Page 98 of Rescued

“Lan’ara? What is it? What’s wrong? You’ve never be-spoken me before,” came the worried voice in her mind.

Rapidly, Lan’ara explained what had happened.

“And now Nate is in such bad shape he can’t even move his lips to talk to me!” she finished. “I’m so worried about him! Please come, Sylvania!”

“On my way,” came the reply. “I’m just going to swing by the Med Center to grab some equipment and I’ll be right there. Just hold tight and call me if things get worse.”

“Thank you!” Lan’ara sent and broke the connection.

As she waited for Sylvania, she got dressed and then paced anxiously around the living area. Nate was still lying perfectly still on the couch. He appeared to be resting peacefully and when she reached out carefully through their new link, she didn’t feel any anxiety—just a soul-deep weariness that seemed to have filled him completely.

Normally, such an intense tiredness would have affected her too but it wasn’t, Lan’ara realized. She was surprised to discover that something else the priest in the Sacred Grove had predicted had come true—she now had a natural barrier in her mind which she could raise or lower, depending on if she wanted to let Nate’s emotions in or not. It seemed that she had instinctively raised it when the extreme fatigue overtook him—possibly it was her mind protecting itself.

Well, that was good at least, but Nate’s state of being so tired he couldn’t even move, definitely wasn’t. How long would it last? The priest had said it might go on for days or even longer—that was a terrible position for the man she loved to be in for so long!

At last Sylvania arrived carrying a bag of medical equipment and supplies. She examined Nate thoroughly, frowning and shaking her head when he was too weak to even raise a hand—or even one single finger—for her. Finally she took Lan’ara by the arm and towed her into the food prep area to speak privately.

“Is it bad?” Lan’ara asked anxiously, being sure to keep the barrier in her mind up between herself and Nate for privacy. “Is it…is it permanent?”

“Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell for sure.” Sylvania shook her head, looking grave. “I’ve never seen a case like this. He’s acting like someone with extreme anemia, though I can’t find anything wrong with his iron levels—or any of his levels for that matter.”

“I did this to him.” Lan’ara hung her head. “The priest in the Sacred Grove said that if we Bonded too quickly, all the energy Nate had been taking from me when I tried to heal him would come rushing back to me all at once. We knew we shouldn’t Bond right away—the priest told us to take things slowly. But we just…”

“You just got carried away, that’s all.” Sylvania gave her a comforting hug. “Listen, please don’t blame yourself—I’m sure Nate will regain his strength eventually—it’s just going to take some time.”

“How long, though?” Lan’ara bit her lip. “He’s a warrior, Sylvania! Being flat on his back, unable to move is going to be hard on him! And if it goes on for days and days or even months or years…” But she couldn’t finish her thought. A cold hand closed around her throat at the idea of what she had done to her new mate.

“I honestly don’t know how long,” her CO said. “But I’d like to move him to the Med Center for observation—and for intravenous fluids and nutrition, since he’s obviously too weak to eat or drink.”

“Oh, Goddess!” Lan’ara put her face in her hands as tears stung her eyes again. “I can’t believe this!”

“You know we’ll take good care of him and you can be with him as much as you want—though honestly what he needs right now is just to sleep, I think,” Sylvania said comfortingly. “Listen, if it will make you feel any better at all, I have more news about the human girl you asked me to track.”

“You do?” Lan’ara swiped at her eyes. She’d called the Mother Ship some time ago and asked them to start searching specifically for one human woman—Nate’s little sister. But she hadn’t told him because she didn’t want to get his hopes up.

“Yes, we do.” Sylvania nodded firmly. “We have a lock on her—unfortunately, she was captured by Scourge invaders and from what we can tell, she’s headed to the Father Ship.”

“Oh my Goddess! Oh, no!” Lan’ara gasped. “Nate will never forgive me if I let his little sister go through what he went through himself! We have to save her!”

“She’s your mate’s younger sibling then? I’d like to save her, but I’m not sure how.” Commander Sylvania frowned. “We’ve been developing a new weapon to use against the Scourge you know—one that works on the principles of emotional energy harmonics. But we haven’t found anyone who can wield it yet and besides, before we could use it, we’d have to get it aboard the Father Ship.”

“Isn’t there some way to do that?” Lan’ara asked desperately.

Sylvania shook her head.

“The Scourge aren’t just going to welcome us in—we’d need to somehow infiltrate the Father Ship by stealth. Which is difficult since none of us looks anything like a Scourge.”

Lan’ara’s heart sank.

“What can we do then?”

“For right now, we’re going to get your new mate tended to,” Sylvania said firmly. “I’m going to call a transport unit to get him to the Med Center. After that, we’ll meet again and make a plan.”

“All right.” Lan’ara sighed heavily but she knew there wasn’t a lot that could be done at the moment. Unless they could find some way to infiltrate the Father Ship, there was no way to get Nate’s little sister back from the Scourge.

Please, Goddess, she prayed silently. Please send us some help—send an answer. I can’t leave Nate’s little sister to be tortured and mind-raped—I have to save her somehow!

It was the least she could do after nearly killing the man she loved.

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