Page 57
Blaze chuckled. Despite their rocky start, this little guy was growing on him.
He hadn’t meant to be a dick when it came to who got to own Nipper, but it gave him a connection to Eden. It gave him a reason to see even more of her.
He shook his head. When was he ever going to learn? He could try to forge ties with Eden, but she kept cutting them. And so she should. Especially now she knew he was leaving.
Blaze walked out of the door and saw a doctor in the corridor. “Hey, any chance I can get back to my own room? I’m feeling better.”
The doctor walked over to a nursing station desk and picked up a scanner. “Blaze Floridian?”
“That’s right. I came in with a doggo bite.” He gestured at Nipper.
The doctor’s eyes narrowed a fraction. “That’s the creature who attacked you?”
Blaze lifted one shoulder. “He’s sorry for what he did.”
“Uh, huh. He shouldn’t be in here. Let me look at your record.” She spent a minute skimming her finger across the screen. “It shouldn’t be a problem for you to leave. I need to run a final test before you go to make sure all the venom has left your system. No feelings of sickness or dizziness?”
“No problems like that. I feel fine. How are the other Apexians doing? The ones from the damaged ships?”
“You’re a part of their crew?”
“Yeah. We arrived together.”
“They’ll pull through.”
Dread clutched at Blaze’s stomach. “That’s it? I need to know they’ll be okay.”
“I can’t give you too much information.”
“They got messed up protecting me. When will they be back to operational fitness?”
She shook her head. “Not for some time. Gunner will require several surgeries on his arm. And Ranger’s injury will mean he’s out of service for at least six months. Wilder is doing okay, but we’re having to sedate him because he’s trying to get out of bed. You Apexians take stubborn to a whole new level.”
Blaze blew out a long breath. They all knew the risks when they went into military service, but it never seemed real until it hit home like this.
A bleep sounded on the doctor’s scanner. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to see to a patient. Come find me when you get back, and I’ll run the test and then get you out of here.”
“Thanks, Doc.” Blaze headed out of the medical wing and into the warm, balmy evening. These conditions would be perfect for taking Eden to the waterfall.
He grimaced. Idiot. That wasn’t happening. He had to keep away from her. He couldn’t screw up everything he’d been working toward. He was leaving. End of story.
But it didn’t feel like the end of the story. It felt like there was a huge, gaping chapter that he needed to finish. And he couldn’t do that unless he had Eden by his side.
Nipper clung on tight as Blaze made a slow circuit around the decorative gardens in the sanctuary. He found the path toward the unit where the new animals were settled in and headed along it.
He pushed open the door and went inside. A human in her mid-thirties with dyed red hair and piercing dark eyes strolled out of the back room.
She slowed when she saw him. “Hi. It’s Blaze, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. You’re... Leandra?”
“You remember?”
He smiled. “The last time I saw you, you had three baby grimlins hanging off you.”
She laughed. “They’re bigger now, but they still like to hang off me whenever they get the chance. Sometimes, all at once.”
“How are they doing?”
