Page 43 of Ulfar

It’s him. Covered in blood and eyes aflame with the most feral battle lust I’ve ever seen, but it’s him.

He came.

“Ulfar!” I shriek, rushing forward. “Help! My dad’s—”

“Not so fast!” Atraxia screeches, tackling me to the ground and grabbing the gun once more. She’s got it pointed directly at my face. There’s no coming back from this. I crawl backward on my hands like a crab, looking for an out, but there is none. Ulfar roars and charges forward, but he’s still too far away to reach us in time.

I shriek, pulling my arms up instinctively to shield my face, and then I hear another voice, just before the blast.

“Sarah, no—”

Atraxia pulls the trigger, and then something hits me, hard, in the chest. An instant later there’s another sickening thump, followed by a gross wet sound and a growl of triumph. All goes silent at long last.

Air whooshes out of my lungs, leaving me wheezing and gasping for air. My eyes fly open to see my father’s body lying atop me, his face stricken but with a satisfied kind of peace. A warm torrent of blood oozes from his side and soaks into my shirt, pooling on the hard concrete floor.

“Dad!” I gasp, wrapping my arms around him. I wriggle out from underneath to try to get a good look at the wound, but it’s still so dark in here. “Dad, oh my god, Dad, no...”

At the last second, he took the bullet meant for me. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. We were supposed to get out of here alive, both of us!

With a pained groan, I roll over and notice the other motionless body on the ground. It’s Atraxia—or what’s left of her. Her head’s missing, leaving only a dark crimson stain where it should have been. And standing there, wiping off his blade with a grimace on his face, is Ulfar.

Just in the nick of time.

My father coughs and a weak, trembling hand reaches up to cup my face. Tears fall and splash onto his skin. I clasp his hand tightly, holding it to my face as all of the pain and fear and rage flood out of me at last.

“You did good, Sarah,” he says with some effort. “I love you.”

“Dad!” I scream again, but he doesn’t hear me. His eyes flutter closed, and I am filled with a wave of terror. Is he dying?ß

A HAPPY ENDING

SARAH

“Dad!” My throat is raw from crying and screaming, but I can’t stop. After all this, after all we’ve gone through, he can’t be gone. He can’t. Ulfar’s at my back, wrapping his strong arms around me and whispering comforting words in my ear, but I may as well not hear them. Everything’s centered on my father’s still form in front of me. It doesn’t matter that Atraxia is no more, if this was the cost.

And then there’s Ulfar, seemingly unfazed by my betrayal and holding me tightly, keeping me from spiraling more than I already am, barking orders into a unit on his wrist as the lights come on in the compound once more.

“I’m sorry,” I sob over and over. I can’t think of anything else to say. No other words come to mind. I’ve done the unthinkable—forsaken my contract with the ISA, left my assigned mate, and possibly put all of Aesirheim in danger. How can he be here hugging me like this?

I wrestle my way out of his grip and turn around to face him. Blurred and tear-streaked my vision may be, but the man looking back at me is the same man I fell in love with.

No, I think. Not man. Alien.

At that, there’s a surging of something deep within my chest, a warmth that spreads from my core outward, all the way to the tips of my fingers and toes. That internal ‘itch’? Scratched at last. He’s with me, after everything I’ve done, he’s still with me. I’m still alive.

But my father...

“Don’t worry,” he shushes me, running a hand through my hair and down my back. “I’ve got someone coming to take care of him.”

“I’m sorry,” I say again, crumpling into his arms. I bury my face in his chest, unable to hold back the bone-shaking sobs that tear through me. “I never meant to hurt you, or leave you. I had no choice, and I was so scared...”

“It’s all right,” he reassures me. “We’ll talk later. Let’s focus on helping your father right now.”

Another alien comes rushing in, and as he gets closer I recognize him. He’s Vi’s mate, Djorn!

“What’s he—” I start, but Ulfar cuts me off with a kiss. I can hardly complain, though, when his lips are so hot and soft against mine. When his body fits against me like we were made to be together. I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed this.

“You’re so much better than dream you,” I say deliriously, only realizing how silly it sounds after I’ve said it.

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