"Struggling, Star Maverick?" Warlord Zarnak's voice is laced with mockery, his amber eyes gleaming with contempt. "Your precious sivot won't answer your call."
I glare at Warlord Zarnak and try again, the desperation a bitter taste in my mouth. Muscles tense, heart pounding against my chest like it wants to escape the cage of my body, yet nothing.
“Imagine my surprise when I received a hail from General Kragar.” Warlord Zarnak paces before me with a wicked sparkle in his eyes. “He told me a most curious thing of how a Star Maverick had transformed into his sivot and fled with a human female. The very space pirate who renounced his seat on the throne of Klaxis to navigate the stars. Such flippant disregard for the crown you were born to wear explains why you hold no reverence for ancient artifacts of other species when you have none for your own.”
“Release her, Zarnak!” I seethe.
“If I’m not mistaken,” Warlord Zarnak ignores my demand with a dismissive hand, “sivots haven’t presented in your kind for millennia, not since Kaul females joined your warrior ranks to fight alongside you. The beast having gone dormant since the sivot’s sole purpose to protect a bondmate is no longer needed. That is, until now. A most curious phenomenon.”
I cringe as Zarnak turns to face Jules. His clawed thumb sweeps across the detonator, taunting her with the threat of death. My sivot doesn’t even stir at the display. It makes no sense, my beast should have already slaughtered every Grymlok in this room to secure Jules’ safety.
A prickling sensation crawls up my spine. I rub at it and look over my shoulder to catch a glimpse of the lump under myfingertips. My head whips around to fix a piercing gaze on the Grymlok warlord.
"Did you think I'd face you unprepared?" Warlord Zarnak steps closer, his thick hide catching the dim light, casting him in a monstrous silhouette. "I've sedated your beast. Neutralized it."
"Your tricks won't hold forever, Zarnak." I snarl, though inside, ice runs through my veins. "When my sivot breaks free?—"
“It won’t. Not until I remove the neuroblocker from your spinal column.” The towering Grymlok warlord stands before me, his amber eyes blazing with an intensity that could ignite stars. "Your thievery has consequences," Warlord Zarnak continues, his voice low and threatening. "Return the statue, or suffer the wrath of the Grymlok horde." He steps closer, his monstrous frame casting a shadow that swallows the light from the room. "Your petty life will be extinguished, and she," his clawed finger points accusingly toward Jules, bound and desperate, "will pay the price for your folly. Return the statue in exchange for your bondmate. If not, I will not hesitate to relieve her of her pretty head.”
I feel the weight of his demand settles over me like a shroud of darkness. The sacred relic, the luminous Zorite Statue, revered by the Grymloks, an object rumored to hold such potent power that it binds their scattered clans under one purpose. And here I am, caught in the gravity of its importance without the means to alter my course.
The air crackles with tension, the threat hanging palpable between us. I can almost taste the electric sting of it on my tongue, mixed with the subtle scent of ionized metalloid and fear. My heart pounds inside my chest, forcing me to face the internal battle that rages within.
"Warlord Zarnak," I begin, my voice steady despite the chaos storming inside me. "You think I would travel with a prize such as the Zorite Statue?" I let the words hang, a bluff cloaked inthe arrogance I've worn like armor throughout the Universe. But even as I speak, panic gnaws at the edges of my resolve. My sedated sivot, my once indomitable strength, now lies dormant beneath my skin, a useless defense against the looming threat to Jules. There's no escape from this web of deceit, each strand woven tighter by my own hands. The Zorite Statue is gone, melted down, and molded into solid bars.
“Where is the statue, Star Maverick?” Zarnak hisses.
“Hidden in a safe place,” I lie easily, but the dance is a treacherous one, and I am no longer sure of the steps. With each heartbeat, I feel the heat of fury and the chill of dread intertwine, coiling around my soul like the cosmic serpents of old legends.
As I stand there, locked in a silent standoff, I know the stakes have never been higher.
"Time is not your ally," Warlord Zarnak warns, and I can see the truth of it reflected in Jules' terrified gaze. “Though, I’m feeling generous. You have one Kaul day to retrieve the relic and bring it back to me. If you fail, she dies.”
“I will return with your relic, Zarnak,” I hiss.
“For her sake, I hope that you do.”
My pulse hammers in my ears as I turn away from Warlord Zarnak, his malicious gaze boring into my back, a laser blaster locked on its target. The air in the cargo hold sizzles with the tension of a brewing storm, and I can taste the metallic tang of impending violence.
I stride toward Jules who struggles against her restraints, her verdant gaze wide with fear yet burning with an untamed fire, and for a moment, the Universe narrows to the space between us.
"Jules," I say, my voice low and steady despite the chaos churning inside me. "Listen to me." She stops writhing, her full attention on me. "I will come back for you." The words aren't justa promise, they're an oath, a vow etched into the very core of my being. Without my sivot here to protect her, it’s all up to me.
Her lips part, but it's her eyes that speak volumes, conveying trust along with terror. "Behtu, please don’t leave me—" Her plea cuts deep, but I silence it with a look I hope conveys all that I cannot say right now.
"Trust me," I urge, my hand hovering above hers, aching to touch her but restrained by the energy pulsing through her shackles. “Stay strong. I will return before you even realize I’ve gone.” Her nod is slight, almost imperceptible, but it's enough.
I turn, each step away from her feels like a light-year. The marrow in my bones heats to spill more blood as I pass the slain bodies of the Grymlok minions, victims of my wrathful dance. Their lifeless forms are a grim reminder of the peril that curls around us both, waiting to strike.
As I approach the vessel's exit, my reluctance drags at me like the gravitational pull of a dying star. A glance over my shoulder reveals Jules watching me, her figure a beacon of strength in the dimly lit cargo hold. With every fiber of my being screaming to stay, to fight, to end this here and now, I force myself onward.
The door to the docking bridge hisses open, exposing the wavy solidity of a luminetric tunnel that connects to my ship and the vacuum of space beyond. The coldness of the void mirrors the icy dread coiling in my gut. The corium marking my arm feels heavier than a comet's core, a constant reminder of my sivot's forced slumber and my current helplessness.
Stepping over the threshold, I run the length of the luminetric tunnel to my waiting ship. I will return for Jules. No force in the cosmos will keep me from my female, nor quench the inferno that she has ignited within me.
The docking bridge door seals shut with a definitive clank, and I’m propelled by duty and the unyielding promise made toa female whose spirit burns brighter than the stars themselves, I am resolute.
Beyond the viewport, stars flicker like the eyes of a thousand distant watchers, a silent audience to the unfolding drama as I take my seat behind the command console. My ship's engines hum softly as I veer into the expanse that separates me from the retrieval of the Zorite Statue which no longer exists, but I have a plan.
