Page 25 of Akur

Constance spun so fast she nearly lost her balance. He was awake?

She didn’t wait for a response, already running toward the sound. Her foot caught on his boots and she stumbled, the water cupped in her hands falling between them.

“Oh, shit.”

There was a chuckle, or something like it. He sounded horrible, but the alien was alive. It worked. All those trips just trying to get him hydrated worked!

“I’m here.” She crawled over him, careful not to rest her weight on any part of his wounded frame. Her hands found his chest in the dark before reaching up to his jaw. He must be looking right at her, judging from the position of his head. He was awake. She couldn’t believe it. His heart still beat, but each breath sounded like it was being torn from his lungs. “I’m right here. You’re going to be alright.”

He was still burning up. So much so she was pretty sure his temperature had increased more than before. Contrary to what she’d been thinking, maybe it wasn’t a good sign after all. The last thing she wanted was for him to have a seizure or something. Little drops of water wouldn’t help with that.

“The wall,” he rasped. “Please help me…to the wall.”

His voice was different from what she remembered—rougher, strained, but still carrying that otherworldly resonance that marked him as not-human. She nodded before remembering he could probably see her perfectly well in this darkness while she was practically blind.

“Okay. Just…let me figure this out.” She ran her hands carefully along his frame, trying to determine the best way to move him without aggravating his wounds. “Can you move at all?”

A grunt that might have been affirmative. She felt his muscles tense under her touch, a slight tremor running through him. The heat radiating from his skin was alarming—no one should be able to survive a fever this high.

“I’m going to get behind you. Support your shoulders.” She worked her way around, hands never losing contact with him. The darkness was absolute, but she’d memorized his position through what must have been hours of tending to him. “Tell me if anything hurts too much.”

Another sound, this one definitely amusement. “Everything…hurts.”

Her own body ached. Tiredness had transformed to weariness. She could hardly move. Felt like she would collapse at any moment.

But she wasn’t back on Earth where she could just fall into bed and call for takeaway on a lazy night in. She was on an alien planet in some part of the universe humans didn’t know about. And she was surrounded by aliens who wanted to use her for things she didn’t want to even imagine.

So the tiredness, this weariness, it would have to wait.

She’d collapse when she was dead. Right now, she was going to help this alien get back on his feet.

“More than it already does, then.” She positioned herself behind his head, legs spread to brace herself. The uneven stone pressed hard into her ass and her thighs, making her wince. But she pushed the discomfort away. “Ready?”

His only response was to try to push himself up. She slid her arms under his shoulders, pulling upward as carefully as she could. The noise he made—somewhere between a growl and a hiss—made her pause, but he didn’t tell her to stop.

Too tough to give up.

At least they were on the same page.

The movement was agonizingly slow. Every inch gained seemed to cost him, his breathing becoming more labored, the heat from his body intensifying. She could feel the tremors running through his massive frame as muscles fought against whatever was still affecting him.

“Almost there,” she encouraged, though they’d barely gotten him a few inches off the ground. But he was their only hope. Fight as she might, draw bravery as she might, she was no match for what awaited them outside these tunnels.

The thought made her swallow hard. She was a liability. He would do well to abandon her here. After all, this whole rescue attempt was a suicide mission. If he forgot about her, he had a better chance of making it out of this alive.

Shit.

She bit her bottom lip, worrying it between her teeth, happy he wasn’t facing her at this moment to see the fear flashing in her eyes.

She had to help him. But she also had to ensure he didn’t leave her here. And that meant becoming invaluable to him. Whatever it took, she was making it out of this place alive.

It was a promise.

Grunting, she braced against him, but his weight was substantial. “Fucking hell.”

Despite the pain wracking his frame, the alien managed to make a sound—something between a wheeze and a chuckle. “First…mouth mating ritual.”

What?

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