15 Rowkin

I wake on my bed hours later, my hearts beating out of sync again like the day I first met Kikila and watched her vanish into the stars.

Zoshun sits nearby, elbows on his knees, head resting in his hands. His hair is askew in sleep-deprived tufts. And two empty bottles of Rasvine sit on the table.

The warm metal in my fingers draws my attention to Kikila's necklace. I remember picking it up from the floor the night before after she disappeared and medical staff ran in.

I push up in the bed and find myself connected to a dual-defib.

Zoshun looks up and frantically stops me from ripping the sensors off. "I'll do it."

He releases a weighted sigh as he plucks each from my body. "I'm glad to see you awake."

"I feel fine today." That was a lie. I was a little weak and tired. "Where is Kikila?"

"Resting, like you should be."

"I need to talk to her, apologize."

Zoshun hands me a uniform, racks up the machine and switches the monitor off. He knows there's no sense in arguing with another ranger. When I'm dressed, he gives me an annoyed frown and a bottle of rev-up. "You should be more concerned with yourself."

I stop at the door. "That ended when I saw her. Just like you said. The Rev took over. I must have Kikila."

"And yet trying to take her almost killed you." Zoshun's red eyes dissect me. "The only reason I can think you fell out of sync was the fear of bringing her to our tumultuous world. The clash knocked your hearts out of sync."

I sag in the doorway. "Would you not fear the same?"

He crosses his arms and looks away. "I did. But my mate died nearly the second I saw her. I felt the Rev for only a flash. And then it was gone like her. So I can't say for sure."

Pity for Zoshun makes my hearts ache worse. I need to patch things up with Kikila because I fear the next time I feel the surge of doubt when we are getting heated, I may not survive.

"Let it go," Zoshun says quietly. "The fear, the guilt."

"I am not afraid."

He growls at me. My friend of many wars snarls, then seems to realize what he's doing and quiets. "You have a chance to be with her. But it is imperative that you not cloud your opportunity with your judgment of how she will feel when she arrives to our planet. Let her decide that. She has learned enough to get a sense of our home."

I pound the bottle of rev-up and drop it in the recycle slot by the door. "How is Scrapper?"

"Itching for something to do. We were going to leave when we got the alert from Abr. So we are staying." Zoshun motions me out.

I turn down the hallway and start for Kikila's room, wondering what I can say to explain why I had ruined our moment the night before.

A door opens from a stairwell ahead. When no one steps out, I feel my skin prickle and tense in alarm.

"Hello?" I peer inside, see no one, then check on Zoshun behind me. He shrugs from the doorway.

As I turn back, a shield flickers and a dart punches out of a gun, biting into my flesh. Angry gold eyes glare out at me in a ripple of their ghostcloak. The dart shocks me and takes me to my knees.

What the hell is this?

"Rowkin!" Zoshun grunts behind me. I hear a thump and know he's been taken down, too.

The individual slaps something to my chest that crackles and encases me in a milky shield. My body rises from the floor, and I'm floated out and through a door into the opening of a lowered ramp.

I try to call to Zoshun, but my voice won't work with as tightly as my teeth are clenched from the dart's electricity.

I fight the pull, the jolts, the notion I'm being taken from Abr, from my mate. Again.

Kikila—

Why can't I have anything for myself in this world? My parents are gone, my friends, my freedom, and my mate— I hope she is at least safe.