AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They had dug that well too deep. They had awoken the monster living in the dark below. They had locked the storage building tight with whatever chains and locks they had at hand. Then they had gone to have a nice dinner in the station, believing they were safe there, only to become dinner themselves with the fall of darkness. And since the storage building remained locked to this day, the monster probably had another exit from its burrow.
That, or the well dweller was just one of many underground freaks in the area.
And Miya and Therak were now following in the colonists’ footsteps, seeking safety in the same place everyone before them had become shish kebab. Just the two of them, alone against who knew how many flesh-hungry creatures.
Correction: just her against the local murderous fauna. Because as soon as she half-dragged his naked ass to a lounge, Therak went out cold.
18
Therrito
The next ten or so minutes were a nightmare. Nothing flew in through the dome to eat Miya, the suns shining as brightly as when she had arrived on Xera. But Therak was unconscious, his breathing so shallow she had to strain to hear it despite the complete silence in the hall. The cuts on his chest she had yet to bandage had stopped bleeding, but what if it was because he was dying? The thought of losing him...
No, Miya had to focus on the task at hand. She could freak out after she patched him up.
She got some more medical wipes from the medkit at her feet and moved to sit further up the lounge, the only one not broken, overturned or given a bloody makeover – until now. She leaned over Therak’s chest and carefully cleaned the yellow blood off the deep claw marks.
“You poor thing,” she murmured. “You wanted to secure the perimeter, to keep me safe... You don’t deserve to go out like this. You’re too tough for some mega-bat-bulldog-seagull to end you. Right?”
Surprise, surprise: he didn’t respond. She was talking to herself.
Miya sighed and bent to take bandages out of the medkit.
“Sapphire...”
She straightened up so fast her lower back protested. “Therak?”
His eyes were closed and his hands lay unmoving at his sides.
Great. Miya was hearing voices now.
She sighed again and leaned over his chest to start bandaging–
Strong fingers caught her by the nape of the neck, making her freeze over Therak. She found herself pulled down until her forehead rested on his. His eyes were still closed, but he took her scent with an audible inhale.
“You’re unhurt... Praise the Gods, you’re unhurt, sapphire.”
“Uhh...” He must be confused by the pain, half-conscious as he was. “It’s Miya, Therak. How do you feel?”
“Need you.”
“Okay... I’ll keep bandaging you–”
“I shouldn’t... Not until the mission is over... No distractions...”
“Um, Therak, I think you’re delirious.”
“But you’re so tempting... Your scent, your hair, your inner fire... I must resist... Too dangerous...”
“What is dangerous?” Miya found herself curious. Just because he was only half awake didn’t mean his words were senseless.
"Youare, sapphire... After the mission... I must choose...”
“Choose between what?”
But Therak didn’t reply, and his hand slid away from her. He must have lost consciousness again.
Dang, she had really wanted to know. But whether he was referring to Miya as sapphire or not, what mattered was that he had awoken. Therak was going to make it!
