Page 21 of Rebel
Far enough for the guys to find me? The predawn was turning to full dawn, and the world was brightening rapidly, and that would mean heat too.
Move, Rogue. Keep moving. One foot in front of the other, stagger, stumble, do not fucking fall. One foot at a time. Tide was silent, but his erratic heartbeat fluttered against my back, and his breath puffed out to caress my cheek.
Alive.
I could do this.
I could.
Minutes crawled—every one an eternity—and then the heat started to intensify. It beat down on my head, insistent and unyielding. Sweat pooled beneath my clothes. The thermo-blanket was a furnace against my back. Shit, it would roast Tide. I had to move faster. Faster.
Was I going faster?
A sharp pain bit into my heel. I looked down to see something scuttle away. A big bug.
Burning up my leg.
No. No fucking way.
Faster.
My leg gave way, and my knee hit the ground.
No, no. No. Fucking insect.
I braced my hand on the ground and exerted force trying to get back on my feet, but I was done. Tapped out. Tears blurred my vision. So fucking unfair.
“There! Over there!”
My head whipped up to see three figures rushing toward me, and then the world tilted and went dark.
10
VEX
The med bay is filled with bodies. Tide and Rogue lie side by side on two gurneys, both unconscious, while Xavier and I watch Lore work. Although all he’s done so far is look at blood samples.
My gums hurt from clenching my teeth and biting back words to spur him on, but I lose my battle. “Do something. Fix her.” I stare at the woman who has my heart. Pale and listless, lips tinged blue. She’s slipping away, and the knowledge is a visceral tug on my soul. “Lore.”
The Athion moves about the med lab gathering equipment, but he’s too slow. Why is he so slow? My chest rumbles in a warning growl, and Xavier shoots me a calm-down look. I bare my teeth at him, wishing this were the arena. In the arena, I was in control, and if this were the arena and Rogue was in trouble, I’d be able to help her. But this is a medical lab, this is the outside world, and it’s been so long since I lived in it that everything is new and strange.
Death, however, is all too familiar, and it hovers over the woman I love.
“Can you save her?” Xavier asks Lore.
But Lore is moving to Tide first; he’s administering to Tide while Rogue lies dying. After everything she did for Tide? For us? He’d put his Athion commander first?
“Lore? What about Rogue?” Xavier sounds panicked now, but it’s no consolation.
“Rogue can wait,” Lore says tightly. He injects Tide with whatever concoction he’s cooked up.
Xavier sucks in a breath. “Shit, she’s not breathing. She’s not fucking breathing, Lore.”
Not breathing.
Dying.
No.
