AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Then he was snatched away from her, her last vision of the man she loved the flash of silver hair as the escape pod plummeted from its cradle.
"Vaarn!"
* * *
Vaarn's heart broke as his mate’s screams echoed through the comms, crying and pleading with him to join her in the escape pod.
He couldn't. He wished from the bottom of his heart that he could. But he hadn't told her the full extent of the ship's damage. He kept that from her, not wanting to scare her with the desperate nature of their situation. The truth was that the ship itself posed as much danger as the asteroid debris raining down through the upper atmosphere around them. The state that it was in, he had no choice but to try and pilot the ship down, away from the path of the pod. To try and keep her safe, in case it came apart, breaking up into yet more lethal pieces. He tried not to think about the fact that it was likely to, with him inside it.
He watched the pod on the scanners, taking note of all the dangers that would threaten her. Bringing the guns online, he twisted and turned the crippled vessel to destroy anything that got anywhere near her.
It was his duty as her mate to keep her safe. Glancing down, he caught sight of his wrists and bittersweet triumph rolled through him. Dark, vine-like marks under the skin encircled both his wrists. Mating marks.
Agony speared his heart as he realized that his first and final act as her bonded mate would be to sacrifice himself to save her life. Then he put emotion away, locked down tight in the center of his soul. Despair at having to leave her so soon, over not being able to grow old with her, and see their children, had no place in this fight.
Because fight it was. He would need all of his skills and experience, all of his knowledge of the ship, to keep her escape pod safe on its trajectory to the ground.
So he channeled his anguish into steel-willed focus, flying the damaged and near-crippled ship with a fierce precision that an imperial star fighter would've been proud of.
The ship rocked, alarms in the cockpit screaming as he alternated between firing at the asteroid fragments and simply slamming them out of the way with the damaged ship. He lost the rear engines, and the aft quarter was no longer registering as part of the ship, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was clearing a route for the pod, no matter the cost.
A tumbling rock almost took him out, the impact sending hull plates flying past the little pod. The ship groaned, one of the fuel tanks ruptured, as they plunged into the planet's atmosphere. Gritting his teeth, he used all the strength in his body to hold the ship on course, still firing at the debris to clear the way in front of the escape pod's descent path.
He had to save Sadie. Nothing else was acceptable.
The ship reached its limits. With a deafening crack, the viewport imploded before him, sucking the oxygen from the cabin out in a devastating rush. Flames licked at the back of the cockpit as the ship began to break apart.
His chest constricted as he watched the escape pod hurtle toward the planet's surface, disappearing into clouds where he couldn't see it. His fingers flew over the control panel, opening up the comms system. He needed to get a message to his cousin, S'aad, but he didn't have time to wait for the call to connect.
"S'aad, it's Vaarn. Listen up. Sending you coordinates," he said, keeping his message to the short and clipped delivery they used in combat communications. "Ship damaged, pirates in the area, human female in danger and alone. She has a tracker bracelet…" He reeled off the code, and then his voice cracked. "S'aad… she's my mate. Save her. Look after her. I'm trusting you with her life. Vaarn out."
With no way to control the ship, he had only one option left. Jaw clenched, he started the self-destruct sequence. It was beyond repair, and he couldn't risk it hitting the escape pod in its freefall to the surface.
“Self-destruct sequence initiated. Self-destruct in fifteen seconds… fourteen seconds… thirteen…”
The countdown showed on the console in front of him but the audible warning was lost in the rush of wind through the ruined viewscreen. He turned and half fell, half ran to the back of the cockpit. Wrenching a storage closet open, he grabbed a drop pack and slung it over his shoulders.
The airlock hissed open, and the wind of the upper atmosphere tried to yank him out. His muscles tensed as he slid home the buckles of the pack. He'd done combat drops before, but never from this height. He had no idea if he would survive it.
His breaths were short, ragged gasps as he prepared to launch himself outside. Something exploded behind him, flames licking at his back, and he ran forward, leaping at the last minute. For a fleeting moment, he was weightless, then the wind grabbed him and flipped him over.
His eyes widened as the ground below raised up to meet him. Immediately, he twisted until he could see the escape pod, a small speck to his left plummeting toward the planet below. His beautiful Sadie was inside, scared and alone. The thought tore at his soul, but there was nothing he could do for her now.
He kept her pod firmly in sight, even as the ship erupted in a blinding burst of light above him. Debris scattered in all directions, the shockwave hitting him and spinning him off course.
As oblivion rushed to embrace him, his last thought was of Sadie, safe. He had fulfilled his duty as her mate. Grim satisfaction filled him. She would live… survive… even if he did not.
And that was all that mattered.
11
She screamed all the way down to the surface.
The escape pod rattled violently around Sadie as it hurtled through the atmosphere of the purple and teal planet. She clutched at the straps meant to hold her in place, shoving her arms through them.
Tears streamed down her face as she craned her neck, trying to see out the tiny window of the pod. Vaarn was up there, sacrificing himself so she could live. She couldn't see the ship. All she could see through the window were the chunks of rock that flew past, debris from the asteroid field, and laser cannon fire as he vaporized them all.
She didn't care that he was clearing her path. All she cared about was that he was still on that damaged ship, with no escape pod. No way to escape to safety.
