Malfunction (The New Age Series Book 6)

Book summary

Hokura's body is failing, and only Professor Dorian may be able to save her. As secrets unravel in the compound of Meridiana, Hokura faces a fate no peacekeeper has endured before. Time is running out, and with her life on the line, emotions surge between love and survival in this gripping tale.

Excerpt from Malfunction (The New Age Series Book 6)

Hokura nervously licked her lips as she stood in the medical facility. Had she waited too long? There was a possibility. This morning’s coughing fit had been a bad one, and she had regretted not doing this sooner. She picked up the phone and dialed the number she had etched in her memory, even though she had never dialed it before. Until today, there wasn’t a need to do so. She put the phone back from the receiver and waited for a moment. The phone rang, and she picked it up.

“Dorian…” Her voice was listless.

“Hokura? You’ve never paged me before. What is it?” Worry struck him, she always just sought him out, and lately, she knew exactly where to find him.

“I need you to meet me in the medical facility. It’s urgent.” With that, she hung up the phone. It had been three weeks since his operation had been deemed successful. She couldn’t hold out any longer. Things were getting worse, and she feared she might be too late as is. She waited and watched as he walked up the hallway towards her when her throat caught. She tried to steady herself but couldn’t help it. Maybe this was for the best. He could see it for himself as she doubled over and started coughing violently to the point that she was grasping at her chest as pain burned through her.

He ran to her, worry etched upon his face. “Hokura!”

When she was finally done and could finally catch her breath, she was shaking as she looked up at him as blood oozed from her mouth. “I’m dying.”

“What do you mean you’re dying?” He brought her into his arms and cradled her. Fear washed over him.

She closed her eyes. “I’m not healing. My system is shutting down. Something is happening, and I’m not getting better.”

He trembled at the thought. “How long?”

“Since you rescued me…I think…” She coughed again. This time the taste of blood filled her mouth, as her chest tightened. “This was the final trial…Dr. Richter injected me with something before you rescued me. It’s attacking and weakening the regenerated cells.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” His voice was hard as he shook her. “Dammit, why didn’t you tell me right away if you suspected something?”

“I needed to make sure you were going to be alright.” She smiled lightly at him. “I’m sorry, I guess I was in denial, but now you know…I need you, Dorian.”

He faltered. “We’re going straight to the medical labs.” He looked at her in worry, he knew the answer, but he needed to hear it from her. “Have you told Gavin?”

“No…”

He shook his head as they walked. He couldn’t conclude anything yet. He didn’t even know what to say. Anger boiled inside of him that she would keep this from him. Even more so, that he knew she was keeping something from him, and this had been it. The anger wafted into rage. If there was anything wrong with her system, it had been going on for over four months already when he could have been on top of things. He glowered; she hadn’t told him because she had been worried about his wellbeing. He took a deep breath. He was hoping this would possibly be nothing. Still, with what he had just witnessed, he couldn’t help but feel like he had missed some key facts. She had been continuously exhausted, something he figured had to do with all the trauma she had encountered, plus he knew that dealing with him in the state he had been in would exhaust the strongest of people. They walked to a large medical room as Dorian opened the door and held it for her. What could he possibly say? He needed to remain calm and keep the storm brewing inside of him from spilling out. She sat on the gurney and looked at him expectantly as he set his jaw. “I’ll need to draw blood, and you’re going to tell me absolutely everything. Do not leave out any details, no matter how minuscule you think they are. I need to know everything, Hokura.”

She shrank back; his voice was stern, but she knew this was to be expected. She knew he wasn’t going to be happy about the situation. She had only hoped that he would be able to find out what was happening and hopefully cure her. “I’m just so tired Dorian, even when I sleep, I haven’t woken up actually feeling rested in weeks. I’ve been getting the sweats, my heart races…” she looked at him. “Not like that…it physically hurts. My vision starts to blur, and everything spins around me. I feel like I can’t breathe. I’m bruising…” She lowered her pants to her hip. “I walked into the kitchen table three days ago…”

Dorian took in the dark bruise. It horrified him; it looked like high-impact damage. “Did you break the table?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, I simply scuffed against it with my hip. The bruise from when I fell off the bike is still there.”

He felt himself go pale as a whitewash of sickness flooded over him. “We’ll need to get you into X-rays. I want to look at your chest, as well as a CT scan. I want to make sure I don’t miss anything.” His head lowered. What on earth could Dr. Richter have injected her with that could be destroying her cells like this? How was it possible that something was killing her? He didn’t want to think of that yet. He couldn’t. “Does Gavin even know you’re down here?”

She shook her head.

His world turned red, the negligence, unto herself, unto the person most precious to him. She had allowed this to happen to herself, and it had been happening right under his nose for the last few months. He had to turn from her. He walked away, needing his distance. “Damn you, Hokura,” he seethed. It hurt to be upset with her, to feel this kind of anger towards her. He looked back at her. “How could you be so damn careless?”

Her body slumped on the gurney as she lay back on it. She didn’t have the strength to fight him. She simply lay there.

“You will answer me! You owe me an explanation!” Dorian’s tone was hard as he walked up to her again.

Hokura closed her eyes for a second. “I knew only you could save me, but you needed to be whole and in the right mindset to do so. I knew you were struggling with the setbacks, that you needed to have your full concentration on getting your arm back, so I waited. I was going to tell you, but it never came out. I had lost the chance. Whenever I was around, your body fought harder. You couldn’t even be around me. You were my priority. Either way, I knew you would be successful. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that it had gotten noticeably worse.” She wasn’t going to be sorry for this as she looked up at him. “And now that everything is in place for you, you can work on fixing me.”

His brows furrowed in sorrow as he took her hand. “I swear I will. I will make this right again, but dammit, you should have told me! If you had, then maybe things would have been different!” His voice softened. “I thought we were done keeping secrets…”

She hadn’t said anything. There had been many secrets, like what had truly transpired on the roof. Those raw feelings that if he would have ended it, she would have been beside him in death. She didn’t want to think of that now. She simply lay on the gurney with a shameful expression on her face when he looked at her again.

“Before I begin, you are going to tell Gavin. This instant!”

“What?” Hokura cried in horror.

Dorian pointed at her. “You owe him that much! I can’t be doing blood tests when you bruise like that without your husband knowing that’s going on here.” He picked up the phone and dialed the governor’s office. “Gavin. I need you down to the medical facility. Room 101A, it’s urgent.” He hung up the phone before he could say another word as he stared at Hokura’s worried expression.

“You’re not being fair! I have no idea what to even tell him!” she cried, sitting up on the bed.

“Fair?” Dorian asked as he gave her a dark smirk and shook his head. “This isn’t about fair anymore, Hokura. You’d best figure out what you’re going to tell him because he’s on his way.”

With that, Dorian left the medical room and waited in the hallway. He needed to compose himself. His hands were shaking. He quickly put them in his pockets as he tried to breathe. His nightmare, his greatest fear, was unraveling in front of him. She couldn’t be dying, he would fix this, but first, he needed to do the right thing. Gavin… had he noticed a change in her? Or had he brushed it off as everyone else did? That she was just healing, and it had been a slow process due to her physical and emotional trauma. Either way, he needed Gavin to know before he went any further. He took another deep breath, trying to steady himself. He couldn’t be in the room with her right now. He couldn’t look upon her without feeling angry, so he would bide his time and wait for the governor.

Gavin walked down the hallway and gave him a questioning glance. “What is it?” His eyes narrowed.

“It’s your wife,” Dorian said in a low tone. “She has something she needs to tell you.”

Gavin’s eyes widened; he gave Dorian a look which the professor knew right away what the accusation was.

Dorian huffed. “It’s nothing like that, governor.” He placed a hand on his shoulder. “But you need to brace yourself for what she’s about to tell you, and you need to know that we will do everything we possibly can.”

Gavin couldn’t help but feel confused. “Why aren’t you telling me?”

“Because you deserve to hear it from her, she just told me. She’s been hiding this for a while.” He opened the door and let Gavin slip into the room. He didn’t dare follow; this was something that needed to be private between the two of them.