8 Rowkin

I scramble up as others from the races rush toward me. My back smokes and burns. My pride is hurt. And my confidence is shredded. But the only thing that matters is the female, my female, has been taken from me.

The stutter in my chest is unmistakable.

She is it. She is mine! And she's gone!

My armorderm's shift distracted me like the prickling sensation of alarm that ripped through my body. It was a sickening change from raging desire to frantic defense. And as the change took me, I knew only to curl forward, around my female.

Abr officers flood the fields. Overhead, the sky lights up with fire beyond the shield. I barely catch a glimpse of my mate as the transport she's on launches through the envirodome and into space.

The security detail calls up to the patrols in space. But they get only responses pertaining to invisible ships.

Dread grips me. Isho and others look on with their mates under their arms or tucked close under the shield of their bodies.

"Who are they?" I growl at the nearest security officer.

"We don't know," he says. "But we're working on it. We've got a ship tailing what we believe is the signal of the vessel that took her. Hard to say."

"Hard to—" I'm furious and desperate.

"We haven't had starjackers before." Rosy says from nearby. Her wrinkled mouth trembles as she comes toward me despite the protests of her protection detail. The security officer nearest me holds her back.

"Was it Kikila?" Rosy quietly asks as I leave to look for a ship to snatch up. Time is ticking and the more I waste, the harder it will be to catch up to her.

"Yes, ma'am."

So her name is Kikila. I turn back as a security patrol vessel sets down beside us. "What else can you tell me?"

Rosy pats the man's arm and walks to me. She takes one of my hands trembling with rage in hers. "Kikila was a security risk. You knew that by the band, yes?"

"Yes," I reply through gritted teeth.

Rosy takes a deep breath, for someone who's well over 100, and says, "She is the daughter of someone in Terran security. Kikila was given an arranged marriage she didn't want. Her other option was this race. That's all I know. But I can send her profile to your band if you'd like."

"Please."

Members of the Abr security council and others come out to monitor the incident.

"Don't do anything stupid," one woman remarked. "You're on an international stage here."

"Fuck it. Don't care. They took a human from your space! How are you not upset?"

"There are many participants here. We must maintain neutrality—"

I cut off the Selephaton. He wears a security council badge. "How is an abduction going to look on your record?"

Rosy motions to the nearby guard, and I quickly get a message with Kikila's information.

"Do you understand my kind?" I ask as I turn for the security transport.

She nods. "One-mate with limited bonding time or your hearts will fall out of sync."

"Then you know what I'm going to do."

Rosy gives me one more nod.

The guards shout at me as I climb aboard the ship. "Everybody out."

"You can't just take it!" the pilot retorts.

"I can, and I am." I grab him by the shoulder of his uniform and haul him out of his seat. "I'm not letting my mate disappear. Would you let someone kidnap yours?"

When he tries to hang on, I don't wait for an answer. I just stick my boot in his back and shove him out. I close the ramp and ignite the thrusters. The transport rises fast.

From the pilot's seat, I can see the racers head inside below and security surround them. I hope they are not in danger. But I am on a personal mission now.

There are plenty of individuals who could have taken Kikila, from her arranged partner to any enemy of Earth. But the smoke weapons they used make me think the worst.

The shield passes over the transport like a blue ring, and I'm out in the void of space again. The sky is a fabric of fire. Smoky black ships confront Terran gray and blue patrols.

I dip and weave through the battle, bank hard to the right to avoid a piece of a broken ship and dive beneath the collision of two others. When I am beyond the battle, I see another Earth ship headed in to join the fight.

But as quickly as the battle started, it fades and the enemy vessels race away. I'm leave Lunar space as the Terran ship approaches.

They hail me. "Are you looking for the woman?"

"Yes."

A heading pops up in a message on my screen.

"But your ship won't make it far."

"I have to try."

"Sure, but you don't have to die either."

"If I don't get her back I might, anyway."

A puff of gasses shoots out of a side. A fuel canister launches out into space.

"Take it," a man says. "And if you find Kikila, tell her Roan gives you two his blessing, even if her father won't."

I swing around and open the airlock, then capture the canister in the cargo bay. "You know her?"

"Since we were kids."

As I wait for the doors to seal again, I ask, "Any idea who took her?"

"Based on the ship, the glimpse I had when our shots penetrated the smoke shield, I'd say Novark."

My insides chill.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I'd go with you but this isn't a federation ship. I doesn't have the capability."

The transport I've stolen is small enough that I can hide almost anywhere or even latch onto another ship if I have to. I thank him again and follow her ship's heading.

I hope I'm not too late.