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This was more than mere worry; these women felt the pulse of battle, a connection so profound it bypassed distance, bypassed reason. A zing of electricity shot through me. The echo within quickened, my heart racing in time with a rush of adrenaline I knew did not belong to me.
I closed my eyes, focusing inward, on the echo I had tried so hard to ignore, I clung to it—a whisper of something not quite my own. A flicker of courage, undeterred by the specter of war, solid and unyielding. I had felt it before on Gorka after I’d first laid eyes on Gunnox, a tendril of concern and rage—so specific, so achingly familiar—it could only belong to him.
I hadn’t wanted to believe it even though the proof was all around me. Soulmates truly existed on Valose.
"Gunnox," his name slipped from my lips before I could catch it, a silent invocation drawn from the depths of a newfound revelation.
His emotions brushed against my consciousness, a fleeting touch that set my nerves on fire. The sensation was cursory, yet undeniable—an intimate echo resonating within the hollow of my chest. It was both terrifying and exhilarating, a secret shared without words.
"Sarah?" A voice, laced with worry, cut through my raging thoughts. I opened my eyes to meet Willow's gaze, her brow furrowed in concern.
"I can feel him,” I uttered, my voice barely above a whisper, betraying the maelstrom of emotions churning inside me.
Willow nodded. Her dark, glossy hair shifted over her shoulders. Her skin, usually bronzed like sun-kissed sands on a Hawaiian shore, now bore a pallor that starkly contrasted with her usual vibrant complexion. The worry etched into her features had drained the warmth from her cheeks, leaving them ashen and devoid of their customary radiance.
"It's real," Willow confirmed, her voice steady but holding an undertone of awe. "I hadn’t wanted to believe it either. Fought hard not to bond with Murrox because I clung to the hope that one day I would be able to return to Earth."
I swallowed hard, grappling with the implications of giving into the bond that called to me.
My gaze swept across the sea of faces, each one a mirror to the soul of their absent mate. The air was electric with anxiety and hope, thick enough to strangle. A sudden wave of desperation crashed over me as I studied the faces of the other women. Like me only much more intense, they were living the battle alongside their mates through an invisible thread that bound them across the void.
"Sarah, you're trembling," Willow murmured, her hand reaching out to steady me.
I barely felt her touch. My mind spun with the realization of what it truly meant to be bonded. To share not only joy but every harrowing scrape with death, every pulse-pounding moment of combat. It was intimacy in its most raw form, a fusion of spirits that defied logic. And there I stood, on the precipice of forsaking such a connection with Gunnox for a world I had been unjustly ripped away from.
After enduring what I had on Gorka, and with every fiber of my being drawn to Gunnox, the memory of Earth felt like a fading mirage in the vast expanse of my mind.
A hush fell over the room as Zikkar raised his hand and approached the command console. "We’re being hailed,” Zikkar's voice boomed through the hangar, the undercurrents of his own relief palpable.
Every breath was held, and every heartbeat paused as we waited to hear the outcome of the battle with the Nuttaki.
"Trisess is secure. The Nuttaki threat is neutralized for now," Nekko’s voice boomed through the comm. "Minimal injuries. No casualties on our end."
A collective sigh cascaded through the hangar like a breaking wave, washing over us with sweet relief. Tears flowed freely, some born of happiness, others of pent-up fear finally allowed release. I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the news sink into my very bones.
Gunnox was alive. I knew it in the tendril that was him. To hear the words anchored me, calming the swirl of emotions in a way nothing else could. As whispers of gratitude and muted laughter began to fill the space around me, I sat silent, a sentinel among the celebration. The bond that had seemed so meager was solidifying within me, each throb of my heart syncing with an unseen rhythm that belonged to him taking me farther away from Earth and luring me home.
My chest tightened, and the air around me charged with a mixture of emotions as Nekko made another announcement. Relief had washed over us all, but the tide was quick to retreat, leaving behind an uneasy stillness. My fingers curled into my palms, nails biting into flesh. Gunnox was safe, but the electric thrum of victory was short-lived.
Gunnox wouldn’t be coming back to Huren right away. He was staying there to help secure the border until a perimeter could be established. Trisess was his home and I more than anyone understood what it was to be home, but that didn’t stop the sharp pang of disappointment to pierce through the bubble of joy in my heart, deflating it with rapid precision.
The information settled like lead in my stomach, weighing down the fluttering hope that had momentarily lifted me. Gunnox, would not return to the dome's sanctuary tonight. He would remain on his clan’s land in the Trisess Forest.
His absence was a void, the silence of his presence deafening amongst the cacophony of relief and lingering fear. But we were connected now, tethered by an invisible thread woven from the very essence of our beings. I couldn’t wait for his return, to run my fingers through the length of his silky hair, to smooth my hands over the glowing designs that marked his powerful chest and arms, to kiss his perfect lips, to set eyes on my silver splendor once again.
Chapter Sixteen
GUNNOX
Iturned the wheel and the lift ascended with a whisper, leaving the ground littered with Nuttaki carcasses behind as it climbed the trunk that housed my home within the colossal tree. Stepping off onto the wooden platform, I paused, inhaling the earthy scent that had always been synonymous with home and safety. But now, it filled my lungs with unease—a familiar place rendered foreign by memories steeped in darkness.
I moved across the threshold, my scales catching the soft luminescence from the solaris rocks scattered about the large, open space. Everything was untouched, exactly as I left it. Yet, the silence bore down on me, oppressive, as if the very air had thickened with the residue of my absence.
A shiver coursed through me, not from the coolness of my home nestled within the tree but from the recollection of raw fear. It gripped me—the moment my will had been snatched away under the Gretolic’s manipulation. The gray freak’s mind-bending prowess had ensnared me effortlessly, drowning my resistance as though it were nothing but a flickering flame smothered by the void.
Come,the alien had whispered to Drekkor and me, voices like ethereal chains wrapped around my consciousness, pulling us toward the craft. The terror had clawed at the inside of my chest, my heart thundering against my ribcage. My muscles had tensed, begging to fight, to flee, but I had been frozen, a puppet bound by invisible strings as I followed behind Drekkor.
Helplessness had consumed me, the antithesis of everything I had been trained to be—a warrior, a protector. Yet in that moment, I could protect no one, least of all myself.
