“You know, when I pulled you off that passenger vessel, you were the most difficult creature I had ever encountered. Angry. Feral. Convinced you needed no one.” He shook his head. “I remember what that day was like for you.”
Maelic’s throat tightened. He didn’t want to have this conversation. Not now.
“Katan—”
“Let me finish.” His captain’s voice was firm but not unkind. “You were barely more than a child when I found you. I have had the pleasure of watching you grow into the male you are today. But in all that time, you have never let yourself have anything beyond the bond we share.”
“Who said we have a bond?”
Katan barked out a laugh.
“You are the closest thing to family I possess, whether you like it or not.” His expression softened, then sharpened in that annoying way it did when he thought he knew better. “But I have also watched you run at the slightest risk of attachment. Every time someone gets too close, you find an excuse to pull away.”
Maelic said nothing. There was nothing to say.
“This is the universe telling you differently.” Katan leaned closer to the display. “Do not run from this. She is your mate. I know you carry what happened to your parents deep in your heart—I know you fear losing someone like that again. But you deserve more than solitude, Maelic. And that mate of yours would be lucky to have a male like you.”
The words landed somewhere deep in Maelic’s chest. He didn’t know what to say.
“She does not want to come with me,” he managed. “She has attachments here. Obligations. Avrekingfarm she is determined to save even though it is already lost.”
“Then convince her. You are an Axiom. You have talked your way out of slaver holds and negotiated with warlords who would sooner eat you than listen.” Katan raised a brow. “Surely you can convince one human female that you are worth the risk.”
Maelic huffed. “You have not met her.”
“I look forward to it.” Katan’s expression sobered. The shift was immediate—the male moving back into the role that had become more than protocol, more than a job. His life. The dignified captain of the Axiom. “But we need to discuss Barvarti.”
Maelic’s blood went cold.
“What has happened?”
“After your signal dropped, we moved in on his operation. But he vanished. Went completely dark.” Katan’s jaw tightened. “We have been tracking him since you went dark, but he has been impossible to pin down. Intelligence suggests he knows you survived and has not left the galaxy you are in. If he has traced your signal to Earth…”
“He will come for me.”
“Yes. And for anyone connected to you.”
Delaney’s face flashed through his mind. Her laugh. Her sharp tongue. The way she had felt in his arms last night, soft and warm and trusting.
His mate.
On a planet with no defenses. No knowledge of what was coming.
Rage burned through him at the thought of Barvarti anywhere near his mate—
His vision blurred. Wrong. This wasn't purely rage.
Pheromones. Unstable and dizzying, flooding his system. Just likethatday. He could almost hear his Mamir's scream, he shook his head. forcing himself to focus on what he could control now.
And that was hiding his mate.
“I have to secure her first,” Maelic gritted out. “Before anything else.”
Katan nodded. “I can buy you a little more time.” His expression hardened. “But I have put an order in for extraction. We are just waiting for approval to land on Earth. We are close enough to pulse jump, if needed… but you know how the Intergalactic Alliance is. We should have clearance by the end of this rotation.” Katan’s expression turned serious. “If things go wrong before then—if you need immediate extraction—activate the emergency beacon. I have enabled it on your transponder band. Do not worry about the Alliance penalties. I can handle it.”
“I will.”
Katan sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
