14. Vai

Iwas thrilled when Emma came to my room.

I knew I would see her again but I didn't realize it would be so soon.

And when she thrust the doors open and stood there breathing hard with a look of alarm, I wished it was because she realized I wasn't there to harm her but to help her.

It was clear from the startled look on her face something was wrong.

Iav had found us.

The alarms and lights flashed, waxing and waning, warning of an imminent threat.

With Iav out there, he was always an imminent threat.

"Computer, deactivate the alarm system," I said absentmindedly as I peered out the window at the vast expanse of the galaxy.

It seemed quiet, still…

Too quiet.

Too still.

"Computer, where is Iav?" I said.

The monitor shifted to our starboard bow.

"Why was the alarm system initiated?" I said.

The image shifted to another angle, revealing the revolving mines floating at regular intervals.

An explosion blossomed.

Once one exploded, so did another, and another.

"Magnify," I said.

The display zoomed in on the explosions.

Behind each one, barely visible save for the glint of starlight off a hard metal shell.

Something zipped through the darkness of space and slammed into another mine, causing it to detonate.

"Iav…" I said.

"He's trying to set the mines off," Emma said.

"For what purpose? He's not going to get to you in here with those explosions. All he can hope to do is…"

I froze in mid-sentence as I watched another mine explode in a fiery ball of light.

Iav was intentionally setting the mines off…

Hoping to create a chain reaction that would sweep over and destroy us.

"He'll kill us both," Emma said.

I peered up at her, surprised she'd cottoned on to the danger so quickly.

"Yes. It appears he would prefer for you to die than be in my custody."

"What'll we do?"

I never thought he would risk losing his fated mate like this, but when he thought he had nothing to lose, why wouldn't he?

"Computer. Navigate back through the minefield. It won't save us but it could give us a little time."

We drifted back through the minefield, moving at about the same pace as Iav setting off each mine.

"Will he reach us?" Emma said.

Going the way he was, no.

But that wasn't his intention.

He wanted to wipe us out and eradicate us from existence.

He would take Emma with me if he had to.

And that was something I could never bring myself to do.

I could never harm her…

Except you already have…

I shook my mind of the thought.

"It's only a matter of time before he sets off a chain reaction. After that, there will be no way for us to survive in here."

Emma bit her bottom lip, gnawing on it like a dog with its favorite chew toy.

Boy, did I wish I was the one to enjoy the taste of her right now.

I tried to focus.

Losing sight of the goal might result in losing Emma.

Escaping was one thing, getting away without Iav on our heels was another.

I needed to come up with a way to keep ahead of him, to give us a head start…

But how?

"Computer, plot a course for the Surgery," I said.

"Calculated," Computer said.

I ran a hand over my mouth and focused on the screen.

The explosions were getting larger, two, sometimes three exploding one after another.

They hadn't caused a chain reaction yet.

But they would.

Soon.

"Do you have any weapons on board?" Emma said.

"Only basic torpedoes and charges. Why?"

"Can we fire something at him?"

"Not without setting off the mines."

"He's setting them off anyway. Why don't we open fire?"

I could have kissed her.

Trust her to come up with the solution.

All M'rora had long grown up with the belief we couldn't destroy the minefield.

It was there for our safety, to keep the Shadow out and us alive and well.

To intentionally destroy it went against everything we had been brought up to believe.

"Computer," I said. "Target the enemy ship."

"Multiple mines are in the way," Computer said.

"Wait for a wide enough opening and then open fire. Target his thrusters and engines."

"Attack command confirmed."

I leaned back in the captain's chair and considered the situation from another angle.

The chances of a direct hit were possible but to shut down the engines entirely…

I wasn't so sure.

The attack was a good idea but I doubted it would have the effect we hoped for.

"We can't stay here," I said distantly, speaking mostly to myself.

"Why not?" Emma said.

"His ship is a Class Two war frigate. He has more firepower and he's faster too. We can't survive going toe-to-toe with him, and he'll know that."

"Then what do we do?" Emma said, her voice turning shrill with panic.

"We attack, hit him if we can, and then target as many mines as possible to cover our escape. We'll use the explosions as our cover."

"Can we leave some kind of decoy behind?" Emma said.

I couldn't help but smile.

She was full of awesome ideas.

"We don't have the right technology on board," I said.

"What about a shuttlecraft? You must have them on board in case of needing to abandon ship."

"We do."

"Then we could leave one or more of them behind. If we get lucky, he might think we're on board and he'll have to keep blowing up the mines to reach it."

I grinned at her.

"I had no idea you were so smart at strategy," I said.

"I'm not," Emma said, returning my grin back at me. "But I have seen a lot of movies."

She laughed raucously and when she quietened and looked over at me, the tension became electric.

I didn't want this to be the end of us, not with the way we'd last spoken.

"Listen," I said. "I didn't mean anything before—about how our culture works with fated mates—"

Emma's smile faltered and I wondered if I'd made a mistake with changing the subject.

"It's not the culture," she said. "It's the fact you didn't tell me the truth."

I nodded.

The truth was, not telling someone something wasn't a big deal in our culture.

We were used to lies and fabrications when we dealt with our Shadows.

It became a way of life.

If I wanted to be with Emma, I was going to have to learn to get used to the idea that her culture was a great deal different from mine.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean… I should have told you."

If our plan didn't work out and Iav managed to cause a chain reaction, this could well be the last we saw of each other.

I didn't want to leave things the way they currently stood between us.

I got up and approached her.

She shied back, edging backward slightly.

"Computer," I said without taking my eyes from hers, "target the enemy ship's engines and disable it. Set off enough mines to allow us to escape. Make sure to flush two or three shuttlecraft out to leave behind as a decoy. And set a course for the Surgery. We have no time to wait."

"Orders confirmed," Computer said.

I'd drawn up so close to Emma that I could smell her perfume.

It filled my lungs and I could see only her.

She didn't know where to look—other than not at me—and seemed a little put out.

I placed my hands on her bare arms and immediately felt the prickle of goosebumps on her skin.

I didn't say a word.

I didn't need to.

She looked up into my face and the expression of hurt in her eyes faded.

It returned a moment later, ebbing and flowing like a seashore on the coast of a cold and distant planet.

No sound emitted from our ship but orange-red light flashed across our faces as the torpedoes were dispatched and drifted across the open space and slammed into mines between us and the enemy ship, setting off yellow starbursts.

The closest mines made our ship shudder.

And still, I didn't take my eyes from hers.

If I was going to die, I wanted those blue-green orbs to be the last thing I saw.

I breathed her in and absorbed her, letting her fill me up from the inside.

The external shocks eased and our ship drifted, still alive and well.

Further explosions tore at the ship's outer hull, causing it to scream in defiance.

Emma stumbled and I scooped her up in my arms.

"Are you okay?" I said.

She nodded, her eyes wide and bulbous with shock.

"Mines successfully detonated," Computer said. "But the enemy ship wasn't damaged. Their shields are too strong."

"Then eject the shuttlecraft and get us out of here," I commanded.

Computer carried out my wishes and our ship turned sharply and fired a few more charges at the surrounding mines.

I kept an eye out for the enemy ship through the window and watched—and prayed—that it wouldn't notice what we were doing until we had a big enough head start.

The explosions continued around us and rattled our ship and burned with the ferocity of a thousand suns as we beat a hasty retreat and headed into the vast expanse and darkness of space beyond.

The Severing was Emma's one other option, the one other way for her to rid herself of the bond binding her to Iav.

If mating with me was out of the question, it was the one way to set her free so she could live the kind of life she wished, without my Shadow following her every step of the way.

Without Iav.

And without me.