I stood up and ran over to Corran’s body. He was still breathing, but barely. I started patting him down, looking for the device. I couldn't find it.
"Where is it?" I cried out in an anguished voice.
His eyes fluttered open. "I left it on the ship. I don't know why I did that. This is my fault," he rasped. "All my fault."
"Shhh," I soothingly told him, stroking his face and brushing his lips with a gentle kiss. The ship was too far away for me to make it there and back in time, if I could even find the device in the first place. We were out of time.
I was aware that there were still some crazed Vepar stumbling in the hallway around me, but at the moment, I didn't care if they killed me. What was my life going to be like anyway alone on this forsaken planet without these three men?
I wished at that moment it was possible for me to be in three places at once. I wanted to touch Thane one more time.
“I love you, kitten," I heard him call out softly. My crying intensified.
I was trying to be strong, but the tears were falling so rapidly that they were soaking Corran’s shirt.
Looking at his face, I realized that I wasn’t even going to get to look at them as they really were because they were still wearing their disguises. We were all going to die looking like other people.
I began to hear a loud buzzing sound.
It grew louder and louder until the whole building began to shake. What was that? Had the Council arrived to blow the building up?
The buzzing seemed to really affect the surviving crazed Vepar still milling around. They sank to the ground, screaming in agony with their hands over their ears.
I didn't understand what was going on. The buzzing was loud, but not loud enough to cause physical pain. They were acting like they were being tortured.
The buzzing finally stopped. There was an intense silence, it almost sounded louder than the buzzing had been. It was funny how that worked.
The wall down the hallway opened up and a group of male and female Vepar dressed in battle gear came running in from the outside. Was this the Council's army? I looked around for a weapon that I could use against them, but the group was upon us before I could grab anything.
I took a deep breath, prepared for whatever came next and the inevitability of my enslavement or death.
I was shocked when a familiar face made his way from the back of the group. It was Lanton, Thane’s father. I had never been so happy to see someone.
"Ella," he said, looking relieved. That relief immediately disappeared as soon as he saw the carnage around us and the fact that his son was one of the fallen. Pulling a device out of his pocket that looked achingly similar to Corran’s healing device, he ran over to Thane and started running it over him. Within a minute Thane’s cuts were sealing up, and his breathing was improving. Once Thane had opened his eyes, looking so much better than before, Lanton next ran to Derrial. "Shit," he muttered to himself. “It might be too late."
Thane’s father started running the device all over Derrial frantically. "Come on, son," he barked frantically.
I was distracted by Thane sitting up. A wave of relief so potent that it almost succeeded in knocking me to the ground rushed over me. I looked down at Corran. We didn't have much time left with him though. What if he and Derrial didn’t make it?
Thane walked over to me, and I had never been so intensely grateful for Corran's brilliant mind that had created such amazing technology. Thane looked almost completely healed.
Thane gathered me in his arms, burying his face into my neck. "I love you," he whispered fiercely. That emptiness that had built inside of me since the earlier revelations, and which had only gotten larger in the aftermath of seeing their broken bodies… it started to fill.
I heard a sigh and my attention leaped back to where Lanton had been furiously working over Derrial’s broken body. To my relief, Derrial’s breathing had started to steady as well, the rattling sound disappearing, although he hadn't woken up yet. Lanton kept moving the machine over him for another minute before he stood up and made his way quickly to Corran.
Corran's eyes blinked open, but his gaze was hazy. "It's okay, son," Lanton said soothingly to him as he started to run the machine over Corran’s body.
At that moment I was so grateful for the men’s bond that had extended to their parents as well.
Corran recovered before Derrial even opened his eyes. We had been so close to losing him. It was going to be a long time before I would be able to let any of them out of my sight.
While Lanton had been saving my men's life, the rest of the Vepar that he had brought with him had disposed of the remaining infected Vepar. Derrial, Thane, and Corran had taken care of a lot of them, but the sheer number of them had made it impossible for warriors even of their caliber to win.
Everyone still standing looked around the hallway with a little bit of shock. The amount of infected Vepar they had been holding in this facility was almost unbelievable. It didn’t surprise any of us that they had been able to escape and get past the staff.
Thane put a hand on his father's shoulder and bowed his head in respect. "Thank you, father," he said, his voice choked with emotion. "That was almost the end for us."
Lanton seemed equally choked up. Coming so close to death definitely brought everything into perspective, even for two gruff and powerful men like Thane and his father.