Considering he was seven-muscled-feet of Drakonian goodness, that comment would ordinarily be reassuring. But at the moment, he didn’t look as though he could lift a kitten. “That isn’t what I asked.”
He looked away. “I do not know.”
“The male venom is destroying his blood cells and slowly liquifying his organs,” Yani said. “Nothing we have on board can stop it.”
Rhodes cleared his throat.
“Not entirely nothing,” Xandros said.
I looked to him. He handed Sookie back to Yani before rubbing a big hand over his face.
“We—we do not know if it would help,” Rhodes stated. “Plus, Zyair needs to conserve his strength.”
I looked from one to the other. “What are you talking about?”
“The Drakonian matebond can help heal.” Rhodes’s hands tightened on my shoulders, and released. “Manticore venom is extreme, though, and you are human. It may not work.”
I cast Xandros a look, and he raised a brow. “Told you,” he said.
Hope blossomed in my heart. “But if it does, it might give him the strength to hold on until we get to Amelia.”
Xandros’s eyes glowed sapphire. “That is my belief.”
30
Zyair
I barely heard what Xandros and Rhodes were discussing with Jaz.
Rhodes leaned past me to enter coordinates into the navigation system. “Everything is set.”
I watched as our mate expertly negotiated the starhopper out of Givnia’s atmosphere and locked in the autopilot. She might lack combat experience, but she was a shaftzing good aviator.
Our departure was uncontested. The navcube showed the battlecruiser on the far side of the planet. Kurt’s ship was in its tractor beam. By the time they transferred him on board, and found out he was not us, we would be well away.
For the first time in hours, I was able to breathe, even if every inhalation hurt.
I felt as though I were burning alive.
I had never been so hot. If I had been in dragon form, I would have flown to where my breath frosted my scales, far above the clouds.
It was a relief denied to me in my humanoid form. Instead, my wings, taloned fingertips, and tail radiated heat. Along with something else that strained against the fabric of my cloak.
I was certain it was heating up the entire bridge.
Shapeshifting to my dragon was not something I could do with my muscles twitching uncontrollably. The pain was only made bearable by the raw, primal lust that coursed through me. Beneath the cloak, I was so rigid that it hurt.
Andhot. So very hot.
Face it, I was a mess. My only recourse was to hold on until we could get to Amelia, and her healing talent.
The Drolgok watched me with concern written on her heavy features. “I can try to put you into a resting coma with the regenerator. It might slow the effects.”
Rhodes shook his head. “We tried that last time. I think it made it worse. It put him under too deep.”
“If the venom continues to spread, he’ll fall into a coma anyway,” Xandros said. “The matebond is our best bet.”
Yani sighed as she stroked Sookie. “I’ll stay here,” she offered. “You guys have somewhere else to be.”
