The Alien's Steel: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Craving the Heveians Book 5) by Ella Blake

Author:Ella Blake [Blake, Ella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Table rock publishing, LLc
Published: 2023-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

Claire

I tentatively removed the headset covering my ears. It had provided much-needed relief from the relentless pulse that felt like it was tearing my mind apart. Now it pounded through my skull like a hammer, over and over. Blistering pain made everything hurt, from my teeth to my fingertips. I moaned and Craal’s arms came around me. He let out a curse in Heveian that my translator implant didn’t, or couldn’t, decipher. “If you can’t do this, we will think of something else.”

“I’ll be okay.” We were both well aware that there was nothing else, and if this torture was going to stop, I would have to make it stop, myself. At least I had Craal here to go through it with me, and to help destroy the machine causing this.

We slipped out from the crevice we’d been hiding in. Craal’s arm was snug around me, which was good because my balance was off. My head felt like it wasn’t quite attached to my body any longer.

“Do we go further into the tunnel?” Craal asked.

I knew he didn’t like this tunnel. It was unstable; that was obvious. The evidence was everywhere—in the rubble littering the ground and the fallen sections we had to climb around.

“Yes,” I said. “We need to go on.”

The way became harder. Craal moved boulders and huge chunks of rubble out of the way. We could hear the rocks shifting around us, rumbling unhappily at our movements.

“This is where the farr’ast would come in handy,” I said quietly to Craal.

“It would, if only you knew it.” He smiled. I only saw it because of the illumination given off by his eye. “The four Heveians who were looking for us have not come back this way, so it must lead out somewhere.”

“Hopefully, to the source of this pulse.” I was speaking now through clenched teeth. The pulse was taking over. My body was beginning to throb with it. “My heart is starting to beat to the same rhythm,” I said. “That can’t be good.”

In response, Craal picked me up again, cradling me against his chest. “Listen to my heart beat instead. Feel it, don’t give in to this weapon.”

I pressed my ear to his chest and tried to do as he suggested. His was a very different beat from the pulse. “We’re getting closer to it,” I said. “It’s stronger ahead toward the right.”

We reached a juncture and Craal took the righthand fork. We continued on. I was grateful he was carrying me. My breath came in time to the pulse, as if I were being taken over one body function at a time.

“I think we’re getting somewhere.” Craal’s rough voice was thick with desperation. I could feel the tightness in his limbs.

The stone tunnel had changed to a metal one. Squared-off edges and sleek shining walls, with harsh white lights, replaced the craggy stone. I acknowledged the shift with a nod. It was all I could manage. What I wanted to say and what I could say, were different things.

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