Free Alien Mate (Zerconian Warriors Book 3) by Sadie Carter

any idea where Zoey would have encountered a qola?”
    “A qola? She was bitten by a qola?” Qola’s were well known for their deadly poison. They had a nasty temperament.
    “It appears that a qola grazed her leg with its fangs.”
    “But qola are only found in the desert. They are rarely seen near civilization,” Koran stated with a scowl.
    Dex ran his hand over his head. “I do not understand it. When did she encounter one? Why did she not tell me?”
    Thor ran his hand over his face. “The wound site looks hours old. The poison seeped into her bloodstream. She is very lucky to have survived. If the qola had sunk its fangs into her, there is nothing we could have done to save her.”
    “Why did she show no effects if she encountered the qola hours ago?” Koran asked.
    “Her immune system fought off the poison as best it could but once it reached her internal organs they began to shut down.”
    “She stopped breathing.” Dex felt as though he’d taken a hundred punches to his gut.
    “Yes,” Thor said solemnly. “Once we were aware of what was happening, we injected the antidote and immediately placed her into a regeneration chamber to heal her organs. But she is very weak.”
    “Will she be all right?” Dex didn’t want to ask, but not knowing was worse.
    “She is stable. You can sit with her. I hope she will awaken shortly.”
    Ignoring everyone else, Dex strode into her room. He came to a stop as he saw Zoey lying on the bed. Hair, the color of the desert, lay like a cloud around her face. Dark lashes rested against cheeks so pale they appeared translucent. Tubes ran from her body and a monitor beeped
    Had she ever looked so tiny? So helpless?
    “I hate seeing her like this,” Thor said from behind him. “She is always so full of life. So vibrant. I keep expecting her to open her eyes and say something silly to cheer me up.”
    Dex swallowed heavily, trying to remove the lump in his throat. “She will live.” He didn’t make it a question. He couldn’t make it a question.
    She would live.
    ***
    “Why has she not woken?” Dex demanded as he paced back and forth across the small room in the medical center where Zoey had been placed.
    This room had become his prison. He never left. He couldn’t leave. Perhaps his fear was foolish, but he felt that as long as he remained by her side then she would be safe.
    But the pale, whitewashed walls were closing in on him. The sterile scent of the medical center, the hushed tones, the beeping and constant surveillance, it grated on his nerves.
    He was a man of action. These last few weeks of meetings and settling squabbles had already worn his temper thin.
    Three days. Three torturous, never-ending, stress-filled days of sitting here by her bedside, waiting for her to wake up. It was as much as he could take.
    “Unfortunately, I cannot tell you,” Thor stated. “Her organs have recovered. She is weak, but her heartbeat is regular and strong. She should be waking up.” There was frustration and worry in Thor’s voice.
    Dex glanced at him, surprised by the strain evident on Thor’s face. He looked as exhausted as Dex felt.
    “You should go home. Rest.”
    Thor raised his eyebrows. “So should you.”
    Neither of them would, though. The only time Dex left her side was to go to the bathroom. Since she’d collapsed, he’d barely eaten, barely slept.
    He glanced over at Koran, who sat beside the bed. On the other side of the door, Dex knew he would find Boris standing guard. Either Macon or Jaxan generally kept him company. Giz snuffled and moved around on the bed, searching for a comfortable position.
    Zoey might think that she had few friends, but she had inspired loyalty in a large number of people.
    “Aunt Liula came in again,” Thor told him.
    The first time his mother had come to visit, Dex had allowed her inside Zoey’s room. That had been a mistake he hadn’t repeated. He had actually assumed his mother might have come to apologize. To make