THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

keep a furkken tek alive...they don’t have powers...how could Rayen kill the...no other explanation...”
    I smiled over hearing my name again and moved my hand to grasp his arm with a weak grip.
    He stilled, lifting his head slowly until molten brown eyes met mine. “About time you’re awake.”
    Sort of awake. My head floated in a fog, but I did feel alive. The pulse in his wrist raced beneath my fingers. I had the strangest impulse to put my hand over his heart and feel each beat.
    But I didn’t want to bring back his stony face.
    I tried to speak and managed only a growl from my dry throat.
    Slowly, he tugged his arm away from my hold.
    He reached for a furry round shape the size of a large coconut cut in half, but I didn’t think coconuts came in shades of dark pink or had furry hides. Come to think of it, was I even sure I knew what a coconut was. Too much to still grapple with. After he gave me a drink that had a tart and sweet taste, he put the nut down and touched a finger to my stomach.
    I flinched at the sharp ache, but the killer pain from before had worn itself down to a constant throb. Somewhere between close to dying and now, I must have passed out. How could I still be alive?
    “What’d you do to me?” I asked.
    “I closed your wounds.”
    “Really?” I stretched my neck forward to see my abdomen below my half shirt, all that was left after ripping off a cloth for Gabby. The gash from the croggle’s claw was now a red welt that ran in a wide line from my left side across my stomach. My arms had several similar welts.
    Something tickled my memory about healing, but I couldn’t put a finger on it. “What’d you use to close the gashes?”
    Studying on his answer, he finally said, “My hands. How would you repair a wound?”
    “I don’t know. No wonder you thought I’d be able to walk back to the village.”
    “You can’t yet. Not until your internal organs heal.”
    “Can you fix those, too?”
    Confusion fed through his voice. “I can help...but I don’t have Jaxxson’s skills. Plus I’ve drained my power getting your wound closed. You have to complete your healing.”
    “I don’t know how to heal anything.”  Or could I? “Can you show me?” Since you have magic hands.
    Things had been going along so well, but that question rallied his suspicions. “Tek-nah-tees can’t heal with hands either.”
    “Then wouldn’t this be a good test if you’d show me what I need to do and let me try?”  Unless I failed and gave him the proof he needed that I was a tek-nah-tee. But would he kill me after keeping me alive? Only one way to find out.
    Still he hesitated to make a move.
    “Afraid I’m telling the truth, Callan?”
    “ Fear a tek?” 
    Now I’d insulted him. “I meant, are you willing to take the risk that I might not be one? Me? I’d take that challenge, but you might not–”
    He leaned forward, some decision made, and ordered, “Spread your hands over your wound.”
    I moved my arms that were still heavy with weakness. Once I got my hands settled over the scar on my stomach, he spread his fingers and covered my hands with his.
    A tingle of energy vibrated where he touched me, but I felt nothing changing inside my abdomen. “What else?”
    “You have to see the injuries in your mind and focus on repairing the organs.”
    This would not be the time to admit I didn’t see anything in my mind. “I’ve got a headache like you can’t imagine. Think it’s interfering with my vision.” His expression became even more suspicious, if anything. I had to make this work. “I’m asking for a little help to get me started, that’s all.”
    His sigh came out weighted with irritation then he said, “Lift your hands.”
    When I did, he slid his beneath mine and spread his fingers over my skin.
    The minute I placed my hands over his, I felt warm energy flooding my body. The weight of his touch didn’t hurt as I expected after having suffered earlier when he’d touched my wound. His touch felt right, comforting.
    For the first time since coming awake in the desert, I didn’t feel so alone.
    Closing my eyes, I opened my mind as if I’d done this before and this time I did see something. A healing river of heat traveled from my hands down through his and inside me. I saw the shredded damage inside my belly...but how?
    Was I seeing it through his eyes?
    I pushed the swirling energy like a tidal wave from ravaged organs to torn veins and arteries, amazed at the