Page 63 of Gravel and Grit

Bending down, he pried her lips apart with his tongue as he flew and fed her every drop ofdassahe had to give. Her body barely twitched as she swallowed automatically.

“Do not leave me, my heart. Hold on, please, hold on,” he begged, pushing himself harder.

The bitterly cold wind stung his eyes, and snow flurries tried to blind him, but he landed on the designated mountain with a stumble and immediately

dropped to his knees. Not daring to put her on the snow-covered ground, he held her to him as he pulled out the sigil and activated it, adding an emergency code to make them hurry.

Now, he had to wait, dying inside a little more with every second that crawled by.

Bowing himself over her, he enclosed them in his wings to protect her from the cold. He rocked her, back and forth, whispering his pleas into her hair.

“Stay with me. Do not leave me, my heart. I beg you, stay,” he rasped, his voice breaking.

Do not leave us. We cannot live without you.

He fed herdassaone drop at a time, expressing his gland the moment he felt it begin to replenish. It throbbed from the abuse but it was distant, unnoticed under the agony in his heart.

Her heart stuttered, its weak thump faltering.

“No! NO! You cannot leave me! Youwill notgo!” he roared, denial the only thing holding back the grief trying to crush him. “Please… ”

Bending himself over her farther, Zaek pressed his forehead to hers and rocked her faster. He breathed her in, desperately trying to find their combined scent under the blood covering them both, but it was already fading, leaving him, just as she was.

Deep, plaintive moans vibrated his throat, low and broken. It was too much, unbearable and inescapable, but he didn’t fight it. This was his fault.

Madness—true, suffocating, unrectifiable madness—hovered at the edges of his mind, ready and waiting to drown him, to tear him to shreds, to save him from this pain.

His entire world narrowed to a pinpoint, the halting thud of her pulse the only thing that existed.

Zaek was so focused on Mira that he didn’t feel it at first, didn’t notice the tingle that spread through his body. It wasn’t until the freezing wind ceased its battering that the change filtered through, and he opened his eyes.

The transport room materialized in front of him, sending hope surging back to life.

Zaek lunged to his feet. The room was full of gawking Khargals, their wide gazes locked on him, staring in shock, taking in the blood coating him from head to toe, the feral look in his eyes, and the broken body of a small Earthian female clutched in his arms.

Expanding his wings with a snap, he coldly knocked the people gathered out of his way, uncaring of their shouts of outrage. They stood between him and the only chance he had at saving his Mira.

Zaek ran, tearing around corners, bowling unsuspecting Khargals over, determined to get her to the Med-Bay. All their ships had a similar layout so he knew where to go. Desperation clawed at him, and his ears were trained on the dying beat of her heart.

His gaze locked onto the Khargal female standing in the middle of the room the second he skidded into the Med-Bay, her green uniform marking her as the senior medical officer.

“HEAL HER!” he roared.

The female jumped at his bellow, but immediately leapt into action, her eyes calm and collected as she scanned Mira lying limp in his arms.

“Lay her there!” she ordered, directing him to a Med-Pod. “Utark, activate the scanner!”

Zaek laid her down gently and had to force himself to let go, to get out of the way so they could save her.

The light of the scanner passed over her in a second, sending her anatomy, genetics, and makeup to the medical sigil in the female’s hand. She read it quickly, her mouth moving as she muttered the diagnostic, too low for him to hear. Before he yelled at her and demanded she tell him what she saw, she spoke.

“It looks like a small metal projectile tore through a seam in her armor. It pierced her lung and nicked her heart. Get me the serum, now!”

The nervous underling hovering behind her jumped to obey the barked order and retrieved a digital syringe from a nearby hover cart. Zaek didn’t breathe as he watched her activate the nanos in the serum and inject it into Mira’s neck. He waited, motionless, for some sign that it was working, that he was not too late.

He watched her mouth, praying to any deity that would listen.

“Breathe. Come back to me,” he whispered.

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