"There's time."
"No." I looked at the approaching ships. They were closer now, close enough that I could make out their configurations. Assault craft. Fast, maneuverable, armed. "They'll track the shuttle. You need a head start, and I need to give it to you."
"Cristox." Tarrick's voice was rough. "This is suicide."
"This is the mission." I met his eyes. "Get her out of here. Keep her safe."
For a moment, I thought he might argue. Then he nodded once, sharp and final, and held out his arms.
I carefully transferred the female, making sure the blanket stayed wrapped around her and that Tarrick had hersecure. She looked so small. So vulnerable. The drug had left her face pale, her lips slightly parted, dark lashes resting against her cheeks.
I reached out and brushed my knuckles against her cheek one last time. Then I leaned down and pressed my lips to her forehead. A gentle kiss, a goodbye, a promise I couldn't keep.
Her eyes fluttered open.
Just for a second. Just long enough for her gaze to find mine, hazy and confused but aware. Those eyes—human eyes, so different from mine, so impossibly beautiful in shades of gray and blue with flecks of green—locked onto my face.
I wanted to say something. Wanted to tell her... what? That she was my mate? That I would have given anything for more time? That in another life, another universe, I would have kept her safe and made her mine and never let her go?
But there were no words. There was only this moment, this single heartbeat, where she looked at me and I looked at her, and something passed between us that had no name.
Then her eyes closed again, and she was gone, pulled back under by exhaustion and the lingering effects of the venerem.
"Go," I said to Tarrick.
He didn't waste time on sentiment. He turned and carried her into the shuttle, moving fast. I heard the engines cycle up to full power.
I stepped back from the shuttle and raised the long-range blaster, sighting the nearest Kwado ship. The targeting system painted it red, calculating distance, wind speed, velocity.
The shuttle's engines roared behind me. I didn't turn around. Didn't watch it lift off. I kept my eyes on the Kwado ships, on the threat, on the only thing I could still do for her.
The first ship was in range. I squeezed the trigger, and the blaster kicked against my shoulder. The shot streaked across the sky, a line of superheated plasma that struck the ship's portengine. It exploded in a shower of sparks and debris, and the ship lurched sideways, trailing smoke.
The other ships immediately changed course, converging on my position.
Good.
I fired again. And again. Drawing their attention, their fire, their fury. Everything they had, I wanted aimed at me. Not at the shuttle climbing into the atmosphere behind me. Not at the female who was my mate in every way that mattered, even if she'd never know it.
The Kwado ships opened fire, and the world erupted in light and heat.
I smiled.
She was safe. It was enough. It had to be enough.
Chapter 1
Cristox
Five years later
I drummed my clawed fingers against the navigation console, watching stars streak past in a blue-white blur. Behind me, in the passenger section of the shuttle Veridian Dawn, seventeen rescued humans huddled together, their voices a constant murmur of gratitude and questions I had neither the patience nor the inclination to answer.
I should have been with my crew on the Historia, tracking the human criminal Declan Hewes through the outer rim, closing in on the rogue Romvesian prince who'd sprung him en route to a prison planet. Instead, I was playing shuttle service to Tau Ceti, delivering refugees to their new home while the real action happened light-years away.
"Short straw," I muttered, the words tasting bitter. It wasn't even a fair draw. Ixaka had palmed two long straws before the lot—I was sure of it, cheating fucker. But honor demanded that I accept the result, even when honor was inconvenient.
A sharp crack echoed through the hull, followed by a metallic shudder that rippled from stern to bow. The VeridianDawn shimmied hard to port, and my hands flew to the stabilizers before my conscious mind registered the impact.
