by Riley Carver
When I get to the part about Cevelii, Peggy’s long fingers are curl up into fists at her sides. I make sure to explain that Drax wants Cevelii alive for now so that he can get more information out of her, but Peggy looks like she’s going to run out and kill Cevelii, no matter what I say.
I try to soothe her and she laughs at me. “I’m supposed to be taking care of you,” she says. “Not the other way around.”
She pauses for a long while and cocks her head to the side. “Are you allowed to share this information with me?” she asks.
“I don’t need permission,” I say, attempting a smile. “I know I can trust you, and I know that we’re going to need you on our side for whatever comes next.”
It’s true. There’s no saying what will happen over the next few days, and it’s best if Peggy has the full picture of what’s going on. I have a feeling that Drax might have a mutiny on his hands soon. I need Peggy in our corner.
But right now, nothing feels that important or pressing except for mating. I’m in agony, and I realize it will stretch on for hours until Drax fills me.
“Find him, please, Peggy. I can’t take it much longer. Make Drax come to me.”
Drax
I’m surprised to see the Beta attendant push her way into the control room like she owns the place.
“Whatever you’re doing right now, Amiran can handle it,” she barks.
I’m not accustomed to anyone talking to me this way, let alone a Beta, and I immediately stiffen.
“Kira needs you—right now.”
My poor little Omega has gone into heat so fast. All my protective instincts kick in, and I know that the Beta is right. Amiran has the situation under control for now. I should go breed my Omega.
I resist the urge to put the Beta in her place and instead follow her out of the control room. Amiran assures me that he and Kyr will be fine.
Kyr looks a little shell-shocked, but he nods. Apparently, he had noticed some discrepancies in his orders from the Upper Council for his next mission, so it didn’t take much to convince him of what is really going on. I’m glad he’s on our side. I think many on the ship will take up arms against me. At least I have the Alphas fighting beside me.
I dismiss Peggy and head straight for Kira’s chamber. I call to her that I’m coming right away. Her scent envelops me the second I leave the control room. I’m hard and ready for her, and I sprint down the hall. It’s time to break her heat.
Kira
I weep when Drax barrels through the door. He tears my clothes from my body and throws them across the room. I get on all fours and turn away from him. My instincts say that I want him to take me from behind so that he can go deep, deep inside.
I hear him getting undressed, and it’s only a second before he enters my needy body. He grabs hold of my shoulders and ruts me as I scream. His knot swells and swells until we are fused together, and finally, the pain that has overtaken me starts to dissipate, and I purr.
I don’t know how long we stay knotted together—I lose all concept of time. There is only me and Drax in the universe, as far as I’m concerned. I could stay tangled up with him forever.
There’s still the electricity between us that I felt the first time I saw him. It ricochets off our bodies, and my nostrils fill with his masculine scent. Soon, I’ve come three, four, five times, and Drax’s knot continues to hold me fast.
Later, when Drax pulls out, he caresses my spent body as I lie limply in his arms.
“I think your heat has broken,” he whispers, and I smile down at him from my position curled up on his chest. I reach out and stroke the nubs of horns on the top of his head.
He laughs and there’s a lightness in his voice I haven’t heard before. “Careful, Kira. They’re sharper than they look.”
Then he gently places me next to him and starts to dress. “I don’t want to leave you, but I have to, my little Omega.”
I pout and turn away from him. I can’t help it. My body is still screaming to keep him near, even though I’m no longer in pain.
He walks around to the other side of me and crouches down so that he’s looking me in the eyes. “By your side is where I want to be. One day, I’ll never have to leave.”
I close my eyes and immediately drift off, but my peace is shattered when I wake up. As I rub my eyes, Drax is talking to me: “Hide, Kira. Hide and trust no one.”
Chapter 16
Drax
I walk around the ship, feeling energized and ready to do my duty. I keep remembering the way Kira’s tightness felt around my knot, but somehow, it doesn’t distract me. It motivates me to make sure that she’s safe and that I can bring her home to Fysi without worrying about the insurrection.
I meet up with Amiran and Kyr and we decide to bring groups of soldiers in for debriefing. It’ll take all night, but it’ll be worth it to make sure we convince everyone we’re doing what’s right.
We’re with the second group of soldiers we’ve called in when the siren of the warning system sounds. It’s a high-pitched wail, and everyone claps their hands over their ears.
“You are dismissed,” I yell over the terrible noise. “We will continue this later. For now, ready yourself for battle.”
I run over to the control panel and tap a sequence of keys until the noise stops. The siren only goes off when another ship locks on to ours. That means they have a missile pointed at us, ready to go. Kyr and Amiran flank me, and together we determine the enemy ship’s position.
“The tracking device was disabled. I don’t understand how they keep flouting our cloak,” I growl as I kick the chair next to me.
Kyr clears his throat. “The Upper Council has been developing new trackers that can be switched on and off remotely as long as a ship is within a 10,000-galaxar range. The Avekis must be flying a lot of their ships and continuously pinging the same frequency in the hope of finding the Omegas’ ships.”
“That makes sense that we’d come under attack as we approach Glinge. It’s a popular flight path,” I say, still seething mad.
“If there’s no way to reliably cloak ourselves, how will we hold off this attack?” Amiran asks, waiting for my instructions.
“We won’t.”
It gives me no pleasure to be the bearer of bad news, but I twist the knife.
“You’ll notice now that we’re closer that this is not an Aveki ship that has a missile pointed straight at us—it’s a Fysian ship.”
Kyr and Amiran look at me, and I watch my meaning dawn on them. We’re low on fuel, our thrusters have been hastily repaired, and only a tenth of our soldiers have been briefed on the true threat that we face. Those who haven’t been informed will turn on us when they see uniformed Fysians swarm my ship. They’ll think I’m the traitor.
I turn over every scenario in my mind. I grasp at any ideas that could give us more time. But there’s nothing. The proximity of the ship will be our undoing. There’s no way to evade them, and their vessel outguns mine.
“I’m guessing it’s clear to you both now that we don’t have any good options. I had modified our trajectory and ignored the order to engage hyperdrive. Doing so has outed our intentions—to fight the poisoned Upper Council.”
I put my head in my hands. Now I have two competing interests: to protect my soldiers in order to fight another day for the good of Fysi, and to protect Kira at all costs. My thoughts turn over and over in my mind. There’s no way to save everyone, and I’m going to be the one to decide who to sacrifice.
“What if we send the soldiers we’ve debriefed to Glinge in our escape pods?” Amiran asks. “Kyr can go with them and help them mount the resistance.”
“That’s a good strategy,” I say. “What do you think, Kyr?”
Kyr simply salutes me, and I see from the steely look in his eyes that he’s ready for anything. Amiran walks him out, and whispers something to him, words of encouragement, probably.
“Okay, that leaves you and me to man this doomed ship,” I say.
Amiran waits until I notice his silence. I look at him expectantly.
“I told Kyr to leave an escape pod for you and Kira,” he says, grabbing hold of my shoulders. “You need to take her far away from here, and you know it. There’s no question they’ll kill a pair bonded Omega on sight once they realize she’s been claimed. If you take a moment to really think, you’ll see that the there’s no way to keep her safe if you stay.”
I start to speak and he holds up a hand. “You know I’m right,” he says.
He is right. My number one priority has to be Kira.
“I will see this through,” Amiran says.
I pull him into a bear hug and tap my horns to his. I don’t let myself think that this might be the last time I see Amiran. It’s too terrible to bear.
Amiran chuckles and pushes me away. “Get to it, brother,” he calls. I watch him turn back to the control panel and then I sprint to my mate.
When the first missile hits, I worry I might be too late.
Kira
The lighting in my room has changed. The main lights have switched off, and dimmer reserve lights have switched on. I cower in the corner of my room and think how much of my time on this ship has been spent in this exact position.
I just hope that Drax is okay. If anything happened to him, I don’t know what I’d do. Drax and Peggy are all I have left. It’s strange that Peggy isn’t here, I think, and like magic, she bursts in.
“We’re being boarded,” she says, and the look on her face scares me.
“What? Where’s Drax?”
“There’s another Fysian ship, and it’s attacking us. The Alphas aboard will be able to smell that you’ve pair bonded with Drax. Alphas like to shoot first and ask questions later. I have to take you someplace safe.”
“I can’t go anywhere without letting Drax know,” my voice getting high-pitched and frantic. I turn Drax’s words over in my head. He told me I shouldn’t trust anyone. Surely he didn’t mean Peggy, right? I have no reason to doubt her loyalty.
I shake the thought right out of my head. Of course I can trust Peggy. Drax must have meant the soldiers that are coming on board. They’ll no doubt be wearing the same uniforms as my guards here.
But Peggy’s right. I can’t stay in this room. I’m a sitting duck here.
“Where did you want to go?” I ask, mulling over how I can tell Drax that I’m safe and feeling guilty for doubting Peggy.
“I’ll take you to my quarters. There’s a set of tiles in the ceiling that come out. I can help you climb in. At least I think I can. I’ve never stored anything up there except for contraband,” she says, trying to lighten the mood.
I haven’t figured out what to do about Drax. I obviously can’t leave a note or anything. I’m starting to hyperventilate a little. I don’t want us to get separated. I have to be with him now.
“Why can’t you take me to the control room to see Drax?” I ask.
“There’s no time, Kira. They’ll head straight for the control room.”
This is an impossible situation. My only hope is to hide and pray that Drax will be able to get to me later. I think hard, harder than I ever have, trying to let him know that I’m okay and that I’m going with Peggy.
“Good,” he says in my head. I startle and look around as though he’s somewhere nearby. “I was wondering when you’d start to talk to me, my precious Kira. Sometimes it takes a while for a pair bonded Omega to initiate the conversation.”
I give a giant sigh of relief as I run to keep up with Peggy. We’re dashing through the twisting hallways, with Peggy in the lead. At every corner, she slows and peeks her head around to make sure the coast is clear.
We make it a good distance from my room before Peggy skids to a stop. From the chorus of voices, it sounds like a whole squadron of soldiers is approaching.
“Where are you, Drax?” I scream in my head. “I’m afraid.”
“I’m sorry I can’t be there with you right now. I’ll come to you as soon as I can. Everything’s going to be all right. Stay with Peggy.”
Peggy grabs me by the collar of my uniform and hauls me into a nearby closet. We wait until the footsteps fade before venturing back out. My heart is pounding. There’s no guarantee that the soldiers won’t smell me.
We creep farther down the hall, with me looking only at my feet. It’s funny that I was so desperate to see more of the ship, and now that I have a chance, it’s the last thing on my mind. I’m trying to make sure I won’t stumble—and, to be honest, I’m too afraid to look around.
Peggy flattens her back against one of the walls and gestures for me to follow her lead. I hold my breath as seven soldiers pass the hallway we’re standing in. I’m shaking so hard that I can’t believe I’m standing upright, but I somehow manage it until they disappear without noticing us.
Peggy points at a doorway up ahead and mouths, “Almost there.”
We tiptoe over and Peggy taps the button on the doorframe to open the door. We slip in and then both double over, trying to catch our breath and steady our nerves.
When I stand upright, I see that there’s absolutely nothing in Peggy’s chamber, except for the same kind of chair I sleep in. There are no pillows, no clothes, nothing.
“Is this really your room, Peggy?” I ask.
She looks around, trying to see it as I do. “Betas don’t get issued anything extra for their rooms during missions,” she whispers. “We can talk about this later. We need to hide you now.”
Peggy pushes me toward an alcove in the room. There’s a small dresser that she helps me climb on top of. I see the ceiling tiles she was talking about, but there’s no way I’m tall enough or strong enough to haul myself up.
She clambers up next to me and uses her long arms to push a ceiling tile aside. There’s a tangle of wires inside. I don’t want to go up there. At all. I feel so scared and helpless that I start to cry lightly.
Peggy notices my tears but keeps going. She pushes the wires back and then interlaces her long fingers. She leans down slightly, motioning for me to step up into her interlocked hands.
I shake my head, crying harder now. How long can I really hide in the ceiling? What if I come down to find Drax and Peggy dead? I’d rather die alongside them, I decide.
But Peggy has other ideas. She gets close to me and roughly dries my tears.
“Everything depends on keeping you safe,” she whisper-yells. “I will not let you get killed. We’ve come too far together for that. You need to do this.”
It’s not really a choice. I’ll do whatever Peggy says. I don’t want to let her down after everything she sacrificed for me already. I step into her hand and she pushes me upwards. I pitch forward until my chest is resting on one of the ceiling tiles that’s still in place and army crawl the rest of the way in. Peggy waits a second and then seals me inside.
It’s hot in here, and there’s no light at all. With nothing to do but worry and wait, my imagination takes over. All I can do is picture something bad happening to Drax. I know in my bones that he would have come to get me if he could have. So what terrible circumstance is keeping him from me?
Drax
The rebel Fysians started boarding the second I left the control room. They came in swarms, and I had no choice but to turn around and go back.
“Did you miss me too much?” Amiran teases when he sees me walk into the control room. But underneath his joke, there’s a palpable sense of regret. We both know I waited too long to collect Kira and get away. Now we’ll have to fight our way out.
I pull up the video feed and monitor the major areas of the ship. I watch Kira and Peggy make it safely to Peggy’s chamber, so at least there’s that.
Amiran stands over my shoulder. “It looks like there’s about ten soldiers headed for the control room and fifty more on their way to the Omega’s quarters.”
Most Fysian ships have identical layouts, so we don’t even have the advantage of surprise. We need to make a new plan fast.<
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Amiran taps in a command and the reserve arsenal rises from the floor. I walk over and click open the box, take two laser guns and hand two more to Amiran. Then I turn back to the monitor.
I run my hands through my hair so roughly it’s a miracle I don’t pull it all out. I superimpose a map of the ship over the live video feed. There has got to be a strategy I’m not seeing. I watch as the larger group of soldiers stomp toward Kira’s room and the smaller group gets closer to Amiran and me.
There’s no way out. If there had been, Amiran wouldn’t have insisted that I leave the control room in the first place.
