No sooner had he disconnected the call than his legs buckled.
Ember’s breath left her with a rush as she saw the huge red stain that was spreading over his side from where he’d been wounded. “Medics!” she shouted, running to him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders to help him lie back, and was momentarily stunned to discover just how ripped he was beneath that suit.
His breathing ragged, he met her gaze as she worked to staunch the blood from the worst gash in his side. “Did the lieutenant make it out?”
“She did. Thank you.”
The med team swarmed him and forced her away so that they could inspect his injuries.
An involuntary gasp left her lips as they cut open his reinforced armored suit and she saw the jagged wound where shrapnel had caught him across his abdomen. More than that, he was covered in scars. This wasn’t some leisurely prince who sat around with servants fetching for him. Or lollygagged as he’d told his mother.
Those scars were from battle wounds.
He shoved at the medic as he tried to cover his face with an oxygen mask. “Hey, Major?”
Stunned that he remembered her, she stepped forward. “Yeah?”
He held his link out to her. “Keep me posted about your zusa. I have a promise to keep. This link will get you through to me.”
“Latenn, we have to get you out of here.”
Bastien rolled his eyes at the group fussing around him. “I only need one MT. For God’s sake, we got wounded all over the place. Would you bastards tend someone else? Or I swear I’m getting up and walking home. Then you’ll all have shit to deal with when my ?dara finds out.”
They scrambled away from him as if he were on fire, except for an older MT who shook his head at Bastien.
“Mask now, Latenn?”
Grimacing, Bastien returned it to his face. Then he gestured at Ember with their military signs that said he’d be back in action ASAP.
The MT lifted him up onto an air-gurney, and saw him off to the nearest ambulance.
Unsure of what to think of her new wingman, Ember opened his link. He’d not only unsecured the biolock before he’d handed it to her, he’d left her a message.
If you can possibly look past my obvious birth defect of a royal disorder, Major Wildstar, I’d love to have dinner with you. Or at least promise me that you’ll come on that trip to North Beach? Double date? Your zusa and her boyfriend as chaperones? And don’t worry. Pretty sure I left my balls in that hole, so you’re safe from my nefarious playboy ways.
~Bas
Laughing in spite of it all, Ember slid his link into her pocket and went to check on the other survivors. But as she continued to help with the rescues, her thoughts kept drifting back to Bastien Cabarro and those ruggedly sculpted, perfect male features. In that regard, he was exactly what she’d imagined their youngest visir to be. Handsome beyond belief. Charming.
Heroic, however, was a new concept. And completely unexpected.
As was his nonchalance about his injuries with his mother. And the regard he’d shown for those around him.
Yeah, she couldn’t reconcile the rumors she’d heard with the man who’d risked one hell of a charmed life to jump into that deadly hole and calmly rescue her sister. She’d been expecting the kind of spoiled shit who whined over a hangnail and demanded three days of leave until it healed.
She was still contemplating that thought five hours later when she finally made it to the hospital to check on Alura.
Their other four sisters were already there, hovering and gossiping outside the room while their parents visited inside.
“So … you met the visir.…” Ashley’s voice was grating in its probing, teasing tone. Much taller than her, Ash had their mother’s light brown hair and vibrant blue eyes.
Ember growled at her. “What do you know?”
“Is that Ember?”
She peeked through the cracked door to see Alura sitting up in the bed. “Yeah, babe, it’s me.”
Even though it was against hospital regulations, Alura waved her in so that she could take her hand. Her dark blond hair was covered with a bandage, and her face was a bit scuffed, but only Alura could look that attractive in a surgical headdress and wearing bruises.
“Did you get his number?” she asked excitedly.
Wow … can’t even ask if I’m okay after I saved your worthless ass …
Thanks, sis. Love you, too.
Ember scowled at her sister and her weird concern given the near-death experience they’d just gone through. Given the number of casualties they’d lost in the bombing. She, alone, would be attending the funerals of seven good friends. Two of them had been school and playmates both she and Alura had known the whole of their childhoods. “His?”
“The visir! Didn’t you hear what he said? He invited me to his palace at North Beach!”
Ember choked as she passed an annoyed smirk to their parents. “That’s not exactly what the man said. The invitation was for you and your boyfriend.”