Page 49 of Rescuing Mara

“Of course I do! Since the moment we met, I knew you were special, and every day, you have shown me your strength. You are my heart, Marra. You are my everything.”

He gently cups my cheek and turns me so he can lean in and kiss me. Tears stream down my face, and I’m a mess of messes.

We break apart, and he gives me one last soft kiss before resting his forehead against mine.

“Fight for me, Marra, fight for us. I will do the same until my last breath.”

“I promise,” I whisper, and with that promise, I feel something snapping deep inside of me, and I look up.

He grins the widest, sexy grin. “The bond, it is…” Before he can continue, alarms start blaring, and my heartbeat starts racing. The Sternotheri are here.

CHAPTER31

O’Rec

Ibreathe in and search inside myself for my calm. The minute I reach it, it envelops me like a blanket. Our bond pulsing and tingling sends the calm to Marra, who instantly straightens her shoulders.

“We can do this,” she says.

“We can do this.”

We get up, and I pull up the screens. One ship in the atmosphere is on a direct course towards our crash site. I squeeze Marra’s hand.

“They will be here within minutes. I do not know how they can sustain these storms, so we must keep our eyes and ears open. It appears they have more advanced technology than we know of.”

Marra nods, and I push her behind me. We have decided we will take a stance towards them in a direct attack when they enter our ship. Marra will act like she betrays me, and I will feign complete devastation at that betrayal. Marra does not believe they will kill us on sight, and I agree - Ananta has bigger plans.

The alarms blare louder while the enemy approaches faster and faster. There is a clank above us, and I look at the ceiling. Scans are showing breeches at the entryways of the emergency pods. I quickly tap some buttons to open them; I do not want the ship to be more damaged than it already is. Three lifeforms are now aboard, coming from both sides. Fuck. I cannot defend Marra like this.

“It’s okay, O’Rec. We will survive this. I love you. Remember that because there will be times in the near future when you’ll doubt my feelings, never forget that what you feel from me is real. Not how I act.”

I hoist her against me and kiss her fiercely. “You are the perfect mate, my star. I will love you forever.”

“Well, well, well, isn’t this cozy?” I hear someone sneer from behind. Quickly, I turn around and come face to face with Ananta.

Marra freezes, and I feel her fear. I pull her against me, giving her the comfort of my body for as long as possible.

I growl. “What do you want, Ananta. How were you able to find us?”

She cackles a maniacal laugh. “Oh, well, a little birdie told me exactly where you were… Only problem is, she was supposed to tell me at this secret refuge you have built not on this fucking trainwreck of a planet.” She gives Marra an angry glare.

“I… I’m sorry, Ananta,” Marra stammers. “I didn’t mean to. The tracker went off accidentally because of the magnetic storms.”

“Magnetic storms? Is this how you crashed here?” she says thoughtfully.

“Yes, Ananta,” my mate eagerly agrees. “We are counting down till the moment the next storm hits. We have to get away before that happens.”

“How much time do we have?”

“I think only an hour!” Marra says, fear lacing her voice. The panic she feels is real, but her reason is different. My clever, clever mate.

Ananta curses, looking back to her cronies. “We need to move the fuck on,” she says. “Mara, come here. Guys, get him.”

Marra takes a hesitant step and I scream. “NO!”

I know this is all for show, but it still guts me just the same.

“Yes,” Ananta snickers. “You know who your real friend is, right, Mara? You know that I’m the only person in the universe you can count on, the only one that can keep you safe.”

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