The observation cut through Zeke's aggressive haze. He looked down and saw the truth of it… his blood ran in steady streams from the gashes the monster had inflicted. The cuts in his sides hadn't closed, the poison keeping his legion from healing him properly. Blood dripped from his arms, his chest, pooling where he held Michelle against him.
More than that, the blood was moving.
He watched in stunned confusion as the crimson streams didn't just drip onto Michelle—they flowed toward her injuries. The blood reached the horrific punctures in her abdomen and began to change, darkening to black as it spread across the damaged tissue.
"What..." His voice came out hoarse, barely audible.
"Legion armor." Raaze stepped closer, his red eyes fixed on the transformation. "Your blood is turning into armor over her injuries."
The black substance spread, sealing the gaping holes in Michelle's stomach. It hardened as he watched, taking on the same shine as his own armor when his legion fully manifested. The edges melded seamlessly with her skin, looking like it had grown there rather than formed from his blood.
Raaze's gaze snapped to his. "It's protecting what's yours."
Zeke's own words, thrown back at him. He'd told her that when Kraath noticed his legion cast on her leg. But this was different. This was his legion acting independently, pouring his life force into protecting her even after?—
His hands shook as he pressed two fingers to her throat, searching for what couldn't possibly be there. The silence stretched, his own heartbeat thundering in his ears as he tried to find?—
There.
Faint as a butterfly's wing. Barely a flutter against his fingertips. But unmistakably present.
A pulse.
"She's alive." The words came out strangled, disbelieving. "She's—Michelle!"
He pressed his ear to her chest, holding his breath to listen. The thready whisper of a heartbeat, so weak he might have imagined it. But his hearing didn't lie.
"Transport!" The word exploded from him as he got to his feet, Michelle cradled against his chest. "I need a transport now!"
"Already here." A female voice answered him, clear and confident and a human appeared at his elbow. Zeke's scattered thoughts took a second to process her presence. Maeve—Raalt's mate. She wore pilot gear, her dark hair pulled back in a severe bun. "I've got a shuttle prepped. We can be at the garrison in twelve minutes if we push it."
Maeve. Which meant Raalt had led the rescue party. Made sense—Raalt's search for the missing females must have brought them north.
"She needs—" Zeke started moving toward the shuttle Maeve indicated, his legs unsteady but functional.
"I know what she needs." Maeve kept pace beside him, her expression focused. "Trauma team is already prepped and waiting. Prince Isan himself is standing by." She glanced at the legion armor covering Michelle's injuries. "Though it looks like you've already started treatment."
Zeke followed her to the sleek shuttle, its loading ramp already down. Raaze appeared at his other side, steadying him when his steps faltered. The blood loss from his cuts made him weak, but he wouldn't let go of Michelle.
Couldn't let go.
"Strap in," Maeve ordered, dropping into the pilot's seat. "We're going to be pulling some high g and some aggressive maneuvers."
The shuttle lifted before Zeke could protest, acceleration pressing him back into the seat Raaze had shoved him into. His eyes stayed locked on Michelle's face as Maeve pushed the shuttle, the engine screaming protest.
Through his growing dizziness, one thought crystallized with perfect clarity: he'd mocked Michelle for being weak, told her she needed protection. But here he was, trusting a human female to fly them through dangerous terrain at speeds that would challenge even an Izaean pilot. Trusting a human to save the female he loved.
So much for humans being fragile.
Chapter 16
The shuttle bucked through turbulence that made Zeke’s stomach drop. He kept Michelle cradled against his chest, her weight still too still in his arms. His lips moved against her temple, words spilling out in a desperate stream he couldn’t stop.
“Just hold on, kelarris. We’re almost there.” His voice cracked on the endearment, raw from shouting. “Everything’s going to be okay. You hear me? You have to be okay.”
The legion armor he’d formed over her wounds gleamed black in the emergency lighting, sealed tight over the damage that should have killed her. Her pulse fluttered against his fingers where he pressed them to her throat… weak but stubborn, just like her.
Wind howled against the shuttle’s hull, the sound rising to a shriek as Maeve pushed the engines harder. Through the viewport, Zeke caught glimpses of roiling clouds lit from within by lightning. The storm had come from nowhere, another gift from the legion weapon screwing with local weather patterns.
