10. ZOE

The next few days flew by. When we weren't fucking in his cabin, he took me to the bridge and showed me what he had learned, filled me in about his past and the mission that led him here, to me.

To me.

Even as the days passed by, I couldn't believe that Raasla was mine. The alien who had rescued me had become the man I couldn't live without. Every time we fucked, it brought us closer, and even though I had only met him days ago, I recognized deep in my core that we belonged together.

"So what happens after we deliver the humans"—yes, that was how I had begun to think of my fellow ex-captured cellmates, humans, as if I wasn't, hadn't been part of it, all that I was and would be was Raasla's he was me, and I was him, it was as simple as that—"to Astrionis?"

"We will find a male named Noodar. He will have the answers we seek," Raasla said, winding his fingers without conscious thought through my hair.

We saw little of the other humans, who greeted me now with obvious distrust. Gone were Peter's and Eric's friendliness. Their eyes lingered far too long now on how close Raasla and I stood to be comfortable. They never asked me about him though.

Besides curt, what will happen when we arrive, and similar questions, we hardly spoke. Which was fine with me. As a matter of fact, my impatience to be rid of them and to take off with Raasla alone grew with each parsec—which I gathered was the span of time it took to move lightyears

Once upon a time, Earth and humans had been my home and everything to me. Not anymore. Now there was only Raasla and the infinite universe we would explore together. He warned me that there would be danger, most of all, because he didn't know how the Ohrurs, his bosses, would react when they found out about me. So we were going to keep me a secret for now, and Raasla would act as if he were still on the mission they had assigned him.

Often, I wondered how happy I had ever been on Earth and with the person I had been. Because I was changing every day, every hour, I was morphing into something more, something I had never expected or even dreamed of myself being.

Eventually, even the longest trip ends, and when we finally arrived on Astrionis, I was humbled by the alien beauty and structure. I was also surprised—even though Raasla had prepared me—to meet another human woman who had found her destiny among the stars.

Silla was as adventurous as I, just quieter. She and her Lord Protector Garth were populating an entire planet with humans and Thyres working together. Silla also told me about the bond between her and Garth, which was a similar fated-mate concept as Raasla's and mine, but without the painful tattoos. She said that many Thyres and, curiously, other alien races were finding their soulmates within the humans. Males and females alike.

I had never believed in fate or destiny before, but I was beginning to wonder if a greater power was at work here, something or someone who would make sense of all the killing done to my planet. I hoped with all my heart something good would come out of this.

If I had been a different type of person, I would have been hell-bent on revenge. I hated the Cryons with all my might and would have loved nothing more than to dish out some payback, but I wasn't a fighter—like a woman named Ashley Silla told me about, who was right now on Earth, killing Cryons. I wasn't a humanitarian like Silla either, so I didn't know where that left me. What I did know, though, was that I wanted to be with Raasla and find out more about the soulbond and soulweb glyphs. It intrigued me. It allowed me not necessarily to forget about Earth's tribulations, but it distracted me from it. Besides, it seemed there was already a rescue mission at work, one much better equipped than me.

"Are you ready?" Raasla, never far from my side, finished his conversation with Garth and came to place an arm around me. I looked up at his handsome face, whose lines were becoming more dearer to me with every passing day.

"I am," I confirmed and smiled at Silla.

"Take care of her," Silla requested of Raasla before her attention moved back to me. "Take care of yourself. We'll miss you."

I embraced the woman who I would have never met hadn't it been for an alien invasion, making me once more question the designs of the universe, fate, and all that.

"I will keep an eye open for your family," she said, even though I had told her not to bother. My dad had died a long time ago, and I had been on the phone with my mom when my sister was killed by the Cryons. I doubted they would have allowed my mom to live, and in all honesty, given the kind of ordeals survivors went through, death might have been more merciful. Not everyone was as lucky as me to have a Raasla rescue her, or a Garth as it was in Silla's case.

"I'll miss you too. We'll be back," I promised Silla.

Her embrace was unexpected and sweet, and I hugged her right back before Raasla and I entered his ship.

"Alone at last." He grinned mischievously.

"How long will it take to get to your friend?"

"Long enough for you and me to get to know each other a lot better." He kissed me hungrily.

"But first, you tempting soul binder, we need to get into space." He smacked my ass, and laughing, we went to the bridge.

"How will we find him?" I sat down in one of the two captain's chairs as he busied himself with all the necessary tabs and commands on his tablet to get the ship into space and us on a safe course in hyperspace.

"He doesn't want to be found," Raasla replied distractedly, and the view on the large screen ahead of us changed as the spaceship lifted off the ground and began its ascend into the atmosphere.