Page 75 of New World

He pulled in a deep breath when he heard the soft shuffle of boots on metal behind him. He squared his shoulders, expecting a challenge, but instead, the other man shot him a crooked, knowing smile.

“Beautiful night, isn’t it?”

Dorane shrugged and looked back out at the night. Sergi stopped beside him and leaned casually against the frame of the bay doors. Dorane glanced sideways when Sergi shoved his hands into his pockets, noticing that the other man had a thoughtful expression on his face.

Dorane barely restrained a sigh. He wasn’t in the mood for conversation, much less one with the man who had so effortlessly pulled Mei into his arms earlier. He started to turn away, ready to brush Sergi off, when the other man spoke again.

“She loves you, you know.”

Dorane let out a slow breath. “You can read her mind now, can you?”

“It’s quite fun seeing your jealousy. I am enjoying it immensely, thank you.”

Dorane blinked. He hadn’t really expected the man to be so honest. He waited, turning back as Sergi paused.

Sergi continued, quieter—serious. “She wouldn’t have confronted Zoak if she didn’t.”

Dorane’s chest tightened. He had spent so much time doubting, questioning… Maybe it was time to stop.

“You know,” Sergi said, his voice quiet, “when I first met Mei, I was supposed to kill her.”

That stopped Dorane cold. He turned his head to stare at Sergi, his brows furrowing, but the other man wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at the night sky, his expression unreadable.

“I was sent to the Gliese 581g mission by my country, Russia. It’s the largest country on Earth, further north than where Mei was born, and our countries, they squabble, da? They compete. My orders were clear: infiltrate the mission, document everything about the alien object, especially if there were advanced weapons… and if necessary, eliminate the crew.”

The words settled over Dorane like a slow-moving avalanche. He turned his head slightly, his expression carefully blank, but his pulse had kicked up a notch. Exhaling slowly through his nose, he fought the sudden, irrational urge to knock Sergi off his feet. Instead, he clenched his jaw and remained silent.

“The plan was simple,” Sergi continued. “If the alien tech was too valuable, I was to take control of an escape pod, destroy the Gliese, and return to Earth with the data.”

Dorane unclenched his jaw enough to speak. “You didn’t follow your orders.”

“No.” Sergi let out a soft chuckle. “I made the decision long before things went sideways that I wasn’t going to. Julia changed that first, but all of them did. I started to see the mission differently—bigger than my government or thirst for power. In space, there was no nonsense from the selfish leaders back on Earth, there was just… us. Humans. Trying to survive. Together.”

His voice grew quieter.

“Julia knew who I was, what I was sent to do, and yet… she never judged me. She never betrayed me. She gave me her trust, even when she had every reason not to.”

Sergi exhaled, shaking his head. “That trust changed me. But it was Mei who gave me something that had been taken from me a long time ago.” He turned then, meeting Dorane’s gaze with something deeper, something weighted. “She gave me back my humanity. She taught me how to love.”

Dorane’s throat tightened.

Sergi smirked suddenly, waving a hand toward the settlement. “She is a shadow and a bright star. She can blend in anywhere, move unseen, yet light up a world with her smile.” His voice turned wry. “She is also dangerous. Far more than even I expected before I met her. It was difficult to find any information on her at all, and I suspect half of what I found was inaccurate, or at least misleading.”

Dorane’s lips twitched. That, he had no trouble believing. “And when you finally met her?”

Sergi chuckled. “I tested her. Teasing her, provoking her, breaking things so she would have to fix them.”

Dorane arched a brow. “And?”

Sergi’s grin widened. “I failed. No matter what I did, she continued to intrigue me, make me laugh, challenge me, and… I fell in love with her.”

Sergi lifted his hand when Dorane exhaled sharply, shaking his head. But the jealousy that had burned in his gut earlier and had started to ebb flared again.

“Not as a man loves a woman, but as a brother would love his younger sister. Don’t get me wrong, I wondered at first what it would be like… but—” Sergi shook his head and chuckled. “She’s good, but you already know that. She is brilliant in everything she does. That’s why you need to trust her.”

Dorane’s jaw clenched. “Zoak will strike.”

“Yes,” Sergi agreed, “but Mei would never have confronted him if she didn’t think she could win. She was doing what she was trained to do—seek information, analyze the situation, plan.”

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