Torak cursed as he fell to the ground. He had been furious at River’s refusal to accept his claim on her and her insistence he return her to her planet. When she had said she would rather die than belong to him, he had become overwhelmed with fury. How dare she deny him! He was the next leader of his planet, the ruler of his House, and she would rather die than be with him! He could tell she was trying to think of a way to get out of the situation when her eyes had suddenly widened in horror. Before he could respond she had dropped her sword and pushed him to the ground.
Jo turned as something sprayed her cheek. She had been too busy glaring at Manota to pay attention to what was going on around her. She knew River was arguing with Torak about taking them home then the next minute she was yelling “Watch out!” to everyone.
Jo raised her hand to wipe at the liquid running down her cheek. She let out a small scream when she looked down at her hand and noticed the liquid was, in fact, blood. Manota realized what it was at the same time Jazin did. Both men grabbed the sisters and pulled them down to the ground behind the fountain.
River remained standing looking down at Torak in disbelief. Torak laid on the ground looking up at River, his expression changing from fury to horror as she pulled her hand away from her chest to look at the blood soaking the front of her shirt. Just as quickly she crumpled to the ground next to him.
Chapter 9
Torak let out a roar for his security guards even as he rolled to shield River’s body. River lay on her side, her blood soaking into the pebbled path. She was having trouble breathing and everything was beginning to get fuzzy around the edges. Her breaths came in shallow gasps as she tried to suck in enough oxygen to speak.
Torak rolled River over onto her back to see how badly she was injured. He could tell from her breathing and the amount of blood it had to be very bad. Ripping his shirt off, he grabbed the front of River’s shirt and tore the front open exposing the sports bra she liked to wear. She had a small entry wound in her upper chest. From the amount of blood pooling under her the shot had gone through her body exiting out the back. Torak’s hands shook as he tore his shirt in half trying to staunch the flow of blood from the wound. All around him there were shouts as members from each House’s elite guard went into action. Within moments, a team of healers was pulling at each of them, checking for injuries.
Torak knocked the hands reaching for him away instead yelling for the healer to take care of River. He watched as the healer quickly yelled out instructions and an anti-gravity med-bed was brought close. He stared into River’s eyes watching as she fought for breath, a silent tears coursed down from the corner of her eyes before she closed them.
“NO!” Torak roared out fighting the hands gripping him.
“No!” He yelled again hoarsely never taking his eyes off of River’s pale, still face.
“Torak, come. We must get under cover.” Manota said desperately. He had to get his brothers and Jo and her sister to safety.
“Come. They will bring her to medical.” Manota said forcefully pulling on Torak.
Torak fought as Jazin and Manota pulled him away from River. He twisted around just in time to see a healer straddle River’s body and force air into her.
“The healers are doing all they can to save her. Come, we must get the other two females to safety.”
Torak’s Captain of the Guard, Kev Mul Kar, had several of his men escorting the two women towards the Common House. Manota was frantic to make sure the blood on Jo was not hers. Both women moved quickly into the Common House following the men to the medical wing.
Not long after they had arrived one of the healers came out to check on Jo and Star.
“What of the other female, my mate Lady River?” Torak asked anxiously.
“The other healers are trying to stabilize her as we speak.” The healer said looking with sympathy at Torak. “It does not look good. I will inform you of her condition once they have evaluated her.” The healer added before leaving the room, satisfied neither Jo nor Star was injured.
Jo and Star had cried until they couldn’t cry any more as they waited to hear if River was going to make it. Shortly after the healer had left he came back again calling out to Torak. The healer said they had River stable for the time being but that she had lost too much blood. She had sustained injuries to her internal organs including a nick to one of the valves in her heart. They were not sure if the blood they had would be compatible and were hesitant to use it on her with her being so weak. Jo and Star knew they shared the same blood type as River and had volunteered to donate what they could.