Page 36 of To Crave Deeply
“I need to leave. Contact me if anything changes.”
I didn’t wait for them to say anything. I stepped into the shadows and ran to Lori.
The site that met me when I materialised on the base had my heart pounding. Fear sprang to life in my chest and set up fucking camp there. Lori was having some sort of seizure, her body bending and twisting unnaturally while Rae tried to keep her still. If this was that fucking demon, I was going to kill it. Slowly and fucking painfully.
“Thank fuck,” Rae called. Her face was stained with tears, her green eyes bright as they swam in the fear that also gripped me. I had no idea what to do.
Rae gripped my arm. “Get her to Levi. The Med Bay. Go Now!”
Right. Yes. That was a good idea. I pulled Lori into my arms, hating that she felt so fragile. She looked pale and ashen. If it weren’t for the fact that her body was still quivering, I would have thought that she was dead.
“I’ll meet you there,” Rae sniffed. “I just need to find the others.”
For the second time, I stepped into the shadows and prayed I could move fast enough.
***
I stepped into the Med Bay and shouted for Levi. He must have heard the urgency and desperation in my voice because he came running in, his hair wild and glasses askew as if he’d just woken from sleeping on a pile of books. Did this man not have a home? A bed?
“Lori! What happened?” he exclaimed as he came to her side.
I placed her on the bed and watched as Levi made some checks on her vitals and hooked her up to some machines. The one that measured her heart was beeping frantically in the background. It was far from comforting.
I stepped to the side as Levi continued to work. “I wasn’t there. Rae is on her way here but from what I could see she was having some sort of a seizure.”
He continued to check her over, looking for a sign of what might have caused this. When he pulled back the edge of her top, he hissed in a breath.
I peered over his shoulder and saw the soulbond mark that connected her to my King. My stomach dropped. Normally, it looked like a tattoo with raised edges, but now her skin was angry and red, and the mark was bleeding steadily. It looked raw and painful, and I instantly knew that whatever magic was keeping her bound to my King was harming her, possibly even killing her, and by extension, killing my King.
“Can you fix that?” I asked, a quiver in my voice.
Levi frowned and I knew that this was beyond his knowledge. Even I knew that soulbonds were old magic and it wasn’t practised anymore.
“I don’t know if I can.” The doctor’s frown deepened as fear settled into his features. His green eyes met mine and I saw defeat creep into his gaze.
“No. There must be something we can do.”
He scrubbed a hand down his face, and I had to resist the urge to hit something.
“Torsten, this is beyond me. I’m not a witch and I’m not a miracle worker. Even if I could research this, I doubt she’d survive long enough for me to figure whatever this is out.”
No. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’re not even going to try?”
His gaze turned defiant and his back straightened under my accusation. “I didn’t say that. I will treat the wound, and give Lori something to ease the pain but…”
His words trailed off as his head snapped back around to look at Lori.
“What is it?” I asked breathlessly, suddenly fearing the worst.
“Her heartbeat. It’s back to normal.”
The machine that had been frantically beeping before was now displaying a steadfast, calm heartbeat and hope sprang to life in my chest. But before I could succumb to the feeling entirely, I needed to check something first.
“Check her eyes,” I said to the doctor.
“Why?”
“So that we know who will be waking up.”
