7. Zyrus

7

ZYRUS

Instinct had me running before I could fully comprehend the situation. But I recognized the woman in that uniform. She was the same person who'd been stalking Astrid earlier. This couldn't be a coincidence.

I had to trust that Astrid would stay put. After expressing my displeasure at her going off alone, I knew I was a hypocrite to leave her.

Too late now.

I turned a corner just in time to see the woman dart down a hallway. I was attracting attention, but I didn't care. I needed answers.

The woman ducked into a service corridor, the kind that was off-limits to regular station personnel. It was narrow, and I slammed into the wall as I took the corner too fast. I couldn't see her anymore.

That didn't stop me. I could still catch up.

But I passed several doors that could have lead anywhere before I hit a dead end.

No woman. No answers.

Damn it.

I had to force myself to stop and take several deep breaths as something inside me roiled. My head felt ready to explode with … something. Frustration? Anger? Any emotion? It hurt , like a limb coming back after falling asleep. Pins and needles and pain.

I reveled in it, in any sign that the thing between Astrid and myself was real.

Astrid.

No more time to wallow. I sprinted back, retracing my path to the small alcove I'd been in only minutes before. But she was gone.

That static in my head reared up again, and I looked around, jerking to and fro for some hint of her. Had this been some ploy to distract me to grab her? I should have never left her alone.

I had to do something, comb the floor for any hint of what might have happened.

But I made myself pause. This area was busy, and no one seemed to think anything strange had happened. Then again, if station security had apprehended a person, who would care?

There was an Oscavian sitting on a bench outside of the medical wing. I approached them cautiously. "Excuse me, did you see where the woman I was speaking with went?"

The Oscavian looked up at me with her bright blue eyes set in deep purple skin. Her face carried the wrinkles of age, and her hair was mostly a dark violet but was lavender around her skull. "That girl you ran away from? She looked pissed. She walked away a few minutes ago. Headed that way." She pointed down the main hallway.

"Alone?"

The Oscavian nodded.

"Thank you."

That didn't calm the miasma of feeling inside of me. Astrid could still be in danger. But she'd walked away alone, which meant she probably wasn't in immediate danger.

But she'd walked away right after we'd discussed why she shouldn't.

Frustrating woman.

I headed towards her quarters. If she was going anywhere, it would be there. And that was confirmed when I made it to her hallway just in time to see her putting in the security code to open her door.

She saw me, and her eyes widened, but she didn't try to slam the door.

Something pounded in my temples, and my fists were clenched. My jaw was tight, right along with the rest of my body. I was primed for a fight. But this was my mate. I'd never lay a finger on her. So, what was my body doing? I tried to relax, tried to breathe deeply and let all the tension out.

Any progress I made was washed away the moment I remembered that empty alcove.

"You said you wouldn't go anywhere alone." My tone was even. Normal. I ignored the fact that my jaw was so tight it hurt.

Astrid scowled. "Nice lecture. Maybe don't leave me alone the second you give it. What the hell was that?" She crossed her arms, chin raised. She was angry, defiant.

"Someone was following you. I saw them earlier today and then just now. The woman works in station security." Facts, that was what I needed. Astrid would understand.

But something about what I said made her mouth drop open. "Earlier today? Were you following Pippa and me? You said you'd leave us alone."

"I happened to leave Drex's room at the same time you were both walking down the hallway. It's my job to protect you, Astrid. Did I try to stop you?" I wanted to reach out and clutch her close, to make her understand the severity of today.

"I don't want you stalking me." She glared and then turned away from me.

"I wasn't stalking you, but some woman from station security was. And if you want to get rid of me, you need to let me do my job. The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the sooner I'll be gone."

She turned back at that, her breathing a bit ragged and eyes wide. "I don't—" She cut herself off. "That's not what we're talking about. You're not going anywhere."

I stepped forward and placed a gentle hand on her arm. "I just want to protect you. We both know that something strange is going on. Once we figure that out …" I didn't know how to finish the sentence. I wasn't walking away from her once this job was done. She was my mate—the woman I'd been searching out for eleven years. I would lay down my life for hers, anything she wanted.

But I didn't say the words.

She still didn't recognize me.

Astrid raised her hand to my cheek, the action identical to what she'd done just a little while ago in the alcove. It burned like her hand was covered in hot coals, and I leaned into the pain. "What makes me so special?" she asked. "I don't think you're like this with anyone else."

She had no idea.

I could tell her. Three words. You're my mate . It explained everything. But those words caught in my throat. It took me a moment to realize why.

I was a selfish bastard.

I would have said the soulless couldn't be selfish, but we were still people, no matter how our brains were broken.

Ever since I'd set eyes on Astrid, I'd been focused on the mating bond that I couldn't feel, focused on that memory that had lived in my mind for eleven years. I'd been obsessed with making her mine, claiming her, convinced it would happen so long as I stayed beside her. And guarding her provided the perfect opportunity.

As if love was bound to bloom in forced proximity.

But Astrid was human. A human woman who had been stranded on a planet with no hope of escape for a decade. A human woman who was worried that someone was hunting her for unknown reasons. A human woman who couldn't feel the recognition of the denya bond.

Of course she didn't remember that day on Honora Station. And I needed to leave it in the past.

I didn't have words for her. Instead, I pulled her close, enveloping her in my embrace.

I would keep this woman safe. And I would find a way to be worthy of her, to make her want me in the present instead of clinging to the past.

My body lit up with pain everywhere we touched, but Astrid relaxed against me, and it was all worth it.