Page 52 of Meteor Storm

When the other monrian, Yuros, finally glanced back at Thilar and spoke a few closing words, he inclined his head in respect and Yuros promptly left the room. Sunhai’s eyes licked over his body as he passed and then she followed him out as if to intentionally leave Thilar and me alone. I quickly whipped my head toward him, waiting for an explanation directly from his lips, but he gave me nothing. Instead, he avoided me and silently headed for the door as if eager to be rid of my company.

“Seriously?” I said as he passed.

“You need rest. Go back to your room.”

“Thilar…”

He ignored me. He ignored me. After everything, he was suddenly acting like I wasn’t there and my stomach dropped like I was being dumped. Thilar marched out of the room and I walked after him, watching him make his way down the hall, his masculine strut setting my nerves on fire. So much that I was feeling a little lightheaded when I sucked in a breath to yell at him.

So, I decided against it. I wasn’t keen on the idea of fainting right there in the corridor because I got worked up after just coming out of another near-death experience. I took another centering breath, bracing a hand on the cool, metal wall, and then prepared to go the other way, but now the hallway looked miles long and my legs felt like concrete blocks. I ran through all the reasons in my head that I could be feeling the way I was. Low blood sugar. A panic attack. Hunger or dehydration? A glitch in my implant? It could be anything.

I took a step, my hand still on the wall. When I realized I could walk with the help of a stable surface, I started to head along the passage, searching for the room where Sunhai had retrieved me from in the first place so I could sit and get my bearings. I could be disappointed in Thilar later, but I desperately wanted to feel like myself before that happened.

A few more steps and I honestly thought I could make it… but then I felt it. The one thing I didn’t want to feel. A momentary failure in the implant that had been badly abused the last couple of weeks by stress the incessant shock collar I’d been wearing. That paired with more bodily trauma than I’d endured in years, and it was working overtime in horrendous conditions.

I turned a corner I didn’t remember turning before my implant started to send little shocks down my spine that made my breath hitch. I hunched, looking around for Sunhai, but I had no idea where she’d gone off to.

“Oh, shit,” I muttered. “Please. Please, not now.”

Of course, my implant failing on an alien ship where I was safe was a far better option than having it fail in the arena amongst aliens trying to kill each other.

Another zap of sensation whispered down my back and through my legs. I was about to lose feeling or I was about to feel too much. Both weren’t ideal. A brief onset of panic set in and I spun, peering around the corner to find the hallway empty. I was alone. Thilar had disappeared.

Fire raced down my back, across my abdomen, and down my thighs and suddenly, all strength was leeched away. I folded to the ground, trying not to think the worst. I’d avoided a wheelchair when they said they could give me the implant. The surgery had a 50/50 chance of working, but I’d almost come to terms with being paralyzed for the rest of my life. Now, I couldn’t imagine. Not there. Not in that place.

My eyes burned with tears that I scolded myself for even producing as I rolled onto my back. I wanted the implant to reboot. To fix itself. Anything. When the seconds ticked by and my legs didn’t regain feeling, I wanted to scream.

And then he was there…

Somehow, he was always there.

“Penny,” Thilar said, his voice penetrating the lonely silence.

I opened my eyes, holding myself together with frayed threads when I saw him hovering over me.

“I can’t feel my legs,” I whimpered, my voice so pathetic, I almost didn’t think it was mine.

He didn’t waste a second. He scooped me up in his arms and stood, carrying me through the hall. I wrapped my arms around his neck like I was about to fall off a cliff and he was my only purchase.

My legs were everything. I needed them. I needed control.

I didn’t want to be a burden…

Not to anyone.

Thilar carried me into what looked like a complex medbay and set me down on one of the tables. I covered my face with my hands, trying to keep it together as he operated various controls. After a while, an audible female voice spoke in the monrian tongue. Thilar spoke back and I awaited the verdict, holding my breath.

“Penny,” Thilar said, gently prying my hands from my face. I was shocked to feel the air chill my wet cheeks. So, I was crying after all. I’d never been such an emotional person. Not outwardly, anyways. “Your implant is malfunctioning.”

“I know,” I said, my voice breaking.

“I told them you should have been kept in medbay,” he said under his breath. He cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing over the wetness under my eyes. “Luca has been working on cloning it. She got a good look at it when I first brought you here.”

“Who is Luca?”

“The AI system for the medbay.”

“And when she clones it? What then?”