Free RavishedbyMoonbeam by Cynthia Sax Page B

his ears and blackness threatened to overcome him. He
held death back, wishing for these last units of time with his druzka .
“My Danielle.”
    “Warrior Krol Nowak.” Warrior Miar Najazd’s voice sliced
through the humming. “The Mravenecs have been terminated.”
    His Danielle’s face was pale. She was so soft, so fragile,
so in need of protection, and Krol had never felt this much pain, this much
weakness. Warrior Miar Najazd appeared over her shoulder, his face blackened
with the heat of battle. Warrior Miar Najazd, his friend and Sila ’s
number two warrior.
    Protect. My Danielle. Lejno .
    Krol placed his Danielle’s left hand in Warrior Miar
Najazd’s outstretched palm. “Your Danielle.” He forced the words past his cold
lips, feeling an agony deeper than any wound.
    Warrior Miar Najazd raised his forehead ridges, grave
comprehension in his black-and-green eyes. “My Danielle.”
    “Your Danielle.” Krol released his hold on consciousness and
slipped into the darkness. She was safe.
     
    “What the hell?” Danielle snatched her hand away from the
strange alien and placed her palm over Krol’s ridged fingers. “I’m your Danielle,
my Krol, and I need a goddamn—”
    Two smaller aliens dressed in blue brushed against her,
chattering in their own language, their faces animated.
    “Finally!” She stepped away from Krol to allow them room to
work. “You assholes took your sweet fucking time.” Danielle reached for her
discarded space gun, curling her fingers around the handle, comforted by the
touch of cold metal against her skin. “He needs surgery. Right away. He’s
bleeding badly.”
    The Fixers lifted Krol onto a floating stretcher. Danielle
moved with him, resting her gunless hand on Krol’s big thigh. “You can fix him,
right?” He was so cold, and his eyes, before they closed, had stopped swirling. That’s a bad sign. It has to be. “Because he can’t die. I won’t allow
him to die.”
    Damn it. Danielle blinked back tears as she walked
with him to the corridor. Soldiers don’t cry. You didn’t cry during
Mom’s funeral. You won’t cry now. Krol needs you to be strong for him, to fight
for him .
    “I want the best damn Fixer on the spaceship,” she declared.
“Hell, on any surrounding spaceships. I—”
    Big hands clamped down on her shoulders, holding her back.
“What the hell?” Danielle scowled up at Krol’s friend Miar. “Get your hands off
me.” She twisted but she couldn’t get free. “I have to go with my Krol. He
needs me.”
    “You are my Danielle.” Miar stuck his chin ridge out
mulishly. “I will protect you.”
    “I am not your Danielle.” Relax, Officer Danielle.
This is Krol’s friend. She took deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down. Don’t kill him. He means well. She tapped her fingers on the handle of
her space gun.
    “Your buddy Krol said that because he thinks he’s dying, but
he isn’t dying.” Her voice broke. He can’t. I won’t let him die. I
won’t. “He’s living for a long time, so release me or I’ll blast your ass
into outer space.”
    Krol’s big boots disappeared from view and panic welled up
inside her. “Let me go!” She struggled, leaning toward the doorway. If I
lose sight of him, he’ll die. He will.
    “You are my Danielle,” Miar repeated, his voice cold and
stern and unfeeling.
    “I am not your Danielle!” she yelled. “Ohhh…I don’t
have the patience for this.” She clenched her jaw to keep from screaming. “For
the last time, let me go. If you don’t, I’ll shoot your green-and-black ass,
and I mean it. I will shoot you.”
    Miar said nothing. His grip on her shoulders tightened.
    “Fine.” Danielle lowered her gun, aimed for his ridged
kneecap and then moved the muzzle slightly to the right. The warrior didn’t
release her and Krol was being taken God knows where, to get God knows what kind
of alien medical treatment. “We need a Fixer!” she shouted.
    She pressed the trigger button.
    It