Chapter Eighteen: The Healer

"Oh, Ford! Jeff, that feels so good. Yes, oh yes, please keep going. Just like that, just like that! Oh, Ford, Ford, Ford!" Charity was really almost out of her mind with pleasure. The release she'd been seeking for so long came on in a surging tide of sensation that rolled over her in wave after wave and left her gasping like a beached fish. She was flat on her back and still catching her breath when her new lover rolled off of her and grabbed the telephone.

"Voltaire." The lean, taut features of the World Controller took on a look of grim resolve. "Impossible. That's not the procedure. No, do not inform the council. Nothing. I'll attend to this matter personally."

"Something wrong?" Charity reached out for Jeff, one hand lazily caressing the muscled ridges and hollows of the older man's back.

"Dr. Margaret Carlton didn't wait around for the medical board," Jeff Voltaire said grimly. He caught Charity's hand in hers and gave it a quick, hard squeeze. "Apparently she had a friend who tipped her off about our surprise witness. She grabbed the last rocket back to London late last night. They call it the Midnight Special!"

"You mean Margaret's gone?" Charity sat up in bed, dismay written all over her freckled face. Her green eyes were full of shock, and her small bare breasts were bobbling in plain view. "She just left?"

"While we were making love, she made her break." Dr. Jefferson Voltaire gave a bitter laugh. He rose from the bed and began pacing rapidly, gathering up his clothes, his long legs taking big strides. His nakedness made Charity light-headed. "Now Edith will despise me for a weakling and a fool, unless I bring that woman back."

"Unless we bring that woman back." Charity forced herself to ignore the dizzying allure of the World Controller's world-class body. She scowled in her most determined manner, pushing a tangled knot of thick red hair back from her face. "I'm coming with you!"

Of course there was no way Dr. Edith Beddington could come along with them. Jeff immediately called her, and the two of them talked in low voices while Charity collected her clothes in a hurry. She felt sure that the tall, blonde lady doctor was probably very busy attending to the wounded savage she'd found on the beach.

"What did Edith say?" Charity was slower than Jeff at getting dressed. She was only a Beta Minus, after all. Stealing a rocket and having all-night sex with a World Controller had knocked her for a loop! She was still fumbling with the buttons of her sleeveless peach satin blouse when the sexy older man clicked off the phone.

"She said she can't leave her patient." Jeff's full mouth gave a quirk.

"Don't be jealous, Dr. Voltaire." Charity's impish green eyes held a spark of amusement. Yet there was nothing to laugh about, really. Bjorn Hellborn was a magnificent male specimen, but he'd been cruelly abused by cold, ambitious Dr. Carlton.

"Edith's the one who's jealous," Jeff growled, putting his big hands to work buttoning up Charity's blouse. "I just stole her secretary."

Meanwhile, in a cozy beach cottage not far away . . .

"She can't get away with this!" The savage growled like a beast and tried to rise from the bed. "I'll find that woman. I'll get her, I swear!"

"You will not." Cool and collected, looking every inch an Alpha, Dr. Edith Beddington restrained her patient with firm, strong hands. "Those ribs need time to heal, just like the cuts and bruises on your face. If you try to exert yourself, you'll only make things worse."

"I don't want you," Bjorn Hellborn snarled, trying to push the cool white hands away from his bare chest. "I want her, the she-devil! When I find that woman I'll snap her neck. I'll tear her to pieces!"

"You will not!" This time Edith had to sit down on the bed, and put all her weight into the struggle. Leaning close to her steaming hot male patient, she spoke crisply, trying to get her message across. "You are now among civilized people, not savages. The World Controllers will handle this, and the woman will be punished. But you are not to make things worse for yourself by struggling and fighting and acting like a wild beast without reason. You are a man," Doctor Beddington said, in a softer voice. "When the time comes, you will have justice. But you must learn to control the beast within."

"Mm." The savage relented, relaxing a little and letting Edith stroke his massively muscled and thickly furred chest with a healing salve. The touch of her long, slim fingers seemed to soothe him. "What happened to the girl who rescued me?" he demanded, after a bit of a lull. "The little one with the red-gold hair and the big green eyes?"

"Charity has gone with the World Controller to locate Dr. Carlton. They'll make sure she is detained someplace, until you're well enough to testify against her before a medical council."

"You know this World Controller?" Bjorn gazed intently at Edith.

"Dr. Voltaire is a friend," Dr. Beddington said, in a bright voice. Fidgeting a little on the bed, she began patting at her golden hair with a somewhat flustered air. "Jeff and I . . . yes, I know him."

The savage grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "You make sure he catches that woman. I trust you."

"Thank you, Bjorn." Edith blushed and looked down at her hands, skilled and strong yet so small wrapped in his massive paws. "You must understand, in our world we take many partners. Everyone belongs to everyone else." The sleep-teaching refrain came out automatically, but Dr. Beddington took little comfort from the words.

"You let that little girl take your man away," Bjorn said. It wasn't a question.

"I'm a doctor," Edith snapped, pulling her hands free and rising from the bed. "My first duty is to take care of you."

"You are a good healer." The savage on the bed closed his eyes. "I will rest now. You will keep me safe, healer with the golden hair."

"Yes, I'll do that," Dr. Beddington replied. She thought of Charity flying off with Jeff on a shiny rocket. But she wasn't jealous at all.