Page 49 of Angel Condemned

He didn’t respond. I checked, his pulse was faint, but he was starting to breathe on his own.

A clank hit the top of the watership. Then another and another. This was it. The Roulex had found us. There was no more running. Nowhere to hide. Maybe I could beg them to save my dad.

If he received the organ transplants now, there might be time to save him.

I rushed to the hatch and pressed the emergency exit button. The door cracked open. I squinted at the three warriors staring down at me. Their wings spread wide and their sharp horns silhouetted against the early evening sky.

Axton’s people!

“H-help us.” I waved frantically behind me to my dad. “Please.” I had no idea what kind of medical knowledge they had. “He’s hurt.”

The dark-haired warrior with gray-ish brown wings narrowed his eyes at me. “You are in a Roulex vessel.”

“Yes, but I’m not with them. We escaped.”

One of the other ones with dark blue wings snarled, “She smells like Axton.”

“I was his cellmate.” I nodded my head so fast I got dizzy. “Please, help my dad.”

“Where is Axton?” the third one with golden hair and matching wings asked.

“H-He’s still at the prison. There wasn’t time to go back for him.” And I hated myself for it. “Please. I’m begging you, help my father. I’ll do anything you want.”

“A Roulex cruiser is on its way here to intercept this vessel.” The dark-winged Angeliminir shook his head. “I say we leave them to their fate.”

I grabbed his arm and he jerked backward like I struck him. “No, I know where they're keeping Axton. I can help you. But first, you have to help my father.”

The three warriors glared at me.

“We’ll let Alva decide.”

“No. There’s no time. We have to get my dad help now.” I shook all over.

“Shit, she’s got the aphrodisiac running through her veins.”

The three of them backed away like I had the plague.

“It’s a Roulex trap.”

“No, it’s not.” I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to calm my racing heart. “I don’t care about anything but getting my dad help and rescuing Axton. Please.”

“You care for him—for Axton?” The golden-haired warrior’s wings rustled behind him.

“Very much so.”

“Enough to risk your life?”

I lifted my chin. “If it means saving him, then yes.”

He turned to the other two. “I think we have our answer. This is Axton’s mate.”

All the air rushed out of my lungs. “Wha—no—I’m not. We’re cellmates—friends. I’m not, I mean he’s not.”

But the warrior’s grin wouldn’t falter. The other two grumbled, but one gently picked up my dad.

“He needs a hospital or a doctor.”

The warrior holding my dad scowled. “We don’t have doctors.”

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