Payton

PAYTON

"Payton," Havek spoke softly while stepping next to me. "You have to hide."

"What?" I asked, frowning and scoffing. "Are you insane?"

"No. I'm serious."

"And what? Leave you here to be captured?"

He nodded while keeping his eyes on the ship. "Yes. Once I'm back in Deathgate, I'll find a way to get a message out to the family. You're my mate. They'll come and get you, I swear."

"Havek." I tried to tug on his arm, but his gaze was fixated.

I placed my hand on his chest, trying to feel his heartbeat. Once I located it, I realized it was racing.

He's scared.

I couldn't leave him. Even if I did, where would I hide? Sure, there were some strange glass-like trees next to us, but that wouldn't provide much cover.

It whizzed over us, circling and looking for a place to land. The blue lights from the bottom of it were menacing. Funny, I always liked the color blue until that moment. It seemed even more intimidating than the red lights of the prison when the alarm sounded. Maybe because those meant freedom, and that blue meant captivity.

"Havek, look at me."

He turned his head slowly, and the look he gave me sent chills through my body. He looked broken, like his spirit had finally cracked. "Havek, you have to have faith, all right?"

"Faith?" he scoffed and broke away from me. "We're done, Payton. They found us. It's all over."

"That might not be true," I responded, walking toward him and holding out my hands, but he flinched away.

"What is wrong with you?"

"I can't feel your touch," he responded lowly, looking at me with water in his eyes. "It's only going to make this harder for both of us."

"Havek, please! Look…" I threw my arms up to the spaceship in the sky, motioning to it while shaking my head. "If these are our last moments together, I don't want to spend them with you not wanting to touch me! What is happening to you?"

He shrugged and laughed sadly. "I guess I'm finally accepting it. This whole adventure…" He looked out to the ocean and shook his head while gulping. "It was a nice fantasy. It was a good hope but a stupid dream that we would make it out." He stared back at me finally, turning up the corners of his lips while keeping his brow furrowed. "And I found you," he said with a sigh. "And that's the greatest gift I could have ever received, but it's time to return to reality now."

"Havek!" I growled, losing my patience. "You listen to me, dammit! I love you. I'm not letting you give up on me!"

"Give up on you?" he asked, raising his voice due to the spaceship landing. "You think I would ever do that to you?"

I shrugged. "Prove you wouldn't! Hold me!"

He shook his head before finally caving and rushing over to me. He took me in his arms tightly, and I grabbed onto his chest while my eyes watered. I knew he was scared and wanted to pull away, but I was too selfish to let him do that.

"I love you," he whispered while choking back tears.

"I love you, too," I replied before pulling back from our embrace. "Listen." I dried my tears before looking at the spaceship. "Whatever happens…" I turned back to him. "I'm with you. No matter what. If we go down, we're going down together, right?"

He nodded and wove his fingers through my hair before pulling me into his chest again. We looked at the spaceship, watching the dirt fly upward as it touched the ground. My heart raced, and my palms were sweating against Havek's skin. I placed my ear on his chest, wanting to hear his heartbeat again.

If it was going to be the last time his heartbeat would soothe my nerves, I would take every ounce of it in. I wanted to hold on to that memory for the rest of my life, however long that was going to be.

Someone once told me that a being dies three times. The first is physical, when the body passes away. The second is when no one has memories of the being anymore. They finally die entirely when their name is spoken for the last time.

I will never forget him like he is at this moment. He will always be my mate. My clever, loving, and daring mate. Whatever happens to us, I will make his legacy live on somehow. If I have to write letters to Thodos III from Deathgate or steal a percomm to contact Tessi and tell her what happens to us, I will ensure his name is spoken for the rest of eternity.

The gangplank descended, and my heart leaped in my chest. Havek tensed his arms around me, and I sighed into his chest. I breathed in his scent, trying to store it in my memory for whenever I needed to think of that moment. I prepared for the worst and believed the memories of him would be the only things that would get me through whatever was about to come.

A silhouette appeared at the top of the plank, and I held my breath. It was tall and muscular, with horns on the side of its head.

A Vinduthi?

The figure walked down the plank, and the light finally hit his face. Havek began laughing, and I covered my mouth while hot tears streamed down my face.

Alkard.

"You scared us," Havek yelled while beginning to walk us toward him.

But my feet were frozen in place.

Maybe it was finally too much.

Maybe the stress of the change, of the crash, a lifetime of failed dreams, the recent betrayal had all mixed together into a sludge of paranoia.

But I couldn't move forward. Couldn't be happy. Not yet.

"What's going on?" I called out. "Tell us first."

Havek looked back at me, brow wrinkled in confusion. "Payton, what's wrong?"

Slowly, I shook my head. "How do we know what he's doing here? Maybe he's going to send you back to Deathgate. Maybe there's a deal with the Federation…"

In an instant, Havek was back by my side, his arms wrapped around me.

"Alkard would never do that," he murmured into my hair. "He's my family. Your family now, too."

A burst of laughter echoed, and I pulled back, startled.

"She's a smart lady, your mate," Alkard said.

Havek looked up sharply. "What do you mean?"

"An agreement was reached." Alkard's smile broadened. "You might remember, I'm good at making deals."

"What?" Havek's arm dropped from around my shoulders as he stared at Alkard with his mouth wide open. "What are you talking about? There's no way?—"

"It took a while, but we found one," Alkard said. "You're free and clear. Both of you."

"How?" I asked in disbelief. "What about the prison break?"

"You owe Tazhr and his new mate." Alkard smiled and looked at me while nodding. "They did it. They found the proof that Conii set you up. We just had to give it to the Grand Judge of Thodos III." That wicked smile again. "And maybe dump it all over the vid channels."

I rocked back, trying to absorb this. I knew they'd worked on a plan back on Thodos, but for it to completely exonerate Havek seemed like a miracle.

"As far as the prison break goes," Alkard replied while rubbing the back of his head and I held my breath while waiting for him to finish his sentence. "While Tazhr was working, we were putting other pieces into place. We have quite a lot of information on some of the Federation's…" He paused and chuckled. "History."

Havek cocked his head and squinted at Alkard, but my lips turned up into a grin. "So you're saying…" I began but was too struck by his words to finish the sentence.

"Because of the evidence against Conii that Taz found, we were able to use that history in other ways." Alkard nodded. "Like suggesting we could forget a few episodes, if the Alliance forgot one little jailbreak." He shrugged. "Besides, someone walking out of their escape proof prison wasn't exactly good publicity."

Havek let out a whoop, sweeping me into his arms and spinning me around until I was nearly dizzy.

"Did you hear that?" he shouted. "Who would have thought Taz, of all people, would find the solution?"

I was still in shock, and when he put me down, I turned to Alkard.

"No charges?"

"Nope."

"For anything?"

"Yes."

"So we can return to Thodos III?"

Alkard nodded. "And finally begin your lives…" He paused with a wink. "Together."

My walls broke, and I finally believed him. I turned to Havek and laughed before jumping on him and wrapping my arms around his neck.

"We made it," I whispered through tears.

"We made it," he responded, tightening his grip on me.

He turned around so he faced Alkard over my shoulder. "Thank you."

"Of course," Alkard responded from behind me.

Havek released me and I ran my fingers through his hair, exhaling while still processing the news.

"Well?" Alkard motioned to the ship. "Do you want to go home or not?"