Page 72 of Lost in Barbarian Space

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Colm was struggling to stay aware of what was going on.

The sounds around him were too noisy, ringing in his ears. The light was too bright, making it hard for him to see. His nanami were amped up, buzzing through his body, overloading him.

He could feel Honor’s sweet warmth against him. He focused on that. He didn’t want to let her go, and he wouldn’t let anyone take her from him. The touch of her was the only thing grounding him.

He saw a huge warrior step in front of them. A threat.

Colm scooped Honor up and heard her squeak. He backed away from the warrior. He kept moving until he felt the slick surface of the ice wall hit his back. He moved along the wall, away from all these threats to his woman.

“I’m here, Colm,” Honor said. “I’m not going anywhere. You just have to stay calm.”

He was trying to understand, trying to piece her words together in his head. But nothing was making sense. Everything was just a roar in his ears.

Honor. His Honor. His mate.

That was the only thing that made sense to him right now.

“You need to calm down. These are our friends. We’re safe now. They’re here to help.” She stroked her hand down his arm, then across his chest.

Slowly, under her steady strokes, he felt his nanami start to steady. The hypnotic motion of her touch was soothing.

“Brandall.” A woman dressed entirely in black stepped forward. “The men are staying back for now.”

“He needs help, Nera.”

“Kavon thinks he’s beyond that.”

Colm felt Honor’s arms tighten on him. “No. We have advanced medical technology. There has to be a way to help him.”

The other woman’s face was hard. “I’m not sure there’s anything we can do.”

Under his palm, Colm felt Honor’s heart racing with panic. “Would you give up on Nik?”

Something moved in the woman’s eyes now. “Dammit, Brandall. You weren’t supposed to fucking go and fall in love with a barbarian warrior.”

“Please. Please help him.”

The woman’s multi-colored gaze took them both in. Then she nodded. “You get him back to the ship without him killing anyone and then we’ll see. Got it?”

Honor’s hair tickled against Colm’s jaw as she nodded.

She spun to face him, her hands pressed against his chest. “Colm, I need you to listen to me. I need you to trust me.”

He stared down at her, his mate, his brave warrior. He leaned down and buried his face in her hair.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Follow me.” She held out her hand.

He put his hand in hers and let her tug him forward.

As they neared the group, and the other men, he growled. She paused. “We’ll stay at the back.”

They began moving back through the ice tunnels. Whoever was in the lead was holding a device that made a strange beeping sound that hurt Colm’s ears.

He stayed alert, ready to protect Honor from any danger.

Then they were stepping outside of the tunnels. The bright light made him blink.