Page 9 of Reaper

She nodded, her gaze flicking up the shaft. I cursed inwardly, looking over my shoulder at the ship, wondering what the heck our Medical Officer was up to.

“Jessica!”I mind-spoke to her.

“Coming. Just one second!”she telepathically replied.

I was about to give up waiting for her when she came rushing out, carrying another small bag. She stopped in front of me a little out of breath, gave me the second bag, and started sticking a couple of devices into my weapons belt.

“I want you to run a scan over her, especially around her temples, and then take some blood samples,” Jessica ordered in a tone that brooked no argument. “Send the results back as soon as possible so that I can start working on a medical protocol for her. I need her in the Infirmary yesterday.”

“We’ll work on opening that passage while you look after your woman,” Doom said.

I nodded once more in gratitude then proceeded down the shaft. The passage was too narrow for me to hold the food crate in my arms. I squeezed through the opening first, then hovered in place while my teammates lowered the crate for me. Holding it with one arm, I unhooked it with my free hand from its cable before beginning my descent.

My mating glands immediately awakened again. They throbbed and swelled as I approached the ground floor. My female and the Creckels scurried back. As soon as I landed, fear and confusion appeared on my woman’s face. She cast a furtive glance at the female Creckel that seemed to lead the others. The psychic energy swirling between them confirmed my female was mind-speaking with the creature, who nodded in response to whatever she’d been asked.

“You… You can’t be here. You died! Your body…”

She glanced towards one of the side doors of the hallway, not the back one where she’d come out of.

“I have Gomenzi Dragon blood,” I explained gently. “It allows me to be reborn into a new Shell… a new body. All is well. I am unharmed.”

She stared at me with an indefinable expression. She clearly wanted to move forward, likely to reassure herself I was real, while also itching to run and hide.

“My name is Reaper,” I said in a soft voice, while carefully placing the crate of meat on the floor. “What are you called?”

“Ja… Janelle,” she said with obvious difficulty and slightly wavering on her legs.

“That’s a beautiful name,” I said, fighting the urge to rush to her. “Aside from the Creckels, is there anyone else here with you that might need assistance?”

She shook her head, her eyes narrowing as she clearly struggled to see me.

I crouched next to the crate and slowly opened it. “Okay. There is fresh meat here for your companions,” I said, before stepping away from it.

As expected, the Creckels keened again, becoming restless with the need to come get the food, but forcing themselves to hold back. Many cast inquisitive, almost pleading glances towards their female leader and Janelle. The female slowly approached the crate, and I moved further away to give her space. She sniffed the air, and a raw hunger descended on her features. But I didn’t waste any more time on the Creckels. My woman needed help,now.

“You are severely dehydrated and undernourished,” I said to my mate, while slowly opening one of the bags slung around my neck and hanging on my hip. I pulled out one of the bottles of water with salt and glucose Jessica had prepared. “This will help you with both. May I approach you?”

Janelle projected the image of extended hands in my mind just as she raised her own before stumbling forward towards me. Her knees buckled, and I rushed to her, catching my mate before she would hit the floor. I picked her up in my arms and carried her to the room at the back from whence she had come.

The female Creckel rushed ahead of me to reassure the young that had huddled back inside the room. Under different circumstances, I would have fawned over how adorable they were. But I headed straight for a metal chair propped next to a small table: the only two things that looked sturdy in the large room. The beyond scarce furniture—a table, an old cot, and a small storage desk—was oddly all grouped in the center of the room.

I sat down on the chair, which whined slightly under my weight. I settled Janelle sideways on my lap. Anger and sorrow filled my hearts at how skinny she felt through her oversized coat. She tried to hold herself up, but her head mostly rested on my shoulder, needing the support that was rightfully hers to claim.

“I’ve got you, my darling,” I said gently, flipping open the lid of the water bottle. The nozzle was in fact an integrated straw which made it easier to drink. As always, Jessica had thought of everything. “This is going to help you. It has some salt and sugar to help rehydrate you. But you must drink slowly, or you will be sick.”

Janelle lifted a shaky hand, having barely the strength to do so. Her fingers closed around the bottle, and her cracked lips parted as I brought it to her mouth. As expected, she sucked greedily on the straw, moaning with almost painful joy as she did.

“Slow down, sweetheart,” I said repeatedly before pulling the bottle away, hating to deprive her of what she so desperately needed. She whimpered, her hand tightening around the bottle. She cast a frightened and betrayed look towards me, as if thinking I was going to deny her the rest. “Don’t worry. This is all for you. I will give all of it to you. But you need to slow down. I know it’s hard, but the slower you go, the more I can give you.”

She projected the image of the sun in her chest growing outward. I didn’t know what that meant. But she went back to drinking, closing her eyes with an almost blissful expression. After a few more sips, Janelle abruptly straightened, her body contracting with a few dry heaves. For a moment, I feared she wouldn’t be able to stomach the liquid. However, after about a minute, my mate appeared to settle. She didn’t balk the other times I stopped her for drinking too fast, waiting eagerly for me to let her resume, occasionally stopping on her own when her stomach acted up again.

I couldn’t have said how much time had gone by, I’d been so intent on my woman. A scraping sound drew my attention. I lifted my head and was stunned to see the female Creckel dragging the cooler on top of her flat tail, the way Stran had often done with other things in the past. She had recurved the sides of her tail, the spiked darts lining them keeping the crate in place. The young Creckels surrounded her, their small tails tapping the floor with impatience. She lowered the spikes then wiggled herself free from beneath the crate.

I had always been impressed by Stran’s dexterity. Seeing that female sit on her hind legs, her tail serving as a counterbalance to keep her up, then reach in with her front paws to pick up a thick steak blew me away. Using her long, sharp claws, she sliced one of the pieces of meat in half before extending them to two of the young. They greedily caught the meat in their mouths then walked a short distance away to make room for the others. Imitating the seating position the adult female had taken, the little Creckels started eating with a hearty appetite. The purring sound of delight as they feasted brought a smile to my face.

Janelle’s consciousness brushed against mine before she once more projected the image of a sun expanding outward from her heart. Despite the weak and worn-out expression on her face, the look in her eyes made me melt from the inside out. It shone with such awe and gratitude, I felt almost like a god. I had so yearned to be looked at this way by someone I could claim as mine and to whom I would completely belong. A fierce wave of possessiveness and protectiveness washed over me as I gazed upon my delicate female, so vulnerable in my arms.

“Your time of hardship is over, Janelle. You will never thirst or hunger again. You will never be imprisoned and afraid. As long as I draw breath, I swear to you that you will never want for anything.”

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