Chapter 53

Ellax

I had known fear before. I had known torment. I had known grief. However, I had never had a feeling such as what exploded in me at the sight of my human wife, my bride, my mate, clinging to the footbridge railing, stuck in the sky, halfway between my space ship, which had just landed, and the spaceport platform. Her body was nearly draped over the railing. From the doorway of the ship, I could see the blood marring her pale skin and splashing her clothing. Her limbs appeared awkward and disjointed. Bruises painted her face, neck, hands, and any other visible skin.

This female looked like death brought to life. I was astounded. Not truly astounded to see her here. After the Admiral and I had recorded our message for the Coalition's panel of Lead Advisors and left it in Major Barak's care, Commander Ashin had appeared at his Admiral's call. He'd taken my phone, pressed several buttons, swiped his thumb left and right, then lifted the device to show his commanding officer.

"She is moving towards the central spaceport," he said.

I could not hide my astonishment. "How can you tell?"

Ashin had chuckled, the scars on his face bunching in a frightening parody of a grin. "Little known fact, Elder, unknown even to most Lead Advisors. Each of these devices contains a back door tracking device. If you know how to use it, and if you know what to do, you can find the object in any picture and track where the picture was taken, as well as where the object is in real time." He dropped the device back in my hand. "There you are. You've learned your lesson for today."

He'd so casually delivered this message, an astounding fact of which I'd been ignorant. How could this be? No time to dwell on it. Knowing my wife's location, the Admiral and I had raced to the nearest available ship, found an off-duty captain, and pressed him into service. During the short flight back to Asterion, I'd found myself jiggling my leg, tapping my thumb on my thigh, clenching and unclenching my fingers. All extremely uncharacteristic motions for me. I never lost self-control of my body or my emotions.

My mate had never been in extreme danger, either.

"You could call the spaceport authorities, and order them to watch for her."

The Admiral had spoken up only once, offering the suggestion.

I'd considered it, but ultimately decided against the idea. After all, I had no idea who Sirena may have bought or blackmailed into her power. Clearly, she had someone doing her dirty work. The images on my phone had depicted shadowy figures behind my wife, presumably those who had hurt her. I feared that alerting spaceport security to my wife's position might inadvertently bring Sirena or her collaborators to her, and that, I could not risk.

So, I endured mental torment on the flight to my home planet, torment so great it was worse than physical torture. And yet—as I exited the ship and started running her direction—it was nothing compared to the agony of beholding my wife in this state.

Knowing her fear of heights, which had spurred me into carrying her over the footbridge so recently, I could hardly believe that she had gotten herself out here. She must have been fighting immense physical damage, as well as the mental strain of her fear, in order to have come so far. I marveled at her strength, even as I shouted her name, racing towards her.

Dashing towards her from the other direction was a pair of spaceport security, in their customary black uniforms, with weapons drawn.

Hatred rose up within me, like a living, breathing animal.

How dare they? What had my wife ever done to them? To Sirena? To anyone on this planet? How dare they threaten what was mine?

Lorelai's face had lifted to the planet's twin suns. Her eyes, which were nearly swollen shut anyway, were closed as she absorbed the warmth. Torment eased from her expression, replaced by peace. Something dreadful and sickening twisted within me. I saw at once what she meant to do.

And I could not reach her fast enough.

"Lorelai!"

I shouted with all my might, all of the ferocity, all of the love within me. I shouted it, even as her fingers loosened their grip on the railing. Even as she appeared to be surrendering to her fate, rather than be taken by Sirena's allies, one of whom was yelling something unintelligible that I did not hear.

Her body leaned forward, her torso sliding over the barrier—and then, at my shout, froze. Her fingers fastened themselves anew on the railing. Her eyes squinted open. Her head turned towards me.

"E—Ellax?"

Her voice was a mere croak, but she spoke my name. I heard it, even over the sound of my pounding boots. Perhaps I heard it more with my heart than my head, but it was beautiful. The most beautiful sound I'd ever heard.

I was mere feet away from her. So were the security guards. If they had noticed an Elder, a Lead Advisor, dashing towards the human female on the bridge, I could not tell. If they knew who I was, I could not tell. Perhaps they saw a fellow Asterion racing towards the human female, and assumed I was coming to help them. One of them stopped, holding out a hand to stop me.

"Halt!" he demanded. "This female is under the authority of Elder Sirena Rinsdread."

Ignoring him, I ran right up to my wife, using my forearm to viciously knock his aside. I fell to my knees, tugging her off the railing even as I slid towards her. I gathered her close, ensuring her safety.

"This female is my wife, and under my protection," I growled. "Touch her, and die."