Page 70 of Guardian's Destiny

If I fought her on this, she would never forgive me. I knew a thing or two about duty, and she was just as loyal to hers as I had ever been to mine. She might forgive me for being a jealous ass, if I asked her for it, but she would never forgive me if I stoppedher now. I could throw her over my shoulder and the two Ohrurs to boot and take her aboard that spaceship, but I would lose her.

But she would be alive, my mind whispered.

That she would be, but I also knew that she wasn't a person who would get over her failure. And that was exactly how she would look at this for the rest of her life. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I was in her shoes, and I couldn't expect any less of her. Frygg.

I grabbed her hair and pulled on it hard. Her mouth opened in protest, and her eyes screamed at me, but if I had to let her go right now, I needed this one last kiss.

Her hands tore at my shirt before they reached around my neck as she responded to my kiss with the same desperation raging through me.

Breathlessly, we parted way too soon.

"I trust you," I rasped as my voice broke.

A small hint of a smile acknowledged my admission. She checked her body for weapons, her eyes turned from glassy to battle ready.

Without a word, she moved to the crack in the wall she had left through before. When she vanished into the shadows, I whispered, "I love you." Sure, she wouldn't hear me.

Then she was gone, and I hit the wall with my palms a few times, hoping the stinging would distract me from the pain in my heart. If something happened to her now, I knew I would never forgive myself. I would die. I kicked the wall for good measure, before I felt heat rise from my mating marks and a new hope rose up inside me. Maybe those damn things weren't that cursed after all, maybe they wouldn't let her go without me after all.

SLOANE

Damn that kiss still burnedon my lips. And his words,I love you? He couldn't have waited with that little declaration. Well, it wasn't little. It was huge. But it was the last thing I needed to think about right now. Damn Vraax for invading my mind when it should be solely focused on the freaking Arkhevari. What the hell was he doing here anyway?

I could have sworn he looked straight at me when he exited the spaceship as if he knew I was there. By what I had learned so far of the bastard, he probably did and was just mind fucking with me now. My worry had been that the Moggadesh, the sworn enemy of the Pandraxian empire, would get a hold of him, but with him in the hands of the Ohrur, Emperor Daryus should be able to negotiate his release without me interfering. Still, it was simply impossible for me to leave Zapharos here. No matter how unnerving his presence was, I was duty-bound to free him. Something he was fully aware of. Bastard.

I wouldn't put it past him to have himself allowed to be kidnapped just to mind fuck with me.

I wasn't worried about the mating marks acting up this time, sure that Zapharos would handle that, despite me having no clue how.

Keeping low to the ground, I rushed toward the first hangar, hiding in its shadows.I love you, came unbidden to my mind, stealing a smile from me. I was still mad at Vraax, but dangerous situations had a way of putting things in perspective, and right now, it was more important to admit my feelings than to fight with him, which we could still do later. Much later, after we had a long chat and after an even longer roll on the first mattress we ran into. I was glad he seemed to have finally seen the light of day, but I was upset that it took me pulling the Imperial Seal card before he did. I realized he was a lone wolf, never having worked in a chain of command organization—neither him nor the other Space Guardians. But he needed to learn if we were going to work as a team. I worked with his type before, men and women, who thought the only people in the world who could get anything done were them. He, too, needed to learn to trust. I was more than attracted to him. I liked the idea that he loved me; hell, I thought I loved him too, but this love between us needed a bit more time before I allowed myself to be all in. He had too much power already over me to hurt me. Already, I would be hard-pressed to move on from him, but I would if I had to. He couldn't have me if he didn't accept me and my experience, including my calling the shots when necessary.

The hangar I had chosen was busy; a quick glimpse inside showed me several Ohrurs working on three spaceships while others walked back and forth, bringing tools and whatever. Robots and drones moved about in abundance as well; there was no way for me to sneak by.

So I did the only thing I could do. I squared my shoulders and hoped that my human statue would make me appear like an Ohrur in the darkness. I made sure to avoid the light-flooded areas and walked with purpose. A lot of times, intruders got away by simply blending in.

When no shout of alarm reached me, I rushed to the next hangar as soon as I was out of sight. I leaned against the wall to catch my breath and calm my heart, which was beating a little faster than I liked it. But that couldn't be helped as adrenaline seared through my system. I was in my element. This was the kind of shit I liked. Sick, I know, but there it was. I always strove to be better than the others, the one that got in places nobody else did. It was a thrill that was hard to explain, but it made my heart pump and filled my head with endorphins. The higher the risk, the higher the high.

I looked back at the ruins I came from and watched two smaller shadows appear through the crack in the wall I had used, followed by a much larger, massive frame. Vraax. Good.

Pushing thoughts of the Space Guardian from me, I moved by the second hangar just like I had with the first. The third was already dark and closed, so that made it easier. And then I reached the building I had watched the Space Guardians take Zapharos to. I pulled out the blaster, set it to stun—there was no reason to kill with these babies and took a deep breath.

From here, anything could be possible. An alarm could blare out the moment I opened the door; it could be locked; it could open without any problems only for me to face the enemy. I allowed myself a moment of calm to visualize each scenario, hoping it wouldn't be the second.

The door opened the moment I stepped in front of it, no alarm blared, I moved the blaster quickly left to right, but there was nobody there. My adrenaline was almost disappointed that it didn't get a chance to prove its superiority.

I snuck down a well-lit corridor, blaster out; there was no way I could even try to blend in here. Whoever was unlucky enough to run into me would take a long nap.

I reached a corner and edged my way forward to check the hallway to the left and right. To the right, I made out two Space Guardians flanking a door. One noticed my movement.

"What…" aiming and shooting was one fluent move, and the Space Guardian went down, same with the second.

Quickly, I made my way over to the door, which, of course, wouldn't open. Great.

I spied a panel to the right of the door. I had never seen anything like this on the higher tech planets. It looked almost old-fashioned here, whereas on Earth, it was one of the highest security devices there were.

The question was if these things were palm print activated, or if they scanned eyes or something even more advanced my mind couldn't comprehend yet.

I opted for hand and pulled the first, unconscious Space Guardian forward, pressing his hand against it. Nothing.

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