Page 31 of Hunter’s Harvest

“Yes, go while I load up what’s left of your shuttle. There isn’t much.”

“No, this is all. Hess’n still has his shuttle, but I do not believe his power source is functioning.”

“And it’s well hidden?”

“Well enough.”

“Good. We will need to leave it behind for now. Try to convince your friend to join us. We need all the hunters we can get.”

Knowing that Kan’n was with these hunters made that a lot easier. Hess’n was closer with him; they’d fought in the same hunter group at the last planet.

The trek to Hess’n’s cave took longer than expected with Nellie in my arms, and as much as I loved having her there, I was starting to get frustrated with having to work around it. It put us at a major disadvantage. We were lucky nothing attacked.

The mouth of his cave was half-buried in the boulders and rocks we’d purposefully placed over the opening after we’d managed to drag his sorry wreck of a shuttle in. Inside, we found Hess’n and a female lying still on a makeshift mat next to a small fire.

Nellie gasped. "Marisol! You found her!”

Hess’n stood, his expression tense. “She is breathing but has not woken.”

“We have to get her to New Franklin now. They have medical devices.”

Hess’n looked grim for a moment before he noticed my arms around Nellie. “You have developed a mate bond. Did you find what you were looking for?”

“They found us.” I told him about New Franklin and Kan’n. “He looked for us when he was freed, but we’d moved locations and no longer had our shuttles.”

Then I told him about Mal’k and how he was loading the remainder of my shuttle up now so we could build a new one for me. I did not tell him about the disaster that had struck the other mothership, or the mining detachment. He would have plenty of time to figure that out later.

“I see they fixed your translator chip,” he said, still hesitant.

“They did.”

“Do you think they can fix my shuttle?”

I wasn’t sure. Mostly because I had no idea how damaged his shuttle actually was.

It was Nellie who spoke. “It’s worth a try. And even if they can’t, at least they can get your phone hooked up to the Xarc’n network again, and you can communicate with everyone. Mal’k and Meghan are packing up Var’n’s place now. And we’re heading to the crash site of the front part of the delivery shuttle too. We won’t be able to bring your shuttle with us this time, but we can always come back for it.” She looked down at her friend. “How do we get her back to Mal’k’s shuttle?”

Hess’n grunted. “I will carry her.” He carefully picked her up.

“We must hurry.”

And then I started back toward my home with Hess’n following behind.

Chapter 13: Nellie

Marisol was alive. She wasn’t responsive, but she was alive, and that meant there was still hope, especially with the crazy advanced full-body healing beds in the mothership building.

Suddenly, saving the power source from the delivery shuttle seemed so much less important than getting her back to New Franklin. Sure, I understood that another delivery shuttle would mean saving many lives in the long run and connected communities together. But this was Marisol we were talking about!

And that was when it hit me. It hadn’t mattered that I tried to keep myself from getting close to the people I worked and lived with. That had happened anyway, whether I liked it or not. It was already happening with Var’n.

We lived; we died. By choosing not to form strong relationships, I was only depriving myself in the long run. It was in vain anyway. I’d been hurt just the same. I only had one life, and if I didn’t live mine to the fullest the first time around, I wouldn’t get another chance.

Instead of fighting what we had, I should be embracing it. I should be celebrating our mating and learning to love again. I’d tell him this the moment we were alone, and maybe we’d even celebrate together tonight in each other’s arms.

I leaned back against him, and it was as if he’d heard me mentally, because his arms tightened around me and his chest started that wonderful rumbling. I squeezed him right back. Everything was going to be all right. Everything clicked into place.

Mal’k and Meghan were waiting for us in front of the cabin. Meghan’s eyes grew wide the moment she saw Marisol being carried behind us.