I was not going to survive. It felt like my soul had been cleaved in half. Agony that had nothing to do with the injuries wracked my body. I could not breathe. I could not think. All I could do was feel his blinding absence beside me.
“Mindy.” Seth leaned over me. Human Seth.
“Please,” I begged him. He would know. He would help. He was human. “Please.” I tried to grab him. “Please, Seth.”
He shook his head, and Kalvoxrencol tightened his hold. Zoltilvoxfyn and Caleb appeared, but they could not take my focus from Seth. All I saw was Seth. Human Seth.
“Please. I need him,” I begged as another sob ripped out of me. Kalvoxrencol held me securely, and Zoltilvoxfyn joined him next to me.
Seth’s mouth fell open. “Oh my god.” The doctor approached, and Seth ordered, “Wait.”
“Seth, Serlotminden needs help,” Kalvoxrencol said.
Seth bent until he was level with me. “Don said there was a human with you.”
Tears poured out faster. My poor Bartholomew. He’d needed a better mate than I. I had failed him.
He bobbed his head. “He’s your mate.”
Kalvoxrencol drew in a sharp breath, and his arms tightened.
“I need him.”
“We scanned the planet, but all the sensors came back with was your beacon. And we found you alone, Mindy,” Seth said.
A loud, keening noise was my only response. Kalvoxrencol was joined by Zoltilvoxfyn and Caleb. They both held onto me, but Seth continued to stare at me.
“We found you in the shuttle,” he said. “Inside. Bandaged.”
“No.”
Seth said, “I need you to think clearly. Did you see the human get hurt? This is important, Mindy. Did you see him get injured?”
Emotion clogged my throat, not allowing me to speak. My Bartholomew. My mate. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. I needed the hope burning through me to be real.
Seth pulled out a touchstone. “Dontilvynsan. I need you to come to the medbay.”
“What are you doing, Seth?” Zoltilvynsan asked.
“We need to find out what happened, and Mindy’s not talking.”
Caleb moved next to Seth. “Do you think…”
“It’s a possibility. The sensors weren’t able to pick up anything. Some techno-babble I didn’t understand, and if not for the distress signal, we wouldn’t have found Mindy. And when we did, Mindy was bandaged and inside the shuttle. If it was me, I would’ve gone looking for help for Kal. Any help. Why wouldn’t this human do the same thing?”
I snagged Seth’s hands, and Kalvoxrencol growled in warning, but I ignored him. My breath turned harsh as I tried to drag Seth closer. “Please. Please.” I didn’t even know why I was begging, but I couldn’t help it. “Please.”
The door opened, and Dontilvynsan staggered back. Zoltilvoxfyn immediately moved to his side. My surging emotions were probably too much for Dontilvynsan’s inner fire, which allowed him to experience them with me, and as much as I wished to spare him, there was no controlling the twining agony and hope spiraling inside of me.
The closer Dontilvynsan came, the more his breathing harshened. When he reached the side of the bed, his pupils were blown wide and his nostrils were flared.
Seth stepped aside. “We need to know if he saw the human being injured and if he bandaged himself.”
With a shaking hand, Dontilvynsan touched me, the contact allowing his gift to strengthen. I sobbed as the grief tore me in two. My mate. My perfect mate. But he might be alive. He could be waiting for me. I had to get him. Dontilvynsan ran his fingers through my hair, and waves of calm rushed into me, stealing the grief.
“I have you, Speedy. I will always have you. What is their name?” he asked.
Bartholomew. “Please,” I begged, the calm cracking in my mind. The waves grew stronger as Dontilvynsan’s face scrunched and his breath sharpened. He was taking my grief while he pushed calm into my mind.
