Page 59 of Pandora: Alien Games

I pushed his hand away gently. Damn, a huge piece of flesh was missing from Eray’s chest, the tissue having been savagely ripped out.

I focused on Nephthys. “Can you fix this?”

“Use your claws. I’ll guide your movements.”

I touched the edge of the wound with my claws. Eray winced. Something dripped from the exoskeleton and entered the wound. It smelled bitter.

“It will away take the pain,” said Nephthys.

“This will help with pain,” I whispered to Eray.

“Pandora, I know this is bad. I don’t mind if I die. It’s fine.” His purple eyes turned darker each second.

“Nephthys!” I called out to my friend.

“He lost blood and is falling asleep because of the toxin, but he won’t die.”

My fingers moved faster that I could imagine. The claws on the exoskeleton created a small web of plasma that connected the edges of the wound, closing it.

“It’s done. He should be right as rain in an hour.”

I pressed a soft kiss on Eray’s forehead. He was kind and weaker than his brothers, but I felt pain for him hurting like that.

Hassym had freed the other Anubis from the cocoons. Ashok sat there, rubbing his forehead and looking confused.

“Why are they so weird, Nephthys?” I asked.

“They got drugged before they were dropped in here to be consumed by the spider mutant. They’ll be fine.”

Ashok’s eyes opened and he saw me. “Pandora?”

His warm voice melted my soul. What was it with the gorgeous Anubis that made my knees weak? He held my face in his hands.

“I thought that you couldn’t speak,” I whispered, my own voice shaky and afraid.

“It was something I gave up after being here in this hell. It was my way of atoning for what I did, for the lives I took. I never believed I’d get a chance to see you again.”

Ashok closed his arms around me and I lay my head on his chest. The hum he released relaxed me.

Slowly the realization came to me that I had fought a spider that was so large it couldn’t fit inside the space station.

A voice made me shake and shiver. “Sky?”

I took a deep breath and looked toward a small crevasse in the steep jagged stone. He stood there, tall and handsome, a smile on his face.

Van.

Ashok pushed me behind him, ready to protect me from the new threat that appeared.

I pushed Ashok aside. Van, this was my best friend, the man who gave me my first kiss. My Van.

My heart inflated inside my chest. It was hard to breathe. Nephthys ran an analysis.

“He’s real,” she whispered. “This cave has rocks that deflect me senses. That’s why I didn’t detect him.”

I didn’t care, I had my Van back.

I ran toward him. He wrapped me into his arms, lifting me up. We almost kissed. Our lips almost touched when Ashok growled, hard.

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