Chapter Eighteen

What a day! The sun was setting by the time she managed to get back to the penthouse. A quick favor for a friend had turned into a marathon. Larth had been gone for hours, leaving her stuck at the booth because she couldn't leave it unattended when she'd promised to watch it.

Not that anybody needed to. The cozi had been deserted, the customers seeming to vanish not long after Larth had left. The other vendors were perplexed. It wasn't until Larth returned that they'd learned what had happened. People couldn't get to the cozi—or anywhere else.

Thugs denouncing her husband had blocked access to vaporators, including the one at the pod center. Larth had gotten there okay, but when he tried to leave, protestors had refused to let him board the transport. He'd had to walk a long distance before he'd found an unoccupied vaporator .

"Am I going to be able to get home?" she'd asked, alarmed.

"You can now. Security forces are standing guard outside the vaporator down the street. I'm sorry. If I had had any idea this would happen, I would never have left you here alone."

"It's all right. You needed to see your wife. She's okay?"

"She's holding her own."

Saying her goodbyes, she hurried out of the cozi. To her relief, there were two guards stationed beside the vaporator. "Good evening, Hope Bennett," one of them greeted her.

She'd never met him before. "You know who I am?"

"All of Caradonia knows who you are."

That sounded troubling until she recalled the holograms taken for promotional purposes at the reception. Vorgol must be really good at marketing.

But still? That fast?

She shook off the uneasiness as she got off in the penthouse lobby. Eagerness bubbled up inside. She doubted her husband would be home yet, but that would give her time to freshen up and put on something pretty. Bow chicka wow wow .

Why did Prudence plant that phrase in my head? But her friend may have been right about sex bringing them together.

I have a home, a real marriage with a man who cares for me. He may not be in love with me yet, but that will come. She already loved him.

As she approached the penthouse, the door flew open. Hair mussed, eyes ablaze, Krogan grabbed her and dragged her into the apartment. "Fizzak! Where have you been? I was scared to death!"

"I was—"

He crushed her lips in a hard, plundering kiss. Shaking hands roamed over her body. He murmured something she couldn't catch. What happened? What's going on? She'd never seen him frantic like this.

Then he released her so abruptly she almost fell. "We need to talk," he said ominously.

* * * *

While waiting for Hope and fearing the worst, the remnants of Krogan's protective shell had shattered like fragile glass, the tiny shards cutting him in a thousand different ways. Seeing her at the door had delivered a staggering punch of relief and despair. Relief that she was alive and well, despair because this incident had revealed that her connection to him had endangered her life. People would use her to strike at him. He couldn't risk jeopardizing her life. He would rather give her up and know she was safe than lose her to violence.

He ached to grab her, hold her, bury himself in her one last time, but if he did, his courage would fail him. He strode to the wide windows. The blood-red sunset looked like he felt. He was bleeding inside.

I can't do it.

I must do it.

"Where did you go?" he asked dully.

"I went to the bakery in the cozi. I was helping Larth."

"The cozi!" That had been one of the sites blocked by Stervak's mob. He raked his hands through his hair.

"I didn't expect to be gone so long. I told Larth I'd watch his booth while he visited his wife, but he got back late. I'm sorry I worried you. What's going on?"

"I contacted you multiple times. You didn't answer."

"I didn't get the messages. I must have left before they came through."

"When you didn't reply, I came home to reassure myself you were here safe and sound. Don Juan said you'd left this morning right after breakfast." He'd about died knowing Hope was out there alone with Stervak and his mob running amok.

They'd arrested hundreds of illegal demonstrators, but unless guards remained at the sites, others swarmed in as soon as the security forces moved on to the next site. A relatively few individuals had disrupted an entire city, interfered with transportation and commerce, and caused inconvenience and emotional pain to people already grieving and worrying. And, they had issued threats against his wife's life.

Eventually his security force would quell the uprising and locate and arrest Stervak, but until that happened, Hope remained in jeopardy. The uprising could spark copycats. Anytime he made a decision malcontents disagreed with, more unrest could occur.

For the benefit of all citizens, he refused to cave to mob demands and cancel Cosmic Mates. Stervak refused to accept the truth that their survival was imperiled. The birthrate was stagnant; no babies had been born in two years. So many women had died in the pandemic that they couldn't sustain their population even if all the women in stasis recovered and started reproducing. They were in dire straits.

He had to do what was right for his people. And he had a hunch that Stervak didn't object to Cosmic Mates at all—his former political rival was using it as a ploy, twisting the truth to force Krogan to resign.

He had to stay the course he'd set.

He had to protect his wife.

Finding her gone, fearing she might have been assaulted, kidnapped, or even killed by Stervak's mob had shown him what life would be like without her.

"I'm sorry you were worried about me," she said.

"You are not—it is not—" Just say it.

The question in her eyes turned to worry.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. He averted his gaze. "In an effort to force me to resign, Stervak has threatened your life."

She gasped. "What? How? What did he say?" She pressed a hand to her throat.

"A ship arrives from Terra Nova tomorrow. I'm putting you on it. I'm sending you home." If he didn't take this opportunity now, it would be weeks before another ship arrived. She had to go now.

"No!" She shook her head. "I'm not going. I'm staying here."

"You're going."

"Isn't the apartment safe?" She fingered her wrist. "Isn't access programmed into our chips? "

"Under normal circumstances. These aren't normal circumstances. When the situation improves, you can come back." Please, let her want to come back.

"What about the other brides? Are they going back too? And the new ones arriving tomorrow?"

"They will receive additional security, but their lives weren't threatened."

"Give me extra security."

"Your life was threatened . Stervak has called upon his followers to attack you. You have been targeted." Targeted because of me. "You're going to Terra Nova," he said in his sternest voice.

"We have a marriage contract."

"There is an exemption for exigent circumstances. I checked."

"I thought we had something. We can't have a marriage if I'm not here. Last n-night…"

He turned away from her stricken face before he lost his nerve. He stared out the window, but he could see her reflection in the glass. Last night had been the best evening of his life, building a foundation for the future. Today, he had to tear it down for her own good.

"I won't go. I refuse," she said .

He had to force her to leave, make her want to leave. "This is nonnegotiable. Don't you understand what I'm trying to tell you?" He hardened his voice. "I'm trying to let you down easily, but you're not getting it. I don't want you here. I can't afford the distraction. Dealing with you will be a hindrance to what I need to do for Caradonia."

She flinched as if he'd struck her, and his heart shattered anew.

"Well, then. Don't let me be a bother to you." She pivoted and disappeared down the hall.

He balled his hand into a fist and punched his reflection in the window.