22. Maya

There was a time when I looked at Alliance forces as our friends. They said they were fighting on our side and that the IHC and Alliance should work together, but now, they look at me with naked disdain. If you hate humans, I'm an inferior creature, and if you sympathize with humans, I'm now a traitor to my species for being with a Coalition soldier.

And maybe I am. But I'm past caring at this point. I feel like a woman without a homeland, but I don't care as long as Revnan is there, wherever ‘there' is, with me.

One of the soldiers, a human likely from the IHC working with this Alliance squad, pushes me to my knees when we reach camp. When he kneels in front of me, though, his gaze is almost compassionate.

"Are you with them?" he asks. "Did you come by choice?" I hesitate for just a moment. This soldier is offering me an out. I can say to him that I was kidnapped, and they'd probably let me go.

But I'd still be leaving Revnan and Wilkes to die. Earlier, I said that where Revnan goes, I go, and I meant it. Even if where he's going is certain death. "He's my fated mate," I reply steadily, my chin lifted in defiance.

Something in the soldier's face hardens into disgust. "You must be stupid. He has no intention of mating with you. It's just something a man says to get into the pants of dumb girls. I've seen it a hundred times before."

"This is different," I retort.

He snorts. "That's what they always say, too."

With a shrug, he gets to his feet. "I was going to give you a pass, but if that's how you want to play, it's out of my hands." He leans in close. "Unless you'd like your freedom in exchange for a favor."

Possessed by a sudden feral instinct, I bite, sinking my teeth into the soft flesh of his cheek. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth as I pull away.

"Fucking bitch!" he yells, slapping me hard enough to knock me to the ground. Stars explode in my vision, and by the time they've cleared, he's pulling me back upright by the hair while Revnan screams and fights against his restraints.

A swift blow to the back of Revnan's head at the hands of an Alzohn soldier stuns him long enough for me to call out. "Calm down, I'm fine!"

He glares murderously at the man currently tending to his wounds but stops fighting back for the moment. "If you hurt her, there will be hell to pay."

One of the others, a Vakutan, snorts. "Sure, whatever you say. Just tell us what we want to know and no one gets hurt."

"And if I refuse?"

The Vakutan shrugs. "Well, people will start to get hurt. I think even an Odex could do the math on that one. So, where does the Coalition plan to strike next?"

Revnan snorts. "How should I know? They left me for dead after a skirmish several weeks ago."

The Vakutan frowns, still maintaining his air of faux affability. He nods to the Alzohn, who punches Revnan in the gut, making him double over.

"Somehow I doubt that," the Vakutan says. "Tell me, is that pretty little girl over there a spy? Are you trying to sneak her to your side so she can spill her guts to Coalition scum?"

"You leave her out of this."

Wilkes clears his throat, speaking for the first time since we arrived at their camp. "You can have her if you want," he drawls. "She's basically useless. Just a fuckpuppet that he's convinced himself is his fated mate."

"You son of a bitch!" Revnan roars. Breaking free from his restraints, he punches Wilkes in the face hard enough to send him sprawling.

Unlike me, Wilkes is a trained soldier, so he quickly recovers, sweeping Revnan's leg and knocking him off balance as Wilkes gets to his feet. The Alliance soldiers watch with rapt interest.

"Should we intervene?" the Alzohn asks.

The Vakutan shrugs. "Let's see how it plays out. Ten creds on Loverboy winning the fight."

The Alzohn smirks. "You're on."

The fight is furious, made all the rowdier by the Alliance soldiers cheering them on. Wilkes gets a good hit in, knocking Revnan to the ground. With a growl, he grabs the nearest weapon, a medium-sized rock, and slams it into Wilkes's head.

Wilkes rears back, and something flashes in the moonlight. Under the Odex's skin is a mess of sparking cybernetics.

Revnan's eyes widen in horror as he drops the rock. "What the fuck?"

Wilkes's eyes meet his. And then he sways and falls.

The Alzohn sighs and draws his weapon, aiming it at Revnan. "I'll give you the ten creds once we're done here."

Revnan is panting, his body tense like a coiled snake ready to strike.

The human, having patched up his cheek, returns and presses his blaster to my temple. "Not another move or your pretty girl's brains will be splattered all over the ground."

I force myself to keep my breathing steady and my eyes forward. Revnan is already moments from flying into a murderous rage that will get us all killed. If I show fear, I'm worried he'll go berserk.

With his other hand, the human strokes my hair. It makes my skin crawl, and my shoulders go up to my ears. "You know, I was going to let her go. For a price, of course. But then she went and tried to tear my face off. So, instead, we're going to make you watch as she suffers."

And there's the trigger. Anyone with common sense could have predicted what Revnan would do next, but this particular human seems to be lacking in that department. Revnan roars in outrage and charges, moving far too fast for the human to react.

Ignoring the shots from the soldier's plasma rifle, he grabs the human by the neck, snaps it, and throws the body at the stunned Vakutan and Alzohn. Helping me to my feet, his gaze softens. "Are you okay?" he whispers.

I nod, and that murderous rage returns in Revnan's eyes. With a kiss on my forehead, he turns to face the remaining two soldiers, who have recovered from the sudden attack on their fallen comrade.

The Alzohn fires upon him, but he grabs the dead human's gun and fires back with better aim. The enemy takes a plasma bullet to the shoulder and falls. Then it's just him and the Vakutan.

Instead of firing his gun, the Vakutan draws a knife from his belt with a sneer and lunges for Revnan. Dodging the blade, Revnan moves with surprising grace for his size even as the Vakutan herds him away from me.

Or is it really him doing the herding? Revnan backs into the human's corpse and ducks, grabbing the knife, unsheathing it, and slicing it across the Vakutan's belly in one swift motion. He staggers backward in shock, and the Alzohn, having recovered somewhat, leaps onto Revnan's back.

He grabs the Alzohn and throws him to the ground. There is a flash of silver as the blade glints in the moonlight before being buried in the soldier's chest.

Revnan pulls it free and slits the throat of the fallen Vakutan. At this point, it's more of a mercy kill than anything else.

He tosses aside the blade, the fury and bloodlust gone from his eyes and replaced by a gentleness that seems only reserved for me. I run into his arms, and he catches me with a small grunt before lifting and twirling me.

"I think we're going to make it this time," he says.

A weak, raspy laugh interrupts our joy. Revnan gently sets me down and turns to the source. "What's so funny, traitor?"

Wilkes weakly sits up. Blood still pours down his face, causing the cybernetics to spark. What did they do to him?

"You're not going anywhere," Wilkes says. "I called in an airstrike on our coordinates. They think they're taking out an enemy camp, and I mean, technically, they are."

Revnan grabs him by the collar and lifts him to his feet. "Why the fuck would you do that? You're going to kill us all."

He grins, revealing a bloody mouth full of broken teeth from their fight. "Yeah. But that's fine as long as I get rid of her."

A soft whirring sound from overhead grabs my attention. I look up to see a Coalition bomber hovering over us, and my heart sinks.

"Revnan!" I begin, but then the world erupts into burning agony.

"…ay… Ma… Maya…"

I cometo slowly as someone calls my name. Everything hurts, and I know that I'm dying. Whatever isn't burned or pierced by shrapnel is broken beyond hope of repair.

But Revnan is still there, and I don't want to die alone. I don't want him to die alone either.

"We were so close this time, weren't we?" I croak, fighting back pained whimpers as I drag myself to him.

"We were," he rasps, crawling to meet me in the middle.

The pain takes my breath away, keeping me from saying anything more until I'm curled up in his arms. "We found each other before. We can do it again."

He lets out what is likely meant to be a huff of laughter, but it comes out more like a gurgle. "Better luck next time?"

I let out a weak laugh. "I love you."

"Love you, too." His breathing slows and then stops.

I stare up at the stars, the infinite expanse of the universe, and watch as the lights blink out one by one. As places to die go, it's not so bad.

Until next time, my love.