“Hey, I know that place.” One of the males in the waiting room spoke up. “It’s Shirley’s Bunk and Junk over by the interstate. She’s got rooms to rent and a bar where you can buy just about anything.”
Whelon glanced around the room and saw all his friends ready to fly. He turned to the field medic and clasped his shoulder. “Kyrin, you are in charge. See to these people to the best of your ability.”
“But, Healing Master, I’m only—”
“You’re a healing warrior.” Whelon squeezed his shoulder once more. “I have given you a field promotion and elevated your rank. I must go. Now.”
Whelon walked out of the dilapidated building and raised his arms as he took a deep breath. His dragon sighed deeply within as his skin tingled, and the change moved over him with agonizing slowness.
She is near.
He could sense her, almost smell her.
Soon the pain will cease, he promised himself and his mate.
He took a handful of steps away from the building, stepping toward the center of the cul-de-sac, and leapt into the air. He shifted midair as his powerful wings grabbed the winds and launched him above the rooftops. It would only take minutes to find her now. He was so close…
Soon, my love, shaa kouva. I’m coming.
Chapter Thirteen
Pain.
All Sasha knew was pain. Her mind was a vast expanse of red and black, a formless desert where she would wander forever, everlastingly thirsty with relentless agony rolling through her in sick waves.
Sometimes she blinked her way into the real world, but the light was too bright and the shadows deep enough for her to fall into. The murmurs of voices around her were both threatening and sharp. Then she always fell back into the world of red and black.
She was far away, so very, very far away, when she heard the commotion. She had managed to reach a detached plain where the pain was bearable, but loud, shocked voices and sharp thuds brought her back to semi-consciousness.
“Hey! Fucker. Stop! Let me go!” She was certain that was Dave. He made muffled moans and grunts as if he were being held captive and gagged. She wondered who could possibly take down someone as hardened and tough as Dave so easily.
Her skin tingled as air rushed across her flesh. Something had changed. She could feel it, sense it in her surroundings. Then the pain in her joints faded and her muscles gradually relaxed.
“Shaa kouvi?” she called out, hoping against hope her assumption was correct.
“I’m here.” His voice was heaven, stroking her from inside out. His gentle hands touched her arms with the ghost of a caress and then he enveloped her. Sasha felt a sense of peace and completion that connected inside her and exploded through every cell of her body. Sweetness flooded her and as Whelon pulled her to his chest, tears spilled free of her eyes.
“Whelon,” she rasped.
“Sasha.” His voice was a low, throbbing growl that vibrated through her from head to toe. Part humanoid, part dragon, the beast spoke to her just as strongly as the man. She felt his power, his strength, and it was…
He is incredible, unstoppable, magnificent!
And mine!
As their heads came together, Sasha was dizzy for a moment, the Knowing seeming to reach a fever pitch as information was exchanged and the bonding between them strengthened. For Sasha, it was like being taken out of that red and black desert and placed atop a stone spire with only her and her lover in a world made for two.
Her fingers curled gently against his chest, her ear pressed to his pecs as she listened to the steady thump of his heartbeat. Every second that passed, she grew stronger. Her stomach settled and the constant trembling ceased. She could suddenly breathe without pain and her headache faded to nothingness.
He pulled back a little, his dark eyes colliding with hers. He cupped her cheek, thumb stroking her cheekbone for a moment before he lowered his head and kissed her—firm lips slanted across her own. It felt as if electricity ran through her every nerve ending, her nipples hardening to sharp points while deep inside her something woke with a sudden fire. She gasped at the force of her body’s reactions to Whelon.
The kiss was chaste and yet, she felt as if he’d touched her everywhere.
As they pulled away from each other, the real world came into focus and intruded on their reunion. Sasha was aware of her mother screaming obscenities, and when she looked over, she spied three Preor cornering her with their big bodies close together and wings stretched out to block Jenna’s movements. No one touched her, but she screamed as if they flayed her with their deadly blades.
Dave was on the floor, one of the Preor warriors holding him down with a foot placed between his shoulder blades. He grunted and flailed but couldn’t move from his position. Sasha glanced around the room, other Preor occupying the space, and knew the rest of her mother’s team was equally disabled by the massive alien warriors.
“Mother?” she called out, hesitantly.
“Sasha!” her mother screeched. “I’ll get you out of this, I swear. Get your filthy hands off my daughter, you reptilian man-beast!”
The Preor shot wry looks at each other.
“That is a new description,” Whelon chuckled with some amusement.
“It’s okay, Mother—”
“No, no! You don’t know what you’re saying. Get your filthy paws off me you lice-ridden vulture!”
“She is gifted in linguistics,” a maroon Preor warrior remarked.
“Shut up!” Jenna curled back against the wall. “Don’t touch me! You aren’t getting me with your Knowing hypnotism! Stay back, beast!”
“Thank the stars for that,” the maroon male joked.
Whelon drew Sasha close, gathering her to his chest as he slipped his arms under her knees and behind her back and cradling her tenderly. She slipped her arms around his neck and rested there happily as he rose and strode from the decrepit room she’d occupied for what seemed like forever.
Her mother screamed bloody murder and fired insults at every Preor in the area, and she noticed quite a few had accompanied Whelon. The different colored angles of their wings stuck up throughout the crowd, shifting in place like a flock of restless birds eager to fly.
“Do we wait for the shuttle or simply fly? The short flight shuttle isn’t too far from the Tower,” one Preor spoke to Whelon.
“I am not sure,” Whelon murmured thoughtfully.
Sasha tightened her arms around his neck. “What are you talking about?”
They ignored her, neither male answering her question.
“Let me go!” her mother howled from behind them. It appeared Jenna had resorted to flailing her hands and slapping the surrounding Preor in an attempt to get free of their confining presence.
“Lady, we wish you no harm,” one of the males interrupted her, “but we cannot allow you to come between a Preor and his mate, especially when you have shown such little regard for your daughter’s safety and well-being.”
“You’re the ones putting her in danger,” Jenna spat with venom in her tone. “Help! Help! We’re being attacked by the Preor.”
Sighs rippled around the circle and the same Preor stepped closer to Jenna, staring her down with a dangerous—almost murderous—expression. “You have not attempted to get proper medical care for your daughter even after it became obvious she was dying.”