22. Noelle

The entire encampmenthad sprung into motion, but Ryklin and I were the two pieces that didn"t fit. We had nothing to do, and as that became more and more clear, we headed back to our shack. At the very least, we could stay out of the way.

Hours ticked by, or at least it felt like it. There were no clocks to be found, but the sun climbed steadily overhead. It heated the inside of the room until I ended up sitting outside just for a bit of breeze. Ryklin joined me.

"I need to go with that search party," he said, voice full of determination.

It filled my heart to hear that emotion, to know that I had put it there. But it made me sick to think of what he was saying. "These smugglers kill and enslave people. You can"t risk that."

"We"ve been heading for the mine this whole time. That"s where the comms equipment is. I can get a message out. Maybe someone will get off their ass and send these smugglers scattering. They"re not used to a fight, especially not one coming from the sky." He sounded so reasonable, and maybe I would have agreed if he wasn"t my mate. But I"d just given my heart to this man. I didn"t want to lose him so soon.

"And if no one comes? No one"s answered these people"s calls for help in a decade."

"If I can get a message to my men, to Drex, they will come."

I hated to bring it up, but it had to be said. "Aren"t your men soulless? They might write you off as a loss. No need to risk their lives to rescue you."

"Perhaps," he conceded, "but not Drex. And Drex will get them to move. We were all soldiers once. They"ll come to help. And I"ve faced worse enemies than this. I"ll come back to you. I promise."

I threw myself into his arms and squeezed my eyes shut so the tears wouldn"t come. No way was I going to cry right now. "Fine. Then let"s go find Astrid before they leave without you."

The heart of the encampment wasn"t very busy. Whatever the people had to do, they were doing it elsewhere. A group of men and women—some human, some not—were suiting up, and Ryklin went to join them.

Astrid came to stand by me. "I didn"t think you"d let him go."

"I don"t want to." I could admit it to her. It had taken everything in me not to get on my knees and beg him to stay.

"If you want comms, it"s right to send him. These assholes are careful. None of them carry anything strong enough to send a message off planet; they keep that all in their camp. My people will escort him as far as they can, but the priority is finding Solara and Rook. They"ll cover him like he"s one of their own." She didn"t promise me that he"d make it back.

"His friends on the ship are former soldiers. If he can get a message out, they"ll come. There"s plenty of room on Nebula Outpost for everyone down here. If you want."

"Do you think we enjoy living like this?" She didn"t sound mad, not exactly, but there was definitely something there. "We ran out of chocolate nine years ago. I haven"t had coffee since the morning of the explosion. I only had three episodes left in this media show I was watching. And, well, the men here are nice enough, but it gets messy so quick and none of them are … right." Her voice trailed off like she was thinking of something else.

"Right?" I prompted.

"Your man, I"ve seen his kind before. A very long time ago."

"He"s Detyen. There aren"t many of his kind left." Though I wasn"t about to go into the whys.

"Detyen …" A wistful smile pulled at the corner of her lips. "Do you ever wonder how your life might have been different if you said yes instead of nothing?"

"Doesn"t everyone?" Ryklin and the others were walking away now, and I had to force my gaze away. I wasn"t going to do something foolish like run after him. He knew what he was doing.

"Those are happier thoughts than anything else I have to deal with today. Come with me. I have plenty to do, and you need to keep busy before you drive yourself mad with worry. How about some laundry?"

"Honestly, driving myself mad with worry sounds better." My hands still felt a bit slimy from the homemade soap.

Astrid laughed. "You"re going to be fine."