Page 54 of Saving Lauren

I fight the desire to roll my eyes, but I do what she says and T’Rak and I sit down with our meal. We chit chat a little bit before I decide I have to rip off the band-aid.

“I am really thankful for all that you did, Kepti. But I have to go home.”

“Home?” she asks, panic edged all on her face. Shoot, she must think I mean Earth.

“The ship,” I clarify and she relaxes for a bit.

“I need to be close to D’Var. To his scent, to his stuff, sleep in our bed.”

Kepti beams a big smile at me and nods approvingly.

“Yes, you should.”

We walk to the ship after dinner, after saying a quick goodnight to T’Rak, I disappear into our room. I know D’Var has set the lock to only open on his or my handprint and I immediately feel safe.

Safe.

Such a small word, but it holds such a big meaning to an Arracate Warrior. I go to the bathroom and freshen up, before I tuck myself into bed, leaving the little light on. I also leave the blinds open, giving me the chance to look at the stars. The nebula is amazing, seeing it like this makes me think of when D’Var took me against the windows and I blush just thinking about it. My core clenches. It’s utterly clear that not only my heart is missing my mate, but my other body parts are also pining for him to come back.

I let the words T’Rak spoke to me swirl through my head, the more I think about it, the more I feel at peace. I think about the words D’Var told me in the days leading up to his departure, I can process them better now. His guilt must have been growing with every reassurance I gave him. Every time I insisted it was not his fault, he must have been innerly chastising himself.

I must make peace with his leaving before he returns. There is still time. I can be pissed, but I have to make peace as well.

CHAPTER 30

D’Var

My veins are thrumming with bloodlust. Yalix is dead, but I am still hyper vigilant as I hurry towards O’Rec. I have no idea what to expect and my mind is racing. As I near his location I smell the foul stench of Sternotheri. And blood. Lots and lots of blood.

When I enter the room, it is pure chaos. Dead bodies everywhere and in the middle of the room lies O’Rec. I drop Yalix's head to rush over. I call out to him, but he does not respond. A quick check ensures me he is alive but wounded. There’s a knife embedded in his shoulder and one in his thigh. Sternotheri blades. I curse, because how is this possible?

I rip a cushion off one of the couches and tear it apart to have something to bind his wounds. As I pull out the first knife, O’Rec winces.

“Was that really necessary?” I let out a slow breath. Thank the stars he is alright.

“There is another one. Hold tight.’” I pull out the other knife. A hiss escapes O’Rec. I bind the wounds; I clasp his shoulder helping him get up.

O’Rec squints his eyes and looks at me. “You look like you have bathed in the blood of your enemies.”

I shrug. “Things got a little messier than I wanted them to be.”

O’Rec snorts. It is clear he does not believe me, and he is right. I grin. He knows me so well.

“We have to get to the prisoners, put them in pods and get off this fucking moon,” he says.

“And then we blow it all to hell,” I add.

He solemnly nods and I grab Yalix’s head. We walk towards the lowest level. O’Rec suggest I let him do the talking, since I am the one holding someone's head, I agree.

What we discover in the cells is a mess. We end up saving 8 of the 10 slaves held there, those who could not be saved were more dead than alive.

As O’Rec is sending off the last pod, his wrist comp starts to beep, making him utter a string of curses. “We have to hurry; company is coming our way.”

I nod and we hurry towards the exit, O’Rec leans heavily on me, but at least he is able to get around. Just before we exit the dome, O’Rec halts to hack into one of the outpost computers.

“I have set it to self-destruct in 8 minutes. We can easily make that before we run into any trouble...”

I shake my head. Fucking O’Rec and his computer ways. “I would much rather prefer to blow it up myself.”

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