Muscles tightening, Veral breached the room at full speed, his processors analyzing everything he saw at the very moment, calculating his next action. Terri lay back against the floor, her arm raised in defense as several spikes burst forth between the razor-sharp whips that did little to slow the droid’s advance. It was only together with the Argurma rallying to his mate’s aid that they prevented an all-out assault from the droid. All the while, it flung its attackers and beat back the symbiont’s protections with the steady ruthlessness of a machine, giving Terri only limited time and space to drag herself at a painfully slow rate across the floor, her damaged leg limp behind her.
She was vulnerable and without her protectors. Malraha lay unconscious, crumpled against a wall while Azan tumbled and fell as she attempted to rise.
Two males and a single female vaulted onto its back, lances stabbing deep as they aimed for the delicate circuitry in its neck. Each blow failed to meet its mark as plating shifted protectively, and it swerved violently, upsetting their balanced perch. Within the next breath, it ejected them from its back with a single snap of its arms as it drew close to Terri, overshadowing its target.
Veral did not hesitate to follow his hasty calculations. With every bit of speed that he could summon into his limbs, he sped forward and jumped, his foot only briefly coming into contact with a shelving unit, propelling him higher so that he achieved enough elevation to drop at an angle that gave him the perfect opening. Drawing out a blade from its sheath against his thigh, he stabbed down with all his strength. An arm snapped up, hitting him with enough force to send him sailing through the air. He only just barely managed to catch his descent on the balls of his feet, his eyes narrowing with rage at the droid drawing back its arm over Terri, as a roar tore from his throat.
He rushed forward again, allowing his claws to slide out. Although the reinforced metal claws would be slow working on the droid, he refused to give up. His claws dug with loud, metallic shrieks into the droid’s back as he hit it. Raising one hand, he slashed at the protective barrier at the back of its neck, dread forming in his gut as he met his mate’s frightened eyes. Pain filled him, replacing his anger with torment as the droid’s flexible hand half-hidden behind a spiked club reached back and seized him.
It wrapped around his torso, pinning one arm to his side. His right arm was free, giving him the ability to dig his claws into the metal around its central spine, but it did little good. With a single sharp tug, he was pulled free. He bellowed as the thing held him dangling in the air in front of its metal head. The vise-like hand was crushing him, his vibrissae churning and snapping as he struggled to free himself. Azan was firing at the thing as she attempted to drag Terri away, but his female fought against her hold.
“No!” she shouted, her arm extending again.
Her whips came up, striking simultaneously with a strong enough blow that the droid faltered and turned toward her, opening itself up for a metal spike that extended like a lance from her arm to burrow deep into the droid’s neck.
A loud crack echoed through the air, accompanied by the vicious sparks that leaped into the air seconds before the machine dropped to the floor, releasing Veral as it fell.
Hitting the ground hard, Veral grunted in pain, breath fleeing his lungs at impact. With a loud, painful intake of breath, he rolled into a crouching position before forcing himself to rise and stumble to his mate’s side. A low, painful growl escaped as he took in his mate’s countenance, the red welts on her delicate skin already purpling with vivid bruises. Allowing himself to drop to his knees at her side, he drew her up into his arms, his face burrowing into her sweat-slickened hair.
“Anastha,” he rasped, his body shuddering as he felt her hands slide up his back to tangle among his vibrissae.
“Veral,” she whispered brokenly. “I’m okay… I think. My leg hurts and I have this really painful aching in my… Oh my… Fuck!” she cried, her body tightening as she curled in on herself, her arms circling her belly.
Ignoring his own pain, he encompassed Terri in his arms, pulling her up fully into his embrace as he pushed up onto his feet with a pained hiss. Her cheek leaned into his chest, a cry escaping her at being jostled.
“Veral,” Dreth murmured at his side. “Is she well?”
“I do not know,” he growled. “I am transporting her to the medic immediately.”
The male nodded his head, casting an uncertain glance toward Malraha’s prone body as Veral adjusted his grip on his mate. He lay a hand on his bicep, drawing Veral up short for the briefest of moments. “Know that it was an accident. We all witnessed the malfunction. Malraha did all she could to alert us to the problem and to stop it. If you had been even a moment later…”
“It is fortunate I was not,” Veral interrupted, brushing his cousin off with annoyance. “See to our mother-kin, but I ask that you do not detain me any further,” he growled. “My sole concern is my mate and offspring, and nothing more at this moment.”
The male drew back and lowered his head deferentially, but Veral swept past him without acknowledgment. His entire being focused on the small female clinging to him as her body trembled with silent cries. He lowered his head to rest his cheek against her brow, mandibles vibrating in a soft purr.
“The baby… Oh, shit, it hurts so much,” she cried out into his chest. “There’s something wrong.”
“I have you, anastha,” he murmured, his voice hoarse with the emotion tightening his throat as he rushed through the halls. “I will not allow anything to happen to you or our offspring. I swear it.”
22
Adull, sick feeling rose from Terri’s stomach as Veral ran at a breakneck speed through the dark halls. She wanted to beg him to stop before she either passed out from the pain or puked all over him. She wasn’t sure if it was due to the speed at which she was being carried, the horrible pain in her leg, or the cramps stabbing deep into her abdomen, but any possibility was far too close for comfort.
Truth be told, she half-hoped for the former. Each step sent currents of pain ripping through her but also waves of some lightheaded feeling. Being unconscious would have been a mercy, but as much as she hurt, she was also afraid that she wouldn’t wake again.
It scared her in ways that she hadn’t experienced since the days she was forced to sleep in the old crumbling buildings of Phoenix.
She was thankful that they seemed to make it to the medical quarters in record time. Tarik looked up as they burst through the entrance, barely clearing the doors that hadn’t yet opened all the way for them. Veral twisted at an angle to get her safely through, although he grunted at the solid thunk of his shoulder, or perhaps its large spine, colliding with the door in passing. Teri winced, knowing that he was banged up too, but it didn’t slow him.
The medic snapped to his feet, hands immediately going for his scanner as Veral swept in, heading directly for the med bed. Tears sprung to her eyes at the way he almost reverently set her on it, his expression soft as he met her eyes. He lightly dragged his fingers over her cheek, his claws only then receding. That alone told her of his panic, that he hadn’t even thought to retract them while hauling ass to the medic. He leaned down and nuzzled her before pulling back, his expression hardening once more as he looked over at Tarik.
“My mate has been injured. Fix her.”
The medic nodded but did not otherwise react to her mate’s hard growl as he swept by him with the scanner. Veral stepped back, his eyes never leaving the male, but Terri wanted to cry with relief as the medic’s face dropped close to her to look at her eyes before glancing away to skim the rest of her face with concern. She knew that she had to look terrible with the beating she took if the way she felt was anything to go by.
Fuck, please let him have good meds.
A wash of blue light flickered over her and he looked down at the scans taken by the med-bed. His mouth tightened.