Challa (24 page)

Dr. Fitzhugh was standing near the couch. Jebaral carefully laid Challa on the cushions and stepped back.

“Any change?” the physician asked as he began to examine the young Ruinos.

Tiron answered as she took a stance at the foot of the couch. “No. None that I could sense. I think she’s fighting back.” A tiny smile lifted the corners of Tiron’s lips. “That’s our little
kolli
.”

“
Kolli
?” Hannah echoed.

“It means ‘little fighter’,” Jebaral told his wife as he put an arm around her shoulders. “A few of the children who were born on the slave ship showed a potential for being stronger than the others. As well as a potential for greater bravery. That’s why Challa had been spared. She was one of the fearless ones.”

Simolif came over to give his brother a hug. “What have you heard from her mate?” he asked DeGrassi, who stood behind his wife.

“He should be seeing the cutoff to the spur very soon. He’s going to call again when he hits town.”

“I’ll go wait at the turn-off,” Jebaral volunteered. Dropping a kiss to Hannah’s hair, he left the house.

A sigh from the sofa drew everyone’s attention back to the doctor’s examination. Dr. Fitzhugh frowned. “Her vitals aren’t good, but I agree with you, Roni. She seems to be fighting to hold on. Then again,” he shrugged, “maybe she can tell he’s getting closer, and it’s helping her to stay strong.”

“It’s very possible,” Tiron said. “She’s been in and out of consciousness the whole way, but she knows Compton is on his way here to be with her.”

“What about her chip?” DeGrassi spoke up.

“Just getting to it,” the physician said. Laying Challa’s left arm across his lap, the doctor swabbed her inner wrist with alcohol. A sterilized scalpel still in its packet sat on a tray on a chair next to him. Peeling the blade from its pack, he pressed a thumb to the area where he would need to cut, right above where her wing membrane began. “This is going to hurt,” he told her, and cut into the pale flesh.

* * * *

Challa’s eyes snapped open as the blade slid into her wrist, but she didn’t make a sound or cry out in pain. Groggy from fighting the debilitating effects of her separation from her blood mate, she managed to focus on the sight of the man peeling away her skin. A dark-haired woman mopped up the bright red blood flowing away from the cut with wads of gauze.

She frowned. The woman looked…familiar. But not familiar. The last hour was a mishmash of dreams and sounds, of words being spoken to her and above her. But she remembered enough to know she was among her own kind. Among other Ruinos.

The doctor slipped the edge of the scalpel underneath the skin. Nerve endings protested, and she tried to jerk her arm away. Challa bared her teeth in warning.

“Whoa,” Dr. Fitzhugh cooed. His grip was unforgiving, as was the dark-haired woman’s who held her hand.

“Another minute,
kolli
.” The woman looked over at Challa.

The voice. The silver eyes with silvery flakes.

Challa whimpered. “Tiron?”

“Yes, Challa,” Tiron said, adding a warm smile as she mopped up more blood.

“Damn it!” Dr. Fitzhugh sat up and turned to the others standing and watching. “I don’t see it.”

“You don’t see it? Or you can’t find it?” Simolif asked.

“It’s not there,” the doctor told them. “She doesn’t have a chip.”

“That’s impossible!” Hannah said as the others also responded.

“Every Ruinos we’ve contacted had the chip,” DeGrassi told the man. “How could Challa not have it? Maybe it’s the wrong arm.”

Tiron corrected her husband. “The doctor knows what he’s doing. It’s the correct arm. I’ve been watching. He went into the same exact spot where he removed the chip from my arm, and Simolif’s, and Jebaral’s. Challa doesn’t have a chip.”

Simolif stepped forward. “Challa was a youngling on the slave ship. She didn’t reach mating age until we were already on the escape ship. Maybe…maybe the Arra didn’t implant the chips until after a Ruinos reached puberty.”

“It’s very possible,” Dr. Fitzhugh sighed. “Hannah, can you hand me a couple of those butterfly bandages, please? Keep holding her, Roni, while I close her up.”

“You’re not going to keep looking?” Tiron asked.

The doctor shook his head. “I didn’t bring along a portable x-ray to check to see if she might have one in the other arm. But I’m not going to cut into her again just to dig around in the hope of finding one. Not in the condition she’s in at the moment.” He applied the two bandages before adding a clean gauze pad on top of them and taping it down. “I’ve done all I can. She needs rest, and she needs her blood mate. As soon as she can change back into her human form, bring her over to the clinic and I’ll screen her.”

Getting to his feet, the doctor removed his latex gloves and stuffed them into his carryall, along with the rest of his instruments. He started toward the front door, but paused in front of Jebaral, who shook his hand.

“Thanks for coming.”

“My pleasure,” the physician said. “Always my pleasure. I feel extremely humbled to know you trust me with your secret and your lives.” Smiling, the man gave the rest a nod and a good night, and left, closing the door behind him.

Simolif looked over at his wife who was sitting at the kitchen table with her laptop. “Anything?”

“Nope. So far everything looks clear,” Sarah replied and shut the lid as she stood. “The skies look clear tonight. No sign of Arra anywhere, as far as I can tell.”

“Cars are coming,” Tiron noted, straightening.

“Compton.” Challa had heard it, too—the muffled roar of vehicle engines. One in particular had a peculiar pinging sound. Compton’s truck had something wrong in its engine.

The sound was gradually getting louder, and her world became cohesive again. The torn parts were rejoining. Overlapping, sealing, healing. Challa felt her heart strengthening, unfolding, pumping blood again to the cold parts of her body and infusing them with heat the closer he got.

They listened to the sound of the trucks approaching the house until they stopped out front. There was the slamming of doors, and footsteps pounded up the steps.

Compton threw open the door, barely giving anyone a glance as he focused on the small figure lying on the sofa.

“Challa!”

“
T’kor
!”

He fell on one knee in front of the sofa and pulled her into his embrace. Several moments passed in silence as the two tightly held onto each other. Presently, Compton leaned back and turned to look at the others gathered.

“Thank you. It’s not much to offer in gratitude, but…thank you.”

Tiron reached over and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. She motioned toward the hallway. “Take her to the bedroom. Make love to her as Ruinos. When the blood line forms in her arm, then you can thank us,” she said with a smile.

* * * *

They watched as Compton stood, then picked up Challa and carried her down the hall. Once the couple had disappeared into the first bedroom, DeGrassi sighed loudly. “Thank God that’s over.”

“It may not be over yet,” Hannah said, looking at her husband. “What if the Arra show up?”

Sarah answered, “I don’t see how. Challa doesn’t have the chip in her arm, so how would they know she’s taken a blood mate?”

“So you don’t see any point in us staying up and keeping watch? Keep a guard posted, just in case?” Hannah asked. “I don’t want any more nightmares like we had after the last time.”

Chuckling, Jebaral pulled Hannah into his arms and kissed her forehead. “If it will make you feel safer, I’ll stay here tonight and keep watch.”

“So will I,” Simolif offered, adding, “Will that make you feel better?”

Hannah smiled. “Yes. Thanks.”

DeGrassi stepped forward. “Listen. Tell you what. I’ll keep watch inside. Jeb, you and Simon can watch the outside. Between the three of us—”

“Four,” Tiron interrupted, giving her husband a determined look he was very familiar with. Chuckling, DeGrassi nodded. “Between the
four
of us, we should be well prepared in case the Arra show up.”

The others laughed as the tension and fear from the last hour evaporated. Tonight there would be love and a new blood line formed. If the doctor was right, and there was no signaling chip implanted in Challa, then the Arra would not appear as they had in the past whenever they were notified of a confirmed mating.

Tonight was another miracle. Tomorrow everyone would celebrate the new bonding.

And it promised to be a beautiful day.

Chapter 33

T’korra

Compton elbowed the light switch that was on the wall by the doorway. A lamp on the other side of the bed was the only illumination in the room, but it was enough.

Carefully he lowered Challa onto the bed, then went back to shut the door. Turning around, he saw her lift her arms toward him, beckoning him to join her. Without taking off his shoes first, Compton lay down beside her and gathered her into his embrace, burying his nose against her neck.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Compton.”

“Shhh.” He tried to calm her as she clutched him. Her taloned hands were wrapped in his shirt, but he no longer cared. He no longer worried about what her claws would do, or could do. None of it mattered anymore. A tear, a rip, a cut, or a nick—they would all be small prices to pay, and he would happily pay for them all if it meant having Challa with him.

He could tell she was weak. Her arms barely had enough energy to remain wrapped around his neck. Kissing her neck and shoulder, he pressed his lips to her temple. “You didn’t know. We didn’t know, or we would have made love while you were Ruinos.” He kissed her again, this time next to the small ear. “We’re going to make love tonight, Challa. And you’re going to see that blood line, whatever it is. I promise.”

Laying her back onto the pillows, Compton sat up and began to unbutton her short-sleeved shirt. Challa kept her eyes on him, on his face and his eyes. “I never thought I would see you again,” she whispered. She sounded stronger. Compton smiled as he drew the shirt over her head, pulling her arms from the sleeves.

“You know, you weren’t the only one hurting,” he told her. At her surprised response, Compton added, “It wasn’t going to kill me. Not like it would you. But I felt like I’d been run over by a train. Every muscle in my body ached. I had a headache that bordered on being a migraine. In the past, I’ve had the flu and walking pneumonia, and with those I felt like I was going to die. I’ve been shot. Bombed. Pumped so full of painkillers, I have no recollection of how close I came to dying while I lay at death’s door. But what I felt when you were gone…” He paused, blinking back tears, and took a calming breath. “God help me. Thom told me about this bonding thing when he was talking me in on the phone. He said…he said I’ll understand better as time goes on.”

He tossed the shirt to the floor and stared down at her beautiful breasts. Small, round, and firm, with pale pink nipples. The nipples got to him. An alien with nipples. Who would have thought? Without thinking, he reached down and spread his hands over her breasts, and their tips reacted immediately, jutting into his palms.

Challa sighed and closed her eyes as he massaged her flesh, warming it, kneading it as she lifted herself slightly. Her talons closed over his hands, and she pushed them down to the tie at the waistband of her pants.

Compton chuckled. “You have a belly button. Isn’t that funny? We’ve already made love twice, but I’m just now discovering these things about you.” He bent over and licked her flat belly. Her abdomen quivered; her breathing grew ragged. Pressing his forehead to her skin, he shivered. “I can’t believe how beautiful you are. I can’t…I’m sorry, Challa. Forgive me.”

“For what?”

“For not believing. For not truly believing.” He nuzzled her softness, and the feeling of comfort was undeniable.

Sharp, taloned fingers tenderly brushed his face. “I’m as much at fault, my
t’kor
.”

He smiled and glanced up into deep, sapphire blue eyes with those jewel-colored purple flecks. “What does that mean?”

“What?”

“That.
T’kor
. You’ve said it before to me.”

“It means ‘my love’. My bond mate. My blood mate.” She traced his lower lip with her thumb. The nearly five-inch blade brushed gently across his mouth. At that moment Compton realized how stupid he had been to think that she could inadvertently injure him.

“I’m sorry.”

Challa frowned. Her skin crinkled around her eyes, just like a human’s. “Sorry? Again? For what?”

Taking her hand, he kissed what he thought of as her knuckles. “For all I’ve put you through. For letting you go. For not making you stay with me that day after I took you over to the sheriff’s office.” He shook his head. “Never again, Challa. I swear to you, I’m not letting you go. Not ever again. You realize that now, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

She was growing stronger. How he could tell, he couldn’t begin to explain. But he knew without asking that the danger of losing her was over.

He undid the tie and tugged her pants over her hips. He wasn’t surprised to discover she didn’t wear any underwear. Tentatively, he trailed his fingertips over her bare mound. Its softness amazed him. Impulsively, Compton bent down to drag his tongue across the smooth, hairless expanse. It was like licking a firm piece of warm fruit.