“Piotechadoesn’t… forget.” His voice was barely a rasp. “Your captain knows. Ask him… about Neraxis.”
The name meant nothing to Maelic. But something in the way Barvarti said it—the way those black eyes glinted with malicious satisfaction even as life drained from them—made his blood run cold.
Barvarti’s eyes glazed over in death.
The name echoed in Maelic’s mind.Neraxis.What did it mean? And why had the slaver looked so pleased to deliver it?
Maelic knelt over the body, breathing in ragged gasps. He was covered in blood—dark and thick, already cooling.
It was done.
Finally done.
He felt… nothing. Empty. The rage had burned through him and left ash.
The ship’s engines roared to life. Barvarti’s crew—fleeing like the cowards they were.
Maelic’s head snapped up. The ship was lifting off. Evidence. Logs. Proof of Barvarti’s operation. Everything Katan would need to track down the rest of the crew.
He took a step toward it.
Then he heard it.
A soft whimper of pain.
Del.
He spun around.
She was on the ground, pale—too pale—her hand pressed to her chest where the bolt had hit. The fabric burned away, revealing angry red skin beneath. Internal damage—phaser burns cooked from the inside out, radiating from the entry point.
The ship rose higher, thrusters scorching the earth.
Maelic looked between them. The ship. His mate.
His entire life’s work or the female who’d become his entire world in less than a week.
No choice at all.
He ran to her, dropping to his knees. His hands shook as he pressed them over hers, moving them gently away from her chest so he could see the full extent of the burn.
“Hey.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Did you… did you get him?”
A sound escaped his throat. Half laugh, half sob.
“Yes. I got him.”
“Good.” She tried to smile. Winced. “That was… really hot, by the way. The whole… murder thing.”
Above them, the ship disappeared into the clouds.
Gone. All of it. The evidence. The proof. Everything he’d hunted for the last fifteen cycles.
He didn’t care.
“You were supposed to stay hidden,” he choked out. “Why did you not stay hidden, you impossible female?”
“He was gonna kill you.”
