Chapter 1
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Iwill die a thousandtimes or burn a thousand worlds if it means my family stays safe, stays alive.
Firelight plays over Tilly’s sleeping face, highlighting the sharp angles of her upturned nose, throwing shadows under her cheekbones, revealing freckles scattered across her skin.
Pops and hisses from the campfire bounce around the cave’s interior. Moisture from an earlier spring thunderstorm ladens the air with humidity.
Tenderly, I run my index finger along her jaw and use my wireless connection to her bracelet to interface with the nanobots circulating in her blood, requesting an update on her vitals.
Body temperature 98.8
White blood cell count 5.2
SpO2 at 99%
More information flows seamlessly. I mentally store it in a digital file for later extraction and comparison to the fifty other stats I’ve taken since yesterday.
She shifts her spine against my chest and lets out a quiet sigh, her eyelids fluttering.
Has it only been two days since we’ve been reunited?
Those six weeks after I died had felt like sixyears. I’d waded through bogs, trudged through deserts, and skirted around dilapidated cities with only two goals: evasion and reunion. To reach the only person in the world who mattered more to me than the entire universe, I’d had to escape notice from Rhys and his Henokan henchmen, evade detection by lingering rebel Baltins, and keep out of sight of humans. If I’d been caught by Henokans, they’d have ripped me apart piece by piece.
My own people, the Baltins, wouldn’t have been much better. They’d have tried to ensnare me into their never-ending circus of political quagmires.
Humans were no challenge against my body’s tech. One shot of a pulse ray from my hand and they’d burst out of existence.
But I’m not that man anymore.Or cyborg. Whatever.
Sparky sacrificed himself so I could live, and the journey back to Tilly gave me a lot to process. A lot to appreciate. I won’t waste his gift. Sometimes, in the dead of night, when all is quiet and I drift toward sleep, I can almost imagine him somewhere deep inside my head, lingering in the circuitry, or—
“Jareth?” Tilly whispers. “Everything okay?”
“Shh, Red.” I lean my mouth next to her earlobe. “Everything’s fine. Go back to sleep.”
She yawns. “Okay.” Her breathing slows and after a minute, she relaxes.
KJ, the puppy I took from Kodiak and Zaria’s litter, lies snuggled against Tilly’s chest, his tiny paws twitching against the covers as he sleeps.
I curve a hand over her swelling stomach, cradling our unborn child. Fierce protection washes over me.Everything I could ever want or ever love rests next to me tonight.
Placing a kiss on her temple, I rest my cheek on the mattress and hug her warm, sleeping form closer. Her soft, coppery hair tickles my nose, and I breathe in citrus, freshly washed skin, and home.
Myhome. My love. My salvation.
