After this, he would give her everything she deserved, everything she ever wanted. Her freedom. A home. A garden.Children. Dravka would make her happy, just as she would make him happy.
That was the future they were looking forward to.
But she was so pale. Sovaukingpale. And her blood looked black against her flesh, soaking through her dress.
“Ravu,” Dravka growled.
“Give me a moment,” Ravu said, his teeth gritted. “I feel it. I just need to—”
Valerie flinched in her sleep, her eyes popping open briefly, a hiss escaping her lips.
“Vauk,” Ravu rasped.
Valerie’s eyes connected with his own. Though his expression was no doubt thunderous with his worry and frustration, he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead and then felt her entire body slump once more.
His hearts froze but then picked up in speed when he felt her breaths. How much blood could humans lose before it was fatal?
Dravka had no intention of finding out.
“Ravu, we have to stop,” Dravka growled. “She’s—”
“I almost…have it,” Ravu grated, his eyes focused above Valerie, on the wall the couch backed up against. He held himself very still. “Almost.”
Dravka blew out a harsh breath, his hearts still thundering. He looked across towards Tavak, whose lips were pressed tight together.
Vauk, they didn’t have that much time anymore.
More blood pushed from Valerie’s wound, trailing down her side and hot against his fingers when he blotted at it.
“There,” Ravu rasped.
A sharp click came after his words.
In the next moment, he extracted the tip of the blade from her shoulder, gleaming red.
“You destroyed it?” Dravka asked, taking Ravu’s place when the male jumped back. Immediately, Tavak poured disinfectant over the wound as Dravka powered on the healing laser.
“Pax,” Ravu stated, his voice sounding strained. “I’m sure I got it.”
Sure?
Or unwaveringly certain?
It didn’t matter, Dravka realized. Not right then, as he started to laser the incision closed, a small tendril of smoke rising from the slim device. He knew what it felt like. Hot and burning against the flesh. It was a small mercy that Valerie was unconscious at that moment, though she hadn’t been when he’d had to laser the wounds on her back from her aunt’s whip.
My brave female, he thought, his admiration for her strength surging.
It didn’t take long for Dravka to laser the wound closed. Once they reached Nimida, the first thing he’d do would be to purchase a numbing agent for her and something to help with the pain.
He blew out a long breath, sitting back on his heels when it was finished. Quiet descended in the cabin, the pressure from the gravity bringing on a pounding headache.
Then he leaned forward, brushing a strand of hair away from Valerie’s face.
“You’re certain?” Tavak asked his brother quietly, his voice cutting through the quiet.
Ravu nodded. “We can have it scanned on Nimida. Just in case. But I felt the chip snap. It shouldn’t be transmitting anymore. The signal should be dark.”
A small relief then.
