She was his mate, but she’d never know.
He would always be there for her, but he could never tell her.
This was forbidden for he didn’t deserve any of it.
It seemed…
It seemed the gods had meted out their ultimate punishment.
He was to find the one that completed him…yet, he was to remain incomplete.
As Keh-reh-nah sighed against him, Ajos pulled her even closer.
If this wasn’t the lifetime of torture that he had imagined, he didn’t know what could be.
24
When she woke up, he wasn’t there.
Kerena squinted, her eyes coming into focus.
A fleshy nose moved close to her face and if she had the energy, she’d have shrieked.
“You’re awake,” Aker said, moving from so close to her face.
Kerena lifted her head a little. She felt groggy and her stomach growled.
She was famished.
To add to that, her head felt like she was carrying a ten-ton weight on top of it and her entire body felt like she was encased in a block of ice.
Not to mention the pain.
Her entire body ached.
Fuck!
It didn’t feel that bad when she’d woken up and Ajos was there.
“What the hell is wrong with me?”
It was more a statement than a question, but Aker answered anyway.
“Some kind of infection. One that we are yet to determine how to treat properly.”
Her gaze flicked on a spot of color in the otherwise white room and she focused on it.
The spot of color soon turned into a defined shape and she realized it was the flower from that strange plant.
Ajos must have taken it up when she’d fallen unconscious.
“V’Alen brought it just a few minutes ago. He said it belonged to you,” Aker said, his gaze following hers.
Oh.
So not Ajos then.
Kerena swallowed the lump of disappointment that suddenly formed in her throat.
Aker moved around the room, mumbling things to himself as he looked at a data pad. He reached for a vial with some blue fluid and turned toward her.
Kerena eyed the thing. “What’s that?”
“I call it my ‘reenergizing serum.’” His nose moved and his face scrunched up in such a way, she assumed he was smiling. “It will make you feel much better. Ajos said you were unconscious for three days so you need the energy.”
What?
“Three days?”
Aker grunted. “And another two days since you’ve been in here.”
Had it really been that long? She felt like shit but…five days?!
“Yes.” Aker took up a device that looked like a huge needle and attached it to the vial. “You were in a critical state when you arrived.” He paused. “I am surprised and…thankful that you survived. We have lost enough refugees.”
Her eyes widened at that, and for a moment, she thought he was referring to losing some of the other humans.
“All of your kind are accounted for. Mostly okay.”
Kerena let out a breath. “Mostly?”
Aker took that moment to bury the vial into her arm.
She hissed and his nose moved. “I apologize but surprise seems to work better with these things.”
The injection site stung a little and Kerena watched as the strange blue fluid disappeared into her body.
“You said mostly okay?” She brought it up again. “Are there some women who’re critically ill?”
“Well…” Aker removed the vial and dabbed her skin with what felt like a moist cloth. “Most of the women are fine. We are having trouble connecting with the one that was awake while in stasis. She is still…unresponsive.”
Between the strange feeling now spreading through her body and the brain smog, Aker’s words didn’t connect immediately.
“Wait…” Kerena finally said. “Wait, what? Awake?”
Aker’s nose moved.
“Well, I guess I can tell you. Athena didn’t want to alarm anyone until we found out we could help the female.” He paused as he removed a pen-like device from his pocket. “There is one female that was rescued. She is…numb. She was stuck in stasis but awake, kept alive only by the stasis pod. The Arois, Yce, says her mind is frayed. He cannot even connect with it. I am afraid…” He sighed and if his face could communicate sadness, this must be it. “I am afraid of her chances of survival.”
Kerena blinked, her mouth slightly open in shock.
Her mind immediately went back to the lady she’d seen in the room all alone. The one with the dead eyes.
It had to be her.
The horror of the situation made a hole open up in her chest. She couldn’t imagine how utterly terrified the woman must have been all alone in that dark stasis hold for how many months.
The fact she was even still alive…
“Can I see her?”
Aker’s nose moved.
“We’re restricting contact for now. Only a few people get to speak to her. For obvious reasons.”
Kerena nodded, a sigh making her shoulders heave.
She understood.
The woman’s mind was fragile enough.
As she rubbed the back of her neck, Aker’s nose moved again as he moved the pen-like device in front of her eyes.
“The serum is working,” he said.
So it was.
She was sitting upright now, and it didn’t feel as if her body wanted to fold in two.
“Can you stand?”
“Only one way to find out,” Kerena replied as she slipped off the gurney.
As her feet touched the floor, they felt like jelly for a few moments before they literally infused with strength.
“Good,” Aker approved. “I need to take you to the lab for some tests. Come with me.”
Kerena nodded and took the first few steps toward the door.
The flower caught her eye again and she took it up.
Five days, and it hadn’t wilted.
She frowned at it as she followed Aker from the room.
“Where the qef is she?!” Ajos roared, not caring about the humans that whimpered at the sound of his voice or the Taiq'ud intern trembling before him.
He’d told them to keep Keh-reh-nah in the room till she recovered, and he HIGHLY doubted she’d recovered already.
He’d tried to keep away.
He’d forced himself to leave the room after she’d stabilized. Keeping out of the med bay had been hard enough. Not to mention, the heat was still upon him.
Just one taste of Keh-reh-nah
