Page 53 of Alien Protector's Mate

The sensation of the neural link washed over him, and his consciousness expanded beyond the limits of his own body.

“Bringing the patient online.”

He braced himself, but nothing could have prepared him for the tidal wave of pain that crashed through the link. He gritted his teeth, using every ounce of control he had not to cry out. Jay’s agony became his own, a searing, all-encompassing torment that threatened to overwhelm him.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to focus and control the pain without letting it control him.

Through the link, his consciousness flowed into Jay’s body, and the extent of her injuries became clear. She had broken ribs and internal bleeding from where M’lak had thrown her against the reception desk. But there was more… like the bruises on her body, there were older injuries, old internal scars and breaks and fractures that had been set badly… or not at all. Like she’d been left, and her body had to heal them on its own.

Anger bubbled up within him, hot and fierce, but he fought it down. He couldn’t afford to lose his focus. He channeled his rage into determination. He’d heal her, not just from this recent attack, but he’d do what he could about the older injuries as well.

With meticulous precision, he began to repair the damage. Through the neural link he rebuilt torn blood vessels, knitted the fractured bones, and checked nearby organs for damage.

Hours passed, though it could have been minutes or days. He wouldn’t have known. Sweat beaded on his brow and trickled down his back, but he barely noticed.

Finally, he sealed the last of the critical wounds and moved on to the older injuries. Dissolving scar tissue so it wouldn’t adhere. Reworking old breaks and resetting them so they wouldn’t cause pain anymore.

Pursing his lips, he scanned his focus through Jay’s body one last time to check he hadn’t missed anything. Satisfied that she was out of immediate danger, he disconnected the neural link.

As his consciousness returned to his own body, exhaustion hit him like a physical blow, and he leaned heavily against the nearest support, taking deep, steadying breaths.

“The patient is stable,” Kellat announced, his voice a mix of relief and grudging respect. “Vitals returning to normal parameters.”

He nodded, too drained to speak, watching as the healer team began post-operative procedures.

“S’aad.” Kellat appeared at his side, his voice colored with concern. “You need to rest. We’ll monitor her condition.”

“I’m fine,” he insisted, even though exhaustion washed over him in a wave. He couldn’t leave Jay, not yet. What if she woke and he wasn’t here?

“You’ve done all you can for now,” Kellat insisted. “She’s stable. The best thing you can do for her now is to rest and recover your strength. Besides, Z’yan is waiting for you outside. He said he has information for you.”

He nodded, casting a look back at the delicate human female on the bed as he left the operating theater.

As they stepped into the corridor, the security chief pushed off from where he’d been leaning against the wall.

“How is she?” he asked, his eyes flicking between S’aad and Kellat.

“Stable,” S’aad replied, his voice hoarse. “She’ll recover, but it was touch and go for a while.”

Z’yan nodded, relief briefly softening hard his features. “We need to talk, S’aad. In private.”

He looked pointedly at Kellat, who gave a small bow. “And that would be my cue to leave and tend to my patients.”

A knot formed in S’aad’s stomach, cutting through the fog of exhaustion as Kellat walked off down the corridor. “What’s happened?”

Z’yan waited until they were alone. “We’ve been looking into Jay’s identity. There’s… a complication.”

S’aad’s stomach clenched. “What kind of complication?”

Z’yan sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We found an identity card in her jacket pocket for a Jared Ashton, so we checked for him in the human systems,” he began, his voice carefully neutral. “But he died as a child, years ago.”

S’aad frowned. “But he…she…Jay said his name was Ashfield.” Ashfield… Ashton. Which meant that Jay had been hiding from him from the very beginning.

“But if Jared Ashton is dead, then?—”

“There is also aJadeAshton in the system,” Z’yan continued, cutting S’aad off. “She’s Jared’s twin sister. But according to all official records, she’s alive and well, living with her foster parents on Earth.”

“Impossible.” He shook his head and looked at the door that led into the operating theater. “They’re lying. That female in there is Jade Ashton. She must have stolen her brother’s identity to escape them.”

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