Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress #1)(69)
Author: Gena Showalter

“I once had the same type of relationship with my brother,” I said. “His name is Dare, and he loved me when no one else would. He played hide-and-seek, rescued me when my dad became abusive. When Dare died, I wanted to die with him. And now I discover he’s alive, but it’s as if I’m dead to him.”

My tears splashed onto Kyrin’s chin, then trickled onto his neck. I buried my face in my hands and wept for all I had lost. And all I might lose.

“Please don’t die, Kyrin. Don’t die.”

Two days dragged by, feeling more like two years. Every moment I grew stronger, Kyrin grew weaker. I’d been back to Atlanna’s house, looking for any lead as to where the halfling children were, but the home had been ransacked, everything taken. Whether it had been done by Atlanna’s underlings, by A.I.R., or by some other government agents, I didn’t yet know. But I planned to find out as soon as the chaos in my life settled.

Lilla and I continued to talk to each other. Ironically, I found comfort in sharing my feelings with her, feelings that I was only now beginning to understand. She shared her own feelings with me. We’d formed a tentative sort of friendship.

I couldn’t come to terms with Kyrin’s approaching death. I needed to fight for him, but I didn’t know how. Helplessness consumed me as I stared down at his thinning body and pallid skin.

“I love him,” I said to Lilla. Each of us occupied a seat beside his hospital bed. “He has brightened my life. I’m different when he’s around. With him I’m a…woman. Not a huntress.”

She sighed. “I wish there were something we could do. But the poison is slowly destroying him.”

I asked her the same question I’d asked her a thousand times before. “Is there no antidote?”

“No,” she answered raggedly, the same answer she’d given each time.

The next day, I hadn’t slept properly, and my brain felt like it had gone on sabbatical. I plopped myself next to Kyrin’s bed, meaning to steal a quick nap. If only he had normal human blood, I thought wearily. Then I straightened. Shit. Shit! Hope sparked inside me and erupted like wildfire. That was it. That was the answer.

As Atlanna had said, the poison was binding and destroying the healing properties of his blood. What if his blood was replaced with average human blood?

Risky, I thought. Extremely dangerous—but he would die if we didn’t try something.

I pitched my idea to the specialist in charge of Kyrin’s care, and at first he refused. With a little persuasion—in the form of bodily threats—he decided to test my theory. He used a blood sample from Kyrin and a human, and studied both under a microscope.

“My God,” he said incredulously, “this just might work.”

That was all the encouragement I needed. I couldn’t ask Dallas; he now had the same type of blood as Kyrin. So I called Jaxon from my cell phone, because he was the first that leaped into my head, and explained what I needed.

“Darling,” Jaxon said, “for you, I’ll do anything.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

Since Jaxon and Kyrin were of different species, blood compatibility tests were unnecessary. We knew they wouldn’t match. The doctors drained all of Kyrin’s blood that they dared, then hooked him and Jaxon to a connecting tube. I watched the crimson blood flow from Jaxon to Kyrin. Would it work? My eyes widened as Kyrin’s color slowly returned. Then…his heart monitor stopped.

A voice I didn’t recognize sounded, “Code blue. Room four-one-nine.”

“He’s rejecting the blood,” someone said. More doctors and nurses rushed inside. One man pounded on Kyrin’s chest, while another wrapped his legs in a thermal blanket. No, I screamed silently. No!

“I’m sorry, but I need to ask you to leave,” a nurse said to me, trying to usher me to the waiting area.

“You can ask,” I growled. “But I’m staying.”

She left me alone after that, and I remained exactly where I was, watching Kyrin through horror-filled eyes. This was his last chance. His only chance. If he didn’t make it—

The monitor beeped. Then beeped again. And again. And again. Finally steadying out.

Someone laughed. “He’s going to be okay.”

I collapsed to my knees in a relieved heap. I covered my mouth with shaky hands, halting my cry of happiness. He was going to be okay. I knew it. Felt it. He was going to live.

When he regained consciousness the next day, relief and happiness consumed me.

Kyrin’s eyes were feverish, but he managed to clasp my hand. “You did well,” he said, as if we were still at Atlanna’s and not a single day had passed since. “You defeated her. Something no one else has ever done. I know she is your mother, but—”

My fingers pressed against his lips, stopping his words. “My only concern is for you.”

I lifted my hand, and he offered me a soft smile. “I will live, Mia. I will live and spend the rest of my life loving you.”

“You’d better,” I said, wiping away my tears. “Or I’ll kill you.”

He chuckled. Our palms met, and we held each other, knowing we might never let go.

The day Kyrin was released from the hospital, healthy and whole, was the same day he and Lilla were exonerated of all charges. Smiling—I just couldn’t seem to stop doing that lately—I drove him to his house. I thought to give him a little time alone, to heal, but he took my hand and led me inside.

“There’s something I want to show you,” he said.

“Please don’t tell me it’s a feather boa and a cowboy hat.”

He chuckled. “Nothing like that, I promise you.” He ushered me into his office and placed a kalandra in my hand. His kalandra. “Look,” he said.

Brow furrowed, I glanced down. I gasped. Inside the locket was a lifelike picture of me, and I was embracing Kyrin. I blinked up at him. “I don’t understand.”

“I told you each necklace holds a legacy for the owner. You have always been my destiny, Mia. Always.” With that, he enfolded me in his embrace. “I knew it the moment I saw you. You are a dominating, powerful halfling with attitude, and our time together will certainly be interesting.”

I pushed him onto the couch. “You better believe it will.” I had a feeling our adventure had only begun.