“Meeka!” Dar called out. “Please, Loka, let her be alright! Meeka! Answer me, by Loka’s balls, or I will beat your ass when I get you out of there!”
“You are certain she is back there?” Torin demanded.
Kael nodded jerkily. “I had just gone out to collect fuel for the fire when it happened. She did not come out. She is not here. There is no other place she might be.”
“Shut mouth!” Dar bellowed abruptly. “Meeka?”
They heard her then, faintly. “Help me! My leg! I’m stuck!”
“We are coming, baby!” Kael bellowed. “We get Meeka out, ok?”
Kunga was doing such an excellent job of excavating they decided to focus on clearing away the debris he was piling up.
It seemed to take hours to clear the blocked opening enough to get inside.
They were dismayed to discover that Meeka was not answering once they managed to unblock the opening.
They found her, unconscious, in the shower—well, mostly inside where she had taken shelter. One leg was extended and pinned beneath rocks that had fallen from the ceiling.
They removed them as quickly and carefully as they could and then Dar scooped her up in his arms and carried her outside where they could examine her injury.
He almost threw up when he saw the extent of it.
Hugging her to him, he began to rock with her.
“Lay her down and let me see it,” Torin said in a firm but gentle voice.
Dar stared at him uncomprehendingly for a handful of moments. “She is dying,” he said finally.
“She has broken her leg!” Torin snapped. “We can set it.”
Briefly, hope lit Dar’s eyes, but it died almost as quickly. He sniffed, not realizing until he had shifted to lay her gently on the snow that he had been weeping.
The tears were freezing on his cheeks as they flowed, forming icicles.
They did not even have shelter for her now, he thought morosely, watching with little hope as Torin tore her suit open and gently pulled the fabric away from the wound.
He knew from the look on Torin’s face that she was going to die. His face had turned ashen.
“Do not look at me like that!” Torin snarled. “She is alive. We must keep our wits if we are to keep her alive.”
Dar felt like knocking his teeth out. “With what?” he bellowed. “We have no skills as physicians! We have no medicine!”
“We can do nothing,” Kael added, “beyond bandaging the wound and hoping she will not die of blood loss or infection!”
“We need to stabilize it now—while she is unconscious—and bind it up to stop the bleeding. The snow will help to slow the flow of blood.”
Shaking off their certainty that they could not help her in any way, Dar and Kael got up and moved quickly to find something to stabilize the leg. Dar tore one leg of his pants off and began tearing it into strips.
“You will be naked if she has more need,” Torin remarked neutrally when Dar handed the strips to him.
Dar looked down at Meeka. “I am happy to do what I can for her.” His face twisted. “It is little enough, when all is said and done.”
“Do not despair of her,” Torin said sharply. “I think she will surprise us all with her strength.” He hoped she would.
Because he knew if she did not make it he would feel the loss as devastating. As hard as he had tried to remain aloof and distant, he had not succeeded. If he had, he would not feel next to complete loss of control, would not feel the pain and anxiety churning in his belly.
She came around when they began to pull at her leg to realign the bone pieces.
Dar gritted his teeth and held her but, when Torin had finally lined up the bones and tied the stabilizer to her leg, he passed out.
Kael dashed off a few yards and puked.
Torin felt like doing both—puking and then passing out—but he scooped up handfuls of snow and rubbed it on his face until the urges passed. Then he moved over her to examine her for other injuries.
Thankfully, he did not find a head injury.
He felt better about that, but only briefly.
She kept rousing and then fainting again and he knew her blood pressure must be fluctuating dangerously. Being careful not to jostle her leg, he scooted closer to her and brought her beneath his furs to help warm her.
He debated whether to order Kunga to help warm her or not and decided against it, concerned that the beast might hurt her inadvertently.
He discovered, though, that he would have to beat the beast off. He shuffled over to her on his belly and moved as close to her as he could, then propped his head on her chest.
“We have to take her to the colony,” he said after a few moments. “It is her only chance.”
“Do you think they will help her?” Dar asked doubtfully. “Even saying it would be safe to move her and we could get her there ….”
Torin was not as certain as he wanted to be.
But he knew as soon as the thought occurred to him that it was not the uncertainty of whether or not they would welcome her and treat her that had inspired it. It was his desire. It had grown upon him without him even being aware that it was there.
“I will claim her as my mate,” he said. “They cannot refuse her then.”
Both Dar and Kael stared at him in blank faced shock for several moments before outrage emerged.
“You will claim … just what the fuck do you mean by that?” Kael snarled.
“This is how it must be to get the help she needs?” Dar demanded angrily. “Or how you want it to be?”
Impatience flickered through Torin, but he had expected no less. “I do not know!” he snarled. “But I do not want to take the chance that they will turn her away! Do you?”
He could see that both men were struggling. They cared for her, very deeply, but they cared too much to let her go willingly. “If it will make you feel better, I will say that you two are my bond brothers because you saved my life and we three have taken her to mate.”
For his part, Kael thought, that did not make him feel one fucking bit better! He was willing to accept Torin as an ally in their need, but he did not feel bonded to him and he had no desire to bond to him!
On the other hand, he was not willing to risk Meeka. It was his fault that she was injured and might die. If he had not left her alone inside, he would have been there to see to it that she got out safely.
He thought he could live with the lie to save her—as long as it was a lie. “You are saying that you will claim to be bonded to us? Not that you will expect to actually be our bond brother and her mate?”
Torin glanced from Kael to Dar, considering his answer.
He did not want to merely claim it, damn it! He wanted it to be so!
Well, he did not give two shits whether Dar and Kael wanted to be bond brothers or not, but he wanted Meeka as his mate. He would accept them as part of the package if he had to, but now was not the time to try to settle the matter.
She would die while they fought over it.
“I will tell whatever lies it takes to get her the help she needs,” he growled finally. “I am willing to pretend as long as I must.”
Dar did not believe that for one fucking moment, but it satisfied Kael, and he had already said that he would do anything to save his beloved.
He would kill the bastard if it came to him trying to claim her as mate, but he was willing to go along with the subterfuge for now.
* * * *
They felt like they were working against time as they rushed around to find what they needed to build a sled to carry Meeka and a harness to attach to Kunga so that he could pull her.
Because they were working against time and they knew it.
The sooner they could get her to a place where she could get actual medical attention the better her chances of a full recovery.
With the best will in the world and all three working like fighting fire, it still took them more two hours to prepare and gather suppl
ies and by that time it was past midday and Torin was worried they would not be able to reach the colony before dark.
Torin walked beside Kunga to make certain he moved at a pace that would make time and still not cause Meeka too much discomfort.
Dar walked on the other side of the beast to offer whatever comfort he could when she roused up. He thought she slept most of the time, but he had water and food when she needed them.
Kael took up the rear, keeping a close watch on the contraption they’d thrown together to make sure he caught it if anything came loose.
They didn’t stop for anything except to pause to check and tighten the harness and load from time to time and to give Meeka water, but it was nearly dusk before they finally reached an area familiar to Torin.
“Not much further! There should be a look out soon. I will move ahead to make sure that they see me.”
Uneasiness made the short hairs on Dar’s neck lift. He slid a glance at Kael. Kael surreptitiously moved his weapon to his hand. He shifted his own within easy reach.
A few minutes later they heard a shout to halt or die.
Torin threw his hood off. “It is I—Torin Vanderclaw! I have brought new allies!” He glanced back at Dar and Kael. “They are my bond brothers. Our mate is injured.”
Fortunately, Torin had been sent out on a mission to find promising colonists. He had been expected to return with recruits so they were not made to wait in the cold and dark long before they were escorted past the check point and into the walled courtyard that guarded the entrance to their colony.
The courtyard lights came on as they entered and both Dar and Kael froze, staring in stunned disbelief.
“It’s ….” Kael lost his train of thought.
“An ark,” Dar finished for him.
Chapter Seventeen
Torin removed the straps they’d used to secure Meeka to the sled they had improvised to transport her, scooped her up, and strode quickly toward the door of the facility that adjoined the ark just as someone opened it. “She has a bad fracture. She needs immediate attention,” he said grimly.
The man nodded and hurried ahead of them. “Everything is ready. Karl let us know you had an injured … your mate was injured,” he corrected himself. “And the men are?”
“Bond brothers,” Torin said tightly.
Dar relaxed fractionally.
He had not realized until that moment that he entertained doubts that Torin was entirely to be trusted. He supposed that was prejudice because Torin was a haden man and there had been more distrust between the hadens and kilden, historically, than trust.
But he thought a good part of it was due to his certainty that Torin had far more interest in Meeka than he would admit to.
If they decided to stay—and he could not see that a rational person would decline to under the circumstances—he would have to grow accustomed to Torin claiming their woman, but he damned well did not like the necessity.
Still, she needed medical aid—real medical attention—and he knew there was no other way. He knew she was going to die without it.
He would not have considered the suggestion five seconds otherwise.
As it stood, he was having second thoughts … and third.
He felt … battered and disoriented, as if he had been the one beneath the shower of stones.
He wondered if that was why a sense of unreality dogged his steps as he and Kael followed at Torin’s heels, looking around at the facility but not really registering a great deal. Was it simply shock? Or would he have been torn between anxiety over Meeka and stunned wonder at the facility regardless?
As if he was a primitive and had never seen the like of it.
Then again, he and Kael had been certain all had been destroyed.
Everything that they had not managed to launch before the strike that had crippled their world.
He still could not believe what he was seeing. It was almost … like a mirage.
He decided he simply could not take it in because he could not get his mind off of Meeka’s wound.
They did not even know that her broken leg was the full extent of her injuries. She could be hurt internally ….
There might be no chance that she would live despite their desperation to get her the help she needed.
And he had betrayed her by giving her over to another to claim and keeping his tongue between his teeth when he should have spoken out and claimed her as his own.
That was going to haunt him forever if she did not make it.
He shook that thought, refusing to acknowledge let alone accept it, as they reached the med center at last.
He and Kael were barred from entering the examination room.
There might have been bloodshed except they were escorted by a resident to an observation area where they could see and hear what was going on. “I realize you want to stay close to her, but the doctor will know nothing until he has thoroughly examined her. Are you certain that you would not prefer to go to your suite and take your ease until you are called with news of her condition?
“Flight protocol has already been initiated—we are at the sixty day mark in the countdown till launch--and we are already severely rationed for the journey to the colony world, but there is hot water available for bathing, fresh clothing, food ….”
Dar struggled with the discomfort that arose from that speech, but he could feel his face heat.
“I could not rest until we know something,” Kael said tightly. “We will stand if you are worried that we will dirty the place.”
The female blushed to the roots of her hair and took off in disorder.
“Well done,” Dar said wryly.
Kael glanced at him angrily. “I am very aware that we have been living well below their standard of living. I do not need it pointed out.”
Dar thought that over. “I felt as if she was being condescending, as well, but we cannot walk around with a chip on our shoulder if we are to become a part of the community.”
Kael mulled that over in frowning silence. “Yes. I see your point.” Because naturally enough there was no question about that since they now knew the colony Torin had spoken to them about would be established on the target destination/planet of those who’d managed to escape Ducran before the cataclysm.
“I will kick his ass for not telling us when we are safely on the new world,” he growled. “Meeka would have been safe here and far more comfortable than anything we have managed on our own.”
“They would have turned her away if Torin had not claimed her as his mate,” Dar said with conviction. “I distrusted his motives to begin with. Well, I am still convinced that he desired her for his mate or he would not have thought of claiming her, but I no longer question his judgment.
“I am already getting the sense that the people here think they are better than the rest of us because they have not been living in caves and eking out an existence since the fall.”
“That does not make them smarter or better or ‘chosen’. It only makes them more fortunate—and untested.”
Torin arrived in the waiting room in time to catch much of the discussion. “It makes them unfortunate if they but knew it. You two have been honed for survival under the worst of conditions. Colonizing this new world should be a cake walk for you.
“Most of the people here, on the other hand, have been here since the catastrophe or pretty much since then and they think they have learned to deal with the challenges because all resources have been strictly rationed.
“This is why I tried so hard to convince you to come. We need you, not the other way around. This colony will have a better chance of success with strong, capable, ethical people to build it and guide the weak.”
He shook his head. “But we will have plenty of time to discuss the situation later. I came to take you in so you can know what’s going on with Meeka.”
Surprise flickered through both Dar and Kael, but they did not wait to discuss it further. Both of them surged forward
at once and Torin led them into the examination room. “They should not have been excluded,” he said to the physician. “They are her mates.”
The physician looked at Dar and Kael as if he was looking at savages and then Torin. Finally, he nodded and cleared his throat. “I am treating her for shock and exposure. The break was a nasty one. I fused it back together with a laser, but that really is not ‘healing’ the break. The bone will have to grow back together. This is just to make certain it aligns correctly.
“I cleaned the wound and closed it.
“I also ran a scan to see if there was anything internally that we need be concerned about.” He paused, frowning uneasily.
“What?” Dar demanded sharply.
The man shrugged. “This equipment was designed for our people. It is calibrated to us. I cannot say with absolute certainty that we have the full story here because she is not one of us, but she appears to have no other life threatening injuries.
“I want to keep her here in the med center for a while and under observation.”
Dar realized the doctor was asking permission. He nodded. He felt much better leaving her with a doctor to watch over her than having sole responsibility for her recovery.
“We will be able to stay with her?”
The doctor blinked, glanced at Torin and then back at Dar. “One at the time,” he said finally. “I want her kept quiet and undisturbed for a little while—until she has come out of shock and stabilized.”
“She will be safe with the medical staff,” Torin said. “Come and I will show you to our quarters.”
Our? Dar exchanged a questioning look with Kael.
Kael shrugged.
Torin moved to the side of Meeka’s bed. Taking her hand in his, he lifted it and brushed her knuckles along his lips. “Rest, beloved, and get better.”
The gesture may have been for the doctor’s benefit—and possibly for the sake of gossipers—but Dar resented it. He had already taken a step toward her to claim his own kiss when it dawned on him just had filthy he was from digging Meeka out of her rock and dirt grave. The trek through the snow had actually cleaned away some of the dirt and he still looked like he had been buried with her.
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