CJ’s arms dropped to her side as she took in the view laid out in front of them.
Home.
She closed her eyes and took in a deep, gulping breath of fresh air. The smell of dirt surrounded her, and she breathed deeply, lifting her hands to the sky that was colored pink and orange with the setting sun.
The ground was covered with wildflowers, spread like a carpet as far as she could see, and she smiled as she watched them sway. CJ bent to pick a handful, tucking them into one of the chest pockets of her flight suit.
Domik watched on, arms crossed over his chest and his usual impassive expression giving nothing away.
CJ threw her head back and laughed before dancing toward him with a flower in her hand. “Let me give you a little bit of happy, big guy.” She smiled as she stood on her toes before him, tucking the bloom behind one ear.
CJ stood back, admiring her handiwork with a cocked head. The contrast of the orange flower against his black hair and dark golden-bronze skin was striking. It didn’t detract from his raw power. Instead, it seemed to enhance it.
It wasn’t fair.
“Right,” she said, smoothing her hands down the front of her flight suit. His eyes followed her hands, and she suddenly felt like a thirteen-year-old girl in front of her crush. She felt her cheeks heat, and she shifted from foot to foot. It was as if she didn’t know what to do with all her limbs. “So, any idea where we are?”
Domik watched her, before pointing over her shoulder toward the bare hills that surrounded them. In the fading light, she had to squint to see the outlines of buildings near a road. “I was trying to get us close to somewhere I’ve been before, one of your Space Force bases. But it was hard to do with so little to guide me, and the controls… well, it wasn’t my best piloting.” Domik shrugged.
“We made it in one piece, Dom. You did great.” She smiled and laid a hand on one of his beefy forearms, the muscles rippling under her fingers.
He looked away, clearing his throat. “Let’s walk.” He bent to pick up a backpack that he must have pulled from the pod while CJ was unconscious, stuffing the medi-wand inside.
CJ removed her hand and nodded, turning and beginning the descent down the slight rise where the pod had landed. For long minutes they walked in silence, Domik slowing his long stride to match hers, making their way through the field of wildflowers toward the road. As darkness descended, the night sky lit up with stars and the occasional bright flash.
At the first one, CJ flinched, leaning closer to Domik. “It’s something burning up as it makes its way through the atmosphere.”
He didn’t need to say more. CJ shuddered as she considered the many Xakul and Taurean ships that were battling above them.
More and more flashes lit up the night sky, and suddenly the peace she had felt disappeared.
“We have to stop this,” CJ said, breaking the silence that had spread as they walked.
Domik’s reply, when it came, was short and to the point. “We need to get to the base first.”
Suddenly, it all seemed too hard, and CJ’s eyes filled with tears. She lifted a hand to rub at her face, and she stumbled as her foot slipped on the loose ground.
Growling, Domik swung her into his arms, one arm under her legs and the other behind her back. CJ looped her arms around his neck and settled against his chest. She didn’t protest, knowing that he could walk faster without her struggling beside him.
His heart thudded beneath her cheek, his chest rising and falling with each breath he took. She let her fingers slide underneath the heavy weight of his hair where it slid over his shoulders, having come out of its confining braid—what CJ liked to think of as Domik’s battle braids—at some point. His hair was thick and dark, almost entirely black, but with strands of dark bronze spread throughout that she hadn’t noticed before.
The fading light shone across his face, casting him in even more of a golden glow than his usual skin tone. He was stunningly, achingly beautiful, and her heart thudded with longing.
She broke her gaze away and stared ahead at the cluster of buildings which suddenly appeared before them. She squinted to see better in the fading light.
“I think that’s a gas station,” she said as they reached the road and Domik put her back on her feet. She held onto his arm to steady herself before walking toward the buildings. “How far do you think it is?” She turned to ask, casting a sideways look at Domik.
“One of your kilometers, no further,” he said confidently, and CJ knew he was right.
“That’s not far. It looks pretty quiet.” She squinted, trying to see if the buildings were occupied.
“A little too quiet,” he said, his tone wary.
They walked together down the road, which cut straight through the valley where they had landed. The ground on either side was low and rocky, with little in the way of vegetation except for the occasional scrubby bush and the carpet of wildflowers. In the distance, the road rose over a hill, behind which the sun was about to disappear.
This would be perfect under different circumstances.
She smiled to herself, Domik casting her a look, one eyebrow raised in question.
