The Ilia's Lovers - Chapter Thirty-Nine

A shot came from the shooter in the trees behind them hitting Sinish in the shoulder. Her shot went wide, hitting the ship behind Elaine, missing by mere inches.

Kerrok grabbed the female as she fell. The shot to her shoulder wouldn’t kill her, but it neutralised her. The female was keening by the time Dahnus got to her and was completely limp in Kerrok’s arms. He looked disgusted.

“Medic!” Dahnus shouted as he ran over to Elaine and Hadith.

“He shot me!” Sinish wailed as the medic ran by her and over to Hadith.

Elaine’s face was red and puffy, tears streaming down her face.

“Dahnus…” she barely got the word out before she was crying again, her hands hovering over Hadith who was still leaning against the hull of the ship, his eyes open, a pained look on his face.

“Why are you going over to him? I’m injured!” the Devori woman called out.

Dahnus shot her look and she blanched, cowering back into Kerrok’s arms.

“Come take your mistress off me before I drop her,” Kerrok said, his face twisted into a snarl. The two surviving Devori guards took Sinish off Kerrok, allowing him to join Radiin and Dahnus on the ground with Elaine and Hadith.

Dahnus pulled Elaine into his arms, relief washing over him that she was safe, even as his stomach twisted further at the paleness of his heart, the teal blood covering him.

“Hadith,” he whispered, taking his heart’s hand and gripping it tightly.

The medic was on Hadith’s other side.

“We need to get him up to the ship, immediately,” the medic said. The look on his face scared Dahnus more than all the blood covering his mate.

“Do it.”

“I got the tags on, but they deactivated my comm,” Elaine was saying to Kerrok and Radiin.

“You still did very well, Satya. You saved our brother from them.”

Kerrok’s eyes strayed to Hadith briefly. Dahnus could tell the word brother didn’t sit well with him, but he appreciated the gesture.

“You… protected me… Silla,” Hadith whispered.

Elaine reached out, placing her hand on Hadith’s cheek like she was afraid he was glass, and would shatter at the slightest touch.

“I love you,” Elaine said through sobs. Her whole body was shaking.

“Love…. You… too,” Hadith managed to get out, before his eyes slid shut.

“Hadith!” The panic in Elaine’s voice matched the level of panic in Dahnus’s heart.

“He’s fallen unconscious,” the medic said, leaning forward from where he’d been instructing his team through his comm. “I’m going to stabilise him with this,” he pulled out a med spray and put a purple vial into it. Nanos. These ones would target the immediate issues. Any internal bleeding, or organ damage. But it wouldn’t be enough.

“We need to get him back as quickly as possible,” the medic said before standing and walking over to Sinish. He looked at the wound and shook his head at the fuss the female was making, before applying nano bandage and removing it almost immediately.

“Can I have a pain killer?” Sinish asked.

The medic pulled out the med spray and applied the silver vial, injecting her and walking away as she spoke to him.

“Paydin?”

Elaine stood.

Dahnus turned and saw the Adosian pack walking with Paydin Kelder as they approached. He looked angry.

“Why was I put into cryo?” he asked

“I asked for it,” Dahnus said, not letting go of Hadith even as the medical team approached with a gurney.

“How are you awake?” Elaine asked, before Paydin could speak. His eyes softened when he looked at her, but it didn’t dim the fire of his anger.

“That was me.”

Dahnus saw Ardirion, back to his normal proportions, walking towards them surrounded by his people.

“I took the liberty of accessing Itzel Kelder’s military record,” he said, using the military title Paydin had achieved. “I thought we could do with a Kuyon warrior and sharp shooter on our side.

“You’re the one who took out the Araq’s?”

“If those were the Devori hurting my mate, then yes. I killed them.” Paydin’s eyes scanned Elaine. Some of the gore was evident even on the front of her clothes.

“You have my sincere thanks. You saved not only… Elaine. You saved…. My heart. My lover.”

Vrok the vrokking rules. Dahnus was ready to announce his mates to the worlds. If only that wouldn’t accelerate everything, he’d worked so hard to fight. He had to be ready when the time came, or he’d message Amara now and declare his mates right this moment.

The medics moved to transfer Hadith onto the gurney. Dahnus let go of his hand and stood, watching over his mate and wishing there was more he could do.

“I wish to be allowed to die,” Paydin said abruptly.

Dahnus turned to him, unsure what to say.

“We have a compatible male on his way—”

“I wish to be allowed to die,” Paydin said, louder this time.

“What… No.”

Dahnus turned to see Elaine, her face panicked, her eyes moving from Hadith on the gurney to Paydin. Her face crumpled and she began crying again.

“No. Paydin. No. I can’t.”

Elaine started shaking her head and stepping back.

Dahnus wasn’t the only one moving towards her. Radiin, Kerrok and even Paydin stepped closer.

“I can’t… Hadith… and you.” Tears were streaming down her face. “Dahnus?”

Make it right, her face begged.

“Please,” she said, turning to Paydin. “Please.” She walked over to him and threw herself into his arms. For a moment, Paydin stood there, very real pain on his face. Pain and fatigue. Paydin had been through so much pain with his previous mate. He just wanted it to be over, but Elaine wouldn’t let him. Dahnus saw the moment Paydin relented.

With a sigh, he wrapped his arms around Elaine and held her close, closing his eyes.

“I am sorry, Adiyah. Of course. Of course.”

Kerrok was shaking his head and stepping back. Obviously fighting his instinct to get his female away from another male. Radiin looked like he was in physical pain.

Paydin opened his eyes and looked at Dahnus.

“She is one of my official lovers,” Dahnus explained. “Kerrok and Radiin are both bonded to her.”

Paydin’s sigh was a little heavier this time.

“The Kuyon is called Chorin Haday—”

“Chorin?” he said, his voice hard.

“You know him?” Dahnus asked.

Paydin shook his head. “Chorin was… Chorin was the name of my mate,” he said, his voice falling to a whisper.

The one he killed. Vrok!

Dahnus didn’t know what to say. Instead, they all stood there in silence, Elaine’s cries having thinned to a small hiccups.

Finally, the medical team let them know they were ready to return to the ship.

Dahnus looked at this strange family. He could see flashes of a way to the future. But they were few and far between. Still, the way they came together to put an end to this threat gave him hope.

“Right. Let’s get back to my ship.”

With Elaine still in Paydin’s arms, they walked back through the long grass, the Devori covered by Hadith’s guards.

*****

An hour into Hadith’s surgery, Elaine finally extracted herself from Paydin’s arms and into Dahnus’s. This was done strictly under the understanding that Paydin was definitely going back into cryo when all of this was over. He agreed, but only when Hadith was out of surgery.

“I don’t want to awake to discover my mate brother is dead,” was the only explanation he’d give.

Dahnus had never liked the term “mate brother”. It was a common Kuyon term, but it reminded him of his Kuyon jhadda and jhagga, his Kuyon fathers, before they passed.

It was four hours later. The surgery was happening in a room down the hall. The waiting room they were in was fit for an Ilan and it was still the worst room Dahnus had ever been in.

How could he live without one of his hearts?

Dahnus held onto Elaine even tighter and she matched him, feeling his anxiety and seeking the same comfort he was after.

He had to tell her. He had to tell her what she was to them. But gods, he couldn’t do it now. What if….

The air went out of the room.

Elaine, as though sensing his thoughts, held onto him even tighter.

They were seated together on a comfortable couch, Elaine’s three mates around them.

Just one more to come. Chorin Haday would arrive once he and the other misfits were back from their current mission. They’d heard a rumour about the location of the Todaal who was believed to be responsible for setting the device on the Earth ship Endurance. The belief was that the Todaal was somewhere in Ilidar space.

Elaine was sitting across Dahnus’s lap, her arms wrapped around him. Dahnus had his arms wrapped around her waist. The comforting weight was the only thing keeping him from going out into the hall and demanding to know what was happening.

The door opened, and a medic appeared with an med spray for Paydin. It was the drugs Ardirion had mentioned earlier when he suggested waking him up. Right before he went over to the cryo tube and somehow managed to activate the cryo tube and apply the drugs to Paydin’s system, all without opening the tube. Dahnus had engineers going over the tube right now to ensure it would be safe for Paydin to re-enter once it was time.

The medic applied the med spray and left.

Paydin flexed his neck and hissed.

“Are you okay?” Elaine said, suddenly animating.

“I am fine, Adiyah. There are stimulants in the drugs. I feel… very good.”

Elaine nodded and settled down, carefully watching the Kuyon. Then her eyes moved over Kerrok and Radiin, they were both watching her. She opened her mouth to speak.

The door opened and all thoughts went out of Dahnus head as the surgeon walked in. Dahnus stood, helping Elaine to her feet.

The surgeon smiled and Dahnus’s breath exploded out of him in several bursts, his throat closed up. He squeezed his eyes shut and when Elaine pulled him down into a hug, he held onto her like an anchor.

“He’s not completely out of danger. But I have no reason to believe there will be any complications. Nanos are in knitting his wounds back together. There are no more bleeds. He is doing very well.

Dahnus opened his eyes and nodded his thanks at the surgeon, who, understanding the emotion of the moment, nodded back with a smile and withdrew from the room.

Elaine was an unstoppable force as she ran around the room, hugging everyone. Kerrok scrunched his nose, not liking their scent on her, but he accepted the hug with grace.

“Now, please, go back into cryo,” Elaine said to Paydin.

He nodded his assent.

“I just got another injection,” Paydin said as he was led from the room by a medic a few minutes later.

“I don’t dislike him,” Kerrok said to Radiin as they passed to find their rooms and settle in for the voyage back to Amara. “I don’t dislike you either.”

“Well, aren’t we lucky.” Radiin’s voice was as dry as a desert.

“Considering I could kill you with a single bite, it is very lucky.”

“I understand your point,” Radiin said. His eyes widened as he looked at Elaine who was watching them with concern, before he closed the door behind them.

A mate bed was being set up. As far as Elaine and his crew knew, it was for Dahnus to support Hadith in his recover. But Elaine’s presence would be every bit as helpful to Hadith regaining his strength as Dahnus’s.

Someday soon, she would know that, but not yet.

Right this moment, what Dahnus wanted more than anything, was his mates with him, within touching distance and safe. Maybe then his heart would stop beating so hard. Maybe then, the sight of Hadith lying crumpled against the hull of the Devori ship would fade from his eyes.