Chapter 17

My body is shaking as I'm half led, half dragged through the swampy forest by the Pizat guards who pulled me from the water. The laser burn across my upper arm burns like fire, but it's nothing like the pain radiating from my chest at being ripped away from Shuvo. Ahead of us, Madame Althea is gliding over the leaf-strewn and root-bound ground like she's floating.

"As soon as we get back to Lux, I'll have some of those scented salts you like sent to you, and you can soak away this dreary memory," she tells me without bothering to look back at me. "I'll even give you half a day to recover. I'll tell you, the customers you up and left weren't happy at all. Their compensation will be coming straight out of your account."

I want to scream at her that I couldn't give two shits about her fucking customers or the money she had to pay them. Instead, I clench my jaw and squeeze my eyes shut, refusing to give her the satisfaction of letting her see a single tear fall. Not that she would care.

Mostly, my mind is on Shuvo. God, he was bleeding so much! When the Pizats dragged me from the water, I never saw him surface. Did they… could he be… No! I refuse to believe he's… that they…

The tears I've been trying so hard to stifle fall, pooling around the bottom of the mask I'm still wearing. My chest is tight from holding back my sobs, making it hard to breathe to the point I hope I'll suffocate.

When we break through the thick forest of gnarled trees and underbrush, I don't recognize the clearing until I see Shuvo's cruiser sitting at the edge. A moan escapes my tight throat when I'm pulled in the opposite direction to where a much larger, more luxurious ship is waiting.

"No!" I gasp with a sudden flare of energy. Digging my heels into the mulchy ground, I fight against the Pizats, but I'm no match for the two much larger and stronger guards. It doesn't stop me from fighting them anyway.

"Greetings," a familiar voice echoes out of thin air, and the Pizats pause and turn toward where the friendly voice came from.

My heart starts to pound at the sight of Ojal standing at the edge of the clearing. A wide smile is plastered across his face, but his black eyes are sharp as he tilts his head, looking for Shuvo, no doubt, before turning to focus on me and then the Pizats.

"I wasn't expecting visitors," he continues, walking slowly toward us as he focuses on the Madame, "especially since you somehow slipped through our planet's security."

"This does not concern you," Madame Althea snaps. "We'll be gone in a moment."

"Excellent news. There's just one thing," Ojal says with a smirk before he winks at me. "I can't let you take anything off this planet that belongs here."

Madam Althea stops and spins on the tall male with a withering look. "I'm only taking what rightfully belongs to me. Now, stop your incessant chatter and go back to wherever you came from."

The whine of a blaster—several blasters, actually—echoes through the thick atmosphere, and suddenly dozens of Negura materialize from the thick mist clinging to the ground.

"That's where you're wrong, friend," Ojal says. His grin never falters, and then he lifts a blaster to point at her as well. "This female belongs to no one but herself." He turns to me and asks, "Do you wish to leave?"

I shake my head violently, tugging against the Pizats holding my arms.

"In that case…" More Negura appear, seemingly from thin air, to surround us. "Release her. I'll not ask again."

The Pizats holding me look to Madame Althea for guidance. She, in turn, looks like she's about to explode. The side of her jaw is twitching from clenching her teeth, and her hands are trembling with her fury.

"Get her on the ship," she grits through clenched teeth without taking her eyes off the dozens of Negura who have appeared around us. The Pizats comply immediately, pulling me across the mossy ground.

"No!" I cry out, squirming against their grips. No matter how much I kick and flail, I'm no match for their bulk and strength.

The scream of lasers zinging through the air has me pulling my legs up and dropping my center of gravity, trying to get as close to the ground as possible so I don't end up a target.

The Pizat on my left jerks and then drops, nearly landing on top of me, just as an arm snakes around my waist, pulling me to safety and then hauling me up against a solid chest.

"No!" I scream, fighting against the strong hold.

The Pizat on my right swings his blaster at me, but whoever is behind me fires first, and he is knocked to his back with a seared hole in the center of his forehead. My head swings around, and my knees go out as I sag with relief.

"Shuvo! Oh my god," I cry, turning so I can fling my arms around his neck.

He grunts, and I quickly let him go but not before he crushes me against him, burying his face in the side of my neck. I feel him draw deep, greedy breaths, all while the Pizats and Negura continue to exchange fire.

"Stop her!" Ojal's sudden shout pulls us back to the present, and we both look over to where Madame Althea is hurrying for her ship.

Shuvo lifts his blaster and fires once, the laser hitting her in the back of one of her legs. Her scream as she crumples to the ground is far more satisfying than it probably should be.

Despite her injury, she still tries to drag herself up the ramp. With his arm still wrapped around my waist, Shuvo strides over to her. The fighting around us has mostly ceased now, and the Pizats who are still alive have given up or been captured and bound. The Madame is making small whimpering sounds as she tries to scoot away from us, but there's nowhere for her to go.

Finally letting go of me, Shuvo lunges forward and traps her bleeding leg under his foot, eliciting a shrill scream and stopping her attempted escape.

"Please!" she begs. "I'll go. You can keep her, and you'll never see me again."

My head swivels, looking from the terrified Madame to Shuvo. His face is hard and tense, without a single hint of mercy in his flat black eyes. Very slowly, he raises his blaster.

"I don't believe you," he rasps. It's so quiet, I'm not sure if it carried enough for the Madame to hear him.

My heart starts to pound, and I raise my hands to cover my mouth, but I don't stop him or even make a sound in her defense, except to jump at the sharp sound the blaster makes when he fires.

When she collapses face down and doesn't move again, all the tension in my body melts away, and I'm overcome with a kind of calm that I haven't felt in… maybe my whole life.

It's over.

Everything. All my worries and fears are no longer. When I take my next breath, my chest expands without its usual tightness. It's over, and I'm truly free.