Page 85 of Needed in the Night
A flash of metal. A dagger, driven hilt-deep into my Isla’s back. A gloved hand that withdrew the blade and disappeared into the crowd. Brae screeching in fury as he flew off in pursuit of the assassin.
I had failed to protect my Isla. My life had only one purpose and I had failed catastrophically.
Her blood was everywhere. It spilled from her mouth and poured from her back and covered her clothes, my clothes, and the floor. There was too much blood.She has lost too much blood.
My roars filled the port and sent everyone running out of reach of my claws, fangs, and spines.
I held my torn wrist to Isla’s mouth as I pleaded with her to drink. My other hand pressed the sleeve of her thermal suit, soaked with my blood, against the wound in her back. I had no memory of ripping into my own flesh for the blood needed to try to save my mate’s life, but I had sliced myself on both arms nearly to the bone.
Even on the battlefield I had never become this creature, this beast. My humanity had never so fully given way to my darkest, most monstrous rage.
I must save my Isla. My Isla must live. My own life was worthnothingif she did not live.
A male voice cut through the chaos. “Sir—” he said in Fortusian.
I snarled and spun, ready to shred whoever had dared come near us.
The speaker was an enormous Alorisian soldier flanked by medics. One led an antigrav medical stretcher and the other a trolley of emergency triage equipment.
“We are here to help,” the soldier said, still in Fortusian. He spoke calmly and kept a respectful and cautious distance. “You have done what you can by sharing your blood.”
I must not let anyone’s hands touch her but mine. No one could be trusted. Only my blood and other bodily fluids could heal my mate. I growled low in warning.
The medics took a step back, but the soldier held his ground. “We can provide the care she needs to survive, but you must let us reach her. Please, sir.”
Isla let out a garbled, broken sound that cut through my haze of rage like a sword and doused me with ice-cold dread.
Oh, gods—had I frightened her? Please, no. I could not bear to see fear in her eyes.
Her eyelashes fluttered. “Trava,” she whispered thickly, theword barely audible. Then her head rolled to the side and rested against my chest.
“Isla?” I rasped.
She did not respond. My mate had lost consciousness.
Rage threatened to sweep over me again, but Isla’s last word to me rang in my ears like bells:
Trava. Stop.
I had sworn that if she said that word, I would cease whatever I was doing immediately and without question.I must know you are safe with me, I had said, and I had meant it with all my hearts and soul.
My love and devotion to Isla was perhaps the only force more powerful than my rage.
For the first time, I saw the soldier and medics with human eyes and a clear mind.
What if my blood and the force of my will were not enough to save my mate? If that were so, then Isla’s death would be not at the hands of her assassin, but mine. There would not be a hell deep enough for me then.
I got to my feet with Isla in my arms. She had swallowed enough of my blood and enough of my blood had gone into the wound in her back for her to lapse into what I hoped was a healing sleep. Her breaths were shallow and gurgling, but as long as she continued to breathe, I could as well.
“She must live,” I told the soldier and the medics. “She is everything to me.”
“She will live, Commandant,” the soldier said, drawing himself up. “I swear it.”
Only then did I recognize him. Morolo. Lieutenant Morolo.
The last time I had seen him was on Ryoxv. He had been covered in blood and missing his lower right leg below the knee. I had seen him fall. While others in our cadre ran past him, I had slung him over my shoulder and carried him to a medical transport. My uniform had remained stained with hisblood for days until I had a chance to clean it. A month later, I was promoted and left Ryoxv for another battle on another world.
He was older now and more scarred than I recalled, but clearly physicians had reconstructed his leg much like they had done for me after my own injury. Our kinship resonated so profoundly that I felt it in my bones.
