by Presley Hall
A flush works its way over my skin as I watch Axen tackle Droth again, a hand on the back of his neck as he deals a savage blow to Droth’s side, making him grunt and snarl against the ground. Droth kicks out and flings Axen off him, punching him squarely in the chest and making him stumble a few paces back. Axen snarls, eyes and markings glowing, lowering himself to another bestial crouch as they circle each other and lunge again.
I lose track of how long Charlotte and I watch, my heart hammering in my chest and my lower lip aching from how hard I’m biting it as we watch the two Voxerans spar.
“It’s breathtaking, isn’t it?” Charlotte whispers at my side. I can only nod.
The fight ends with no clear victor. Both of them are breathing hard, sweating, marked with small scratches and smears of dirt. But they grin at each other, clapping each other on the forearm and shoulders. Their foreheads meet in a small, familiar gesture, and then they turn as if feeling our gazes on them.
Axen’s amber eyes meet mine, still shining with that fierce, animal wildness. The intensity of them hits me almost like a physical force, and I gasp. My hand flies up to press against my forehead as the lightheaded feeling from earlier intensifies, turning into a dizziness that makes the world seem to spin.
“Elizabeth?” I barely hear Charlotte’s voice, and it sounds like it’s coming from very far away. “Elizabeth!”
I want to answer her. I think I open my mouth to try to speak, but before I can utter a single word, my knees buckle.
The world goes gray, then black.
The last thing I see is the two men rushing toward me as Charlotte frantically calls my name.
2
Axen
I see the tall, willowy woman beside Droth’s mate sway on her feet, and I rush forward without thinking, catching her just before she hits the ground. My warrior reflexes kick in immediately, knowing where she is most vulnerable, and therefore what I need to protect. These Terran women are incredibly fragile in comparison to Voxerans, smaller and less muscled.
My hand cradles her skull before it can hit the ground, threading through her shoulder-length brown hair. It’s been warmed by the sun and feels soft as fur between my fingers. My other hand wraps around her waist. I barely managed to get to her in time, so she’s close to the ground already, but I carefully lower her the rest of the way, setting her down gently.
I’m still breathing hard, my heart racing and my vision sharp from the fight. It’s such a sudden enough change from fighting Droth to cradling this limp, beautiful woman in my arms that it makes me feel a little dizzy.
I take a deep breath and force myself to calm down, to beat back the raw, primal rage that I channel whenever I fight. There is no battle anymore, just Droth’s mate’s anxiety and her unconscious friend. Even in practice bouts with my fellow Voxerans, I hold nothing back. Going easy on one of them could allow them to become complacent, and complacency gets you killed on Nuthora.
My hands shake a little as I set the Terran woman—Elizabeth—gently on the ground and kneel beside her.
“What happened?” Droth demands, coming to stand beside us. His arm instantly wraps around Charlotte, pulling her close to his side while she stares down at her friend.
I gently push Elizabeth’s hair back from her face, staring at her. She’s still breathing, thank the gods. Her skin is perhaps a bit more pale than usual, but I can see no sign of injury. Her delicate features are relaxed, her soft lips parted slightly.
“I don’t know,” Charlotte replies, shaking her head. She looks from her friend to me, then up to Droth. “We were just standing here, watching you train together. Then she got a strange look on her face and passed out.”
She lets out another worried noise, and I see Droth tense.
I understand his reaction. I’m not mated, but the mate bond is a powerful thing. Seeing Charlotte in distress must be awful for my prince, I know that much. The connection of the bond compels us to soothe, to protect, to care for our mates in every way.
Charlotte’s fingers twist together, her eyes pinching slightly at the corners. “I don’t know how to help her. I mean, I would take her to a doctor, but she is the doctor…”
Droth turns his head and plants a kiss to her hair, his chest rumbling with a soothing sound. “I’ll get Kaide,” he says, cupping her chin so their eyes can meet. “He has some experience with medicine. Don’t worry, my kira, she will be fine. She’s strong.”
Charlotte’s expression softens, though she’s still visibly worried. She nods, then looks back at me.
“I will carry her,” I offer before she can ask. I scoop Elizabeth up behind her knees and shoulders, careful not to injure her neck as her head falls limply back, her soft hair hanging like a waterfall.
Droth takes Charlotte’s hand, and she leads the way back to the meeting house where the unmated Terran women sleep. It’s empty, and Charlotte directs me to place Elizabeth down on her bed.
The slender woman stirs as I set her down, groaning softly. Her lashes flutter, revealing soft gray eyes, like clouds after a storm. I carefully adjust her on the small pallet as she breathes deeply. A crease forms between her brows as she blinks, and she repeats the action again before her eyes open fully.
“What… what happened?” she asks.
Her voice is a soft rasp, and she tries to sit up as she speaks. Her arms give out, and I catch her again, shaking my head.
“Rest,” I urge.
These Terrans are brave and determined. I have seen them fight against terrible odds, refusing to be cowed or undone by fear. And yet, when I touch Elizabeth, I’m aware of how small and soft she is compared to me.
It makes me want to protect her. To wrap myself around her so that she can use my strength to remain upright. It fills me with the need to fight something, to defend her against any threat. But there is no threat that I can see at the moment. Nothing I can put my spear in, anyway.
Elizabeth meets my gaze as I settle her back on the bed, her cheeks turning pink. I sit back, and she turns her gaze to Charlotte, who is hovering by the end of her bed. Droth kisses his mate on the temple, promising to go fetch Kaide before he slips out of the meeting house and disappears from sight.
I watch Elizabeth collect herself, shrugging off the stupor of unconsciousness. Her shoulders square and her lips press together as she tightens her jaw. Her eyes flash with determination as she pushes herself upright again on the bed. Despite the strong urge to press her back down to the mattress again, I can’t help but admire her tenacity. She must have a warrior’s spirit to push through discomfort and fight to get back on her feet.
“What happened?” Charlotte asks. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
As she speaks, Elizabeth puts her hand to her forehead. I frown, fighting down the instinct to touch it myself. If she is warm, surely I would be able to tell better than she can, as someone outside her own body? There’s a fine sheen of sweat on her brow, making the shorter hair at her temples cling to her flushed skin. She pushes at her hair, brushing it out of her face.
“Are you sure?” Charlotte doesn’t sound convinced.
“Yeah. It’s nothing.” Elizabeth offers her friend a small smile as she shrugs. “I’m probably just dehydrated.”
My head snaps up immediately. Water. I can get that for her. That is a way to be useful.
“I’ll get you some,” Charlotte says before I can speak. She looks at me. “Will you stay and watch her?”
“Of course,” I reply, at the same time Elizabeth mutters, “I don’t need watching.”
But Charlotte is already slipping away to fetch water, leaving the two of us alone. I settle on my heels, exhaling through my nose. I don’t like the notion of sitting here doing nothing while everyone else makes themselves useful, but guard duty is still an honorable charge, and an important one. Elizabeth is the only medical technician among the Terran woman and must be protected from any potential harm.
She sighs, her gaze dart
ing to mine briefly before she looks away again. She swings her legs over the edge of her bed, and I stand up straighter.
“You should rest,” I insist, reaching out to press her down again.
“I’m fine.” Her voice is sharp. Then she winces and looks up, her lips twisting to one side. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. Doctors make the worst patients.”
She shifts her weight on the bed, and I can’t tell if she’s going to try standing again, or if she’ll lie back down. Either way, I want to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself, so I reach out for her.
This time, when my hand touches her arm, I feel something like an electric pulse spark between us. She lets out a breath and sinks back down heavily on her bed, blinking up at me with a surprised expression on her face.
I have no explanation to give her for that strange shock. My fingers curl, and I lower my arm, unsure of what just happened.
A long moment of silence passes between us before she clears her throat. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe… maybe I should rest,” she admits, her voice quiet.
“Yes.” I nod, a bit relieved.
My fingers still tingle from touching her. I want to reach out and see if it happens again, but I’m wary of harming her when she’s already fainted once and still looks flushed and pale.
For a moment, a small twinge of guilt rises in the back of my mind. I was aware that she and Charlotte were watching Droth and me fight, and I wonder if that made her distressed. The Voxeran fighting style is brutal and violent, and we train hard. It’s necessary for us to keep up our survival skills and keep our senses sharp.
But if the Terran women feel threatened by our displays, perhaps it would be better to move our sparring sessions outside the settlement, so that we don’t make them feel unsafe.
Elizabeth makes a small noise of frustration, drawing my attention from my thoughts back to her. I crouch beside her bed as she crosses her legs, elbows on her knees, her fingers fidgeting with each other as we wait for Charlotte to return with water, and for Droth to return with Kaide.
I stare at her openly, fascinated by how her blush keeps darkening whenever she meets my eyes.
“Is there… something on my face?” she finally says, brushing her fingertips over her cheeks.
I tilt my head. “No. Charlotte asked me to watch you, so I am.”
She blinks, then huffs a little laugh. “I don’t think she meant it literally.”
“Oh.” I hesitate before reluctantly pulling my gaze away from her and glancing down at my hands. My knuckles are bruised from sparring with Droth, and there’s a small cut on my upper arm from where he nicked me with his spear before I managed to disarm him. It’s already beginning to clot, though, so I don’t pay it any attention.
“You’re a good fighter,” Elizabeth murmurs, and I realize that her focus has followed mine. She’s staring at a streak of blood smeared across my arm.
I nod. “I’ve had a lot of practice.”
She doesn’t answer, her gaze locked on my arm. That strange electric current still seems to hover in the air, and it makes the hair at the back of my neck prickle.
We both straighten when Charlotte, Droth, and Kaide return, entering the meeting house together. Charlotte hands her friend some water, and Kaide carries a small handheld scanner, ready to use. Our medical supplies here are very simple and primitive, not nearly as good as they are back on Vox, or even on the ship the Terrans crashed in, but it’s what we have. It would be too dangerous to return to the ship to try to salvage more, and most of the medical supplies onboard were lost in the crash anyway.
Kaide nudges me away so that he can begin scanning Elizabeth. I sit on the next bed over, watching her like a hawk as the scanner glows, whirring gently as he runs it over her body, shining a bright blue light on her.
I frown as I watch, my fingers curling. I’m not sure what to call the emotion I feel as I watch Kaide scan Elizabeth. My instinct to protect her is still powerful, knowing how fragile she is in this moment and still feeling the electricity that crackled between us earlier. She’s in distress, and I want to soothe her. I can’t protect her with my weapons, because there’s nothing attacking her. I can’t heal her, because I have no medical knowledge.
I can only sit by and wait, and I don’t like that at all.
3
Elizabeth
Doctors really do make the worst patients.
I drink the water Charlotte brought as Kaide runs his scans on me, trying not to fidget with impatience. If I still had access to the Foreigner II and the advanced equipment in the med bay, I could probably run a full diagnostic on myself in no time flat.
The scanner Kaide is using is so slow, and I don’t like everyone hovering around me. I don’t need to be babysat or coddled. I’m the doctor here—I should be the one running tests on anyone who needs them.
My head has cleared after sitting down for a few minutes, and I don’t feel dizzy anymore, which makes me think I must’ve just been dehydrated. My heart is still beating powerfully, and I can’t stop thinking about whatever the hell that weird spark was when Axen touched me. I still feel a little unsettled by the whole ordeal, and more than a little embarrassed at having passed out in front of my friend and the two alien warriors.
Most of all, though, I hate not being in control. The feeling of helplessness grates at me as I wait for Kaide to finish up with the scans.
The scanner beeps as Kaide finally finishes passing it over my foot, and he frowns down at the little screen. “No sign of infection,” he reports, nodding to me. “No injuries either.”
“Good. Like I said, I’m fine.” I take another drink of water. “I probably just need to be more careful about staying hydrated. I swear, I’ll take it easy for the rest of the day.”
Charlotte chews on her lower lip, looking at me with her brows furrowed. “Are you sure? I know we’ve all been under a lot of stress lately, what with the crash and the fighting and the journey here from the crash site. If you’re feeling sick—”
“Charlotte, I swear, I’m fine.” I shake my head emphatically, holding up three fingers. “Scout’s honor.”
That wrangles a laugh from her. I don’t expect the men to know what I’m talking about, and I can tell from their confused expressions that they do, indeed, have absolutely no idea what a “Scout’s honor” is. But it eases the tension in Charlotte’s shoulders, which makes Droth relax, which makes the others chill out too, so I count that as a win.
“I’ll take it easy, keep an eye on myself, and if I feel anything weird, you’ll be the first to know,” I promise my friend with another smile.
Kaide nods and straightens. “I think that would be best. The scanner didn’t pick anything abnormal up, so unless it happens again, there isn’t much we can do.”
Charlotte still looks concerned, and when I turn to look at Axen, he’s frowning at me too, his amber eyes raking up and down my body as if I’ll suddenly start sprouting physical wounds. His posture is tense, and it’s clear that he still wants to run more tests or something, but we don’t have the resources for that.
“We should let her rest,” Kaide says, then puts a hand on Axen’s shoulder. “Come on.”
Charlotte nods and follows Droth and Kaide out. Axen stands but hesitates, then turns back to look at me. He opens his mouth, and I wait, curious to see if he’ll bring up that weird spark earlier or offer to stay with me.
But he doesn’t. He turns and follows the rest out.
Once they’re gone, I finish my water and lie down, turning onto my side so that I’m facing away from the door. After a few moments, I sigh and roll back over, staring at the ceiling. A niggling concern has started at the back of my skull, and now, as I lie alone in the silence, it’s free to stretch its legs and come to the forefront of my brain.
Up until this moment, I never gave a lot of thought to any diseases on this planet. I feel fine, and my dizzy spell has definitely passed, but what if it comes back?
W
ho knows what kind of bacteria might be in the water? Or there might even be something in the air that our lungs don’t know how to filter out. What if one of the others gets really sick? What if I get sick? I’m the only real doctor here. What would happen to the others if an illness worked its way through the village and our bodies were incapable of fighting it off?
I grit my teeth, hating the new feeling of helplessness that washes over me, and settle my hands on my stomach as it churns from the large amount of water I drank. I should eat something too, but I don’t particularly want to get up right now in case I get dizzy again and pass out. The diet here is basically meat only, and that won’t do as much to calm my stomach as crackers or ginger ale would. And there’s no big, strong Voxeran around to catch me this time if I collapse again.
My mind keeps racing, even as my body remains still.
I need to do something in case someone does get sick.
Being stranded on this planet with nothing to do is bad enough, but if something really serious happens, I don’t have nearly enough medical supplies to take care of anything worse than the common cold.
Oh God, what if someone gets a Nuthora super-cold? Do Voxerans have STDs? What about Charlotte and Sadie?
I’m a doctor, dammit. It’s not just what I am, it’s who I am. But without my equipment here, without the necessary medicine and tools, it’s hard to feel useful.
If I can’t help heal people who are sick, what else can I offer the village?
I’m not a cook—and definitely not a seamstress, I remind myself as I tug on the skirt I made as it rides up yet again. I don’t dare hunt anything on this planet, and although I could join a fight if I had to, we mostly rely on the men for protection. The best thing I have to contribute is my medical knowledge, but on an entirely new planet, light years away from my hospital back home, even that doesn’t feel like enough.
