Page 27 of Obsessed

"Try me."

"You'd need to register as an official courier. Pass an examination and registration fee. Submit to regular cargo inspections. File flight plans. Pay taxes and docking fees. Have your ship inspected annually for safety protocols."

A laugh bursts from my throat. "Right. Smile at customers while hauling their overpriced trinkets across regulated space lanes. Making what, a quarter of what I do now?"

"Approximately one-fifth, actually. But you'd have health insurance."

"Fantastic." I slump in my seat. "What happens in the other scenarios? The ones where I keep doing what I'm good at?"

"In 43% of projections, Alice leaves you upon discovering the truth. In 31%, she becomes collateral damage in one of your jobs. The remaining scenarios..." Navi's voice softens. "You don't want those details."

The mate bond pulses, and I press a hand to my chest. Each heartbeat feels like it's pumping ice through my veins.

"Those are just calculations," I mutter. "Probabilities. Not certainties."

"True. But when have my calculations ever been wrong?"

"Take a break, Navi." I push away from the console, my joints creaking from hours hunched over circuits.

"Very well. Try not to do anything stupid while I'm offline."

"There's the girl I know."

The setting sun paints the sky in shades of purple and orange as I step outside. A warm breeze carries the scent of alien flowers - the ones Alice showed me last week. The mate bond tightens at the thought of her name.

Movement catches my eye. Alice appears over the ridge, her sample case swinging at her side. Her hair's come loose from its tie, strands dancing in the wind. She spots me and waves, her smile bright enough to rival the setting sun.

My chest aches. The bond screams at me to go to her, hold her, keep her safe. But Navi's right - the only way to truly protect her is to let her go.

She quickens her pace. "Hey! Make any progress with that Navi system? I've been dying to meet her!"

"Yeah." I keep my arms crossed, maintaining distance even as every cell in my body yearns to close it. Her choice of words rips into my heart, laying bear the fears growing there.

She reaches for me, but I step back. Confusion flickers across her face, followed by hurt. The bond constricts painfully.

"I made some progress with those specimens from the northern valley." Her voice wavers slightly. "Would you like to join me for dinner? I could tell you about it."

"No." The word comes out harder than intended. I force myself to soften it. "Thanks, but I need to run more diagnostics."

"Oh." She clutches her sample case tighter. "Okay. Well, if you change your mind..."

I turn away before I can see more disappointment in her eyes. "Goodnight, Alice."

My feet carry me back to the ship on autopilot. Each step feels like walking through quicksand, the bond fighting me every inch of the way.

Better this than seeing her dead. Better a clean break than a bloody end.

I repeat this to myself as I climb back into the cockpit, but it doesn't make the pain any easier to bear.

CHAPTER 15

ALICE

The morning sun streams through the station's windows as I check my research notes again. Nothing groundbreaking. Just more of the same observations I've been making for months. I tap my stylus against the desk, trying to focus on work instead of the way Davrik barely looked at me during breakfast.

"Hey." I stand in the doorway of the common room where he's reading something on his tablet. "Want to come see the new growth patterns I found in sector seven?"

"Maybe later." He doesn't even look up. "I need to check some things."

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