How?
Someone coughed and wheezed behind her as if trying to clear the smoke from his lungs. “Please don’t tell me there’s someone else we have to dig out of there. ’Cause really, I don’t think I have another good deed in me. At least not today.”
Gaping, she turned to find the captain standing behind her. Granted, he was bleeding and roughed up by the experience. But that tall, gargantuan beast was alive against all odds. Against all belief.
“How?” She scowled at him.
Pulling his helmet off to show her a bruised, yet ruggedly handsome face, he flashed a charming grin at her. “Hard to kill. God knows, my sister’s been trying to do it since birth. Lucky for me, I don’t go down easy.”
“Cabarro! Answer your damn link! Your ødara’s going wild and blowing up command because she can’t make contact! She wants to make sure we haven’t killed you. Yet!”
Ember glanced around for the prince.
To her shock, the captain in front of her tapped his ear and adjusted the piece through the blood that was oozing from his injuries before he spoke. “Hey, Øda.… Yeah, I’m good. Just lollygagging about as usual. Chasing after hot women and cold drinks.” He paused to grimace and drop his helmet on the ground. “Um, can I call you back in a bit? There’s something I need to see to. Don’t worry. Nothing bad. Love you.”
No sooner had he disconnected the call than his legs buckled.
Ember’s breath left her with a rush as she saw the huge red stain that was spreading over his side from where he’d been wounded. “Medics!” she shouted, running to him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders to help him lie back, and was momentarily stunned to discover just how ripped he was beneath that suit.
His breathing ragged, he met her gaze as she worked to staunch the blood from the worst gash in his side. “Did the lieutenant make it out?”
“She did. Thank you.”
The med team swarmed him and forced her away so that they could inspect his injuries.
An involuntary gasp left her lips as they cut open his reinforced armored suit and she saw the jagged wound where shrapnel had caught him across his abdomen. More than that, he was covered in scars. This wasn’t some leisurely prince who sat around with servants fetching for him. Or lollygagged as he’d told his mother.
Those scars were from battle wounds.
He shoved at the medic as he tried to cover his face with an oxygen mask. “Hey, Major?”
Stunned that he remembered her, she stepped forward. “Yeah?”
He held his link out to her. “Keep me posted about your zusa. I have a promise to keep. This link will get you through to me.”
“Latenn, we have to get you out of here.”
Bastien rolled his eyes at the group fussing around him. “I only need one MT. For God’s sake, we got wounded all over the place. Would you bastards tend someone else? Or I swear I’m getting up and walking home. Then you’ll all have shit to deal with when my ødara finds out.”
They scrambled away from him as if he were on fire, except for an older MT who shook his head at Bastien.
“Mask now, Latenn?”
Grimacing, Bastien returned it to his face. Then he gestured at Ember with their military signs that said he’d be back in action ASAP.
The MT lifted him up onto an air-gurney, and saw him off to the nearest ambulance.
Unsure of what to think of her new wingman, Ember opened his link. He’d not only unsecured the biolock before he’d handed it to her, he’d left her a message.
If you can possibly look past my obvious birth defect of a royal disorder, Major Wildstar, I’d love to have dinner with you. Or at least promise me that you’ll come on that trip to North Beach? Double date? Your zusa and her boyfriend as chaperones? And don’t worry. Pretty sure I left my balls in that hole, so you’re safe from my nefarious playboy ways.
~Bas
Laughing in spite of it all, Ember slid his link into her pocket and went to check on the other survivors. But as she continued to help with the rescues, her thoughts kept drifting back to Bastien Cabarro and those ruggedly sculpted, perfect male features. In that regard, he was exactly what she’d imagined their youngest visir to be. Handsome beyond belief. Charming.
Heroic, however, was a new concept. And completely unexpected.
As was his nonchalance about his injuries with his mother. And the regard he’d shown for those around him.
