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Monitors above the tub are beeping loudly. It feels like an alarm stabbing me in the heart with a sharp reality— I’m not dead at all. Not only am I not dead, but I never escaped.
“I thought it was over,” I murmur.
“Frankie.” The alien is using my name again. “Calm down and take a breath. You’ve been in regen for a long time. It’s not healthy to push your—”
“Don’t. Touch. Me.”
I tear my hand away and dive over the wall of the tub. My legs don’t respond, so I slap the floor like a fish on a ship deck. The alien winces and takes a step toward me. I’m thankful for the tub between us. I’m starkly alive, but pitifully weak. He won’t struggle to catch me if I run.
He seems different from the last alien that I had to deal with. Maybe the first guy was tired of my antics, sold me off despite all his promises to break me. I can’t even stand up; I’m a sitting duck. It’s only a matter of time before he summons the courage to come over here and mess with me.
“I’m going to make your life a living hell,” I vow.
Then I open my mouth and release an ear-shattering shriek.
CHAPTER TWO
MAK
When she starts screaming, my body goes numb. I stumble back.
My mate, sent by the spirit, destined as my queen.
Her wide eyes regard me as a monster, so I don’t move a muscle. The terrified expression on her pale face wounds me. I may as well have blood dripping from my teeth and hands.
Her mind is somewhere else. Kaye and Raina burst through the door, Kalla on their heels. They intercept my mate as she drags herself across the floor, clawing her way with weak limbs. The carpet soaks in the regen gel that continues to slosh from the tub in her wake.
Raina catches my mate as she tries to stand and fails, wobbling backwards and nearly laying out the smaller female. Raina’s strong enough to support her weight as Kaye comes at her from the front, catching Frankie’s face between her palms. The familiarity of her closest friends should calm her down.
“Shhhh, it’s okay.” She uses hushed tones. “It’s us.”
My mate’s eyes dart around, searching for me—the threat.
I look at Kalla on the threshold and point a finger the other way.
“Out,” I mouth.
There’s only one option now.
I follow Kalla out the door. If the sight of me distresses her, then all I can do is disappear. The door slams shut. It’s thin enough that I can hear her muffled sobs of panic, followed by the soothing responses of the others. I can only take so much of it before I get as far as I can from the room, farther from her than I’ve been in cycles.
I thought I’d be overjoyed the day they came to remove the regen from my mother’s old boudoir. Night and day for cycles, it resided not far from my own room. I would leave the door cracked to listen for any sign that my mate’s condition was changing.
Every morning, I would sit with her, cataloguing every detail of her face in the hopes that some improvement might be there. Strong breaths, more color—anything to indicate that she was close to waking up. We made the decision to move her to the palace when curious faces started appearing at the medical center. Rumors spread quickly on this ancient ship, so much so that they say the words bounce off the pipes that run under the deck. The people wanted to see my queen for themselves, whether it was to check if she was alive or lay eyes on their leader’s human mate.
But now, I watch with only dull misery in my gut as the medical staff carry away the monitors. Servants arrive to roll up the ruined carpet, whispering about how to remove the regen goo from a hand knotted masterpiece. No one speaks to me; they know better than to bother with a heartsick male. My mate is awake, but she’s gone from my rooms and soon to be gone from this very ship. The joy of her recovery is overshadowed by the pain of losing her.
Frankie has chosen to leave The Rightful Heir and return to her colony. Kalla and his mate Kaye will follow her there, despite their plans to relocate to the planet that awaits us in Sector 5. It’s all on hold until Frankie’s well enough that they can leave her alone.
I’m told she can’t sleep, and when she does, she wakes up screaming. She doesn’t wish to be touched at all, not even by her closest friends. The first day awake, she needed time to acclimate to reality. The medical staff reported that she became nauseous enough to vomit after a mere brush of fingers against her arm. She took the better part of four days before she swallowed a full meal, and she’s taken to wearing gloves.
I can’t see her for myself. Kaye and Raina waited a while before they explained the situation of our matebond to her. Apparently, Francesca hardly reacted. They didn’t even tell me what she said about it, so I take that as an indication that it was nothing good.
Nisina is sniffing a circuit around the room, confused by the absence as much as I am. My noble kaia recognized my mate before I did. But the poor beast can’t understand any of this, not the coma and not this sudden separation now that Frankie’s finally awake.
A tapping on the door jolts me to attention.
Kaye stands on the threshold with Kalla lurking behind her.
