Without Hesitation, Talia Jager [warren buffett book recommendations txt] 📗
- Author: Talia Jager
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“I know nothing about his research. Nothing at all. I was a kid. Nobody’s ever talked to me about it.”
The information about what my father became less important when I focused on what she was saying. She was a Splicer. Her DNA was joined with some animal DNA.
Her head turned without warning. “Are you afraid of me now?” she asked in a whisper. Her gold eyes met mine.
“What? No. I’m not afraid.” I wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Intrigued. What were you spliced with?”
“Jaguar. I can run fast. I am strong and have good reflexes. It’s why I wasn’t as cold as you in the snow and why I caught you when your foot slipped. I hear better than any humanoid, see better, smell better—”
“Beautiful,” I whispered, tangling my hands into the soft hair at the nape of her neck.
Slowly, like we were magnetically drawn to one another our mouths drifted together. I tentatively pressed my lips to hers, then unsure, I pulled back to judge her expression. She was smiling. There was nothing tentative about the second kiss. It was passionate and sure. The kiss deepened immediately and I knew it would leave me with bruised lips, but I couldn’t stop. Her lips parted and I took that as an invitation that left our tongues playing together.
When we finally pulled away, both breathless, we stared at each other for a minute. If we weren’t stuck on a foreign planet, hungry and tired, and she wasn’t injured, I would have liked it to go much further.
“Thank you,” I said.
Her brow furrowed. “For?”
“Telling me. I know opening up isn’t easy for you.”
“You make it easy.” She ran her thumb over my lips. “Can we sleep like this tonight?”
Kissing her thumb, I answered, “Yeah.”
I stayed awake as long as I could staring into her eyes. When I woke, we were tangled up in each other, and it was by far the best feeling in the galaxy. But as my eyes focused on her, I realized something was wrong. Her coloring wasn’t good and her breathing was labored. I put my hand to her forehead. She was hot. This wasn’t good. The beast’s bite must have venom in it.
I sat up and examined her wound. It was red and pus leaked out. “Ever?”
She stirred and slowly opened her eyes. “Kaci.” Her voice was weak and by the look in her eyes I could tell she knew something was wrong. “If I turn into…one of them…kill me.”
“Ever…”
“Promise?”
It was obvious she needed to hear it. “Promise.”
“Thank you.”
“I have to think.” I paced around the fire, turning away from her, so she wouldn’t see the fear in my eyes. When I turned back, her eyes were closed and Nero was cuddled up next to her.
I knelt down beside her and straightened the blanket. Her eyes fluttered open again. “I’m going to find something to help you.”
Her hand shot out and grabbed mine. “Don’t go.”
“I’ll be back. I need you to stay alive.”
“I’ll try.”
“No. I want a promise.”
She gave me a slight smile. “Promise.”
I kissed her forehead and then took off into the forest.
Chapter Thirteen
Akacia
The venom was killing Everleigh. That much I knew. I didn’t know how to stop its effects and or how long she’d live.
Something chattered behind me. I turned and found Nero following. Kneeling down, I said, “You want to come? I need to find something to help Ever.” I wiped the tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand. “I have to help her.”
Nero jumped on my shoulder and I continued through the forest, trying to find anything I could use. It wasn’t just an infection. This was venom from some freaky beast. How was I going to cure that?
I combed through plants, trying to find something that might work.
A bolt of lightning struck nearby. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled.
That was all that I needed. I shrunk down next to a tree while the storm boomed around me. I watched the way it was going, worried about Everleigh, and was relieved that it wasn’t headed toward her. When it was done, Nero hopped off my shoulder and ran ahead. “Hey! Nero! Come back!” I chased after him.
Suddenly I found myself surrounded by wet, glowing fungus-like organism. Nero ran around in a circle and then back to me.
“Are you trying to tell me that this will help her?” I asked him like he was going to answer me which was ridiculous. But it was even more ridiculous that he chittered like he actually was answering me. I nodded, rubbed his head, and began collecting the glowing stuff.
Snarling sounds brought my hands to a stop. I looked up and through the trees. Four beasts chased a large four-legged animal through the woods. I considered my options. I could stay where I was and hope they wouldn’t find me. I could run and hope they wouldn’t notice. But if they did, I’d lead them back to Ever and she couldn’t fight back. I looked up. I could climb. Get in the tree and wait for them to go.
That was what I had to do.
Quietly, I climbed up high enough to be hidden. Nero sat with me and we waited. The beasts attacked the animal with a vengeance. My stomach clenched at the sight and I looked away. We waited there for too long while they ate. Maybe I should have run? What if she died while I was up in this freaking tree?
Tears slid my face and I clamped my mouth shut so the beasts wouldn’t hear me. Nero buried himself in my chest like he knew what I was thinking.
Finally the beasts finished. My breath hitched when it looked like they were going to head toward Ever, but something caught their attention and they took off the other way.
I climbed out of the tree, finished collecting the glowing fungus, and raced through the forest back to camp. My heart thudded in my chest the closer I got and almost stopped when I saw her. Ever’s color was grayish and she didn’t look like she was breathing.
No.
I rushed to her and fell to the ground. I put my hand on her chest and released a breath when I felt her exhale. I took all the glowing fungus-like stuff and piled it in front of me.
“Ever? I’m here. I’ve got the stuff.” Having no idea what I should do with the fungus, I decided to do it all. First, I opened her mouth and shoved some in.
Then, grabbing the bowl, I took off to the stream, filled it with water and hurried back. I dribbled a little in her mouth. I mixed some of the fungus into the water and poured as much as I could down her throat. After getting more water, I made up a paste and smothered it on top of the bite.
That was all I could do. I sat down and held her hand. Nothing seemed to happen. No quick miracle cure.
“Don’t die. I forgive you. I wanted to hate you, but instead I fell in love with you. So please don’t die.”
The words surprised me, but they were the truth. I loved her. I was mad at her for what she’d done to me. Unbelievably mad, but I loved her. Didn’t you forgive the ones you loved?
Night fell and Ever didn’t die, although she came very close. She did take an extremely long time to recover. Her color seemed a little better and when I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, I lay next to her and let them close.
I woke before daylight and put more paste on the wound. Her coloring was normal and her fever gone. She stirred and her eyes fluttered open.
“Hey,” I whispered.
“You saved me. You could have left me, but you didn’t.”
My eyes were wet. “Of course, I saved you.”
“Why?”
Because I love you. “You saved me. Now we’re even. I told you that you wouldn’t turn into one of them.”
“I’m glad you were right.”
“Me too. Then I wouldn’t get to do this.” I leaned forward and captured her warm lips. The kiss was soft, yet deep and demanding. She made a noise, part whimper, part moan. I pulled on her bottom lip with my teeth before pushing my tongue into her mouth. My heart was hammering so hard I wondered if she could hear it. I didn’t want to overdo it because she still needed to recover, so I pulled away leaving a wide grin on her face.
Chapter Fourteen
Everleigh
The venom was gone or neutralized or whatever, but my leg was still injured and I was weak. We decided to stay where we were for another night.
During the day, Akacia did all the things that I had done since we crashed here. She was just as capable as I was of surviving. I had jumped into being the leader because she was royalty and I didn’t think she knew what to do. Boy, had I been stupid.
Telling Akacia everything was more than a little difficult for me, but I was glad to have done it. At first I wasn’t sure how she would handle it, but she barely blinked an eye. It was like it didn’t matter to her at all to learn that I had animal DNA in me. That fact alone would scare off most people. Throw in that I had been abducted and worked for a bad man, she should be running far away. But she stayed.
Akacia was lying on her back looking up at the clouds. “That one looks like a face,” she said, pointing.
“What?”
“The clouds. They take shapes. You just have to use your imagination to see what they are. Try.”
I looked up at the clouds in the orange sky. “They’re clouds. Puffy, white clouds.”
“Look further.” She pointed at one. “It’s a heart.”
I looked at where she pointed and maybe, if I squinted just the right way, I could see a heart. I was so used to being in space, that seeing clouds from below was weird. Either that or I lacked an imagination. Maybe both.
“Tell me more about your travels,” she said.
“Like what?”
“Where have you gone? What have you seen?”
I started off telling her about flying the ship around the universe. How I’d seen hundreds of stars and planets. The different space stations that I had visited. I told her about meeting new people and how no two places were the same. How everything was different and mysterious. “Sometimes we go down to a planet to explore it. See what resources it offers. There have been times where we find awesome ones and times that were downright scary.”
“Scary?”
“Pools of lava with out of control, shooting lava balls. A planet with an atmosphere so green you can see the poisons lingering. Ground like quicksand that sucks you in so fast, you don’t have time to scream.”
Her eyes were wide in horror. I felt a little guilty.
“There are beautiful planets, too. Those with colors you never knew existed. Foods you never knew could taste so good. Meadows filled with the most beautiful flowers.”
“You’ve seen so much.”
“I never get to spend a lot of time at these places though.”
“Because of Caspar?”
“Yes.”
“So you do all these jobs for him and in turn he lets your family live?”
I nodded.
“You rescued me. You
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