Read Online Forest Whispers by Kaitlyn O'Connor - Free Book Online

and found she couldn’t. She was dimly aware of a scuffle
nearby, then Corin was bending over her, his face taut with
rage.
    “ Get him,” she gasped hoarsely. “Don’t
let him get away.”
    “ You’re hurt.”
    “ Go, damn it! I’ll be all
right.”
    Abruptly, he stood and left her. Gathering
herself, Lana finally managed to roll onto her side, but she felt
so nauseated when she’d done so that she gave up the effort to rise
and rolled onto her back again. Minutes passed while she drifted in
and out of awareness. She wasn’t certain of how long, but abruptly
Corin was back. Kneeling, he scooped her into his arms and lifted
her from the ground. “Catch him?” she asked hoarsely.
    “ He vanished.”
    Lana sighed. “Shit!” she muttered, but she
was too ill to feel a great deal more than the pain and nausea.
“Need my pack.”
    She wasn’t certain if he heard her. She
managed to loop her arms around his neck, but then blackness
claimed her. The next thing she was aware of was being settled
against something soft. She opened her eyes with an effort and saw
that she was in a room. Corin was staring down at her, his
expression a mixture of anger and concern. “My pack,” she said
hoarsely, wincing at the pain of trying to talk through her abused
throat.
    “ I’ll get it later.”
    “ Need it now.”
    “ Rest. I’ll get it.”
    “ Die if you don’t,” Lana muttered,
wondering dimly if she would. She couldn’t gather enough energy to
be unduly concerned about it, but she felt that she might be in
serious trouble if she didn’t have the pack.
    To her relief, he returned with the pack
several minutes later. She reached for it. “The map I showed
you.”
    Frowning, he dug it out and handed it to
her. Lana searched the surface blindly until she found the button
she was looking for. She pressed it. “Medical emergency these
coordinates,” she whispered hoarsely.
    “ Identify.”
    “ Ranger Lana Eloy, number
ER9652007830.”
    “ ETA five minutes, Ranger Eloy.
Standby.”
    She dropped the map.
    Corin pulled it from her lax grip and she
turned her head to look at him. “Ship’s coming. Will you take me to
it when it gets here? Louise will know what to do.”
    She never knew whether he answered or not.
Days passed before she was conscious enough to know where she was
again.
    She had difficulty adjusting her sight when
she opened her eyes. She blinked several times, trying to bring the
world into focus. It didn’t help much. Everything was still blurry,
her mind was fuzzy and she couldn’t figure out where she was for
several moments.
    “ How do you feel, Ranger
Eloy?”
    “ Like hell, Louise. What am I doing
here?”
    “ You were injured in the line of duty,
Ranger Eloy.”
    Lana frowned, trying to jog her mind. When
memory flooded back, she made an aborted attempt to sit up,
discovering she was in the ‘tube’. “Damn it! How long have I been
out of it?”
    “ Three days. You suffered a concussion
and a bruised larynx.”
    Lana lifted a hand to her head. “I don’t
remember getting here.”
    “ You were brought by the barbarian
male.”
    Lana frowned. “I suppose by that you mean
Captain Corin Thantos, of the royal guard? I didn’t realize you
were a bigot, Louise.”
    “ I am a computer. It is impossible for
me to be a bigot. I merely identified the male who brought
you.”
    “ Right. And you don’t feel the least
bit superior because you’re the only computer on Ata
Prime?”
    “ It is a primitive world. I have never
fully understood the human tendency to arbitrarily decide that
certain words are insulting when they are used properly and in the
context that they were intended.”
    “ Never mind. I want to get
up.”
    “ You are not sufficiently recovered to
return to duty, Ranger Eloy.”
    “ I didn’t say I was returning to duty.
I only said I wanted to get up.”
    “ But that is what you intend to do, is
it not?”
    “ Don’t start, Louise! Sadin’s got a
three day lead on