Page 162 of Galaxy Games Four-Book Box Set (Galaxy Games)

162

He’s Been Hit

W illow

I jump out of the car, leaving it still running. In the farthest recesses of my mind, I wonder if we’re really safe, or if those goons with guns are going to kill us off, too. I can’t pay attention to that right now, though. My lover is hurt.

I race around the front of the car as Braveheart is reaching in to lift Valor and carry him out.

He almost fell out on the roadway, Braveheart says . I managed to pull him into the car by his collar.

His normally mottled blue skin is pale and blood is pouring through his coveralls near his heart.

Is he… is he breathing? I ask, feeling my own blood go cold as ice water in my veins. Please tell me we didn’t go through all this only to have Valor die at the finish line. My heart is stuttering in my chest.

Braveheart is running to the table, which is still covered with plates from where everyone but me ate breakfast this morning.

One of the young staff, a grunt who has been around since the first day, swipes everything off so Braveheart can lay Valor down.

Valor, my huge, beautiful male. My quiet love, who has been kind since the first moment we met. He’s unconscious. Tears are streaming down my face as I clutch his motionless hand in mine.

Zedd’s air-conditioned trailer must have been close by, because she’s approaching us with a microphone, like one of those man-on-the-street interviewers.

“Tell me, how does it feel to win even though you cheated?” she jeers.

For a moment I want to ignore her, but I take the opportunity since almost every camera in the area is on us, to ask for help.

“My teammate is gravely injured. We need a medic.” I see the medic off to my right, being restrained by two armored guards. For the swiftest moment, our eyes meet, sincere concern in his eyes. I know he’d help if he could.

“Tell us, what was it like to watch the white team’s car crash because of your actions?” Zedd goads.

“Not as upsetting as watching your private security force shoot at us in cold blood. We need a medic.”

Are you crazy, Willow? Braveheart screams inside my head. We didn’t work so hard to win just to have Zedd execute us on galaxy-wide vid. Stand down.

He’s right, and how nice of him to scream “stand down” instead of “shut up.”

“Miss Zedd?” I ask in my most sugary, pretty-please voice. “I will happily give you an exclusive interview if you’d be so kind as to send your medic this way.”

Her face is like stone. It’s like she didn’t even hear me speak.

“I’ll give you a lifetime exclusive. Every move, every milestone, every baby …”

Baby? I just finished the most grueling three days of my life. I almost died a dozen times. I’m in this odd three-way relationship that none of us had the balls to discuss or quantify, and I’m promising her babies ?

“Call the medic,” Zedd bellows. “What are you waiting for?”

The medic hurries over, his medical kit at the ready.

Braveheart uses his claw to slice Valor’s coveralls from neckline to waist, and the medic uses his medpad to assess my lover’s health.

“Only one of his hearts is beating,” he says.

One of his hearts? Plural? You’d think I would have noticed the odd thump-thump in our time together. In my defense, I slept with Braveheart most of the time. Then I shared a bed with the two of them. Besides, I had a few other things on my mind.

The medic continues to narrate as he reads his scanner. “One heart was hit by the laser and stopped beating. The laser immediately cauterized the wound as it passed through, so there was very little bleeding. The other one is beating twice as hard and fast to compensate while his body is attempting to heal.”

He loads up a hypodermic gun and shoots directly into his chest. “I just administered a preparation to help the working heart.” He loads the gun with a different ampule and fires at a different location. “This one went to the injured heart to help speed up the healing process. It’s the same one I gave Braveheart to help his body heal from the xellenex bite.”

Braveheart is standing behind me. His warm, solid body pressed firmly against my back with his arms wrapped around me. I can feel the psychic pathway that connects the three of us pulsing with love and energy flowing from me and Braveheart into the unconscious form of the male we love.

Valor has helped heal us , I say. It’s ridiculous to believe we could do the same, but I want to try.

Aye, Braveheart answers.

We both start swaying, although there was no prearranged signal. Then I can feel our energy mingling, twining together, doubling, then redoubling. Perhaps it’s just a figment of my imagination, but I want it to be real as we push our loving, healing energy toward him. I visualize it swirling around, over, and under him. We let it go on for long minutes, then open our eyes.

We stand in tense silence as we watch the medic monitor Valor’s progress.

Valor, my love, don’t leave us. We need you, I implore him as I lean over him to gently kiss the eyelid of his third eye .

Braveheart adds, Yes, my brother, remember, we are family. We need you to complete us.

My gaze flicks to Braveheart as I give him a soft smile. I’m so proud of you for overcoming your possessive urges to allow us all to love each other.

I get it now. We’re better together, he answers.

The medic’s eyes go wide. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing.” He exclaims. “The injured heart has just started beating again, and the other is slowing back to normal. I’ve never seen healing this fast in all my career.”

The medic steps back as Valor suddenly takes a deep breath and opens his eyes. All three of them.