Page 8 of Guardian's Destiny

When I was ten, my appendix ruptured. It was one of the rare occasions when my dad was actually home—he was a Marine and was called out more than I saw him. A few days after the surgery, my stomach began to hurt, even worse than it had before the surgery.

Anyway, that day, Dad took me for some ice cream when I fainted. Concerned, he took me back to the hospital. There was never any doubt in my mind that my father loved me. He did, hemight have had a skewed view of women, but in his way he loved me. It was his approval and pride that I yearned for and never received.

The doctor said that my surgery wound from the appendectomy had gotten infected and needed to be reopened, and the puss needed to be drained. They wanted to give me morphine, but I pleaded with them not to. I pretended to be afraid of the drug. While they opened the stitches and drained the puss, I didn't allow one moan to escape my lips, despite the pain. I wanted to show my dad that girls could be just as brave as men.

When my mom arrived, I was all bandaged and filled with antibiotics. Mom hugged and kissed me, while Dad shook his head.That is one stubborn daughter you got there.

My ears perked up. Finally, I was sure I would hear some words of praise from him. Maybe even anI'm proud of her.

What happened? Mom asked and my entire body coiled in anticipation. This was my moment.

She was too scared to get any pain meds. Dad shook his head.I don't know what nonsense you filled her head with, but morphine is not something to be scared of.

Instead of words of praise, he and my mom got into a fight.

On the upside, that day, I learned that I could master pain. And dammit, if I wasn't going to prove it, as I scooted another few inches toward my destination.

Somewhere during my great escape attempt, I had lost my comm, and all the stations with comm access were now heavily monitored. The GTU soldiers’ numbers seemed to have doubled. Gar'Ny L'ym Tack would not allow me to leave this space station alive.

My only hope was that the Pandraxian ship that had brought me here was able to contact the emperor. They had to know that, according to the GTU, I was a fugitive. That would sendred flags to him. The question was if he was willing to risk a scandalous incident with the GTU on my behalf or if he would leave me behind. God knew that many missions on Earth had been handled that way. Agents forgotten and left behind for thegreater cause.

I was finally coming up on top of the restroom I had chosen as my hiding spot when I heard voices below me.

"What do you think the guys will order for us?" A woman asked.

That couldn't be, could it? Was my translator implant on the fritz?

"I'm sure it'll be edible. Zaarek takes great joy in making sure I get plenty to eat." Another voice answered, and this time, it was plain as day. These women were talking in different accents, but theywerespeaking in English.

I scuttled the last few feet to where the next opening hatch waited for me, leading straight intomystall. One I had jimmied so I could be sure nobody other than me would ever enter it.

I opened the hatch just far enough to be sure the woman below had finished her business. Certain she wouldn't appreciate me taking a peek as she pulled her pants up. My heart rate sped up when I laid eyes on her: she was indeed human!

Had my luck finally turned? These were the first humans I had seen on this station.

"Just put your hands inside," the woman with the deep southern drawl advised another I couldn't see.

It was now or never. I glided down the hatch, balanced my feet on the toilet, and cursed underneath my breath because of the damn ankle that protested my weight. It felt like the universe was using a big fat red arrow, pointing at the woman in the stall next to mine. A warning? A push to move forward? Since I was all out of options, I had to give this a shot. Under normal circumstances, I would have never trusted myself to strangers,but these weren't normal circumstances, and Zapharos's life was on the line. I took a deep breath, climbed down the toilet, opened the stall door, and asked, "Hey, can you help me?"

Three sets of eyes, all human, stared at me in as much disbelief as I stared at them.

"Sure… how… who are you?" The one with the southern accent was the first to recover from her shock of seeing another human woman on an alien-owned space station.

"I'm Sloane," I introduced myself, nervously looking around to make sure no other aliens lurked about. I had never seen this bathroom as empty as it was today, and I prayed my luck would hold just a little bit longer. Four human women in the public restroom would be noticeable as hell. I wasn't sure if it would be noticeable enough for an alien woman to call the GTU, but that was a chance I would rather not take right now.

"I'm Nova, this is Hannah and Zoe," the Southerner introduced. "What do you need?"

"A ticket out of here," I admitted.

"That we can do," Nova nodded.

"It's kind of time-sensitive. And I broke my ankle," I filled them in.

"Got it. Hannah, run to the guys and warn them," Nova instructed a pretty brunette who darted off.

"Let's give her a moment to warn the guys, and then we're out of here," Nova promised.

"What happened to you?" Zoe asked, reaching for my arm.

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