Page 28 of Risking Her Heart

She smiles and points. The one she is pointing to is blonde with shoulder length hair. His scales are a very light tan too, muchlighter than any of the others. He’s also a little smaller than the group he’s standing in. I watch for a few moments. He is assertive and certain in his actions and words. I can see how she would pick him, he’s definitely her type.

“That’s Kri’cati,” she says.

“He’s handsome,” I say.

“Yeah,” she says, a smile and a dreamy look on her face.

“We only met the Zmaj a few months back, but when they came, they had other survivors.”

“We know,” she says. “The baby. You’ve seen her?”

“You know? How?”

“There is so much I need to tell you,” she says. “It’s a lot. How much do you know about The Order?”

“They’ve told us some,” I say. “I don’t think all of it though.”

She leads the way to the table and taps the top, motioning for me to get up on it. I do so as we continue talking. Jackie frowns and nods.

“Yeah. That’s a lot too. If you think about it as an alien cult, you’ll get the idea. Fundamentally the leader is a person called the Eye. Somehow, he contacted our ship and came up with a plan to solve the Zmaj problem of having no females.”

“With us?” I ask my voice cracking.

Zas looks over, taking a step away from the group, but I hold up a hand and shake my head to let him know it’s okay.

“Yeah,” she says.

“And they were going along with this?”

“Not all of them,” she says. “That’s why your group left. This bunch, they were going to go along, but then… well like I said, there’s been a lot. I matched with Kri’cati and long story short that led to the rest of them waking up that this was really an evil idea. They’ve also left the Order.”

“Oh,” I say, staring at Zas who is watching.

He nods and I return my own. This is a lot but the underlying thread, as I look at it, gives me hope.

“Lie down,” Jackie orders walking over to the counter.

“I know, it’s a lot and I’m obviously giving you what would barely qualify as cliff-notes,” she continues, returning with a machine that looks like a large box.

“Do you know that they are coming then?”

“They thought it might be happening,” she says.

“So… we need to move,” I say.

“We know. We’ve been preparing. First let’s fix this arm.”

“Fix it?” I frown.

“This will hurt,” she says, “but only for a minute.”

I grit my teeth and close my eyes. She slides my arm into the box. It hurts like burning fire inside my skin. I’m panting through clenched teeth and then cool fingers brush across my forehead, and I open my eyes to see Zas.

He leans down, kisses my forehead, and cups his hands on my face. He stares into my eyes with an intensity that will not be denied.

The burning sensation builds and then it’s itching too. I moan. I try not to, but damn, it is too much. The warmth fades and then the itching eases too.

“That should do it,” Jackie says.

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