Page 34 of Fated to the Alien Healer

“Do you know a woman named Eloise?”

Johnna’s eyes widen. “She was my bunkmate on the terraforming ship we both worked on. Why?”

“She’shere. On Tavikh.” I turn and lightly smack Kyler’s chest. “This is Eloise’s friend that she’s told us about. Oh my god, she’s going to shit kittens.”

The other woman stumbles back a couple steps and Vornak rushes forward to catch her in his arms. She glances up at him with a hand on his chest and tears in her eyes. “She’s alive. All this time, I’ve prayed Eloise made it somewhere safe and she did.”

“Yes, she did, my heart’s fire.” He kisses her on the forehead, and she leans into him with eyes closed and a tear slides down her cheek.

The sight of it chokes me up a little.Kyler’s tail wraps around my waist and he takes my hand again, threading his fingersthrough mine. Several seconds pass before Johnna draws back from Vornak and faces me. “Will you take me to her when you guys are finished?”

“Of course. She’s going to be so happy to see you.” Eloise has talked about her friend often and how badly she wished she knew she was okay.

“No more than I am.”

“Alik said you can heal my mate,” Kyler says to Vornak, bringing us back to the main reason we’re here.

He nods. “Of course. Come.”

I glance up at Kyler before he releases me, and I walk forward to where the Bohnari healer has moved next to a machine that looks like a giant egg lying sideways with a glass top. He presses a button and the glass lifts with a faint hydraulic sound.

“You will need to remove the sling and splint before entering the med pod. If you lie on your back inside, the scanners will assess the damage to your arm. Once it is finished, you may feel some heat and minor tingling as it knits the bone or bones back together.”

I swallow and glance at Kyler. I’ve never been claustrophobic, but the thought of being stuck in that thing that reminds me a bit too much of a coffin makes me want to hurl. Already my palm is clammy and my heart thumps madly.

“Hey,” Johnna says and I turn my head toward her. “I know we’re strangers and there’s no reason to trust me, but I promise this thing works magic. When I crash landed on Bohna, I almost died. Vornak saved me. You’ll barely feel a thing.”

I shift my gaze to Kyler.

“I will be by your side the entire time you are in there if you want to remain,” he says. “If not, we will return to the village. It is whatever you are most comfortable with doing.”

For twenty-seven years every decision of my life had been made for me. What time I went to bed. What I ate. What I wore. Who my friends were even though none of them were real friends. It wasn’t until I learned the truth about what happened to Amelia did I start to rebel and make my own decisions. Most of them were pretty shitty ones that led to nothing but trouble, including the entire reason I’m on Tavikh in the first place.

Although, aside from getting kidnapped, life here hasn’t been that bad. It brought me a husband—a mate—after all. The fact that Kyler isn’t pressuring me one way or another, but is leaving the choice to proceed or not up to me means more than he’ll ever know.

I swallow. “Let’s do this.”

Vornak nods. “I will let your mate remove your splint and help you into the pod.”

Kyler approaches and the Bohnari healer returns to Johnna’s side. I stare up at my mate as he helps me out of my sling.

“Thank you for being here.”

He carefully unwinds the sinew keeping the twigs and branches strapped around my arm. “There is no place else I would rather be. You are mykeeshla. The other half of my soul. Where you go, I go.”

Son of a bitch. He’s going to make me cry. I sniff back the tears and swing my leg up into the coffin egg. Kyler takes my hand and I use him for balance and to push myself back until my entirebody is inside. I don’t take my eyes off him as I lay back and rest my head in the gel cushion. Our eyes stay locked together even when Vornak lowers the lid and encloses me inside. The sharp sound of a lock engaging makes me flinch. I watch every breath my man takes and match my breathing to his. He’s far calmer than I am.

Like Vornak said, a blue line I can only assume is the scanner runs over my body from head to toe. I hear a few beeps now and then, but otherwise it’s completely quiet. Eerily so. It’s like I’m inside a type of sensory deprivation tank. There’s another beep and then the warmth seeps into my arm. Sure enough a tingling sensation follows right on its heels. It almost tickles and I try not to shift or move in any way. It would be just my luck that the machine knits my bones together all wonky.

I don’t know how long I lie here, but finally my arm cools, and the tingling stops. The same blue light from before runs over me, and a single beep sounds. Then the lock disengages and with a pneumatic hiss, it slowly flips open. Kyler places a hand behind my back and helps me sit up. I swing my legs over the side and let them dangle.

Vornak comes over and gestures to my arm lying in my lap. “May I?”

I nod and he picks it up. Gently, he prods it, and I wait for the pain, but there’s nothing. Not even a twinge.

“Wiggle your fingers for me, please.”

I do what he asks and even twist my forearm side to side without prompting. Nothing. Well, hot damn. “It feels great. Not a single ache or anything. It’s like it was never broken.”

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