She only made it a couple strides away—her heartbeat felt like it would beat its way from her chest or simply burst from the exertion—before Po’grak slammed into her, using the overwhelming bulk of his body to take her down to the ground again.
“No!” she rasped. “No!”
Po’grak clawed for the vaccine but she struggled against him, kicking her legs beneath him, trying to get free. His claws raked down her arm as he grappled for it, icy hot blood spilling.Herblood this time.
Po’grak’s bellow of anger and rage almost made her eardrums burst.
“You are not worth this!”he yelled.
Then she gasped, feeling pain explode in her chest. Time seemed to still. Even Po’grak stilled over her. When she looked down, disbelief and shock raced through her, seeing the blade jutting from her chest.
Po’grak grabbed for the vaccine and he easily pried it from her loose fingers this time. In her shock, she released it.
“Now I must find another,” he cursed, looking down at her, but not really addressing her.
In the whirring, frantic state of her mind, she knew he meant another human. Another human woman. Because that was all she was to him. Cattle for slaughter. A prize to be won. There was no difference in his eyes. He’d wanted her for the Pit, nothing more.
Another bellow rang out through the clearing, one achingly familiar. Erin felt the trickle of her own hot blood leak out from the wound and she lay perfectly still, strangely calm, knowing she shouldn’t move too much, in case her movements pushed the blade deeper.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement, but her vision had begun to blur, her eyelids growing heavy. She felt something wet track down her cheek. She thought it might be blood too because it felt hot, but then she realized she was crying.
“I don’t want to die,” she whispered, her heart twisting at the thought.
Po’grak’s body rolled off her suddenly, the weight of him gone so she felt like she could breathe again.
That was when she saw Jaxor.
He was on top of Po’grak, his face contorted in fear and rage. Erin watched as he plunged a long, gleaming sword straight into Po’grak’s chest, pinning him to the earth. Jaxor pushed the sword so deep that the hilt was flush with the Jetutian’s plated armor. He’d pierced itthroughthe armor in his strength and in his fury.
Erin’s vision wavered again and she blinked, looking at Jaxor. Po’grak was still on the ground, and his breaths sounded raspy and thick.
Jaxor was off Po’grak in an instant and at her side. Erin looked up at him, her lips dry, her tongue tasting strangely metallic.
Blue eyes and a grim, handsome face. The sight of him made her cry harder, made her heart flutter and clench in sorrow and relief.
His hands shook as they smoothed back her hair. “Rixella, oh Fates, you…you need to lie very still, tev?”
“You did come,” she whispered, reaching up towards him.
He grabbed her hand, holding it, his grip strong and warm. She was starting to feel cold, but she wasn’t shivering.
“Vaxa’an!” Jaxor bellowed loudly, his voice echoing through the line of trees. To her, his voice was hoarse and raspy when he said, “I will get you help,luxiva. You will be well.”
There was something important and then she remembered. Her eyes flicked toward Po’grak and she said, “The vaccine, Jaxor. Get…get the vaccine.”
She saw it then, the glimmer of the needle in the moonlight. She tried to reach for it, but her limbs were heavy and weak. She was so, so tired.
Her eyes fluttered shut. Then she heard, “Nix, look at me,rixella. Look at me.”
“You did come,” she whispered.
Then everything faded.
Chapter Forty-Two
When Erin woke next, it was to bright light and her first thought was:is this heaven?
But if this was heaven, surely it wouldn’t hurt this much. That was her second realization as she groaned.
