Chapter Eight

Raxon

The docking umbilical hissed and retracted with a series of pneumatic clanks, sealing the outer airlock as our commandeered shuttle disengaged from the main Coalition battlecruiser. I watched the armored flanks of the behemoth dreadnought recede through the narrow viewports, equal parts relief and trepidation churning in my gut.

This was it—the point of no return. By going through with this insane gambit of Kravok"s, I was effectively cutting all ties with the Coalition. Becoming a rogue element to be terminated with extreme prejudice should I be foolish enough to show my face again.

The stakes couldn"t be higher. And yet, despite the maelstrom of conflicting instincts and emotions raging within me, I knew I was making the right call.

A slight shift of movement in my peripheral vision made me turn. Sutton huddled in the co-pilot"s station, knees drawn up against her chest in an unconscious defensive posture. Her huge eyes were locked on the viewports, drinking in the stark beauty of the starfield with a combination of fear and wonder that made my throat tighten.

She was so... small. Fragile. Delicate in a way that should have roused nothing but protective instincts within me. The urge to shelter her, keep her tucked away safe and secure until I could find a way to return her to her people.

And yet, ever since that heated encounter in the cabin, I couldn"t seem to shake the image of her from my mind"s eye. The memory of her slender form melded against mine, her sweet musk and the taste of her slightly parted lips as we"d kissed with wild, reckless abandon.

Just recalling the heat of that moment made my palms itch and my cock swell, every nerve ending crackling with restless energy. It had been so long since I"d experienced such primal need, such a visceral craving for intimate contact. So long since I"d been anything other than a weapon in the Coalition's service.

Allowing myself that moment of weakness, that temporary lapse of control and professionalism, should have filled me with shame and recrimination. I was a soldier, damn it, sworn to defend the very tenets and ideals the Coalition stood for. Not some barely civilized rut-beast ruled by baser impulses.

And yet... despite my best efforts, I couldn"t quite muster up the appropriate self-loathing over what had transpired between Sutton and myself. If anything, the memory of our frenzied clinch filled me with a fierce sort of pride, a sense of possession and protectiveness that went far deeper than any oath or code could account for.

It made no sense, this strange new dynamic unfolding between us. She was an alien, a completely unknown factor that could still prove a threat despite her deceptively harmless demeanor. Forging any sort of personal attachment was a risk I could ill afford, especially given the perilous road ahead of us.

But even as my tactical mind cycled through the myriad reasons to maintain rigid control and professional distance, another part of me—a deeper, more primal aspect I"d spent years suppressing—kept replaying those heated moments in the cabin on an endless loop. Every breathless sigh, every arch of her lithe body as she strained against me, trusting me in a way that should have been unthinkable.

It kindled embers low in my core, ones that had remained banked and cold for far too long. Embers that now flickered with the tantalizing promise of new experiences, new sensations that transcended the physical and hinted at something more... profound.

I shook my head, forcing myself to tear my gaze away from Sutton before she noticed the weight of my stare. This was foolishness, pure and simple. A momentary lapse of judgment brought on by stress and the thrill of defying the Coalition"s authority for the first time in my career. Nothing more. To entertain any other notions, any sense that our heated tryst could blossom into something more permanent would be madness.

A sudden chime from the shuttle"s communications array shattered my reverie. I flinched, ears flicking forward as the priority channel crackled to life.

"Raxon, this is Kravok. You"re cleared for final departure vector and jump to encoded coordinates. I"ve scrubbed the logs and encrypted the navcom, but you"ll want to get some distance between you and the fleet before punching your first set of randomized jumps. You reading me, vorn"ak?"

I rumbled an affirmative, already feeding instructions into the helm controls and spooling up the engines. "Confirmed, Kravok. We"re clearing the outer markers and will execute our first jump momentarily. Transmit the encrypted navdata packet and I"ll correlate with the onboard systems."

"Copy that." A brief pause crackled over the line, then a burst of static heralded the data uplink punching through our comm suite. "Coordinates received and locked into your navcom. I"d tell you where you"re headed, but you know me—I like a bit of mystery to keep things interesting."

Despite the tension crackling through every fiber of my being, I couldn"t help but huff a low chuckle at his typical bravado. "You always did have a flair for the dramatic, vorn"ak. Should I be concerned about whatever hidey-hole you"ve plotted for us?"

Kravok barked out a laugh, the sound slightly distorted by the tight-beam transmission. "Please, Rax. When have I ever led you astray before? Well... when it wasn"t absolutely necessary for the sake of our harebrained schemes, that is?"

I shook my head in exasperation, keying in the final pre-flight sequences as the drive cores built to full power. "I"ll be sure to put that on my headstone should whatever bolt-hole you"ve arranged for us end up being an inescapable death trap."

"You wound me, brother." Kravok"s tone took on an uncharacteristically somber note, one that made the fur along the nape of my neck prickle. "I"d never steer you wrong on something this serious, you know that. This place... it"s about as far off the grid as you can get while still having all your parts attached. Trust me, it"ll all become clear once you see it for yourself."

"Very well, vorn"ak. Jumping to your encrypted coordinates in five... four..."

"You"re doing the right thing, Raxon," Kravok cut in, his voice pitched low and urgent over the thrum of the drive cores spooling up to full power. "For whatever it"s worth from this old vork... I think you"ve finally found something worth defying the Coalition"s stifling dogma over. Don"t let her slip through your claws, brother. A chance like this doesn"t come around for males like us."

I blinked, momentarily thrown by the unexpected wisdom in his words. Before I could formulate a response, a fresh klaxon began cycling, indicating our final moments before the jump sequence initiated. Communications with Kravok ended.

"Jumping in three... two... on-"

A thunderous boom drowned out the navigation computer's countdown as the shuttle"s drive cores flared to life. The starfield beyond the viewports dissolved into a kaleidoscope of color and whirling vortices as we blasted into the swirling riptides of subspace.

I rode the torrent of sensations, guiding our small craft through the churning gravitational currents with the ease of long experience. Beside me, Sutton let out a breathless gasp, her eyes going wide as she took in the maelstrom surrounding us.

Despite the direness of our circumstances,

Despite the direness of our circumstances, I couldn"t help but feel a surge of masculine pride at the look of awestruck wonder playing across Sutton"s delicate features. This was likely her first experience with the true depths of what the galaxy had to offer—the hidden realms that existed between the cracks of realspace, unseen and unknowable to those not initiated into their mysteries.

For a being as new to the cosmic arena as she was, it must have seemed like a scene ripped straight from her wildest dreams or most vivid nightmares. The way her lips parted on a soft exhalation, the slight tremble working its way through her slender frame as she beheld the swirling vortices of subspace for the first time—it was as if she"d been transported to an entirely new plane of existence.

Which, in a manner of speaking, she had. I couldn"t begin to fathom the depths of her wonderment and fear, having never experienced the reality-shattering revelation of first contact myself. To her, everything she"d ever known had been stripped away in one fell swoop, replaced by something transcendent and terrifying in its sheer, cosmic scope.

And yet, despite the maelstrom of the in-between realms raging around us, she held herself with a surprising poise. No blubbering hysterics or cowering in abject terror, as I might have expected from a being so new to the grand celestial dance. Instead, Sutton met the mindbending vistas with that same core of unyielding determination I"d glimpsed shining through on more than one occasion.

It was... inspiring, in an odd sort of way. Humbling, even, to bear witness to such resilience in the face of something that should have shattered her psyche to pieces. In that moment, as I studied the delicate human female beside me, I felt an unexpected surge of... something.

Admiration? Respect? Or perhaps something else entirely, something deeper and more primal that I dared not put voice to just yet?

Whatever it was, it made that same fierce protectiveness flare up in my chest, burning hotter and brighter than ever before. Sutton was no mere tagalong now, some helpless alien to be shuffled from safehouse to safehouse until the Coalition"s interests moved on to newer, more pressing concerns.

No, she was... she was something infinitely more precious. A flame of life and individuality that burned with a brilliance unlike anything I"d ever encountered. One that deserved to be sheltered and allowed to shine forth in all its glory, no matter what forces arrayed themselves against it.

The thought should have terrified me down to my core. I was a warrior, born and bred to the sword in service of the Kal"doren people. Forging personal attachments—especially to a being as unknown and potentially dangerous as Sutton—should have been tantamount to dereliction of duty, a violation of every oath and code I"d sworn myself to.

But even as that nagging voice of professionalism whispered its dire warnings, I found that I could no longer bring myself to heed them. No matter what doubts or misgivings still lingered in the back of my mind, the simple truth remained—I had claimed Sutton as my own according to the most ancient traditions of my kind. Sworn a blood-oath to shield her from any and all who would do her harm, regardless of personal cost or consequence.

And a Kal"doren warrior"s word was his life, his honor, his every waking breath until the vow was either fulfilled or met its release in death. There could be no half-measures or temporary reprieves when it came to such sacrosanct matters of spirit and principle.

Which meant that no matter how deeply I tried to bury the realization, no matter how fervently I attempted to dismiss it as a mere ploy or deception to ensure her survival... some part of me knew the truth. She was my lifemate now, in all the ways that mattered in the eyes of the ancestors.

A slight shudder ran through me at the weight of that revelation, the enormity of the path I"d irrevocably set my feet upon. This went far beyond a simple matter of honor or duty, a mission to be planned for and executed with cold, tactical precision.

No, this was something infinitely more profound, more sacred and all-encompassing than I could have ever truly prepared myself for. I had bound my spirit to Sutton"s in a way so fundamental, so intrinsic to the core beliefs that defined me, that there could be no going back.