by Susan Grant
“Good point.” He flashed a grin over his shoulder. “Of course, you just want to get a head start on proving your landings are better than mine.”
“I do. And I will. Remember, no points for second place.” She laughed, quoting Top Gun.
“Incoming priority message from Central Command,” a weirdly gender-neutral computerized voice announced. It was the Raptor’s brain, its AI.
Kelly knew that during flight, Hawk would link with the AI to fly the ship. In a Dragon ship, Sky Mates and an AI formed a threesome.
Hawk grumbled. “What do they need to tell me that can’t wait until later?” A wave of his hand opened a comm display. He went still.
His cold shock invaded her.
“Is everything okay at home? Your family?”
“Yes, yes. It’s not that.” He shook his head. “Your orientation flight is canceled.”
“Why?” she asked with a bolt of disappointment.
“You’re medically disqualified.” His hand formed a fist on his thigh. He turned to her, his jaw tight. “Grounded—permanently.”
Chapter Fifteen
“But the Space Force medical evaluation board cleared me to fly,” Kelly protested from behind him. “I’ve been flying all week without incident.”
“Your aircraft, not ours,” the chief physician’s voice returned over the comm.
Hawk wished he could see the man’s face as he delivered the shocking news.
“The medical board has carefully reviewed Captain Ritz’s records. We overrode the Terran findings after detecting a slight anomaly in her brain from her prior injury.”
Hawk’s argument with the physician was brief, impassioned, and futile. Next, he skirted the edge of insubordination with Fleet-Commodore Ertugreth.
“Yours is a once-in-a-generation pairing, Commodore,” Ertugreth said patiently, using his traditional rank, unaware that Kelly was with him. “You and Captain Ritz have a powerful natural sync, one of a level rarely seen since the old days. Once the connection was completed via neural implants, had we gotten to that point, the sync was predicted to become far stronger.”
“With which we could easily overcome such a slight anomaly,” he said, failing in his effort to not mock the physician’s diagnosis.
“Linked, her anomaly could affect you too,” Ertugreth argued. “It would put you in danger. If in-flight stress were to trigger a seizure in her, it would very likely scramble your brain. Moot point now. We will not implant a link. Not if Captain Ritz’s brain is injured. Our Dragon ships are too valuable to lose. As are you, Hakkim.” His commander’s firm tone revealed that Sky’s End already saw his pairing with Kelly as failed.
Case closed.
“There is some good news, Hakkim. I’ve received word that the Council of Elders has approved you for a rematch.”
“What?” he blurted out. He sounded as cheeky as Kelly. Losing her as a Sky Mate was bad enough, but to hear his government intended to attempt a rematch? It was like having his heart cut out and trampled.
“I know it is disappointing to have to start over, but the board feels confident another Terran mate will be found.”
He heard Kelly expel a small sound of pain.
“With such promising results for you,” his commander continued happily, “quite unexpected results to be certain, we have high hopes for a future pairing, Commodore.”
For a few seconds, dizziness caused his vision to be awash in black spots and his ears to roar. His heartache had exceeded the capacity of his internal cybersystems.
Ertugreth went on. “We believe that once someone is matched, it is more likely to reoccur. Like Falcon, you now fall into that rare category. Your mission to Earth is almost complete. Once finished, you will return home for further testing. You have done a remarkable job while there. As for your friend Captain Ritz, the galaxy is not so large, Hakkim. Your paths will cross again.”
He wanted to stop Ertugreth from speaking, to cover her mouth with his hands. But it was too late. Kelly had heard everything.
They’d ordered him to return home.
And be rematched.
The comm ended. His gut churned as he extricated himself from the pilot seat. The insinuation that Kelly was disposable infuriated him. Ertugreth and who knew how many others at home assumed he’d be fine knowing he might cross paths with Kelly again when he couldn’t fathom living without her.
He crouched in front of Kelly. She sat on the edge of the observer seat, her head in her hands. He rubbed her leg, but she didn’t lift her head. “I am deeply sorry you had to hear that. She didn’t mean to be cruel. Under normal circumstances, Sky Mates would never meet prior to a pairing. There’d be no chance to experience synergy, to sync beforehand. To fall in love.” He clasped her cold hands. “The way I fell in love with you—head over heels, as you Terrans like to say.”
She raised her head. Her lips were as bloodless as her fingers. “What about your sky warrior—Cai? He and Charli fell in love first also. Sky’s End better get used to it, unsanctioned natural matches. But that’s not the problem. It’s me. I’m injured, damaged, maybe permanently.”
“You can still fly,” he assured her.
“But not with you. Not in your ships. My training as a sky warrior is over.”
“Your career as a Terran pilot is unaffected.” He squeezed her hands. “We are unaffected.”
“How can you say that? We can’t be Sky Mates.”
“No. But we can be what we planned to be before all this happened. A couple. We may have lost this dream, but we still have each other.”
“Your government wants to rematch you.”
“I’ll decline.”
“Sky Mates are vital to the protection of your planet.”
“Kelly…”
“No, Hawk. Listen. Every match matters. You told me that. Look at Falcon. He’ll probably have a second chance. You may too. You have a long life ahead—”
“I don’t want anyone else.”
“You don’t now. But in time all wounds heal.” She turned her head. “Yours will too.”
“Will your wounds heal so easily if I go?”
She refused to look at him. “I think you know the answer.”
“Here is mine.” He clasped her chin between his fingers and forced her to meet his eyes. “Heart and soul, I belong to you. Only you.”
She grabbed his wrist. “You’re a military officer. You took an oath of office. If you disobey orders, you’re done. Your career is over, your life ruined. Are you prepared to walk away from everything that’s important to you? Your people, your culture, your family… flying the Dragons? Hawk, your leadership has given you what amounts to an ultimatum. Lose me or lose everything. They expect us to part ways.”
“Part ways?” He was aghast at her flippant phrasing. “Is that all it will be?”
“I’m not diminishing anything, least of all us.” Her voice broke. “I’m giving you the freedom to choose.”
He pressed his hand to her heart. “I choose you.” There it was. Spoken without hesitation. “I swear it, Kelly. This may be the end of us flying together, but it won’t be the end of us.”
“Won’t it?” Her eyes blazed. “I don’t see we have a choice.”
Later, in Hawk’s room at the Webber Inn, Kelly joined him after work with a bag of sandwiches. He hadn’t touched a bite of food since leaving the Raptor. He’d sent the Solos off on their training flights without him, and Kelly back to her squadron, only to spend all afternoon getting nowhere with the government physicians at home.
They wouldn’t budge on their decision.
Now he paced in front of the bed, unable to shake off the anxiousness chipping away at his calm. It was hard to believe that only a few hours ago, his main concern had been introducing Kelly to the wonders of flying in a Raptor. Now she might never have the chance. News of her disqualification had stunned him—both of them.
She lay on his bed, in uniform, her arms flung to the sides as she stare
d at the ceiling. The atmosphere in the room was heavy and fraught with tension.
Scowling, he planted his hands on the windowsill and peered outside at a field. Beyond it were the runways, and beyond the base a magnificent mountain range. Behind those peaks? The wide Texas sky. Farther still, across the desert, was the great Pacific Ocean, a sight he hoped to one day view. There were no seas on Sky’s End.
This quaint, quirky world called Earth had sneaked up on him, capturing him before he realized it. Everything about this place was a part of him now—the land, the people.
And Kelly. Goddess, most of all her. What if his desire to make her his Sky Mate resulted in losing her for good?
He closed his hands into fists. I brought this terrible predicament on myself. “Could I have not left well enough alone?”
She pushed up on her elbows. “Left what?”
“You. Our future. I should have been satisfied with everything as it was. You in my life. No, not as a Sky Mate, but by my side. It should have been enough. But no. I felt compelled to force the issue of your retesting so I could have it all—our relationship and at long last my Sky Mate. It may very have cost me what I want most—you.” He shook his head. “No,” he growled. “I will not allow it to happen.”
“You can’t refuse the match if they find one for you, Hawk.”
He cast a dark glance over his shoulder. “Can’t I?”
“Think of the consequences.”
“I am. I’m weighing them as we speak.”
“What if I’d been matched with one of your sky warriors from home and you weren’t genetically viable, what would you have done?”
He felt ill at the very thought. “If that were the case, it would have been my duty to allow the match to happen.”
She slid off the bed, stalking over to him. “You would have let me go off with some stranger?”
Never! He wanted to roar the word. He gnashed his teeth and pivoted to her. “If you had been willing to consent to the match, I would have stepped back and wished you well.”
“Even though you love me.”
“Even though.”
“But you would have fought for me. Just a little, right?” She waved her hand. “At least gone through the motions.”
His heart squeezed at her plaintive tone. The little girl taken far from home and ignored. “You’re the most important thing in my life, Kelly. I would fight to the death for you.”
She blinked at him. “Okay then,” she whispered thickly. “Just checking. Ready for a sandwich? Turkey avocado or—”
“But to answer your very hypothetical question, I would have been duty bound to put my people’s needs ahead of my own.” He took the paper bag from her hand and set it on the dresser. “We on Sky’s End have long been alone in the galaxy. Reaching out to another world for help is not something we are used to. My mission is to change that.”
“I can’t let you give that up. Your people are counting on you to see it through. If you make a hasty decision, you could come to be bitter about it. You could come to be bitter about me,” she whispered harshly, stroking his face. Her eyes were fierce, filled with emotion all over again. It resonated inside him and choked him up.
“Kelly…” She wasn’t making this easy.
She dropped her hand. “It’s why we have to end this if you’re matched.”
He realized what she had done. She’d cleverly led him down this verbal path only to once again prove her point: his duty superseded their future. It was like meeting a more powerful than expected enemy in battle and now he’d have to limp off to regroup. Except in war, he’d never known defeat. With Kelly, he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to keep that record going. But with the stakes what they were, he damn well had to try.
“Yet another hypothetical situation,” he complained with a weary sigh.
“Are you sure? We’re working with the Intergalactic Dating Agency now. IDA’s pool of candidates is much larger than ours. She could be one of them, Hawk, your Sky Mate.” Her voice had tightened. Her pain knifed through him. As strong as she tried to sound, she loved him, and she’d never convince him she would willingly let him go.
Her argument boiled down to one thing: a fear he would one day regret any decision he made where he disobeyed his people’s orders in order to be with her. Valid concern, but it wasn’t going to happen.
“And then what, after the IDA hypothetically finds me a match?” He smiled, luring her into a verbal trap of his own. Two could play this game.
“We’ll go our separate ways with some nice memories of our affair.” Ever so lightly, she kissed him, a maddeningly brief brush of her lips across his.
As maddening as her downplaying what they had found together. “Just an affair, eh?” He swept his hand behind her head and pulled her close. With his tongue, he ended any protest before she had the chance to utter one.
The kiss knocked her so off-balance she was forced to wrap her arms around him to stay on her feet. Only after he’d kissed her thoroughly did he let her go.
She clung to him, arousal etched on her face, her eyes darkened, her lips plumped. A satisfying result that. “Okay, fine. A very hot affair.”
Rolling his eyes, he tossed her onto the bed. Stretched out next to her, his thigh pinning her in place, he smoothed her waves off her forehead. “I’ll find the way out for us, my love. I don’t know what it is yet, but don’t lose hope.”
Instead, they spent the next few hours lost in each other.
In the middle of the night, Kelly frowned at the phone on the hotel nightstand. Spooned in Hawk’s strong arms, she wanted to fall asleep but couldn’t. Too many thoughts, too many worries.
Hawk was confident he’d find a way they could stay together. But she wasn’t so sure. If he was matched and he refused, there would be hell to pay. Period. What could he possibly say to anyone that would resolve this dilemma?
She was damaged in his world’s eyes. She had a slight anomaly in her brain, they’d said. What the fuck does that even mean? Good thing the phone couldn’t reach Sky’s End’s medical board or she’d call and ask and probably say a few things she’d regret while she was at it.
“Please listen carefully because our interstellar menu options have changed. Your call is important to us. You are number 3,047. Please remain on the line.”
She shook her head and shifted position, resting her hand on the arm Hawk had thrown over her body. His altruism was one of the things she loved about him the most. She couldn’t see him dishonoring himself, his family, or his government just to be with her. It wasn’t him, wasn’t the Hawk she knew.
She could only hope he came to his senses.
Chapter Sixteen
The next day, Kelly returned to her routine and Hawk fought to come up with a solution. He hunched over a plate of eggs and bacon with Falcon at breakfast. Narekk, Ellfen, and Rowan sat at the next table over, chatting among themselves. Where Rigel and Jamie were, he didn’t know, but if he had to guess, they were getting to know each other better in Rigel’s room.
“Better to have been paired and severed than to never have been paired at all,” Hawk muttered.
Falcon jerked his head up from his double order of biscuits and gravy. “I never thought I’d hear that old Sky Mate’s saying from you, sir.”
“I never understood it before. I never understood how, after suffering the loss of your mate, you’d want to risk bonding again. Now I know why.”
Falcon’s lips compressed but his eyes softened.
Hawk bent his head to his meal. Being in love with Kelly had changed him forever. Even watching her drive away this morning felt like a severing. Every time they parted, it wrenched him. He’d never be able to return to the life he’d known before she was in it. To go back to the emptiness from before she’d filled his heart would be unthinkable. No wonder Falcon had hungered to reclaim what he had lost.
Kelly, I swear it. I will not lose you.
Hawk ran for miles. His path took him on roads
through farmed fields. Eventually, his route climbed in elevation, heading into the hills. His breathing grew harsher, and his muscles protested the strain. The more stress he placed on his physical body, the clearer his head. It was likely a combat function, but he found it useful when he needed to think.
He really needed to think.
Kelly feared if he refused a rematch, he’d be banished. She’d witnessed Sky’s End’s case-closed, no-arguments medical decision and assumed all Sky’s End’s decisions would be rendered the same way—cold, quick, done. But his world hadn’t survived for eons, or even survived the war, by being brittle. Even the Council of Elders could bend… if they saw the logic in doing so.
If he could just avoid his rematching, or postpone it, it would give him a chance to let the rest of his plan unfold.
This is where Father can help.
But first Hawk had to prove to his sire his logic was sound. He could seek an audience in front of the Council of Elders on his own, and he might yet have to, but having such a renowned figure facilitating it would surely help.
At an overlook, he stopped to rest. Sweat streamed off his body. He dragged his arm across his brow and admired the view. Was Kelly done with her flight yet? He checked his data-vis. No new messages from her. Only one from his father that had arrived during the night.
Dragon-Leader Torren: We heard what happened with Kelly. Please call.
Hawk hadn’t. Not yet. He wasn’t in the mood to hear the disappointment in his father’s voice over the disqualification debacle.
It pained him to have to dash his parents’ hopes once again. How many times had they been through this as a family, presented with the vivid hope of a match only to see it fall apart?
When it comes to Sky Mates, there can be no almost. Hawk had come close, but never close enough.
Until Kelly.
She was as far from almost with him as any being could be. She was all. They were the most powerful pairing seen in a generation. His commander had even said so.
