8. Soren

"Gone?" I shook my head, not quite hearing the words. They had to be wrong. "What do you mean, gone?"

Vester rubbed the back of his neck and winced. "Ayana knocked me out, Majesty. Took a shuttle in the confusion and left."

The floor seemed to tilt beneath my feet. I gripped the edge of the console, my claws gouging the metal. Ayana had left. Left the fleet. Left me. And for what? To confront Ashera alone?

Gods, I should have expected it. Big fucking mistake to leave her floundering. Escorted by Rikke and shut behind doors?

Monster. Just like Ashera.

And what had she done? Proven herself again and again. Took every damned axis-shifting event in stride, adapted, and forged ahead.

Truly, my queen. My equal. My heart.

I swept a murderous look over the meeting room, shadows writhing around me like the tempests that ravaged Gamarr's surface. Rikke, Eskil, and Geir were already there, their faces grim and downcast. They knew. Of course they knew.

"We go after her," I growled, the sound raw. "Now."

Rikke stepped forward, her eyes imploring. "Soren, think. We don't know what we'd be jumping into. Rushing off could endanger not just you, but the entire fleet."

Geir nodded. "The Triarchy's forces are too unpredictable. Our priority should be maintaining the fleet's safety. Without the verdant, we need to call off the Sarroch mission and regroup elsewhere."

Their words faded into a distant buzz. All I could think of was Ayana. My Ayana. Out there alone, facing the venterran hordes. Facing the Matriarchs. Facing Ashera.

Eskil's treatment would be a scratch compared to what they'd do to her. She disappeared with their most valuable prisoner. That alone would require special consideration, but she visited Gamarr, saw our numbers. Mated me.

She knew too much. She was a weakness.

I crossed my arms and tried to ignore the press of the walls. "I'll leave alone if I must. Just give me one ship. One shuttle."

Rikke shook her head. "Soren, you have responsibilities to our people. You can't just?—"

"She is my Cor Umbra!" I roared. My shadows lashed out, slamming into and shattering a nearby console.

The room fell silent under the weight of my desperation.

"It's been days—days!—that I've known of her existence. Even less that she's been claimed." This would not even be a question if the Nightfall didn't rest on Gamarr. "I will not let her die on an inane suicide mission!"

Rikke tried again, her voice softer. "Soren, please. We can't risk the fleet on one life."

Something inside me snapped. With a snarl, I ripped the charms from my horns and shoved them at my cousin. "Then you rule."

She stared at me, her eyes wide with shock. The charms clinked softly in her hand, a mocking reminder of the duty I was abandoning. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't lead my people, not without Ayana by my side. Life without my Cor Umbra was not a life I wanted to live.

The room held its collective breath. Rikke looked from the charms, back to me. Opened her mouth?—

Then Geir stepped forward, his head bowed. "I offer my ship, Majesty. Myself and my crew."

I met his gaze. A flicker of gratitude pierced through my rage and worry. "Thank you, Geir."

The shadows swirled around me as I turned to leave, and I felt Rikke's eyes on my back. I knew she feared for me. Feared I was walking into a trap I couldn't escape. But I couldn't let Ayana face this alone. I wouldn't.

Because she was my Cor Umbra. My mate. My heart.

And I would tear the galaxy apart to get her back.

Geir's shiplurched as we dropped out of hyperspace. Alarms blared, and red warning lights bathed the bridge in a hellish glow. Triarchy vessels swarmed from the surface like angry hornets disturbed by a hard kick to the hive.

I felt it. A thrum. A calling. Power pulsed through the darkness.

"Incoming fire!" Geir yelled above the din, and a moment later I was thrown to my knees as our ship shuddered under the assault.

"Evasive fucking maneuvers!" I bellowed as I climbed to my feet, bracing myself against a console. The ship's deck tilted beneath me, and I could hear Geir barking orders as he tried to stabilize our flight.

I closed my eyes and focused on the magic thrumming through me, reaching out for the source. It was Ayana. I knew it. She was calling to me, pulling me toward her.

I felt our ship bank hard as it veered away from the approaching enemy vessels. Our shields flared, absorbing more incoming fire. Through the viewport, I spotted the wraith shuttle.

The craft turned end over end in a wild, uncontrolled spiral. The hull was scarred and scorched, evidence of a direct hit.

Ayana.

"Get us closer!" I ordered. "I don't care what it takes. Get me to that shuttle."

More shots screamed through space, rocking the ship again. I didn't know how many Triarchy fighters surrounded us, or what kind of armament they possessed, but I didn't care. All I could focus on was getting to Ayana.

"Hold on tight!" Geir shouted, and a moment later I flung forwards as our ship accelerated, skimming the upper atmosphere of the planet.

The Triarchy ships stayed hot on our tail, harrying us with blasts from their cannons. Our shields flickered, struggling to hold against the onslaught.

The pilot's hands flew over the controls. With dips and dives, he deftly coaxed our ship through the dark. Even as enemy fire streaked past our hull, he held steady, bringing us behind the crippled shuttle.

I closed my eyes and reached deep within myself. My shadows strained toward that thrum of power, the call of my mate. I focused. Searched. I needed to know where to throw my body on the spinning vessel.

Sweat beaded on my brow as I pushed harder, and... there. A fingerhold in the dark. I latched onto that anchor with all my might, pouring every ounce of my power into forging that path between the shadows. So far, traveling so fast, the strain built pressure behind my eyes until I thought my skull might crack.

I couldn't fail. Wouldn't. Not when Ayana's life hung in the balance. Not when the very future of my people rested on this moment. I gritted my teeth, tasting blood on my tongue as I redoubled my efforts.

The shadows surged in response, swelling around me like a living tide. For a heartbeat, there was nothing—an absence of light, of sound, of sensation.

Then, reality reasserted itself with a vengeance. I stumbled forward onto the deck of Ayana's shuttle, gasping for air as the shadows dissipated around me.

Alarms blared in the confined space, red lights flashing in warning. The acrid stench of burning circuitry filled my nostrils, mingling with the coppery tang of spilled blood.

Strapped in the pilot's seat, eyes wide with fear, was Ayana. Her face was smudged with soot and blood, her hair disheveled.

I tore the straps from around her. Pulled her into my arms.

My shadows surged around us at the first thread of green that lifted from Ayana's fingertips. With a rush of power that left my lungs empty, I shifted us back to the shadows on Geir's ship.

We materialized just as the shuttle exploded in a blossom of fire and shrapnel.

Ayana sagged in my arms. Her breathing was too labored. I clutched her close, my hearts pounding in my ears. I could feel her magic sputtering.

"Geir," I called out. "Get us out of here!"

Triarchy ships fired on us, their cannons raking our battered hull. Shields flashed, then failed. A blast rocked the ship, throwing us against the wall.

"Soren," Geir called out, his voice tight with strain. "That last barrage took out the hyperdrive. We're not going anywhere."

The ship shuddered as our own cannons spat rounds at the enemy. Ayana clung to me, her fingers digging into my shirt. I pulled her tighter into my embrace, willing my strength to flow into her.

Another impact sent us careening across the bridge. I shielded Ayana with my body, taking the brunt of the impact on my shoulder. Her fingers dug into my arms, her eyes wide as she stared out the viewport at the approaching enemy fleet.

"Soren," she whispered, her voice trembling. "There's too many of them."

I knew she was right.

Geir's face was grim as he looked up from his console. "Three massive venterran ships just dropped out of hyperspace. They're bearing down on us fast."

Fuck.

The sheer size of one rivaled the Tenebrous. Three, one for each Matriarch, would crush us, and the rest of the fleet, if they ripped the coordinates from our heads.

I turned to Ayana, cupping her face in my hands. I stroked her cheeks with my thumbs, savoring the last moments with my mate.

"Whatever happens, I am with you," I vowed, my voice thick with emotion. "You are my Cor Umbra, Ayana. I will never let you go."

Her lower lip trembled, and I pressed my mouth to hers in a bruising kiss. My fingers tangled in her hair as I held her close, drinking in the taste and scent of her.

My shadows welled up inside me. I leaned into the connection, feeding on Ayana, drawing on more of my power. Ayana's magic rose to meet mine, twisting together in a potent blend of shadow and light.

The world around us dissolved, fading away until it was only the two of us. I could feel Ayana's heartbeat as if it were my own, could taste her fear and her resolve on my tongue.

Our powers fed into each other and grew into a twisting, writhing thing. It shot out from Geir's ship in a dazzling torrent of emerald and obsidian that sliced through the hull of the central ship.

For a moment, time stood still.

Then the venterran vessel ripped apart, the damage rolling and building from the inside out.

We watched in stunned silence as the shockwave hit the nearest ships and rocked them sideways. Their shields flared with the strikes of debris and the detonation of the smaller vessels caught in the blast.

The main guns on both surviving Matriarch ships glowed bright, ready to return fire.

Instead, the void lit up with the telltale flashes of hyperspace exit points. Ships materialized out of nothingness, sleek and deadly, their hulls adorned with the sigils of the wraith fleet.

A fierce, savage joy surged through me as I watched my people open fire on the remaining venterran vessels. Cannons thundered, missiles streaked, and the darkness lit up with the flash of exploding ships.

The drive on a Matriarch ship burst to life in a brilliant pulse of light, shrinking down to nothing and taking the ship to hyperspace.

The second ship tried to follow, but the Tenebrous was faster. Her cannons locked on and unleashed a barrage. The venterran ship's drive sputtered and died, leaving it dead where it floated.

The rest of the wraith fleet swarmed. More Triarchy ships broke formation to flee, but there was nowhere for them to hide. Not from the wraiths. Not from their vengeance.

I turned to Ayana. Her chest rose and fell in rapid breaths. I traced her delicate features with my fingers, reveling in the warmth of her skin and the softness of her lips.

She was alive. She was safe.

And she was mine.

"Never do that again," I growled. "Never leave me behind."

I captured her lips in a searing kiss. She melted into me, her hands tangling in my hair. Her touch was electric, sending sparks of pleasure racing through my body. I licked and nipped at her bottom lip before plunging my tongue into her mouth.

We kissed like we were trying to devour each other.

Like we were both half-starved, and the other was the only sustenance we required.

After what felt like hours, I drew back. Her lips were swollen, her cheeks flushed with arousal. But her eyes were bright and full of love.

"Never again," she promised.