The taut skin went cold beneath his palms. He prayed harder.
Lusheenn, please. Please!The shuddering movements came to a horrible stop.
“Lusheenn!” he screamed, and all the night animals fled.
Sundamar fell to his side and pulled Quist’s lifeless body against his own and fell into silence.
Chapter Eight
YAHIRO
She gripped the tree, heaving, trying to catch her breath, her eyes tearing up from the stress of the moment. Of waking up to a strange alien man staring down at her, of him grabbing hold of her arm and forcibly pulling her from her safe cocoon within Quist’s arms. Even now as she bent over, her free hand rubbing the cramps from her side, she felt the alien’s grip on her. Saw his molten precious metal eyes.
Too much.Her throat burned from the chilly air.I can’t take much more.For the next several minutes all she could do was cough, catch her breath, and tame the nerves that remained intact.
What had she been thinking? Yahiro dropped to her knees on the cold forest floor.Every time I let down my guard, the carousel jumps off the rails.She rubbed her nose against her shoulder and caught hold of her talisman, leeching its warmth for her own.
When she began to shake, feeling a full-blown panic attack arise, a sorrowful bellow filled the night. She shrank further into herself, barely holding back her screams. Her hands left the stone as her shivers became trembles. She pressed her nails hard into her skin and up her clothed arms, over her neck until she streaked them over her scalp.I can’t take anymore.Tears streamed down her cheeks, desperately missing Quist. Yahiro pulled at her hair.
The pain stabilized her.
She didn’t know how much time passed. She didn’t even care, as she warred to keep her mind from shattering while part of her wanted to give in.
Please, Quist, find me. Where are you? Find me. Where are you?She couldn’t muster the willpower to look up, crying and begging for her alien in her mind. But as more time passed and her head went numbingly clear, she realized he wasn’t coming.I’m not in your sight anymore.She sniffled back a cry.
It wasn’t until another horrible, gut-wrenching roar sounded that she realized the worst of the panic attack had ebbed and she’d come out the other end sane and alive. Her body missed Quist’s warmth, his strength, his steady presence. She knew she was being irrational, but he was the first good thing to happen to her and she’d latched onto it. Now she was attached to the point that even after just a few days, she didn’t think she could face this new world without him.
The connection that zipped and zinged through her whenever they touched had felt so right, so perfect. It was as though their bond had been predestined straight from the beginning despite the billions of miles in between.
Yahiro pulled herself back up to her feet, even more tired than before, and chanced a glance around her. It was still dark but it now had that gauzy feel of early morning. A stringy path of light shot out from her stone that led her back into the dense forest. It was the same airy trail that had appeared that first night in the swamp.
And it led me off a cliff...
She wiped her hands on her shirt and followed it anyway, already knowing exactly where it was leading her. It wasn’t long before she came back upon the stranger who had grabbed her.
She tiptoed toward him and Quist, who was lying on the ground, and choked. Yahiro rushed to his side without a thought to the other alien. Quist was motionless and covered in blood. Her eyes immediately fell to the wound on his side and the large hands that put pressure on it.
