Leah's Hero - Miranda Martin Page 0,20

room.

Focus. Beyond my darkness something important. What is it?

“The Order?” I ask, my voice sounds raw to my own ears. The words tear past the dryness of my mouth and throat, painful. “You’re not with them?”

Angota and Rakstan exchange a look full of depth and understandings that I don’t have. The current of the room changes at my question.

“No,” Rakstan says.

“How?” I ask, suspicious.

Again they look at each other before either of them speaks. The others in the room, there are many of the aliens around us, now that I’m becoming aware of it, shift their weight and some clear their throats.

“Long story,” Angota says. “How are you alive? How have you survived? It’s been years since you… died.”

Shaking my head I stare at the floor beneath my feet. “Long story.” Something occurs to me then. “Are they hunting you?”

The silence and their look tells me all I need to know. I jump off the table, but the room spins as my feet hit the ground. It tilts wildly and I stumble back, gripping the edge of the table to try and stay upright.

“Woah!” my beautiful savior exclaims, her face swimming in my vision, her soft hands on my chest.

Angota and Rakstan grab my arms and lift me back onto the table. I lie down, not by choice, but because I can’t stay upright anymore. My head is spinning, and my stomach is rebelling. I take a deep breath then let it out before I try to rise again. I’m pushed back down by strong hands.

“I have to leave,” I say. “Have to warn them.”

“Warn who?” Angota asks, suspicion in his voice.

“My friends,” I say, shaking my head and struggling to sit up. “Not the Order. My friends. They’re in danger.”

“You can’t leave like this,” my savior says. “He can’t travel! He needs time to heal, he lost a lot of blood.”

“Right,” Rakstan says.

“There is no choice!” I growl, pushing up.

Rakstan and Angota hold me down no matter how I struggle. My body isn’t responding right. I’m sluggish and everything seems harder than it should be.

“Urukol,” Rakstan says.

Rakstan’s voice is even and measured. It is exactly as I remember him when he was my trainer. The one who pushed us every day. The one who pushed me to go on that fateful hunt.

“Stay still,” Angota growls.

“Urukol, relax,” Rakstan says. Lying across my chest, his voice is directly in my ear. “We will help, trust me.”

“Again?” I growl, fighting to break free of their grip.

The look on his face stops me. Regret, pain, dismay dance across his face in rapid succession. My words cut him deep. He knows what I refer to, of that there is no doubt. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to shut out the memories. They’re too recent, too raw, I can’t handle them now.

“I’m sorry,” he says, his voice barely a whisper.

His words cut through everything and I stop fighting. Letting myself collapse onto the table is a relief. Everything hurts. I’m dizzy, nauseous, and exhausted.

“I have to warn them,” I say.

“Who?” Angota asks. “Who are your friends?”

I clench my jaw, refusing to answer as I think. Do I tell them? Do I trust these two males with the truth of who else is out here? It still doesn’t make sense how they are out here. How do I know they’re not still with the Order?

“How are you here?” I ask, locking my eyes onto Rakstan.

He won’t be able to lie to me. He owes me the truth, at the very least. I also know him the best—I’ll know if he isn’t being honest. He looks at Angota then around the room. The female who must be his mate appears next to him, putting her arm around his waist and leaning into him. Jealousy, sharp and fast, stabs into my heart. I can’t keep myself from looking at my savior, but I tear my eyes away. That’s a pain I don’t need right now.

“Short version, we were exiled,” Rakstan says.

“Why?” I ask.

Something flashes in Rakstan’s eyes, pain dances across his face as clear as the suns rising in the sky. He frowns, his hands clench into fists and his tail goes still. He opens his mouth then snaps it shut.

“The Order is evil,” Angota interjects. “They Eye has lied to us all.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, not looking away from Rakstan.

“These alien females,” Angota says, motioning around the room, “the Eye created a plan to crash their spaceship as it passed our planet. He