She let herself relax and shut out all other thoughts but her own, allowing her mind drift until it centered on Jolt. Why couldn’t she feel him? Was he dead?
Iris could hardly bear the thought. She wouldn’t believe it until she had proof.Jolt, you can’t be dead. I love you. Come back to me.
###
Jolt open his eyes, surprised to see Commander Dark and the Enclave medic Teag standing over him.
“How do you feel?” Vyken asked him.
“Much like we felt after eight or nine days of ground fighting with no rest,” Jolt replied. “What’s going on? The last thing I remember was fighting in Farringay.”
“I had you sent here. Your female bolted after she felt you get shot. I knew you would want to be here,” said Vyken. “I’ve got men out there combing the area and a couple fliers as well.”
“I am so sorry, Jolt. I didn’t realize how upset Iris was,” Danya explained. “I was getting us some tea. When I turned around she was gone then the elevator doors closed with her inside when I ran out into the hallway to catch her.”
“I shouldn’t have left her here after she started dawning.” Jolt sat up on the infirmary cot. “I have to go find her.”
“Maybe you would like to put on a shirt first?” Vyken suggested.
Jolt looked down at his chest. “Right, I got shot, and my shirt was ruined.
Momentarily, Teag strolled into the room and handed Jolt a fresh t-shirt.
“Are you up to this?” asked Vyken.
“He should be okay,” Teag said. “I maxed him out on boosters.
Even though his injuries had drained his strength, Jolt was not content to let others go out in the countryside looking for his mate. Stimulants and energy boosters usually reserved for combat use replenished his strength so he could search.
He continued to berate himself for bringing her to the Enclave in the first place. She didn’t want to come, and he’d insisted out of his own need to keep her safe. Instead, his plan to protect her had nearly driven her to madness because of her dawning psionic ability.
Jolt could almost feel her anguish, but it was mixed with a longing for him. His awareness of her seemed to be growing now that she had touched his mind with her telepathy.
When Jolt came out of the old milk house, it was almost dark. He was carrying a light pack with Iris’s jacket, and a blanket along with various wilderness survival supplies. He paused by the doorway and used his night vision to see what was in the distance straight out from the exit. He didn’t see anything to confirm his hunch. It just seemed likely to him that Iris would have exited the building and headed in a straight line from the building.
Jolt started walking in that direction. It only took a few minutes for him to catch a hint of her scent. By then he felt her elation as she realized he was alive. Then, he caught images from her mind that seemed to indicate she was in the woods near a small stream.
Knox had removed his armor when he was brought to the infirmary at the Farringay site. Jolt was wearing his typical black cargo pants, a khaki t-shirt, and a black jacket. The projectiles had been pushed out of his wounds, and the nanites were still healing him, but the healing process was not complete. Each step was a concentrated effort, but he would crawl if he had to, to get to Iris.
Getting to her was his single motivation to keep going. His female was in distress; she needed him. Though he didn’t think he would need it, he carried his ion rifle as well as a long knife, his sidearm and three throwing knives sheathed at his back. He followed her scent through the underbrush and along the stream.
Ten minutes later, he came to the clearing where Iris sat meditating. Her eyes flew open as she sensed his presence. She jumped up and ran to meet him, but stopped short of flinging herself into his arms because she knew he’d been injured. Iris gently put her arm around him and pressed her face against his chest at the base of his neck.
I’m sorry Jolt. I can’t stay there. The buzzing got louder and louder so that I felt threatened by it… Like it was going to swallow me up.
Jolt wrapped her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay, sweetheart. We don’t have to stay there. The project is under control, Axel is capable and happy to take over.
“We’ll collect your things from the Enclave then I thought we could head for the mountains. There is some open land on the next ridge from where Talia Cannon and Bodee Flint live. We could pick out a spot and build a homestead.”
“I would love that, but do we have time to build before winter sets in?”
“The Enclave has equipment that can fabricate sections for a complete concrete home in a day. A transporter can bring them to us, some of the other cyborgs can help set it up. Meanwhile, we can use a simple prefab shelter where we can be warm and dry to sleep,” he said.
Iris looked up at him and smiled. “We’ve both slept in a lot of worse places than that.”
Jolt gave her a faint smile and lowered his mouth to hers in a slow tender kiss.I love you.
I love you.
