My voice was weak when I spoke in desperation. “If you get me out of here, I’ll let you massage me.”
“Say what?” He swung around to see me, but by then I could hardly keep my eyes open.
“Holy shit.” His eyes grew big when he saw what state I was in. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“I can’t breathe.” It was the last thing I said before my eyes rolled back and my body went limp.
CHAPTER 20
Emergency
Tyton
I’d been so occupied by the fight that I’d failed to see the state Devina was in.
She was over heating and I needed to cool her down, right now.
My instinct was to pull off her shirt, but that would lead to a disaster. If I asked for water and poured it on her, others would get involved and pull her hoodie down.
My only choice was to put her over my shoulder and carry her out of there.
“What’s wrong with him?” people asked as I pulled Devina over my shoulder and began making my way to the stairs.
“Someone alert the paramedics,” I heard people call out, but I didn’t stop. With a firm grip around her, I ran down the stairs and kept going despite all the shouting asking if I needed help.
Rushing to the VIP area, I was led in by security.
“What happened?” one of them asked with concern.
“Oh, just a fight. He got knocked out, but it was well deserved. The boy can be cocky.” It was hard keeping my face straight and sounding nonchalant about it when I was worried out of my mind.
“Ahh…” The two security guards nodded with understanding.
As I passed a bar area, I grabbed a large bottle of water from an ice-bucket and continued to my drone.
After getting Devina inside, I cranked up the air conditioning on full power and buckled her in.
“Let’s find you a cool lake,” I muttered and took off.
As we lifted from the area I didn’t even look to see if Emmerson was still standing down in the arena. Money and fights meant nothing to me right now. If Devina died of a heat stroke, we would have a big fucking problem on our hands and I would never forgive myself. What kind of protector would miss how much she had meant it when she had told me she was hot?
I was so used to Wilma’s fussing and whining that I hadn’t taken Devina seriously. Once again, I was reminded about how different Motlanders were from us Northlanders.
As the drone took us away from the tournament, over fields and toward a large forest area, the cabin was cooling down fast.
“Devina, wake up.” I reached out my hand and shook her shoulder, but only weak moaning sounds came from her and her head still hung down to one side.
Lake Mino, a favorite spot for tournament-goers, was close but many came here to bathe and we would need somewhere private.
“We’re almost there,” I promised her and flew as fast as I could.
A minute later, I set down the drone in a meadow Frederick had shown me during the tournament where he won Starr. Pulling Devina out of the drone I carried her in my arms and kept talking to her. “Come on, wake up, pixie.”
I saw her eyes flicker and roll back in her head as I moved fast toward the small creek. It ran along the edge of the meadow in the shade of the trees and ever since I’d first visited this place four years ago, I’d loved the tranquility of it. Now it would help me save Devina.
I kicked off my shoes and set her down on the brink of the water before I jumped down into the stream. It was low water and only came to my knees, making my pants wet. “Come on, let’s get you cooled off.”
I didn’t take off any of Devina’s clothes before I brought her down in the creek with me.
