“She is mine.” It was all he could get out at the moment while another shot of pain nearly knocked him on his ass.
“Could we talk later and fix him now?” Tera growled out in anger.
RusEN reached inside his own coat and pulled out a syringe with nanos. Tera helped remove her now-ruined shirt from his waist exposing the wound.
Tera rambled a little as she tried to explain what had happened to CristOF. “I can’t believe it. He fought two men and one of them stabbed him. I freaked a little. On the boat he used his nanos but he insisted on rowing the boat himself but that made his wound open back up. He’s so stubborn. I should have insisted that he let me take over but no. He refused to let me do it, because he is stubborn!” Tera finished with tears.
“Tera…” he tried to reassure her but it hurt to talk. He looked over at RusEN for assistance.
CristOF watched RusEN’s expression go from a frown to helplessness at what to do with a female breaking down in front of him. RusEN cleared his throat.
“Uh female, please calm yourself. CristOF is strong and will be fine. Look, the nanos are already healing him.”
Tera looked down and lightly touched his skin, which was sealing closed under her fingertips. “Amazing. CristOF, are you in pain?”
He was still savoring the feel of her fingers on his skin. He couldn’t feel anything but that gentle touch. “I’m fine.”
Sitting up, he looked at his friend. “The last island is a rebel training camp. We need to send for assistance. There’s too many of them”
“We can have the entire island obliterated in just seconds,” his friend said as he helped CristOF stand up.
Tera gasped. “You can’t do that! Half the men on that island are there against their will. They were taken from their homes, and their families’ lives were threatened to gain their compliance. They need to be rescued!”
RusEN snorted looking at Tera’s barely covered chest and asked, “Who are you female and how was it that you were on that island?”
CristOF didn’t like the flare of desire he saw in his friend’s eyes. He shrugged out of his coat and placed it over Tera’s shoulders making sure to stand between them to defend Tera. He didn’t have to defend her though; she stood up for herself. She shrugged his coat on, pulled her shoulders back and glared up at his friend.
“Look buddy. I was kidnapped, hit, tied up, dragged into a cabin with prisoners and at least one of them was dead, had to hold on for dear life climbing down from a freaking tree, watched someone I care about get stabbed, and now you stand there and question me like I’m an escapee from the loony bin?” Her tone took on almost a screeching sound.
She was heaving in deep breaths and looked fierce and beautiful. CristOF wrapped an arm around her and she turned into his chest and burst out in tears. He held her tight against him hoping to soothe her.
“Shhh...It’s okay beautiful. No one here is questioning your sanity.”
Tera hiccupped and wiped her tears from her eyes. “Those poor men don’t deserve to be killed when it wasn’t their fault.”
His other teammates came out of their hidden positions now feeling that Tera posed no danger to them. He waited for them to be closer so that he could tell them what he discovered on the island.
“Tera is correct. At least half or more of the males on that island were taken against their wills. I met the elders of their group in the cabin Tera has described adeptly. One of them was tortured until he died. It was done to keep the others in line. I freed them and they are trying as we speak to get their males free to fight against the rebel leader and his followers. We can’t kill them or leave them to fend for themselves. I will make the call from the shuttle for Commander TylOR to send reinforcements, but, we’ll need to help those males. They had their freedom taken from them.”
He kept his arm around Tera as they made their way through the trees to where the shuttle was hidden. “Come inside, there’s a medical kit. I know you’re arms must still hurt.”
“Why do her arms hurt?” Warrior SimON asked following them into the shuttle. The two other warriors RusEN and TorIS followed as well. He wondered where Warrior FinlEY was.
“She was tied up when she was taken and then she had to row the boat some when I was passed out.” Admitting that part did hurt his pride a little. He didn’t like the way the others looked at her admiringly, especially the younger male—SimON.
Tera’s cheeks had a lovely tint of pink to them. “I wish I could have done more.”
Cupping her cheek with his hand he leaned close and whispered. “You’re the bravest female I have ever met.”
A throat clearing reminded him that they weren’t alone. “Sit down and let me get the medical kit.”
“Sir, I can take care of the medical kit. I’ve had a lot of training as a field medic,” SimON told him.”
Reluctantly he allowed the younger warrior to take care of Tera while he went to the communications console and sent a request to speak with Commander TylOR. It didn’t take long before the commander’s voice came over the speaker.
“Warrior CristOF, what do you have to report?”
“There is a rebel training camp on one of the islands we searched. The camp is low in technology; I believe it is designed that way to help evade detection. However, half of the trainees were abducted from a mining colony, their families threatened if they did not comply. Action should be taken swiftly if we hope to save the unwilling males and capture the rebel leader.”
