by Talia Jager
She climbed in the bed with me and lowered me back down. I ignored the way my stomach bottomed out when she held me. I ignored the way my heart kicked against my chest. I ignored the way her body felt when she settled in and molded it against mine. I closed my eyes and let sleep take over, knowing I was safe in her arms.
At first light, I stirred. I could feel Ever’s breath on my neck, sending warm tingles throughout my body. Safe. I could spend forever in this room as long as she was with me. So I stayed there in her arms, dreaming about what a life with her might look like.
Ever grew more and more restless as the day wore on, pacing back and forth against the length of the room. She was like a caged animal. I wondered how much of that was built in from the jaguar DNA.
The light in the room dimmed. It would be night soon. The second moon. Ever’s pace quickened.
“Can you calm down?” I asked, rubbing my temples.
“How can you just sit there?” she shouted back.
“I can’t control what happens today. I’m trying to enjoy the time with you, but…” I stood up and closed the space between us. Her eyes went wide as I walked her back against the wall. “You’re driving me crazy.”
There it was again, that feeling in my stomach. It wasn’t easy to ignore this time. Once more, the air was thick between us. My eyes darted from her eyes to her lips. How I wanted to feel them on mine again. Inching closer, I breathed in deeply smelling her sweet, earthy scent.
I kissed her softly at first, waiting for her to respond. She released a shaky breath, but seemed to relax and smiled against my lips. She opened up, letting me in. Our mouths collided in a wet, passionate kiss. But just as we were settling in for a deep, long, slow kissing, that could potentially last hours, two guards barged in.
“Follow,” the one nearest us grunted.
I pulled back, breathing heavily, annoyed that we had been interrupted. After sharing a look with Ever, I pressed my lips to hers one more time and then turned to the guards. My heartbeat returned to normal as we followed them. They brought us to the control room, where Mellie stood watching the monitor. “I figured you’d want to be here when the numbers came in.”
“How generous,” Ever snarled.
Mellie glanced over at her. “I am sorry, for what it’s worth. I just have to do what’s right for my people.”
“What’s the plan tonight? Is it a bidding war?” I asked.
“No. Whoever comes in with the highest price first wins.”
Ever looked off to the side. Something had caught her attention. Her eyebrows were furrowed like she was trying to figure something out. As soon as Mellie turned her attention back to the computer, I made eye contact with Ever, asking her what was up. Thankfully she knew what I meant and her eyes moved to the shelves. The jump device was there along with our weapons and in a cage was Nero.
I scooted closer to Ever.
“The jump device. It’s on,” she whispered.
I shrugged my shoulders to show her I wasn’t sure what she was trying to get at.
Her eyes met mine. She used short sentences. “My ship. In range. To jump.”
My eyes widened and I nodded.
She hesitated, and said one word, “Risky.”
I thought about what Galton had said. While Valinor had plenty of riches, I wasn’t sure if we had as much as Caspar or if Galton would do as I asked. There was a chance that Valinor could beat what Caspar would offer, but no guarantee. And Ever, the Authority might want her, but they didn’t have the money to pay for her. Which would mean we’d both go to Caspar. Thinking of us both being tortured by him made me sick to my stomach. This could be our way out. Our only option. Definitely worth the risk.
I nodded again.
Her eyes darted back and forth. I knew she was thinking up a plan. We had to get the jump device. She had to at least. There was still a chance Galton would be the higher bid for me.
Seconds later, Ever spun around and disarmed the guard behind her. “Duck!” she yelled and I did.
Using the guard’s weapon, she put a bullet in the other guard’s shoulder. Keeping the gun pointed at a very surprised room, she ran over and grabbed the jump device.
I chased after her to the cage that held Nero. I couldn’t leave him behind. “What are you doing?” Ever asked as I opened the cage and let Nero climb on my shoulder.
Ever flipped open the device. “It might not be my crew.”
“We have to chance it.”
Just then the door flew open and more guards poured in. “Drop the weapon!”
Ever aimed the gun, but didn’t fire. “We’re leaving.”
“Take her out!” Mellie ordered.
The guard in front took aim and fired.
“No!” I yelled and jumped in front of Ever. My chest exploded in pain and I stumbled backward into her.
“Kaci!” Ever’s arm encircled my waist and she hit the jump button, transporting us to her ship.
“Ever!” a familiar voice shouted. “Oh, shit! What happened?”
Between gasping for air, I looked around at the familiar bridge of the Nirvana and said, “You’re home.”
I stared into Ever’s golden eyes. She had made it back to her ship and her crew was there. They would take care of her. I closed my eyes knowing she was safe. I could go now. In her arms.
Chapter Sixteen
Everleigh
“No. No. No.” My heart pounded violently as I watched Kaci’s blue eyes close. “Kaci. Kaci, wake up. You do not get to do this.” Looking up at Huxley, Zabe, and Briar, I begged, “Help me.”
Despite not seeing them for weeks, and not knowing what was going on, none of them hesitated. They jumped into action like the family they were.
“I’ll get us far from this planet. You guys take care of her,” Zabe said.
I scooped Kaci up and ran to the medical bay with Huxley and Briar right behind me. Carefully, I placed her on the table and pushed the button to scan her. Nero jumped off and Briar gave a quick yelp then she laughed.
“Hey, little guy,” she cooed.
“Briar! Kaci needs help. Nero can wait.” I ripped open Kaci’s shirt. Blood was pouring out of the gunshot wound in her chest. The scan showed the bullet was close to her heart, but hadn’t nicked it. I pushed down on the wound with my hands. Tears poured down my face. “You need to heal. Kaci. Listen to me. You need to heal. I need you.”
The monitors started beeping. “She’s crashing, Ever,” Huxley said.
“Briar, get the shock stick.” I wiped my eyes with the back of my blood-covered hands. “Shock her.”
Briar put the stick directly above her heart and hit the button sending a current through her body. She jerked, but the monitors didn’t stop screaming.
“I need to get the bullet out.” I grabbed a pair of forceps. My hand shook so violently that I wasn’t sure if I could do it.
Huxley put his hand over my shaking one. “You can do this.”
Swallowing back bile, I proceeded to push the forceps into her wound and fish around until I found the bullet. I yanked it out and let it fall to the floor. “Shock her again,” I said as I looked around for a cloth. Briar shocked her and I immediately put the cloth over the wound and put pressure on it. The machines settled down. “I need to close the wound.”
Huxley got the laser wand out of one of the drawers and handed it to me. Placing the tip onto her wound, I moved it around until it was sealed.
It wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t have to be. It just had to be closed enough for her to heal. I wondered if there was anything she couldn’t heal from. Could she come back from this? What would be too much for her nanites to handle?
When I was finished, I stood next to her, staring, willing her to open her eyes. She had jumped in front of me, saved me, taken a bullet for me. Tears slid down my cheeks. Silen
t ones at first, but before long the sobbing came.
Huxley put his hand on my shoulder. “Ever. Wash up. It’s okay. You can take a minute. She’s stable.”
I walked over to the sink and scrubbed my hands clean, then I splashed water on my face.
“Are you ready to talk?”
“No. Water?”
“Of course.” Huxley strode over to the fridge, got a bottle of water, and handed it to me.
I didn’t take my eyes off of Akacia. I watched as her chest rose and fell. Grabbing a chair, I pulled it over to her bedside and sat down, taking her hand in mine.
Zabe walked in. “How is she?”
“Alive,” Briar answered.
“How are you?” Zabe directed his question to me.
For the first time since we jumped, I took a deep breath and appreciated where we were. I looked at each of them. “Thank you.”
They all smiled, but it was Huxley that said, “You’re welcome.”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“That little device paid off. I attached it to their comms line. We overheard the call Terronda made to Caspar.”
“Nice.”
“A ransom, huh? They were going to give you guys to the highest buyer.” Zabe bent over and studied Nero.
“I know. Would have been Caspar if it hadn’t been for you guys. Tell me what happened after I went to get Kaci.” My eyes traveled around the room, stopping at each of them. All three looked like they hadn’t slept in weeks, but they didn’t look harmed.
“The second we saw him open fire on the Artemis, we fired on him, disabling his ship. He hasn’t been able to go anywhere and his comms were down until two nights ago. We stayed out of reach of his weapons trying to figure out what to do. We contacted Valinor, but they wouldn’t work with us because we turned the Empress over in the first place. So we were on our own. We knew we had to get close enough for the jump device to activate without Caspar detecting us.”
“I still can’t believe he has an anti-cloaking device. I guess I should. I mean, he’s Caspar. Nothing should surprise me.” I shook my head.
“When that call came in, it was the perfect distraction. He wasn’t watching us, he was trying to get the money together. We knew for sure where you’d be. We were able to get close enough. Then we hoped the jump device wasn’t damaged and you still had it,” Briar said.
“Do you know if Caspar…did he kill our families?” I asked.
“We don’t think so, but no way to know for sure. With his comms down, he couldn’t make any calls to order anyone to kill them. And he couldn’t go anywhere. So we’re hoping they’re still alive.” Huxley ran his hand through his silver hair.
Nero jumped up next to Kaci, turned in a circle a few times, and then settled into a comfortable spot.
“Stupid animal,” I said with a sigh, but reached out and petted him anyway.
“So, you two work things out? Can’t help but notice you’re together,” Briar said.
“She hates me for betraying her. Not that I blame her. I’ve been trying to be patient, hoping she’ll come around, and I think…she might be. I don’t know if she can ever really forgive me and…”
“How did she get shot?” Briar asked.
“She saved me.”
“Sounds like she’s forgiven you.”
I ran my thumb over her knuckles. I didn’t answer. I didn’t know how to answer. I wasn’t sure how long it would take her to heal. Standing up, I peeked under the bandage. The wound was still there, raw and nasty looking.
I turned back around, opened my arms, and my family walked into them. Before long I was blubbering like an idiot. I hoped snot wasn’t dripping out of my nose. When we finally broke apart, I dabbed my eyes with my shirt.
“I’m so glad you’re all okay. I thought Caspar had killed you. I thought you were dead.” My voice cracked.
“We’re not. Look. We’re right here,” Huxley stated, grabbing my hands. “We’re all okay.”
“We worried the same thing had happened to you,” Briar said. “But something told us to have hope.”
“I missed you guys,” I said through my tears.
“Alright,” Zabe teased, pulling me into another hug. “Enough crying.” He wiped his own eyes. “I’m going to go check things on the bridge.”
Plopping back down in the chair, I rested my head on the table Kaci was laying on. Exhausted, I must have drifted off. When I woke, I changed the bandage. It looked much better. Not completely healed, but getting there.
“Whoa. Her injury looks almost completely gone,” Briar commented from across the room.
“She heals,” I said.
“What?”
“She has nanites in her. They heal her physical wounds.”
“No shit,” Huxley said, looking quite impressed.
“Seriously?” Briar’s eyes were wide with amazement. “Nanites?”
Zabe stood in the doorway. “Is she safe?”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Does she have nanites in her brain? Could they control her?” Zabe asked.
I hadn’t thought of that. “I don’t know.”
“Depends what kind they are or how they’re programmed,” Briar answered. “I could run some tests, but I’d like her permission to do so.”
“I’m just not sure why she hasn’t regained consciousness yet.” It’s not like there was an instruction manual for her. Maybe one existed for nanites, but if it did, I didn’t have it.
“We’ll ask her when she wakes up,” Briar said.
“Why don’t you go shower?” Huxley suggested.
“I’m not leaving her.”
“We would come get you if she wakes.”
“No.”
“How about food. Have you eaten anything yet?”
“No.”
“Will you eat if we bring you some food?” Briar’s quieter voice asked.
Part of me didn’t want to. I wanted to wait for her to wake up and we could eat together. But my stomach rumbled at the mention of food and suddenly I was starving. “Yes.”
Nero ate while I ate, then he went right back to resting next to Kaci. He was very much her pet. I hoped he’d be a good friend to her.
As the hours passed, I began to grow more and more anxious. I stared at her, reliving the day’s events until I saw her eyes flutter. I waited, but said nothing. She took a deep breath and her eyes opened, searched the room, and landed on me.
The corners of her lips curled in a smile. “Ever.” Her voice was hoarse.
“What the hell did you do that for?” I demanded.
“I’ll heal. You won’t.”
“You won’t heal if you’re dead.”
“I’m not dead.”
I choked back tears and nodded. The relief I felt now that she was awake and I knew she’d be okay was overwhelming. My heart swelled and I wanted to tell her everything I was feeling, but I was scared. Scared! Me. I was scared of opening up and letting her in. I was afraid that she would reject me, that she’d always see me as someone who betrayed her, or that she didn’t feel the same way. I was scared for her, too. My life wasn’t a good one. Not in the way she deserved. She deserved more. I was a criminal. Wanted by the Authority. She was an Empress.
It could never be. We could never be.
I swallowed hard, shoving the emotions back down. “Briar wanted to know if she could draw some of your blood and run some tests.”
“Why? The nanites?” Concern flickered in her eyes.
I nodded, unsure of how she’d feel about it.
“Okay,” she agreed, sitting up, and dangling her legs over the side of the bed.
“Zia, call the bridge.”
Briar answered, “How is she?”
“Awake and she’ll l
et you run the tests.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“What’s going through your mind?” I asked her as we waited.
She chewed on her lip and ran her fingers over the tattoo on her wrist. “If your friends think I’m a freak…”
“I doubt that is what they think of you.”
“Hey,” Briar said, walking in. “Good to see you, Akacia. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“Yes.” She held out her arm. “I wouldn’t mind some answers.”
Briar took a small device out of a drawer, pushed Kaci’s shirt out of the way, and placed it on her arm. The device drew her blood and collected it in a small vile. “Done,” she said. “I’ll start the tests.”
“Hungry?” I asked Kaci.
“Yeah.” Looking down, she peeked under the bandage, and then took it off. There was just a small circle-shaped scar left. It would probably be gone in a few hours. “You ripped my shirt.”
“Yeah.” I stood up and grabbed the one Briar had brought in earlier. “Here,” I said, handing it to her.
She looked right into my eyes as she took off her shirt and put on the other one. Standing up, she took a few steps to the door. Looking back, she said, “Are we going to eat or…?”
Nodding, I stood and walked with her to the kitchen.
I dug out everything I could find. Neither of us spoke while we practically inhaled the food. Kaci sat back in her seat and placed her hand on her belly.
“That was the best meal I’ve ever had.”
“It was hardly anything to brag about. We’re just hungry.”
“Do you think I could take a shower?”
My cheeks flushed as I thought about her in the shower. “Of course. I can take you to the room you stayed in before.”
When the door opened, Nero ran in. Akacia stopped after she stepped over the threshold. Her back still to me, she said, “You could shower with me.”
I was sure the blush in my cheeks deepened. I wanted to. Oh, how I wanted to. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t tease her or myself that way when I knew that this was destined to end.