Page 39 of All You Need is Alien Love (Tentacular Tales #4)
Wilder whispers something to Zamir, then coughs weakly, more blood dribbling down his chin.
Ellie calls out loudly, “We need a medic now!”
People rush to get help.
Wilder reaches up a trembling hand and touches Zamir’s cheek, then his eyes flutter shut and his hand drops away, limp and unresponsive.
“Dammit, Wilder! Don’t you dare leave me,” Zamir shouts, panic and desperation written all over his face.
Roxy starts wailing as she struggles harder in Lu-Ren’s arms, and they let her go as she rushes to her brother’s side.
The medics appear, drawing Wilder out of Zamir’s arms and gingerly placing him on a stretcher, the deadly blade still sticking out of his body and blood soaking his clothing.
They start working on him as Ellie pulls out the portable transporter device that always reminds me of a sonic screwdriver from Doctor Who .
“We don’t have time. You need to get him back to HQ med lab immediately.” She grabs a dazed Zamir and shakes him roughly. “Get it together, Lieutenant. If we’re going to save him, we need to transport him back to HQ, stat.”
She hands him the device. “Go.”
Zamir takes up a position alongside one of the med techs working on Wilder. He deploys the device and all three of them disappear in a flash of bright light.
All that remains is Roxy standing shell-shocked beside a dark pool of blood on the floor.
I hurry to Roxy’s side and take her gently into my arms. She breaks down then and I hold on tight. “Oh, honey,” I whisper. “The Alliance’s medical team is fucking awesome. They will do everything in their power to save him.”
Roxy sobs into my shirt, her whole body trembling.
“He’s gonna be okay, right?” I ask Ellie, my voice shaky as I stroke Roxy’s back.
Her expression is dark and filled with sorrow. “I don’t know. I haven’t the faintest idea how he even got out of his cell.”
“He saved Zamir’s life.”
“I know,” Ellie murmurs.
But he also killed Zamir’s father, and I don’t know how the big guy will feel about that once the dust settles on this day.
Granted, his dad was trying to kill him, but still.
Roxy’s still sobbing quietly when I transfer her to Lu-Ren’s arms again, the fight having gone out of her.
Wilder may have caused a lot of heartache over the years, but first and foremost, he was always her brother.
Lu-Ren turns a pained expression on Ellie. “If things are under control here, I need to take Roxy to be with her brother.”
Ellie nods. “Head to the transporter room. Agent Catengi has reactivated things for us back at HQ. We can handle things here.”
Lu-Ren picks her up in their arms and hurries to the transporter room.
Members of our team continue corralling and disarming the downed attackers, putting them in restraints, and hauling them off to the maximum security holding cells in the base. I’m grateful when somebody places a tarp over Zamir and Zion’s father’s remains.
Zion is also being treated by medical staff, but his injury appears far less serious than Wilder’s and the medics begin patching him up on site. I wince in unison with Zion as the medic pours disinfectant over the jagged wound in his side.
Naturally, that’s when my bestie bursts out of the safe room we’d forced him to stay in, for his own safety, of course.
I love my BFF, but he doesn’t have any of the training that we do and I couldn’t risk him getting hurt.
Zion had agreed with me and lured him into the room before locking him inside.
I know there’ll be hell to pay later, but for right now I’m so glad to see him unharmed.
Evan races to Zion’s side, moving faster than he did when he was being chased by a creeper outside our middle school one time.
“Mi amor!” he cries in a frantic tone. “You’re hurt.”
He hovers close to the big blue alien, hands fluttering with telltale worry.
Zion gives him a weak smile but hisses in pain as the medic continues to work on his injury.
The gash is long and deep enough that it’s obviously going to need suturing of some kind. However, I watch in amazement as the medics cleanse the wound and then apply some kind of medical foam sealant that, once they wipe it away, has sutured the edges together.
Advanced alien technology for the win.
The medic pulls back and takes off his gloves before turning to Ellie. “We’ve got him stabilized and ready for departure.”
Ellie nods. “Good work.”
They help Zion to his feet, and Evan is immediately there, positioning himself under one arm and helping support the much larger man.
Evan turns to me with worried eyes. “I’m going with him, hermano. Will you be all right?”
I nod. “I’m fine. Go with him.”
He bites his bottom lip and frowns. “But where’s Kai?”
I jolt at the reminder that my boo is still conspicuously absent.
“I’m getting him back. Don’t you worry,” I tell Evan, and he nods, moving off with Zion.
Mal appears, looking disheveled but otherwise unharmed. “We’ve done a full sweep and the base is clear.” He looks around. “So where the hell is my brother?”
Ellie pulls out her holotablet device and frowns. “It looks like they’ve taken him to one of the landing vessels. We need to hurry.”
“Fear not,” Nirblob says. “Those vessels won’t be airborne anytime soon.”
Ellie gets a murderous Mama Bear look on her face. “Good. I’d say it’s about time we take down the final two bosses.”
Maddox materializes at her side and swoops in to give her a kiss on the cheek. “I trust you guys can handle this, my love? I need to head back to headquarters. Agent Catengi has called asking for my assistance. As you might imagine, things are a little bit chaotic back there right now.”
“We’ve got this, babe,” she tells him. “Our son will be home and safe very soon.”
Maddox nods and walks off with complete faith that his lifemate will deliver on her promise.
Now it’s just Ellie, Mal, Nirblob, and me.
“Let’s go do this,” Ellie says.
I pump my fist in the air. “Team ANAL ready to kick some ass from here to Uranus!”
Hang tight, boo. We’re coming!