Page 88 of Alliance
He touched her cheek gently, then snarled when he realized her skin was cold.Bonedeep. Not simply chilly. He pressed his bloodied face to her chest and listened, reassuring himself that her heart and lungs were still functioning.
They were steady and strong but working at a snail's pace. Power saving mode, his logical brain told him.Dying,his instincts insisted. Distant memories of news feeds tracking the rot came to mind, bodies stacked under dirty tarps in muddy black fields that had once been thriving with clovers andluffeflowers.
He piled more blankets over her until she looked like a mountain of laundry, took nearly an hour to light a fire that would have taken him minutes in his youth, and bloodlet, skinned, and cooked the animal. Preparation wasn't pretty, but he was sorely out of practice and had been a rowdy pup with the attention span of a gnat. He was lucky he remembered to drain it of fluids.
Roz didn't wake up that night, nor the morning after.
Fásach had no way of checking her charge but by monitoring the needle. By the rate of depletion, he guessed she'd drained half of its remaining power. But it wouldn't last forever. She wasn't a biognostic that had evolved for maximum efficiency and diverse power acquisition. She'd been built as a toy, a bird in a cage. Having a long charge would have defied the leash for which her builders had designed her.
Reaching Renata, regardless of the dangers, was urgent now. Or else she'd power down again and maybe… not wake up.
Fásach knelt in front of her, crusted with blood and dirt, and pressed his forehead to hers.
"I miss you," he croaked, voice unused. Then his brow drew together. "Don't come back to me until that needle is dead, got it? Drain it down to nothing."
He released the vital pods from the needle’s bed so they floated like ducklings behind him, laid Roz gently on top of the sled, and tied her down like she was luggage. Then he wrapped a bright orange climbing rope around the needle, slipped it across his chest, and pulled.
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[Roz-02: Er Model, Xun Unit.]
[Serial Number: Sapra-EX-030104 confirmed.]
[Boot up sequence initiated.]
I enjoyed waking up from sleep much more than coming to consciousness with my eyes already open and staring at the canopy. Though my optics were recording, each of my senses came back online one at a time. For a brief, terrifying moment, I couldn't recall my name. My LMem simply echoed,Rosy, Rosy, Rosy,every time I queried for the answer, even though Iknewit wasn't my name. My body was a heavy weight and thunked as joints recalibrated and internal systems whirred to life with a digital growl. Then my dermal mesh powered up, and I was cold,socold. Colder than the air. My LMem finally retrieved the name Roz just as my teeth began to chatter.
[Boot up sequence successful. All systems check.]
And then, Time began again.
The sled I was strapped down to stopped moving, and suddenly Fásach stood above me. His ears were perked, fur slicked with sweat. The French braid I'd put in his tresses was still intact, but springy lengths were now wild around his face.
And his antlers... They'd grown since the last time I'd seen him, now standing eight inches tall with sharp, conical points.They were so pretty they made my stomach flutter. I smiled and drew in a breath to say good morning.
"You powered down," he said before I could greet him, clenching his hands into fists.
My brow creased. "Oops, I didn't realize." I strained against the straps he'd used to tie me down, forgetting they were there as I attempted to sit.
Fás jumped up on the sled and crouched above me. His ears slid back with worry. "You didn'trealize?"
Worrying my lip, I shook my head. "I didn't want to stop until we found our campsite. I must have just powered down after dismissing the notifications."
Fásach braced his fist against the pack cradling my head and leaned in close. "Don'teverdo that again," he growled. Then whimpered, rubbing his cheek against my neck with a huff. He buried his nose in the crook of my shoulder and inhaled deep, nipping the tendon in my throat in warning. I gasped, pressing my thighs together."Scocite,I was so worried you wouldn't wake up. It's been two days."
I cupped his ear and caressed the arch with my thumb, making a soothing hum. The rope across my biceps tugged against my skin. "I'm sorry I worried you. My charge has never been depleted before, so I didn't know."
Fásach's chest stuttered. His free hand slid into the hem of my shirt as his tongue lolled from his mouth against my skin and he panted, releasing his anxiety. "Can I hold you now that you're warming up? Please. It'll comfort me."
A hollow ache flared in my belly and my core temperature increased. What he wasn't saying was that he needed topossessme. My hips and arms were strapped down, but not my legs. I widened them, my heart pounding. "You can do more than hug me."
Fásach's hackles bulged, standing on end as if my words had given him goosebumps. He nipped my neck again, this time dragging his tongue across my pulse, nudging his nose into my jaw to open up the column of my throat.
"I don't want to hurt you," he growled, but it wasn't very convincing. I pushed his head with mine, then bit his ear. Rather than yelp, he slid his hips into the crux of my legs and pressed our bodies together. The hand exploring my waist rose to my neck and squeezed.
"Roz."
"Strapped down," I drawled, voice vibrating against his palm. "Helpless." He groaned, rocking his hips against mine. "Won't my big, bad hunter fuck me? I bet I smell nice. Just aching for pups."
