Caged With The Alien Warrior

35.

Aanya

"She said not to let anyone touch the youngling and I'm not letting anyone touch her."

Flashes of light.

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

"Take her to the medbay!"

Warm arms.

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

"I swore on my honour as a Rhodinian warrior that I wouldn't let anyone take her. Not the council, not you commander."

Lani's cries.

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

"Why does the preliminary scan say she's malnourished? She's been starved here?"

The crash of metal.

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

Warmth radiated through my chest. Groaning, I cracked my eyes open. Lani laid on my chest, small hand pressed against my skin. Slowly, I wrapped my arms around her to make sure she was real and safe.

Something banged at the door, loud and obnoxious. Someone. But, I couldn't see who it was, the door didn't have a window.

Yelling voices drew my attention.

Ronan! My heart raced. He was alright, thank God. Well, alright enough to be doing that.

Ronan was arguing with Talion, holding him by his collar. They were yelling at each other about something but even among all the chaos, I couldn't help but smile seeing Ronan awake. He still wore his low-slung black pants, chest bare except for the bandage wrapped around his upper chest where the wound was.

Ronan's gaze caught mine and it was almost like time stopped, as cliché as that was. I drank him in, from his dark, tousled hair to his slightly crooked nose, to his wickedly sensual mouth.

Immediately, he let go of Talion and ran over to me.

His whole body sagged."Aanya, thank the Stars you're alright."

I smiled. "We did it, Ronan." My voice came out raspy. "We escaped."

He gripped the side of the bed tight, eyes never leaving mine.

I pulled my gaze down to his hands, his eyes too intense. Too much emotion that I couldn't decipher.

I wanted to reach out and take his hand, but at the same time I couldn't. It had been so long. Would he welcome my touch? He didn't reach out either, maybe–

The door banged open, distracting both of us. Ronan moved protectively in front of me.

An older man in a tan outfit of sorts strode in holding a tablet sort of thing, flanked by two guards.

The dude in tan spoke first. "Commander Hawke, step aside and let us treat the patient. Her preliminary scan was sent to my datapad and it's concerning to say the least–"

"I will not step aside. Clearly, the scan shows you've been starving her here. How could you let that happen, Krono?" Ronan seethed.

I frowned. What? I just got here? They sure haven't been nice, but they hadn't starved me. Lani fussed against my chest and I rocked her until she settled back into sleep. How this girl slept through anything, I didn't know.

"Starved her?" Krono spluttered. "What are you talking about, we–"

Ronan scoffed, cutting him off. "Don't play dumb you–"

"I'm not. I'm the Primary Medical Officer and you shouldn't even be walking, let alone–"

"Stop!" I croaked out, voice hoarse.

Both of them shut up and looked at me, Krono for the first time. But I ignored him and looked right at Ronan.

"They didn't starve me. The ship didn't have any food. After you–" I faltered, remembering how he almost died. I cleared my throat. "After you were hurt, I dragged you onto the ship."

Ronan froze, muscles taught. "You what?" He frowned. "You shouldn't have taken the chance, you should have left me and–"

"I couldn't leave you!" I burst out. "You need to get that through your thick skull. I'm not leaving you," I said vehemently. Ronan stepped back, blinking.

I faltered again. "I mean, I wasn't leaving you there."

I didn't know what would happen now. Maybe Ronan didn't want to be near me now.

I went on. "I got you onto the ship and they shot Gila. They killed him." My voice went thick, thinking of him.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help. He did the right thing in the end." Ronan's face was solemn.

"He did. I have the datastick. Here, take it." I took it out of my pocket and slid it across the bed. He picked it up, our fingertips just brushing. I shivered at the touch. "We have to give it to the right people."

Ronan nodded.

I cleared my throat. "I had to do something about your wound, so–"

"His wound?" Krono cut in.

I startled. Honestly, I'd forgotten he was there.

"A Szentist hit me with an axe," Ronan explained.

"I knew I had to do something. There was this green stuff in the wound, something that was on the blade. So I used some alcohol on board to disinfect it."

"Alcohol?" Ronan smiled. "Creative."

"Thanks." I gave a small smile back.

"Green?" Kronos scrubbed a hand over his face. "That had to be irod."

"What?" Ronan's brows shot up. "No, impossible. They couldn't have..."

"What's ee-rodd?" I pronounced the new word.

Ronan winced. "It's a kind of poison. Specially engineered to kill Rhodinians but it's rare."

"Even with the alcohol, the irod would have already worked. And three weeks ago? Irod kills in hours from first contact, no matter what." Krono shook his head, frowning. "Ronan shouldn't be alive right now."

What?

✶ ☾ ✶

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Aanya and Ronan are reunited!! What do you think of the chapter? What do you think of irod?

What music reminds you of this book? I need some songs to write to!!

Comments and votes are much appreciated.

Virtually yours,

Ro