Page 78 of Venomous Heart
He’s lost too much blood. He’s going to go into shock.
Ava shook her head against the thoughts as Arlen’s brain reacted to the lack of oxygen. This was the last straw, she knew. The last cry for help from a body that knew it was going to die.
The Mantrilla doctors worked with a laser sharp focus, mandibles clicking and clawed hands moving fast, but as his body was hooked up to tubes and pumped full of chemicals, alarms kept beeping and a sense of doom descended over the room as the Mantrilla doctors worked with what appeared to be renewed urgency.
They were fighting a losing battle. Arlen’s heart had stopped.
Ava fell to her knees, her vision rapidly invaded by tiny spots of darkness as the dread filtered through to her veins, her very bones, and that soul that was trapped between her ribs.
Hands closed on her shoulders, pulling her away from the room. Pulling her away from Arlen. She struggled, fighting off the hold, but she was losing this battle, too.
“Let me go!”
She turned, hissing like a feral, wounded animal. She would fight to the death to stay by Arlen’s side.
Then she met the eyes of the one person who could calm her bleeding heart. The one person who loved the Eok warrior lying on the medical bed just like she did.
“Khal.”
Blue eyes set on her as the large alien pulled her closer. The skin on his face was pulled taut across his bones and he looked at her with eyes full of pity. Pity and grief.
“I’m not leaving,” Ava told him. “Please, I need to stay with him.”
Khal stared at her then, after a moment, he nodded. “Okay.” His voice was breathless, and she held on to it like a lifeline. “I won’t make you leave.”
“He can’t die. Arlen can’t die. I love him.”
“I know.”
Then Khal stood and went to stand by the Mantrilla doctors. He spoke low and fast with them before his face twisted with grief. His large shoulders slumped and he turned wide, sorrowful eyes toward Ava.
“No!” Her voice broke as her heart shattered into pieces. “No nononononononono…”
Grief washed over her, blanketing the world in a thick black fog. Hands closed around her shoulders, big and strong. Big and strong, just like other hands, hands she would never feel again.
“Ava.” Khal spoke her name like she was mad. Like she was hysterical. Maybe she was. She just didn’t care. “Arlen won’t recover from his wound, not fully. If he lives, he will be broken; he will never fight again. We need your permission to let him go. Let him return to the Night Lands and stand at the Midnight God’s right side.”
The defiant streak in Ava rebelled against Khal’s words and when she lifted her gaze to him, he recoiled. Not a lot, but enough.
“You save him.” She heard her voice like it was coming from somewhere deep inside her belly, from that place that had always refused dominion from all who wanted to possess her. All except Arlen. “You save my bloodmate, or I swear on your Midnight God that I will hunt each one of you down and kill you like dogs.”
Khal swallowed, his eyes widening, but he didn’t give up. “Arlen is a strong warrior, he knows nothing else. He won’t be able to stand being a burden, a broken warrior. It will crush him.”
“Arlen has been through everything life has thrown him. He survived betrayal, heartbreak, a year at the Frontier. He’s stronger than any of you.” Her voice was steady—steady, and stronger than it had any right to be. As strong as her love for Arlen. “I won’t give up on him. Ever.”
Khal held her stare for what felt like an eternity, then he nodded in that simple way all Eoks seemed to do. He turned to the Mantrilla doctors, still standing around Arlen on the metal table. “You heard what his bloodmate said. Save my brother, or she will hunt down each one of you.”
The Mantrilla doctors paused, mandibles clicking with incredulity, then they turned. They worked on Arlen tirelessly and during all that time, Ava stayed in the room.
At some point, someone came and took the Exo-Heart from her. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought it was Dr. Yrakan, the Relany doctor.
Still, Ava didn’t leave Arlen’s side. Some time later, they moved him to another white, desolate, windowless room.
There again, Ava stayed. She didn’t dare take her eyes off him. All she did was remain by his side as tubes fed his veins, breathed into his lungs, and Arlen slept.
Hours passed—or days, she didn’t know.
Ava never left. She never slept, never ate. All she did was stare at Arlen, whispering all the nonsense she wished she could have told him before as he lay there, defenseless.
