Alienus

Chapter Twenty Seven

For two heartbeats I was stunned, wondering if this was it.

On the third heartbeat, fingers interlocked with mine, an arm came around my back, pulling me to down to the floor and I heard an unplaceable sound of some material tearing. Then for a few seconds I could not hear anything in my right ear.

But none of this caught my attention, because something else was dragging every bit of my consciousness to it.

The ripples of pleasant shock barrelling up and down my left hand.

The hand that Rafe was holding. Without gloves.

Rafe had rolled us to the ground, with him beneath me, and he quickly picked both himself and me up.

A gust of wind, had me snapping my head up and I realised it had been Rafe.

He had shot to the elevator while I held my hand, as aftershocks shivered from the tips of my fingertips to my shoulder. The elevator had already closed and travelled up by the time Rafe could reach it.

He banged his hand against the closed wall in frustration, as footsteps hurried our way from the entrance.

I realised it was C'Riel who rushed to Rafe's side. He snapped out commands to them, completely in control of the situation. They all whipped into action, converging to an area to the right of the elevator and opening it and entering it.

Rafe started to follow them, when he stopped and turned back, his eyes perusing me from my head to my...he stopped with his eyes at my right bicep.

Confused, I looked at my arm and my eyes widened.

Oh, shit.

The laser had grazed me. The suit had torn and a moderately deep wound was leaking blood down my arm. I couldn't feel it though.

Rafe was in front of me again before I could blink, catching hold on my elbow to study the wound. He let out a sharp word in his language and pressed a hand to the wound to stem the bleeding. His eyes flicked to me as if to see if I was in pain.

I couldn't feel anything, except the heat that developed and spread to my fingertips at the contact of his fingers to my skin and my breath hitched on that.

His brows furrowed.

"I am so sorry," he whispered, urgently.

I caught his wrist.

"Rafe," I said, as he spoke quickly, presumably into the Com, because he was talking in his language.

I watched as someone headed towards me, a C'Riel most likely, and I said his name again urgently.

"Rafe," I said again and his eyes flicked to me, before flitting back to his hand on my wound. His ungloved hand on my skin.

"Ma'am please follow me," the C'Riel who had arrived said.

I ignored him.

"Go with him, Amour," Rafe said.

"Rafe," I said and he finally looked at me.

"You touched me," I said.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion before his eyes took in his hand on my arm and me holding my left hand, that he had touched, in my right.