Page 38 of Rescued By The Alien Prince Pirate

"Don't worry, we'll get him if it's the last thing we do," Cyburn said without skipping a beat. He stared into our eyes with such fierce determination that it lit up my spirit. I believed in Cyburn, because he had the kind of fiery passion inside himself that was vital for our survival. He had love in his heart for his own kind. He wanted to serve justice. He was going to tear down his miserable enemies and take back the planet he once knew and loved.

It was up tometo help him get there. I was falling in love with him, and I would do anything for him.

If I tried to convince myself otherwise, I would only be lying to myself, and prolonging my true surrender to how incredible he made me feel inside. He made me feel like I was a queen who could accomplish anything. I tapped into his strength and courage and made it my own.

ChapterSixteen

CARMELA

Cyburn's eyes rolled back in his head. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the floor. His body went limp. It happened out of…nowhere.

I knew I was screaming, but my voice sounded clouded and far away. A veil of terror draped over my entire body and then ripped into my soul. Darkness encompassed me. Fear incapacitated me.

That same weird, slow motion sensation pummeled into me, making me feel bruised on the inside.

I fell to my knees beside Cyburn and lifted his large head, cradling it in my arms. It was heavy, dead weight, like a bowling ball in my hands.

It was hard to hold it, but I did it anyway. My stomach was souring. I swallowed hard, scared out of my mind for what might be wrong with him. I was also trying exceptionally hard not to vomit as a torturous anxiety churned inside me.

I raised my head and glanced at Nix, looking for answers. We were getting ready to discuss our next steps when this odd thing happened to him, spontaneously and completely without warning.

"What is wrong with him?" I asked.

My voice still sounded hollow and like it was a million miles away.

Nix knelt beside us with a puzzled expression. He took two fingers and pressed them to Cyburn's neck. Nix didn't move. He stared at his commander, studying him.

"He has a pulse, but it's slow," Nix said grimly.

"Why did he go limp and fall like that?" I asked, wishing I could expel that awful memory from my head. I never want to think about Cyburn's eyes getting fuzzy and rolling back in his head right before he lost consciousness.

Nix frowned with contemplation. "I honestly don't know. He's never done anything like that before. It could have been from the cybernetic spell."

"The paralyzing light thing that Jun suspended him with before?" I asked.

Nix nodded. "It's possible."

"We need to get him checked out immediately," I said.

My heart jumped around frantically inside my chest. Worry gnawed at me and caused me to think irrationally about what horrible things might have been happening to him that we couldn't properly diagnose.

As soon as the words came out of my mouth, Cyburn's black eyes began to flutter. He was struggling to come back to reality but fighting hard against the delirium that crippled his mind and body.

"What… where… happened… Jun…" Cyburn muttered.

It was nothing more than a series of random words coming out of his mouth, fragments of things that didn't really make sense. He couldn't put a whole sentence together, thus confusing us.

His eyes shut again, and his head went limp in my arms for the second time.

I looked at Nix. "Is there anywhere we can take him to check him out?" I questioned again.

"Yes…" Nix trailed off guardedly as if he was less than enthusiastic to explore any potential possibilities.

"Where?" I pressed him urgently. "We need to help him and figure out what's going on."

"I think he will be alright. It's probably just a side effect of what Jun did to him, but we can get him to one of the medbays just to be sure it's nothing serious."

"Yes," I said with an encouraging nod. "Let's do that. He needs us right now."

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