DAR

Carefully, I help Zedd lie down on the medical bed as Pina dives toward her instruments. Zedd speaks weakly. "Dar, please. Get Thomas. I don't want to die without knowing he's all right."

"Shut up, Zedd. You're not going to die."

"They injected me with something. Rubbed it into the cuts too. Feel awful."

"We're going to get you fixed up, Zedd, just be still" Pina insists.

I turn to go after Tommy when Pina stops me. "Dar, I need you or we're going to lose him. He's lost a lot of blood. Once he's stabilized then you can go after Tommy."

About to protest that Zedd won't stay still long enough to let us fix him unless I go retrieve his mate, I'm suddenly stopped by Zedd himself as he grabs my arm weakly but insistently. "Dar, promise you'll take care of him. Promise that when I die you'll take care of him and make sure he's safe."

Rolling my eyes at his dramatics, I remove his hand from my arm placing it gently back down on his stomach. "You're not going to die, Zedd. We all know you're too damn stubborn to die, so settle down and rest."

Voice suddenly taking on a much stronger and firmer tone, I'm surprised when he snatches my arm once more. "Promise, Goldar."

Sighing, and not at all liking the fact that he wants me to feed into his delusion of dying, I however give a nod to appease him. "All right, if and when you die, which by the way won't be today, I will take care of your mate the same as I know you'd take care of mine. Now for hell's sake lay down and be still."

Seeming satisfied with this, he finally does as asked, letting us get to work on tending to his injuries.

Almost half an hour later I'm able to snatch up my sword once more and head out to find the missing human. For Zedd's sake, he'd better not be dead. I'm not more than twenty paces from the ship when the former human comes into sight, a large bundle thrown over his shoulders. He has a nasty bruise on his cheekbone but otherwise appears unharmed. He sees me and calls out, "How's Zedd?"

"Worried about you" I answer. "What in the hells is that and do we really need it?"

A cruel smile crosses his face for a moment and then is gone. "I do. Let's go and get home."

Quickly we board the ship and he dumps his bundle along one wall, kicking it into place. He crosses swiftly over to his mate and gently takes his hand. "I'm here, Zedd. I'm okay."

Zedd opens his eyes slowly. "Thomas."

"We'll get you home and you'll be okay, Zedd. Just rest."

I hurry over and prepare the ship to take off while Pina tends to Zedd around his mate. I can barely hear Zedd's words. "Had to see you again before I die. Had to know you were okay."

Tommy's voice is stern. "Zedd, you are not going to die. I won't let that happen."

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, so sorry. I didn't mean it, didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Rolling his eyes much as I had earlier, Tommy shakes his head. "You didn't hurt my feelings Zedd, it's fine. I misspoke and you misunderstood. It happens, and it's all right. Now rest, we'll be home soon and everything will be fine."

"Goldar and Scorpina will take care of you, okay? Want you to be safe."

"Again, you're not going to die" Tommy insists, hand gently stroking his mate's hair. "However if you don't stop talking and rest, I will knock you unconscious, got it?" Now why didn't I think of that.

I get us home as swiftly as I can. I turn the controls over to Pina for the landing, her fine touch better than mine with an injury on board. Tommy catches my arm. "Dar, can you take Zedd to the infirmary? I need a few minutes."

"I guess so, brat. Just don't take too long. He needs you."

"He also needs me to be able to focus." O-kay that's kind of an odd comment. Mentally, I shrug putting it down to the human's oddities.

Once done with the shut down, Pina and I hoist Zedd between us on a stretcher and move him to the infirmary. Once on the table, Pina scans him, the equipment here far superior to what she has on her ship and that's better than what Zedd and I have on ours. That in mind though, I know I'm going to have to go get Zedd's ship soon. I'm already working out the logistics on it even as I wait for Pina's verdict.

She frowns. "His injuries are pretty well handled."

She's not saying something. "But?"

"But they infected him with something. I'm going to have to do some blood work to try and figure out what. Hopefully, it's something curable."

"I'd say it should be, considering Annwyl wanted him as a bedmate again and not dead it seemed. Wouldn't serve his purpose to poison him with something he couldn't cure."

Zedd stirs on the table. "Thomas" he moans.

"He'll be here in a little while, Zedd" I tell him. "He needed a few minutes."

Even as I say it, it feels like a lie. After all, what could be more important than his mate? Just about to go looking for him, I'm relieved when he pops into the room. Tommy immediately crosses over to his mate and takes his hand, brushing his other hand through Zedd's hair. "I'm here, Zedd. You'll be all right." He shoots a questioning look at Pina, who just shrugs in return.

"I'm about to do some blood work so that I can hopefully determine what they infected him with."

"Infected? That would explain the low fever then, right?" She nods. "Go ahead and draw the blood you need. I'll try to get him cooled down."

Tommy releases his mate's hand, assuring Zedd he's not going anywhere as he protests, fills a bin with cool water, grabs a cloth and returns to the table. Gently, he wipes down his mate, paying attention to his face, wrists and the back of his neck - all good places to help him cool down.

I turn to Pina before she gets too involved in her work. "I'm going to go after Zedd's ship. I'll be back as fast as I can." I know it seems callous, but Pina and I both know that I'll lose my mind with nothing to do but pace.

"Hang on." She rummages in her desk for a minute before handing me a card with credits on it. "Here. If you see Asa, give her this and tell her that I said it's a down payment on what I owe her."

I nod. "How much is it?"

"Fifteen hundred."

"That's barely a dent in what the information ended up being worth."

She sighs. "I know but that's all I have at the moment."

"We'll figure it out later." I head out swiftly. As I head for the hangar, I go over my plan once more. Grab the spare cruiser, being the smallest, go to Zedd's ship, set this one on auto pilot to get it home and fly Zedd's back. Hopefully, when I get back there'll be good news.