Page 33 of Alien Inventor's Mate

"Vaarn!" she screamed over and over, though she knew he couldn't hear her. She pictured him in the cockpit, still firing as the ship broke apart around him, and her gaze frantically latched onto every burst of cannon fire. As long as he kept firing, she knew he was still alive. Still up there.

Her guardian angel.

Her alien guardian angel.

She was being torn in two. Half of her soul was in her body plunging rapidly toward the planet’s surface, while the other half was back on the ship, with him. Her sobs were broken. She loved him… needed him. She couldn’t do this without him.

The pod rattled again and red warning lights flashed.

"Secondary safeties damaged, and offline," the alarms blared, almost deafening her. "Deploying emergency measures."

This was it, the pod was about to crash. She squeezed her eyes shut as a sob was torn from her throat. She shouldn't be in here on her own. She wanted to be back in his arms, to feel his strength around her. If she was going to die, she wanted to be with him.

The escape pod slammed into the ground, the impact throwing her hard against the straps. She screamed as agony lanced through her body… sure she’d broken something.

The small capsule screeched and skidded across the rocky surface. The door with the window ended up underneath and was torn clean away as they rolled. Dust and debris billowed into the air, obscuring her vision.

Finally the pod slid to a stop, creaking and groaning. She blinked, looking up as the dust cleared at a surprisingly blue sky.

Coughing and spluttering, she tried to clear her lungs. Unbuckling her harness, she pushed herself upward to climb out of the mangled craft. Her entire body ached, her legs weak and wobbly but she managed to get to her feet. She was alive, and more or less in one piece.

Glancing around, she winced at the unfamiliar terrain, it looked so alien. Then she saw it, the ship coming down in a blaze of flame like a bullet toward the ground.

"Vaarn!" she screamed, half throwing herself, half sliding down the side of the pod. As soon as her feet hit the dirt, she was off running toward where the ship was going to come down.

She ran faster than she'd ever run before. Her chest heaved as her lungs and muscles burned, desperate strides churning up dirt as she sprinted. She was single-minded as she watched the fireball’s descent. The wind blew her hair back, whipping it around her face, but all she could see was that ship. Vaarn was in there. The man she loved. Nothing on this planet would stop her from reaching him.

The ground sloped upwards, almost tripping her in her haste. The muscles of her legs burned as she scrambled up the rocky incline, and her lungs screamed for air. She was so close now that she could feel the heat of the descending ship on her face.

Just a little further. She had to make it. Had to get there in time.

Then the toe of her boot caught on a rock and she went down. Hard. Pain lanced through her knees and palms as she slammed into the ground and slid, gravel biting into tender flesh. Frantic, she shoved herself back up and staggered to the top of the rise.

There was a beach on the other side, surrounding a tranquil lake. It was a picture out of her dreams, a slice of heaven, but she ignored it. She only had eyes for the fireball hurtling toward the ground.

"No!" she screamed, her voice breaking as she forced her aching body into a run. But she was too late.

The ship crashed into the beach ahead, exploding in a ball of fire and smoke. The force of the impact knocked her off her feet. She hit the sand, hard, throwing her arms up to shield her face from the intense heat as flaming debris rained down around her. The world disappeared in a deafening roar, and for a moment all she knew was fire and pain.

She must have blacked out, because she came to with a groan. She shook her head until the ringing in her ears faded, replaced by the crackle of flames and random, smaller explosions. Choking on smoke, she staggered upright and stared at the blazing wreckage through tear-filled eyes.

"Vaarn," she whispered brokenly, taking one stumbling step forward before falling to her knees in the sand.

No… He couldn't be gone. He just couldn't. Her heart fractured, raw grief welling up and choking her.

As she stared at the burning wreckage of the ship, the acrid smell of smoke and melted metal filled her nostrils, making her eyes water and her throat burn but she didn't care.

"Vaarn!" she cried out, choking on her sobs. "You asshole! You can't leave me like this!"

Her body shook as she stared in horror at the flames. This wasn’t happening. He wasn’t gone. He couldn’t be. He was invincible, untouchable. He was her protector, her savior. Her guardian angel.

The trouble with angels though, was that you weren't supposed to see them.

"I love you," she whispered. "I love you and you're an asshole for leaving me like this."

She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid.

"I thought I was interrupting something," she choked out, her voice thick with tears. "With you and Laythia. I thought you were mad at me for tagging along and getting in the way. Then you kissed me. We… last night… "

---