Page 42 of Aviatrix

He flinches. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“What if the world really is ending and I...” His words falter.

Finally, his gaze meets mine. All the steel, the bravado? It’s gone. What’s left is raw and real. The shattered pieces of a man caught between duty and love.

“Go,” I say softly. “I’ll fly to San Diego.”

He nods once. Slowly. Like his heart’s still arguing, even though his mind knows what he has to do.

Because right now, he’s not a soldier. Not a colonel. Not even a broken man.

He’s a father.

And if Amber’s still alive, she needs him more than I do.

“It’ll be fine, Lark,” I reassure him again. “I promise.”

He tugs me close and wraps his arms around me. I don’t have time to feel anything, let alone process it. I slide my palms up his back and hook my hands around his shoulders. My head finds his chest, listening to the sound of his heart—fast but steady.

The realization that I might never see him again washes over me like ice water. So, I hold him a little tighter before I let him go.

“You’ll let me know about…” I can’t finish.

Lark’s fingers graze my jaw. “I’ll get a message to you.”

He pulls the thumb drive out of his pocket and holds it in the space between us. I take it from him, grateful he’s willingly handing it over. Without a second thought.

Then, he’s walking away, and I wrap my arms around myself. It doesn’t feel like goodbye. But maybe it is. Maybe he was always meant to be.

I don’t know how long I stand there, staring after him. But when I hear footsteps, I know Thea’s awake.

“What the hell did I miss?” She gasps.

The news loop is still playing. The flames. The wreckage.

“A lot,” I tell her. “The White House was attacked. No word on the President. Or Lark’s daughter.”

“Oh shit,” Thea gasps. “I forgot he had a daughter.”

I blow out a breath. “He’s going to D.C. I’m heading to San Diego.”

“Do you need me to come with you?” she asks, concern tightening her features.

I shake my head. “No. I need you to get the intel I gave you to Gary. We need answers. Now more than ever.”

I should hand over the drive, but something tells me not to.

“They must’ve been communicating with the White House,” Thea says, eyes locked on the screen. “Why else would the aliens destroy it?”

“Different ships this time,” I tell her.

Her brow furrows. “Different how? Like different models… or different species?”

“I don’t know,” I whisper. “I just don’t know.”

“You’ve got to be smart about this, Nova,” Thea says firmly. “Fly low. Trust no one. Get to Colorado as soon as you can.”