Page 2 of Fated to the Alien Hero (Warriors of Tavikh #7)
Astrid
I must be in Hell. I have to be. It’s certainly dark enough. Surely God wouldn’t let me suffer like this in Heaven. At the thought of not making it through the Pearly Gates, tears well up. Mama always said that good people don’t have anything to worry about when their time on Earth ends. Maybe since I’m not on Earth anymore, that’s null and void.
Every single inch of my skin stings like I’m being stabbed over and over again by tiny needles. It hurts to breathe. Lord, it hurts just lying still in this spot. I shift slightly, and instantly regret it. Nausea swirls in my belly. Probably from the pounding headache that throbs at the base of my skull or the stabbing pain that shoots through my arm. I don’t have to see it to know something’s extremely wrong with it.
A small whimper escapes as do more tears. Grady tried to kill me. It wasn’t in a fit of rage, which is when I always thought it would happen. This was calculated. Pre-meditated. Pure evil.
How did I miss the signs? Before we were married, I never would have imagined he’d hit me. I’ve racked my brain for three years, wondering what I did wrong, and I still can’t come up with an answer.
A small ray of light hits the side of my face and I open my eye. Or at least I try to, but the pain is too great.
“It is a human female,” an unfamiliar voice rasps in a vaguely soothing way. More light shines on me. “She is harmed.”
Gentle hands slide me carefully along the ground. Tears fall down my temples, and I hold back the screams of agony like I’ve learned to do over the years, although a single, garbled cry manages to make it out.
“You are safe, female,” a different voice from the first says softly. “I am Jodah of the Tavikhi people and I am here to help you. Can you hear me?”
A small part of me is relieved. It’s not Grady coming back to make sure he finished the job.
“It hurts.”
“I am sorry you are hurting, but I have something for the pain. You need to drink this.”
With far more gentleness than I’ve felt in a long time, he raises my head. I bite back a whimper, and instead, greedily drink down the bitter liquid he feeds me. I don’t care what it tastes like, so long as it makes the pain go away.
“What is your name?” the first guy asks again.
I’m not sure what it is about his voice, but I want him to keep talking.I also want to put a face to it. For the second time, I try to open my eyes. I manage one and see a lavender face that is young, but far too rugged to be called handsome. Compelling, maybe. “Astrid.”
Something that might pass as a smile on another person crosses his face. “I am Evren. Where are you injured?”
Another whimper of defeat falls from my lips. I take a quick survey of my body to try and narrow down my most significant pain. “My arm is broken and probably my nose, too. I’m pretty sure I have some cracked ribs, and I can’t really feel my face. Also, my head is killing me.”
There may be a host of internal injuries, but I’m trying not to think about it.
“Is there anyone at the human settlement we should locate for you? Do they know you are out here?” Evren asks.
Panic fills me, and before I know what I’m doing, I grab his hand. He jerks slightly at the contact and a shift comes over him. His eyes widen, and the vertical pupils that fill them pulse with a bright light that must be a figment of my imagination. And while I can hear some whispered exclamations from the other Tavikhi, like I’ve done something taboo by touching him, I ignore it all. Evren has to understand the magnitude of what will happen if he notifies the people back at the colony.
“You can’t tell anyone you found me.” I’ll beg and plead with everything I have for him to listen to me. “He’ll finish killing me if you do.”
Evren shares a glance with the other warriors. His gaze returns to meet mine and the glaring brightness from before is replaced with a flicker of rage. The fear returns at the sight of it. Is he angry with me? Will he hit me, too?
“Astrid?” Evren says my name in a way that nearly makes me break down.“Who did this to you?”
His question confirms it. Do I dare hope that the fury I’m witnessing is not directed toward me, but rather at Grady? Even if Evren doesn’t know Grady’s the one responsible. For so long, I’ve hoped and prayed for someone to rescue me. To be the hero I’ve needed. Could this alien be him? There’s only one way to find out, I suppose.
“My husband.”
Silence falls.
“Your mate did this to you?” There’s no mistaking Evren’s rage this time.
“Yes.” I still can’t believe it despite all the pain I’m in. None of this feels real. Other than the pain, I mean. “He can’t know you found me.”
“He will not. I vow it.”
To my surprise, I believe Evren.
“Are you able to stand?” The warrior named Jodah asks.
There are two others—one with dark markings on his skin similar to the ones on Evren and Jodah—but they’ve remained a few steps away. For a brief second, the fear returns. These are four strangers. Not just any strangers either, but alien strangers who are much bigger than Grady and who could hurt me far worse.
Okay, so maybe they couldn’t hurt me worse than I’m already hurting.
If they wanted to hurt you, they would have already .
“Astrid?” Evren says my name in what I’m taking for a concerned tone.
I shake off the distraction of my brain. “Sorry. Standing, right. Um, I’m not sure.”
A large, calloused lavender hand appears in front of me. I glance at it before lifting my gaze to meet Evren’s. Carefully, I place my palm in his, and he helps me to my feet. A wave of dizziness hits and I stumble against him. Stabbing pain ricochets through my side and arm, and I nearly pass out. I swallow down the saliva that pools in my mouth and focus on my breathing while the pain changes from sharp and shooting to dull and throbbing.
Once I’m almost certain I won’t vomit, I straighten slightly and cradle my bad arm with my other one. Whatever Jodah gave me for the pain needs to hurry up and kick in. I’m not sure how far I’m going to be able to travel while hurting this much. We need to leave, too, before Grady comes back to check that he finished the job. Shit . What if he does come back? He’ll find me missing. Will he look for me? Or will he assume some wild animal dragged off my body?
“Is all well, Astrid?”
I love the way he says my name. “Yeah, sorry, just getting my bearings.”“Take your time.”
“Perhaps this will help,” one of the other two guys steps forward and passes Evren a long length of cloth. “To bind her arm to her chest. It is what Kyler has done for others who have bones displaced.”
Displaced bones? I guess that’s one way to look at it. He holds the fabric in front of me. “May I take care of your arm?”
A warm fuzzy sensation fills my belly. I’m not used to people asking me for my consent on anything, so I’m slow to respond. Evren patiently waits until I finally nod. He moves within my personal space and I wait for the tension to seep into my muscles. It doesn’t happen. Instead, I’m engulfed in heat that melts any rigidity I might display.
Carefully, he rearranges my arm within the cradle he makes from the cloth. I hiss in pain and desperately search for a distraction. I find it with Evren and his earnest apology.A crisp, minty fragrance comes from him and I take in a deep breath. It reminds me of Christmas and the evergreen wreath my mom used to hang above the fireplace every year. Tears threaten to well in my eyes. I used to love Christmas.
Every year, I’d wake up at the crack of dawn and hurry down the stairs to find presents piled around the tree that sparkled with silver garland and white twinkling lights. It didn’t matter how old I was, the sight never failed to fill me with joy. It didn’t matter who the gifts under the tree belonged to. They all made me happy. I once read about something called love languages. While they all sounded nice, it was receiving gifts that spoke to me.
Maybe that’s why I didn’t see the bad in Grady. When we started dating, he would always bring me little gifts. Nothing extravagant, but it was the simple act of getting the gift that made me think he cared about me. Loved me. I can see now that he must have known gifts were my weakness and exploited it.
It takes me a second to realize Evren has finished wrapping my arm, although he still hasn’t released me. He’s so close, and I swear there’s a faint light glowing within his eyes. I blink away the thought, because that isn’t possible. Someone clears his throat, and whatever hold Evren has on me snaps. I step away with a light shake of my head.
“Thanks.”
He inclines his head. “You are welcome.”
“We should get going back to the village so you can be seen by the healer,” Jodah says.
I won’t argue. The sooner I get away from here, the better it will be. I can only hope Grady doesn’t come looking for my body.