Page 103 of Stars in Umbra
Still, this was not the time to confront him or demand answers.
Her focus now was on comforting him and being present.
She turned to the medical team. ‘What’s his condition?’
One of the younger medics stepped forward. ‘At first, he appeared to be in a kind of induced coma. However, he’s lucid now, and he’s healing. Faster than anything we’ve ever recorded. We’re discussing how quickly the muscle regenerates, how fast his neural pathways are repairing. It’s accelerated and doesn’t match any standard norms.’
Rina blinked. Her eyes moved back to Mo, narrowing as she caught the glyphs along his collarbone pulsing with energy, like flames trapped beneath skin.
She had questions, but she didn’t press, deciding to park her curiosity until later when he was well.
So she sat beside him, allowing her bag to slide from her shoulder as she settled into the seat.
The medics exited, murmuring as they tried to make sense of their patient, leaving Rina alone with Mo.
The antiseptic scent of the med-bay did little to calm the storm inside her, even as his eyes locked onto her.
She gazed back into them, emotion overwhelming her.
The sight of him lying, with a stark white bandage all over him, was enough to silence the logical part of her that dealt in protocol and strategy.
All she experienced was a seismic wave of relief that crashed over her, so potent it almost buckled her knees.
Their last parting had been a battlefield of pride and fear; her own words a clumsy defense against his declaration that she was his and would bear his children. She had run, not from him, but from the terrifying truth of his statements.
Now, she gazed at his hand. His grip wasn’t loosening; if anything, it tightened.
She let him hold on,or was it he holding on to her?
She took a ragged inhale and squeezed his hand, a reassurance to both of them, even as his spectral eyes fixed onher, flaring with fire. The sentiment within was so potent that it made her face heat.
She missed him. She missed the man, the tender lover, the massive-hearted male who took her beyond incandescence with his touch and laughter.
She had never been happier than when they were together, a simple fact that cut through every one of her defenses.
A shiver of fear went through her, a visceral shudder at how close she came to losing him. In that moment, it hit her.
She was hooked for sure.
Her soul, which had been fighting so hard against the inevitable, finally won the war against her past misgivings.
Mo wasn’t a fleeting affair; he was exceptional, a connection so deep it defied her controlled world.
She took an inhale, met his eyes once more, and found her voice, which trembled with emotion.
‘Mo,’ she began, her gaze locked on his. ‘I’m so sorry for how I treated you. I have no excuse for not getting back to you over the last few weeks. But this isn’t about me. Let’s get you better, then we -.’
The crash of shattering plex sent Rina reeling and gasping.
Glass exploded inward from the upper windows of Mo’s ward, spraying the sterile floor in glittering shards.
The sudden roar of rotors followed, so close and violent that it rattled the lighting panels. A stealth-class helo hovered just outside the breach, its camo-shell flickering as it shed invisibility.
Three figures dropped, swinging through the gap in perfect formation, armored, masked, and armed.
Assassins.
Rina just had time to draw her sidearm before the first shot rang out. She dove instinctively toward Mo’s bed.
