    “Your body is
transforming, it must be affecting the bond.  I can feel her.”  He snapped his
teeth at the room.  “I can feel her getting farther away ever second we waste.” 
He was not going to tell them how it was a physical pain to be separated, and
that every moment the pain grew.  He studied his Roenh.  He was in so much pain
already he had no idea where the pain of his missing Roenh started and the rest
began, but his too would worsen; they needed to get moving while they could
still function as thinking men.
    Jackson pushed his men
off him.  “Get the ship prepared for pursuit, we leave now.”
    “We can’t.”
    “You can’t!”  The chorus of
voices had Jackson glaring at both of them.
    The commander went first,
his face and voice grim.  “Command has grounded us.  This ship is locked to
port, and you are suspended from duty until the investigative officer arrives
to either clear or convict you.”
    The doctor started as
soon as he finished talking, “And you’re body is undergoing some form of
metamorphosis.  I have no idea what it’s going to do to you, or what I can do
to stop it.”
    Jackson glared at both of
them.  Cordan saw his jaw lock just before he turned and met his eyes, his
brown ones blazing.  “Your ship?”
    Cordan bared his teeth.  “Does
not answer to Alliance law.”
    Jackson nodded, his face
going hard.  “We leave now.”
    “You leave now,” the commander
said grimly, “you kiss your career goodbye.  You might even be looking at
prison time with your court martial.”
    Jackson bared his teeth
at the man.  “They used a transporter, and our sensors could not detect the
poison.  That means our transporter shield and our toxin sensors did not work.  Two of our failsafe sensors were either defective or deactivated.  You
want to tell me the chances of two systems going bad on the same job?  A job
where an unknown was allowed the use of Alliance security and then permitted to
hire his own at the last minute against the expressed opinion of the commanding
officer in charge.
    His commander looked
shocked, then turned his eyes to Cordan and back again in subtle warning.
    “Fuck that.”  Jackson
repeated in answer.  “The Collector just tried to assassinate most of the
powerhouse leaders in the known galaxies.  And he had someone high up in
Alliance brass helping him.”
    All color drained from
the doctor’s face, the commander just looked angry.  “That’s unsubstantiated! 
And you have been acting insane since you met with this . . .,” he looked at
Cordan who snarled in the face of that look, “Prime and his female – a female
whose origin seems to be in question.”
    Cordan felt the growl
start in his throat as his temper started to rise.  Jackson narrowed his eyes
on the commander and gave his own version of a Prime growl.  “We are walking
off this ship, Charles, even if I have to go through you to do it.”
    The commander looked him
up and