Page 30 of Cozy Prisons (Human Pets of Talin: Origins #4)

She gave an affirmative rumble and walked away. When she walked outside, she could hear some angry voices, but couldn’t make out any words.

Even though she walked slowly, it didn’t take long to reach the medical building. It was difficult, but she didn’t pause at the threshold. She walked into the medical side of the building, hoping to find that Falkilm was in his private quarters.

Unfortunately, Falkilm was standing in front of a wall of cabinets, probably checking his stock. He turned and greeted her with a soothing rumble.

“Palathum?”

She took a deep breath, then spoke quickly before she lost her courage. “I have some symptoms, and Utharium noticed my scent has changed.”

Falkilm was quick to get her on a table and start a scan. He also drew fluid and rushed around, dripping and dipping things to perform various tests. He didn’t say much as he worked, leaving Palathum to drown in fearful thoughts.

Suddenly, Falkilm let out a startled rattle loud enough to echo. “I don’t believe it!”

Fear made it impossible to pull in a breath of air. Her chest plates felt fused together, and her chestbox wanted to convulse with a mournful rumble.

Falkilm turned to her, holding up an information square so she could see it. The bars of numbers meant nothing to her. She might as well have been looking at a screen full of Universal ticks instead of Talin glyphs.

Then he pointed to one number and a glyph next to it, and everything became clear. She opened her mouth to speak, but the front doors opened and Utharium came in with a bloody, struggling Hale in his grip.

Behind Hale was Cassius, escorted by Massium, with Kamie and Kiran right behind them.

Hale looked a little dirtier than normal, but not obviously hurt. Cassius had bruises all over his face, and his clothing was ripped.

“They started it,” Cassius said. “All I did was ask a friendly question, and they cussed at me. I was trying to be friendly, and they acted like an asshole. When I said they were being an idiot because this was a great place, they attacked me!”

“What are you going to do, put me in a cage?” Hale spat out. “Deny me food? I don’t care! At least then you might leave me the fuck alone!”

Cassius pointed at Hale. “See!”

Palathum put herself between the two angry humans and sounded a war rattle. It was deafening within the walls of the medical building and made all the humans cry out in surprise and cover their ears.

When she stopped rattling, Kamie gave her a wide-eyed look of admiration. “That sounded like thousands of feet running at me. I didn’t know you guys could do that!”

“It’s a war rattle and shouldn’t be done indoors,” Falkilm said, his voice heavy with implied reprimand.

“It was necessary," Palathum said. “And I only sounded it at half volume.”

“Damn, that could’ve been even louder?” Kiran said. Then he and Kamie exchanged a look that Palathum couldn’t interpret. Ignoring the couple, she focused on the human who had caused the most injuries.

“Hale, I’m not interested in punishment. My interest is in your physical and mental health. To that end, I require that you allow Falkilm to examine and treat you.”

The scowl didn’t leave Hale’s face, but they stopped struggling against Utharium and allowed themselves to be led to an exam table.

“If you would please go over there, Cassius,” Falkilm said, pointing to an exam table in an alcove on the other side of the room. Cassius grunted and walked over there, limping slightly. It seemed he was hurt after all.

“Kiran, what happened?” Falkilm said, his calm poise dropping away as he rushed over to the human.

He tried to smile, then winced. “I tried to break the fight up with my face.”

Palathum watched with interest as Falkilm scooped Kiran up and rushed him to the alcove closest to the supplies.

Sitting on his exam table and swinging his legs like a child, Cassius chuckled. “Take your time, I’ve got all night.”

“Whatever,” Hale grumbled and lay down on their side, putting their back to the room.

“I’m so sorry if some affection makes you feel even meaner!” Cassius shouted across the room.

Hale rolled off the bed. “All I want is to be left alone!”

Cassius hopped off his table. Even though he was favoring his right leg, he had both fists up, ready to fight. “I’m not the one who’s so eager to fight!”

“Stupid dickhead!” Hale wasn’t moving fast, clearly in pain too, but he was still trying to charge across the large room.

Palathum looked at Utharium. “It’s going to be a long evening.”

He sounded a rumble of agreement. “I’ll get Hale; will you speak to Cassius and try to calm him down?”

She echoed his rumble of agreement and walked back to Cassius. She heard Hale’s angry diatribe as Utharium carried them back to their exam table.

She forgot all about what she’d learned earlier as she and Utharium spent their time keeping the humans from fighting while they waited for Falkilm to do a much more thorough examination of Kiran than his wounds called for.

By the time it was all done, the fatigue she’d been battling took over, and she practically fell asleep on her feet.

Tomorrow she’d talk to Falkilm to confirm, then tell Utharium.