Page 34 of I Dated a Retired Hero

Feral clutched at Litha. “She’s a little wary of medics, so I will be with her the entire time.”

“Understood. Okay, they will be with you soon.”

Litha stroked Feral’s head. “It’s okay, honey bunny. We’ve got this.”

They waited for ten minutes, and then, a group of guards came toward them. “We will escort you out.”

Litha smiled. “I’ve got you, bunny.”

She lifted her friend carefully, but the panting and distress were still there. Vikor said, “I can take her.”

“I have her, and her limbs are as supported as they are going to get. When we are free of this place, I will fly directly to Z-Tech.”

“Right. Why did I forget you can fly?”

Litha muttered, “Because you think I live in my office.”

He chuckled. “So, what is going on with you? Drin said you are avoiding the office.”

“Just working through some things. My plans fell through, and I am having to pivot.”

“I see.”

She chuckled as she passed through the checkpoints as a bunch of law enforcement glared at her. She looked at what seemed to be the man in charge. “After she is getting medical treatment, I can come back, and we can discuss my decorum while my friend gets her life-threatening injuries treated.”

The guard looked at her, and she let her eyes flare white. “Look me up, junior. I have saved this world half a dozen times and only endangered this facility once.”

Feral chuckled weakly, and the guard shook his head. “Not necessary, ma’am.”

They got past the front desk, and Vikor went to Drin while Torun nodded to Litha. Kritz sent his vehicle home. She walked outside the distance marker and took off, flying carefully with her friend in her arms.

The medical team gently took custody of her, and Kritz was waiting and said, “We will take care of her.”

Feral muttered, “Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t. I will be within shouting distance. Promise, but they don’t need me there freaking them out.”

Litha walked with them, gave Kritz Feral’s medical history, and explained that while she was a candidate for Kritz’s creepy nanites, she couldn’t use Khytten’s contribution. She violently reacted to certain things, andpeople milkwas one of them.

Kritz nodded, and Arcady made notes as they went down to the medical lab. They got a fluid line in, and Litha mentioned that Feral had difficulty with painkillers. “They won’t hurt her, but you have to use enough for someone four hundred pounds.”

Kritz blinked. “Right. We will turn it up slowly until she’s comfortable.”

“Good. Watch her vitals. She will lie and say she’s fine.”

Feral chuckled. “You are telling all my secrets.”

“No secrets when you only have one lung working.”

The wheezing was still there, but Feral didn’t seem to notice it. As they started to move through the checkpoints, Litha kept an eye on her friend’s features.

They got to the lab, and Litha stood back as she watched the hive of action around her friend.

When they relieved the pressure by piercing tissue between the ribs, Feral dragged in a wet breath and started to breathe evenly.

Litha smiled and watched as the pain was slowly relieved, and Arcady came back with a case that Kritz removed an injector from. He pressed it against Feral’s side, there was a hiss, and Feral slowly closed her eyes.

Litha spoke. “Those nanites will leave or die and be absorbed, right?”

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