Page 91 of Shielded Heart

Arcanthus’s nostrils flared with a heavy exhalation. Bracing his hands on the edge of his desk, he leaned forward. His arms trembled; he was a split second away from heaving the desk over, a split second away from smashing everything around him in helpless, hopeless rage. His instinct demanded he respond toanythreat to his mate with violence, and only a diminished whisper in his mind told him that tearing apart his workshop would accomplish nothing.

“I’ll give you this one chance, Vaund. Leave Arthos. Take whatever credits you’ve made from the Inner Reach and leave.”

“You don’t seem to understand how this works, Arcanthus. Even after all these years, you’re still so naïve.”

“I’m going to find you. And I’m going to take your metal skull between my hands and crush it.”

“Mentioning the terran struck a nerve, did it, sedhi?”

“I was content to leave you be, Vaund. To put that part of my life behind me.Youstarted this, and I will end it. Keep talking, and I’ll change my mind about making it quick.”

“Time for you to listen, Arcanthus, for once in your life. You’re the underdog, just like you were on Caldorius. You can struggle all you want, you can fight, and it will always amount tonothing. The Syndicate would’ve crushed you even if I hadn’t turned on you. It was just a matter of time. All I did was make sure I placed my bets on the winning contender for a change.

“You’re a speck of space dust careening toward a star. There’s only one way it will end, and it’s not with you as the victor—it’s with you annihilated. Iamthe Syndicate, and I’m going to stomp you out of existence once and for all.”

The desk groaned softly as Arcanthus pressed down upon it. “The minutes are ticking away, Vaund, and if you don’t hurry, you’re going to wake up to your final sight—my grinning face.”

Arcanthus terminated the connection. He remained frozen in place; his hands were clamped on the edge of the desk, his teeth were clenched so tightly they felt on the verge of shattering, and every muscle in his body was painfully stiff with tension. The deluge of emotions within him was too much; for a long while, he couldn’t process them, couldn’t sort them, couldn’t even form coherent thoughts.

When he finally regained some control, his anger had risen to overshadow everything else.

Caldorius was ten years behind Arcanthus—why couldn’t that chapter of his life remain in the past? Why had it surfaced to reclaim him now, when he’d found his mate, when he’d finally found some genuine happiness? When he’d finally found deeper meaning to it all.

He raged at his helplessness—he couldn’t escape his past, couldn’t hope to stand against the Inner Reach Syndicate if Vaund chose to utilize its full strength and resources, couldn’t protect his mate from the danger looming just beyond the horizon.

Talk had always been easy; on their own, words held little power. They requiredactionsto gain potency. What action could he take against an intergalactic criminal organization? More specifically, what action could he take that wouldn’t get everyone he knew and cared about killed?

I never intended for things to go this way, Samantha.

He’d been dealing with trouble of one sort or another for most of his life, and had always found a way to persevere, but this…this situation felt too similar to his last days on Caldorius. He didn’t need any more reminders of how well that had ended for him—his arms and legs served as reminder enough.

Memories pressed in at the edges of his consciousness—darkness; a pervasive, rotting smell; the slight sting of Caldorian rain. A ring of leering thugs, their features obscured in shadow, and the single familiar figure among them. The sound of machine-assisted breathing, the crackling hum of an energy blade, the hiss of raindrops evaporating upon it. And pain—so much pain, blazing through is body like hungry flames.

That deep, robotic voice, padded by the rainfall.

It’s just business.

Arcanthus pried his hands off the desk; it now sported a pair of deep dents, each vaguely in the shape of his fingers. He stood quickly, kicked away his chair, and strode to the opposite end of the desk, where he bent down and tugged open the small refrigeration unit.

He rarely drank—which was why at least ten bottles ofgurosh—given to him by Razi—stood neatly inside the unit, all full and sealed. As he gathered the bottles in his arms, he heard Vaund’s voice in his mind again.

How’s your terran, sedhi? Samantha?

Growling, Arc kicked the refrigeration unit closed and stalked off the work platform, muscles straining tonotcrush the glass containers tucked against his chest.

He wouldn’t let his mind go back there. He refused to relive those experiences.

“I just have to find him first,” he muttered as he dropped all but one bottle onto the couch. He opened the remaining bottle as he sat. “Find him and fucking kill him.”

* * *

Vaund curledhis fingers into the armrests, their bone-like tips tearing the chair’s hide covering. Part of him knew Arcanthus’s confidence was largely bluster, knew Arcanthus’s threats were empty. If the Eternal Guard had yet to find the Syndicate outpost from which Vaund oversaw his portion of the greater operation, a single sedhi had no chance of it.

But his mind kept returning to the past, to their frantic battle in a Caldorian arena long, long ago. Even now, it remained clear in his mind’s eye. Even now, thinking of it caused his chest to constrict—because Arcanthushadwon. Arcanthushadbeen the better fighter. And it had been Vaund’s need to prove himself, paired with his greed, that pushed him to accept the challenge offered to him—face a champion gladiator in a death match and ensure that champion didn’t survive.

You’re going to wish you had killed me by the time I’m finished with you, Arcanthus.

His respirator wheezed and hissed, and the monitors for his heart rate and breathing flashed in warning inside his optical feed. He cursed his failing flesh—cursed the weakness it represented. Even if he’d survived that day, his body had been slowly dying ever since, rotting away one little piece at a time…

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