Kozav Read Online Free Page B

your anatomy and I know she’s never worked surgery. Her focus is emergency care, but she knew what she was doing. Grace worked on you five until your own healers showed up.” Carla stepped from beneath his wing and approached the bed. Kozav followed in her wake. “That’s when she collapsed.”
    Kozav swallowed hard, refusing to acknowledge the painful emotion that clogged his throat. “What is her illness?”
    “They think it’s just exhaustion. She works two jobs and came on shift right after you were brought in. Vitals are good, and she’s hydrated. Imaging doesn’t show any internal injuries or swelling anywhere. She just passed out as soon as the healers arrived.”
    No, she did not simply “pass out.” The Knowing did this to her. It must have struck when she began her work and it supplemented her knowledge, allowing her to repair them. It flooded her with unknown memories without his support and now she lay unconscious. His female fought the Knowing’s weight long enough to treat them and then was swallowed by its pressure.
    Shaa kouva… His beloved.
    “Primary Warrior Kozav?” Detzan’s voice drew his attention and he turned to face his friend. “Orders?”
    “We will transport my mate to medical.” And once the healers confirmed she would be well, he would place her in his quarters, in his bed, until she woke.
    Because she would wake. Kozav would allow nothing less.

5
    T he room didn’t smell like the hospital. When Grace opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, she decided it definitely didn’t look like the hospital either. Smooth, dull metal plating replaced the stained ceiling tiles she was used to seeing. The walls were that same silver hue, but the hospital’s cream paint—once white—was gone. A low hum filled her ears, not the rhythmic beep of hospital monitors. It almost sounded like the engine of a hovocar, but deeper, louder and soft at the same time. She wasn’t sure how to explain it. It was just different, weird.
    Since everything was silver—metal—she wondered if she’d been locked up for her actions. She’d operated on several Preor without a license. The last thing she remembered was telling a Preor Master Healer that he took his sweet time. And then… she frowned, trying to pull forward the memories.
    Did their healers finally arrive? Yes. Yes, they had. That’s when her body gave out on her. Her adrenaline disappeared and she just flat out crashed.
    Something prodded her mind, poking and teasing. She closed her lids again, shutting out the light that stabbed her eyes. Wait. She hadn’t passed out from exhaustion or her adrenaline crashing. It was…
    Knowing. The Knowing. It was a Preor… thing, and it was… She hated that the words were slow to come, dragged from her mind like cold molasses. She sensed that she had the answers inside her, but she couldn’t quite catch them. The thoughts danced in and out of reach, teasing her, and the rapid spin had her stomach clenching. Nausea overtook her, drowning the remaining aches in the need to vomit. And God, she hated puking.
    Grace rolled to her side, slowed her breathing and fought to calm her heart. In through the nose and out through the mouth, nice and steady. A clammy sweat broke out on her skin, making her sticky and cold in the strange room. She concentrated on the beat of her heart, the rush of blood in her veins, and the desperate desire to not throw up.
    The new position allowed her to see more of the space—an odd looking chair near the far wall and across from it, a sofa. There was even some sort of weird potted plant in the corner.
    A pwaa tree that closely resembled an Earth palm.
    Another wave of nausea rolled through her stomach. One that had nothing to do with being dizzy or sick and everything to do with the fact that she knew what a pwaa tree was.
    The Knowing…
    The Knowing gave her everything. Every thought, every memory, every bit of research and knowledge gathered by the Preors. It was the