Wild Embrace by Nalini Singh Page B

throughout the continuing repair operation of the village’s small power plant. The teenager had just begun an electronics course but was the most qualified person after the station manager—who was currently in an emergency medical tent with two broken arms and a bruised skull.
    â€œHere we go,” she said to her teen assistant and flicked a switch.
    Nothing sparked, a low hum filled the air . . . and lights flickered on all around them. Cries of joy from outside told her the effect wasn’t localized. High-fiving the boy when he raised his hand, she used the light to give the entire plant a thorough going-over.
    Of course Stefan was still working when she finished; the lights had given him a longer work window. Shaking her head, she was walking toward him with the intention of giving him the nutrition bar in her pocket when the aftershock hit. It was violent, throwing her to the ground and making the already weakened structures around them collapse. She saw Stefan turn, yell out her name, and—
    She was in the desert just outside the village, away from all the buildings, Stefan beside her. “Wait! Stefan!” Except it was too late. He was already gone.
    He returned a second later with a small child, then another and another.
    The shaking finally stopped.
    Hugging the crying, distressed children, she calmed them down enough that they could walk back into the village. It was a mess. Leaving the children in the care of two previously injured women who were nonetheless stable and strong enough to take charge, she ran to what appeared to be the worst-affected part of the village.
    Stefan was already lifting debris. Shoving up her sleeves, she joined in.
    Hours passed.
    Taking him water, she put her hand on his arm when he swayed. “You’re about to flame out.” He’d mentioned that term to her one night in their tent, told her it was worse than taking a rest. If he flamed out, his body and mind would just shut down, possibly for an entire twenty-four hours.
    â€œI can feel a life, Tazia.” His eyes were turbulent when he looked at her. “A small, flickering life beneath all the rubble.”
    â€œOh, God.” She looked at the sheer amount of debris that had to be shifted. “Okay, okay.” Turning, she ran as hard as she could toward their tent. She grabbed a spare water bottle, filled it with fresh water and dumped in two vitamin packets, then shook it as she dug out several nutrition bars.
    Stefan was shifting more of the wreckage when she returned. “Stop.” She stood in front of him, touched her hand to his face when he didn’t seem to see her.
    â€œI can’t.”
    â€œYou’ll be useless if you fall down. Drink.” Ripping the wrappers off the nutrition bars one by one, she made him eat all of them.
    His eyes didn’t move off the rubble the entire time, the villagersfocusing their efforts on the area he’d indicated. Looking at them, Tazia had an idea. “Look, you can’t shift all that. It’s too much.”
    â€œThere’s someone—”
    She touched his face again, well aware she was breaking all kinds of taboos. His and her own. “Be smart, Stefan. I’m an engineer—I can see a way through that rubble. Shift only what’s necessary to create a stable tunnel to the victim.”
    That got his attention. “How?”
    â€œStep by step.”
    They worked together for the next two hours to create that tunnel, Tazia making judicious and careful use of Stefan’s depleted abilities as well as the hands of the villagers. When the little girl who’d been trapped actually scrambled out of the tunnel on her own power, Tazia wanted to collapse to her knees in tears. Instead, she looked at Stefan and said, “Enough.”
    This time, he listened, going back to the tent to fall into an exhausted sleep so deep, she knew it’d be longer than six hours. That didn’t