by Luna Hunter
I squeeze her hands.
“I’m not going to lie to you. It’ll be dangerous out there. We might not survive. But no matter what happens, I think the risk is worth the reward.”
She nods. “Thanks,” she mutters.
I can’t resist her. This might be my last chance… and I take it.
I lean down and kiss her.
She melts instantly. I place hand on her lower back and the other on her neck, and let our tongues and lips meet. Her mouth opens and my tongue slides in easily. For a moment, all sound simply fades away.
I forgot all about where we are and what we are about to do. For a brief moment in time, I’m no longer a subject, an experiment, a weapon. I’m just a man, and she’s just a woman, and absolutely nothing separates us.
When I pull back I leave her breathless.
“Wow,” she says.
Every inch of me hungers for more, but first we have an entire planet to safe.
“There’s more where that came from,” I say. “After the mission.”
Lily nods. “Aye aye, captain.”
Chapter Seven
Lily
We have to wait a moment for Marcas’s erection to go down before we can move out. It’s rather, uhm, distracting.
If we had more time, I might just give him another ‘release’…
What am I thinking? We’re about to embark on a dangerous mission, and here I am, thinking about sex again.
My lips are still tingling. That kiss was… special. Fireworks, the whole shebang. Now I have another reason to save the world: It means I will have plenty of time to explore Marcas’s tongue some more.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Ready.”
I pull the sheet over his naked body and set off. My knees are shaking as I walk towards the elevator, pushing the table with the Zoran warrior on it. Just getting these freaking wheels to move is already harder than I imagined it to be — and this is the most simple part of our plan!
This does not bode well.
I scan the keycard. As I wait, I can hear my own heartbeat. What if it doesn’t work? What if we fail before we even start—
Ping.
The doors open. There I go, worrying about nothing again. This is going to be a long escape!
I press the button for the second floor. As the doors close I take a few deep breaths and try to calm myself. When the doors open I push the table again with all my might, hoping I don’t look as guilty as I feel.
“Hold it right there,” a low voice calls out.
A heavyset man gets up from behind his desk and walks towards me. He barely fits into his dark-blue Onyx uniform.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Special delivery,” I say. “For Anik Onyx.”
His eyes immediately grow wide. “A-anik?” he stammers.
Ah, he knows. Good.
“Yes. Do you want to explain to him why you made him wait?”
He shakes his head. “N-no, that’s okay. You go on ahead.”
I nod, trying to look as badass as possible, even though I’m a complete mess. I’m filled with adrenalin and terror at the exact same time.
Now to find Anik’s ship… uhm… which one is it?
“If you could point his ship out to me, that would be lovely,” I yell at the guard.
“The massive one at the back of room,” he gestures. “Can’t miss it.”
Ah, no. That one. It’s shaped like a Y, the Onyx logo prominently displayed on its side.
“Need any help with that?” he continues.
“No thank you,” I say. “I’ve got this.”
The last thing I need is his help right now! I keep pushing the table and my ankles start to burn. Who knew pushing a seven foot tall Zoran warrior around could be so exhausting?
Thankfully the hangar is mostly deserted. So far so good. I was afraid there would be hundreds of guards here, or that Anik would have his own private militia or something, but everything seems quiet.
Perhaps… too quiet.
“Almost there,” I whisper softly.
We reach the ship, and the doors open straight away.
“Excellent.”
Anik is standing in the door frame, his intense eyes focused on me.
“You do not disappoint.”
A metal plate is lowered from the belly of the ship.
“Place him there,” Anik snaps.
I follow his command, pushing the heavy table with Marcas on it towards the correct spot. The plate raises itself, and the Zoran disappears into the darkness.
I hope that wasn’t a big mistake…
“Do you want to watch?” Anik says. “True art needs an audience.”
Normally, I would run away as fast as my feet could take me, but this is not a normal day. “Sure,” I say, my voice shaking.
My legs heavy, I step into Anik’s ship. It’s nearly pitch black inside.
“Follow me,” he whispers, his voice right behind me.
A cold shiver runs down my spine. Come on Marcas, spring into action!
We go down a set of stairs and arrive at what I can only describe as a butchers workshop. Knives decorate the walls, some rusty, some covered in dried blood, and the entire room smells like… death.
My heart is pumping like mad. This man isn’t just crazy. He’s clinically insane!
“Sit back and enjoy the show,” Anik says, pointing at the chair in the corner of the room.
Against my better judgment I sit down. I did my part — it’s up to Marcas to save me from this creep…
Anik returns a moment later with the table with Marcas on it. The Zoran is an excellent actor, for he still hasn’t moved a muscle. It’s starting to worry me. Did he fell asleep? That would be… not great. This gangly man with the black hair is about to cut both of us into tiny little pieces, Marcas. Wake the hell up!
The Onyx man turns his back towards the Zoran and looks up at his massive collection of knives and saws.
“Where to start, where to start,” he muses. “What do you think? Should we start small?”
“I don’t know,” I say, my voice now shaking uncontrollably. Why didn’t we set up a safe word, so I could tell Marcas to get the hell up? “What are you waiting for?” I ask. No response. “I think we should get started,” I say, stressing the last word.
There’s no way Marcas doesn’t understand that — but he’s still not moving a muscle.
“Yes yes, we should,” Anik says. Luckily he thinks I’m talking to him. “We’ve got to be patient, you know. Savor the moment.”
He grabs a small knife and whirls around, twirling it between his fingers as he grabs the sheet and pulls it away. My fingers grip the sides of my chair, my knuckles turning white, and I’m about to launch out of my chair and fling myself at Anik when Marcas finally springs into action.
His movement is so fast it’s a hot pink blur to me. He grabs Anik’s hand with his left hand, and punches him square in the chest with his right fist. The gangly man is flung back against the wall, and several knives clatter onto the floor.
“Wh-what,” he stammers, out of breath, the wind knocked out of him. “Betrayal!”
Marcas jumps off the table, his fists raised, every muscle in his naked body tensed up. Despite the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I take half a second to appreciate the beautiful sight.
Anik’s eyes narrow, and focus… on me.
“My sister,” he spits. “I should have known. That bitch!”
The dark haired man reaches behind him, grabs a knife and throws it right at me. I watch it fly in slow motion, and for a moment I think that this is it.
The end of the line.
Marcas lunges to the side in a split second and stretches his hand out towards me. He stops the knife with a dull thud — by letting it pierce his hand.
Red blood runs down his wrists and drops onto the floor. He… he just saved my life.
“Mistake,” Marcas growls. “Big mistake.”
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He pulls the knife out and throws it back at the Onyx man. It hits him square in the chest, nailing him to the wall. Blood fills his mouth, and he utters some final curses at us before his head slumps to the side.
Anik is dead.
Marcas is at my side a moment later. “Are you okay?” he asks.
“I-I’m fine,” I stammer. “Are you? You’re bleeding.”
“It’s nothing,” he says as he grabs a piece of the sheet and ties it around the gaping wound.
“Let me take a look at that!” I demand.
“Later. We’ve got to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
“R-right,” I say.
“Do you think you can fly this thing?”
I nod. I don’t know why, but I feel like I can. We leave the torture basement behind us — I make sure to lock the door extra well so Anik can’t get up and haunt us later — and take my place in the control room.
My hands move across the many buttons and dials like they’ve got a mind of their own, and in no time at all I’ve got the engines up and running. I request permission to leave from the control tower, and they give it to me without asking a single question.
“Where should we go?” I ask Marcas. “I should punch in a destination.”
“Set a course for the Vagreon sector. We can flip the ship there. As soon as they figure out Anik’s not responding, we’ll be a target.”
“Right.”
I set a destination and hit enter.
The ship engines kick in with a whirl, and the entire vessel vibrates. It lifts up, and we set off. In front of us several hangar bay doors open, and as soon as the night’s sky is visible — oh what a beautiful sight! — the warp engine uses its full force. We’re pushed back into our seat as we set course for the stars.
We did it. We freaking did it!
Chapter Eight
Marcas
I look at the human female with a mixture of amazement and suspicion. How can she control this ship so well? She disengaged the locks as if she was merely flipping a switch, but this is an Onyx vessel. A flagship, at that.
Lily is a mystery to me — but I am not complaining. Zora knows I need all the help I can get. I’ll gladly take it.
I sink back into my seat and let my heart rate drop. For a brief second there, I feared the knife was going to strike her. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if it did. Her safety is my number one priority. I know we have an entire world to save, but every soul counts.
And her soul means the world to me.
While she goes through all the ships systems and makes sure everything is running as it should, I try to find something to wear. Of course I can’t find anything that fits my tall, broad Zoran frame in Anik’s closet. In the end, I settle for a Blackgate jumpsuit — the one made for prisoners.
Lily’s eyes light up the moment she sees me in it.
“Don’t even start,” I say.
“No, you look, uhm, badass,” she laughs.
“Sure,” I say. “Sure.”
“What are you thinking about?”
“Anik,” I admit. “He called out for his sister, said something about… betrayal. I can’t make sense of it.”
She shrugs. “Who knows what kind of sibling rivalry Onyx siblings have got going on? They give me the creeps. And speaking of creeps…”
Lily turns towards the door.
“I don’t believe in ghosts, but I don’t like the idea of flying around with a dead man in the basement.”
“Neither do I, but we’ll sell this ship soon enough. With this baby’s warp drive, we’ll be in the Vagreon sector before you know it.”
“I hope so. How are you feeling?”
“Good,” I answer. “Real good.”
I glance outside at the stars passing us by. This is where I belong — out here, in the open. In space. Not trapped in some underground laboratory.
“I meant your wound, dummie.”
Lily grabs my hand and I wince involuntarily. The sheet is now a dark red, and a small puddle of blood has formed in the floor.
“Let me take a look at this right now. I’m not having you die on me after making our escape.”
“I’m sure you would be fine,” I tell her. “You’re a damn genius.”
“I’m no one,” she says evasively. “Come, let’s go.”
I’m not having it. I want answers, and I want them now.
“You just stole an Onyx flagship — I wouldn’t have been able to hack the security system in a million years, Lily. How did do that so easily? What’s going on? Are you some type of secret agent?”
The words come automatically. It may be because the loss of blood is making me lightheaded, or that I’m just an idiot, but I go ahead and put my foot in my mouth.
“Are you secretly working for Onyx or something? Is this another one of their crazy schemes?”
I instantly regret my words. I see the hurt in her beautiful doe eyes, and it makes me feel downright terrible.
“How can you say that?” she says, her voice breaking. “I don’t know either, okay?”
She gets up and storms out, tears streaming down her face.
“Wait—” I say feebly.
“Follow me to the med-bay, you idiot,” she calls out. “Before you bleed to death.”
Feeling foolish, I follow her. She’s turned on the lights, so we can finally see where we are going. I have no idea why Anik liked it so dark on his ship, but then again, he was one extremely disturbing individual with a taste for the darker things in life. I’ll be glad to get rid off this ship. It has a bad vibe.
Evil things have taken place here.
I had hoped that the moment we were alone I could give into the strong desires still stirring in my loins, but it’s hard to feel romance in the air on this cursed ship…
Soon.
Lily works in silence as she bandages my wound with a look of pure concentration on her face. I sit still and wait patiently.
“There,” she says. “You’ll be fine.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Her voice is strictly professional. The warmth that I treasure is gone.
“Look,” I say. “I’m sorry if I offended you. I’m just trying to make sense of it all.”
She avoids my gaze.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I think we have to.”
Lily glances up at me.
“Do you trust me? Do you really trust me?”
“Of course. I trust you. Completely. With all my heart and my soul, Lily.”
I mean every word of that, too. There’s a deep connection between us. One that goes beyond mere attraction or mere lust (although I have to admit I feel that in abundance). I feel in every fiber of my being that she is the one, my mate, the one I am meant to be with.
The one who completes me.
And that’s exactly why I want to know her, inside and out. I never thought I’d find a mate — I’m a warrior at heart. Love is usually not in the books for a man such as myself.
When I look at her I can see that she hurt in her eyes, and it tears at the very fabric of my soul.
“I need you to trust me as well,” I say. “This is not a one-way street.”
“I know!”
“Then why won’t you talk to me?”
“Because I don’t have any answers!” Lily says. “Do you know how scary that is? Every time you ask, I’m reminded of the fact that I just… don’t know.”
“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation,” I say. “What do you mean exactly when you say you don’t have any answers?”
Her entire body is shaking, her arms crossed over her chest.
“I mean that when I try to answer your questions, when I try to remember things I just come up… blank. It’s like my memories are so close I can almost see them, but then the window fogs up. It can see the outline, the shapes of it all, but when I try to squint and see what’s re
ally there, it all disappears in a puff of smoke and I’m left staring at… nothing.”
Lily looks at me, sniffling. Her eyes are now red, and I can see the depth of her pain.
“That terrifies me, Marcas. Who am I? I… I don’t have any memories. What does that make me?”
I reach out and wrap her in my arms, holding her protectively.
“I know who you are,” I say. “You are Lily. You are friendly, you are kind, you are smart, amazing, intelligent, funny, beautiful. Do I need to go on?”
“Yes,” she says, her head resting against my chest. “Go on.”
“You are strong,” I say. “And courageous. And talented with your hands — in more ways than one.”
I couldn’t resist.
Lily chuckles. “Is that all you can think about?”
“It’s hard not to think about,” I admit. “You left an impression on a man. But no, that’s not all that’s on my mind. I also think that I’m incredibly lucky to have met you. If it wasn’t for your courage I would still be in a drug-induced coma in a tank of water with needles stuck in my veins. You saved my life, Lily. Never forget that. And more than that, you saved New Exon.”
“We haven’t done that yet,” she says. “I’m not special. They’ve got your DNA, they’ll figure it out eventually. They’ll build their weapon.”
“I’m sure they will, given enough time. That’s why we have to act.”
“So what are we waiting for? Should we send out a message now?”
I shake my head. “We are still in an Onyx vessel. We’ve only got one chance at breaking this story. If we screw it up, if we give them the chance to bury it, it’ll be all for naught. I want to reach out to my Zoran brothers, and I don’t think they will respond if we do so from Anik Onyx’s ship. We’ll be at Vagreon in no time; we can flip the ship there.”
I rub her back gently. Having her in my arms feels so right, so perfect. I don’t want to let go.
Lily looks at me, her eyes puffy.
“I don’t deserve you,” she mutters. “I worked for Onyx. Willingly! What the hell is wrong with me?”
“I have no idea what they did to you, and I probably never will,” I say. “But that doesn’t matter. Maybe they wiped your memory because you rebelled before, and they needed your brilliant mind to build their weapons. They might be able to erase your memories, but they could never change your heart. That’s what matters. And that’s why we will win: They underestimate the power… of love.”