“Are you ever going to tell me what that means?” she whispered, applying for pressure even when he winced, pebbles digging into his side.
He almost laughed.She was relentless, even now.
“It means ‘fated one,’” he told her.
Another sob wrenched out from her throat.
“Lihvan…I—,” she cut herself off and her head turned sharply.“What was that?”
Panic made Lihvan push at her arm.“Please,luxiva, go back to the cave,” he begged her.The scent of blood would draw all kinds of creatures to their clearing.
His vision was starting to go hazy and he fought it with a shake of his head.He realized that he couldn’t feel his limbs, that they were tingling and numb.
“Luxiva,” he rasped.“Go!”
But she was still looking in the opposite direction, her eyes narrowed as she tried to see through the thickening darkness.
“Lihvan,” she whispered, her voice hushed, “I think someone is coming.”
He struggled to fight against the blackness that was consuming him slowly.He tried to focus on his female’s face, so that it might center him, but even she was beginning to grow blurry.
“Beks…” he murmured.
“Hold on, Lihvan,” she said, her tone taking on one of urgency.“Just hold on,please!”He heard a strange sound and then Beks yelling, “Hello!Hello, over here!Hurry!”
He spied movement close to Beks, but it was too dark to make out.Blindly, he tried to lift his arm to swing, to defend his mate, but his limbs didn’t respond.
“Luxiva…”
Then the world went dark.
SEVENTEEN
Beks came awake suddenly, dread making her eyes dart around the room, looking, searching,needingto see Lihvan.Her breath shuttered out of her when she saw him and she felt peace return, loosening the knot in her stomach and calming her heart rate.
He was resting on a pristine cot…in the medical bay…on a Luxirian space ship.
His people had finally found them.And just in the knick of time too.Any later and Lihvan wouldn’t have made it.
She’d refused to leave his side.One Luxirian male, named Cruxan, who had identified himself as a close friend of Lihvan’s and a fellow Ambassador to the Prime Leader of Luxiria, urged her to rest in her own private room, saying that Lihvan would want her to recover her strength.
But she knew she wouldn’t be able to get a lick of sleep unless she was near him.After many attempts, Cruxan finally gave up and had another cot brought in for her, which they had placed right next to Lihvan’s.It was where she curled up and rested and slept, while Lihvan did the same.Although he hadn’t woken since that night he’d defended her from that werewolf-like creature.And that night had been almost two days ago.
Beks still recalled the sheer burst of relief when she spied tall figures searching through the black vine forest on the planet they’d been stranded on.She’d been so much of a bawling mess that she’d actually startled a few Luxirians, so torn between gratitude and fear for Lihvan.He’d been bleeding out, growing more and more incoherent with every passing moment, and they’d saved his life by stabilizing him with an injection that immediately clotted his blood.Then, they carried him back to the ship, with Beks hot on their heels, fussing over her alien.
She was bathed, had on a fresh shirt, and fed…but Lihvan still hadn’t woken.And she’d give anything for him to be okay.She’d rather be back on the planet with him, before he’d been injured hunting, because at least he’d beenthere.
The door to the medical bay whooshed open and Cruxan and the Luxirian doctor they’d sent aboard this rescue mission stepped inside.Cruxan’s lips tightened when he saw that she was still in the room, but wisely kept his comments to himself.
“Has he woken yet?” he asked her instead, as if he hadn’t just been in the room a couple hours ago.It was obvious that Lihvan meant a lot to him.Cruxan had let slip that he’d gone through military training with Lihvan, that he’d been on the planet—which she now knew was called ‘Jalun’—during the hunt with him, which was why their Prime Leader had sent Cruxan instead of another Ambassador…because he knew the planet.
“No,” she said softly, watching as the doctor, whose name was Privanax, examined Lihvan and checked his readings on one of the ‘Coms.’Privanax had given her an examination as well to ensure they hadn’t picked up any viruses from Jalun, and ever since, she’d been wary of the guy.She’d always hated doctors.
“Anything?” Cruxan questioned him.
“Nix,” Privanax replied.“Time is all he needs.The infection is still healing even though the wound from theprikkraxhas closed over.”
Cruxan jerked his head in a nod, his gaze straying to his prone friend.Then his eyes rested on her, studying.
