Gia came to stand with me as we peered around at all the frightened faces. Rose was saying goodbye to Wynnter, reluctant for him to leave, tears streaming down her face. The girl with the foul mouth, Marie, held tightly to the saber-toothed cub named Chompers. The dark-haired girl mated to the leader over all three clans, Lily, cradled her very pregnant belly as Isobel, Amy, and Elise all huddled close together.
“Wait,” the girl who had lost her memory, Jane, looked around then stood on tiptoe to count heads. “Where's Willow? Where in thefuckis Willow?”
“I will tell the others to keep an eye out for her. She's inside the city somewhere,” Wynnter growled. “Maybe she hunkered down, hiding when the siren sounded.”
“I hope so,” Jane said, worried.
Willow had made it known she hated Valose and wanted to go home. I’d heard she gave the techs hell every time they dismantled a spacecraft capable of reaching Earth.
“We will find her, Jane. I promise,” Wynnter vowed, then returned his attention to Rose before taking the elevator back to the surface.
I thought back to when the curly headed ginger and Zikkar were together on the island. They were never openly affectionate toward one another like she was with Wynnter, like Zikkar was toward me. In fact, they seemed almost distant at times, as if there were growing apart, especially after Wynnter had arrived. Now it all made sense why they had grown apart. Like Zikkar had explained when I first arrived in Huren, Rose was meant for another.
I waited anxiously in the cold mouth of the nutrillium mine, my heart hammering a frantic tempo against my ribs. The air was thick with whispered prayers and stifled sobs as I huddled together with the other girls for the warmth of shared humanity.
Z’s kiss still lingered on my lips, as did his spicy scent, sweet with the taste of a happy life on Valose if only I could let go of the thread of hope I still held of being reunited with my twin.
Two years had passed while I had been unconscious and caged. Zaku’s mate, Ivy, had been the key to our lost time. She had left Earth of her own accord with the huge, purple Moktian, so she had provided the current year. I was among a small group who had been missing from Earth the longest.
I pictured my family searching for me in vain, my twin agonizing like I was over her, over my own disappearance. That is, unless she had been abducted too. I hoped she was still on Earth. If not, how does one go about searching the entire Universe for a missing person? The task was too great for me to wrap my head around.
Z said Zaku had offered a bounty to some reavers called Lizordians—whoever they were—to return any humans or Valosians they found. I prayed if Breena were out there somewhere, lost among the stars, that she would be found and brought to Valose.
Gia clasped my hand. “You’re shivering.” Her touch was grounding amid our shared tremors.
“So are you,” I accused, hooking my arm through hers.
Gia's presence was a balm to my frayed nerves. Rescued alongside me from the clutches of darkness under the palace, she had become more than a fellow survivor; she was the sisterthat fate had thrust upon me in this strange, formidable world. Our arms linked, her grip was both a comfort and a lifeline in the tremulous anticipation of the Yulineon onslaught.
“Remember when you thought hiding down here was the scariest thing imaginable?” Gia murmured, her dark eyes glinting with a hint of her resilient spirit.
“Seems almost foolish now,” I replied, forcing a half-smile. “The scariest thing now is knowing Z is up there in the middle of it.”
“He’ll be fine,” she said softly. “He’s the smartest male I know.”
“Thanks, G,” I breathed, wishing with all my heart for her words to be true. “I didn’t have time to tell him before the sirens blared.”
“Time to tell him what?”
My thoughts raced to Zikkar, his silvery eyes resolute whenever he spoke of the dome—of our only line of defense against a race of people hellbent on killing us just for being off our world. His image conjured warmth within me, a stark contrast to the cold dread filling my chest. He was in the heart of the chaos, doing whatever he could to keep the dome intact while the Yulineons attacked.
“Z's up there,” I murmured to myself, rubbing at the swirl of emotions behind my sternum. Focused and determined, I knew these feelings didn’t belong to me. “He's up there keeping us safe.”
“Whatever it was you wanted to tell him, I’m sure once this is all over, you’ll get your chance,” Gia said in a gentle tone.
The very foundation of the palace shook, sending a shiver of apprehension up my spine. I cast my gaze upward, imaginingthe invisible barrier Zikkar and his fellow techs were so desperately striving to keep intact. The thought of him, with those determined silver eyes narrowed in concentration while his patience and unwavering resolve had become our lifeline.
Zikkar might not be a sword-wielding warrior, but he was fighting all the same, using his razor-sharp mind to battle the enemy.
A violent tremor rocked the subterranean chamber, jarring me from my thoughts. My legs buckled for an instant, but I managed to steady myself against a cold stone stuck in the dirt wall.
“Z won’t let the dome fall,” I uttered. “I’m his spirit mate and he would never let anything bad happen to me.”
I believed what I said. I believed in Zikkar. In his loyalty to Valose. In the bond, however unspoken, that tethered us amid this madness. The Yulineons might be relentless, but so was my mate.
My mate… My silver scholar.Mine!
My heart lightened as I gave myself over to the undeniable pull keeping me at the crossroads of indecision. I’d fallen asleep to have awoken two years later. Time had stood still for me while life had gone on without me. Although I would never give up trying to find out what had happened to my twin, I wasn’t being fair to myself or Zikkar by putting on hold what I knew to be true in the very core of me. So I could either embrace the love so freely given or forever languish over what I had lost and may never find again.
