Vertigo by Jennsen G. S

Author:Jennsen, G. S. [Jennsen, G. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Romance, Adventure, Fantasy
Amazon: B00NS4X2HS
Goodreads: 50006473
Publisher: Hypernova Publishing
Published: 2014-09-25T07:00:00+00:00

PART III:

MAELSTROM

“The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.”

— Marshal Ferdinand Foch

32

PORTAL PRIME

UNCHARTED SPACE

* * *

ALEX WAS LYING ON THE FLOOR in the center of a cavernous but otherwise empty room.

Caleb’s heart plummeted at the sight of her crumpled body and arrested his forward progress in terror. Then she moved—a tiny, weak shift of her head—and he was again in motion, rushing ahead to drop to his knees beside her.

His hands roved over her body in search of injuries. But though her clothes bore multiple tears, he saw no blood or ripped skin, only mostly-healed scratches. He wasn’t certain he was able to hear above the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears—or because the dragon’s wail had blown out his eardrums—and tried to wrestle his pulse under control.

He brushed tangled hair out of her face. “Alex, baby, any chance you could wake up for me?”

At first there was no response. Alarm had begun to creep anew into his chest when she blinked…blinked again…and opened her eyes. Bleary and clouded, confusion flooded them as they darted blindly for several seconds before appearing to finally see him; they widened as she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

“Caleb…you’re okay….”

He gathered her up fully in his arms. Tears he refused to allow to fall stung his eyes as he fought to reign in the fervor threatening to overwhelm him. She was safe and it was the only thing he cared about.

Even so, joy and a kind of awed relief bled into the quiver in his voice. “And so are you.”

Her lips found his and crushed them in a frantic kiss, full of tumult and panic and need. He savored the perfect feel of her mouth on his, the perfection which her kiss represented, for everything he was worth. After all, it might be his last.

She gave a muffled laugh. Or it might have been a sob. Or it might have been him. With great reluctance he shifted position enough to be able to see her.

She looked an absolute wreck, hair falling in dirt-streaked tangles from what had once resembled a ponytail, lips parched and cracked, skin blotchy and….

He frowned in concern. “Have you been crying?”

She removed a hand from him to touch fingertips to her cheek, then stared queerly at the dampness they held. Her gaze lost focus as she drifted off.

The pad of his thumb ran softly over her jaw. “Alex?”

She jerked a little and offered him a weak smile. “Sorry. I…I’ll explain later. How long have I been here?”

“A day and a half, give or take.”

“Is that all? Do you have any water? My god I’m so thirsty.”

“Absolutely.” He fumbled for the water bottle, unlatched it and handed to her.

She greedily sucked it down as stray droplets spilled along her chin to join tear stains in cutting streaks through a thin layer of dirt coating her skin. Had the dragon dumped her upon the ground outside for her to be dragged in here?

She gave it back to him, then tilted her head hesitantly.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.