Page 44 of Marked
“You’re strong, little Lupenii, and I will explain everything soon, but let us find a ship before more Ghengrills and their Uruk-Zuk arrive. What just happened will certainly not go unnoticed. We need to move now. Come. We’re safe and we need to leave. It’s not much farther,” he murmured.
His words were soothing, and I let him take my hand. I curled my fingers within his and smiled. I felt almost like myself again.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” I said with as much vigor as I could muster, and his eyes lit up in return.
“There’s my girl,” he replied, clearly pleased with me, and I smiled in return.
We jogged most of the way to the oversized air hangar without running into any more Ghengrill distractions. The closer we drew toward it, the bigger I realized it was. The building appeared to be an oversized garage, except it was the height and width of several large sports stadiums back on Earth. It was open to the elements, with several models of ships lined up on either side. There was a central runway that was cleared in the middle, likely for the movement of the vessels to exit the building and take flight.
Our boots crunched on the ground as we entered the hangar.
“Do you know how to fly any of these?” I asked, looking from one to the other without a single idea as to if they were safe or not. I didn’t even know what to look for.
“I’ve flown several like those over there,” he pointed. “Some of them are smaller and less powerful, but the one I’d choose is the one at the back,” he said thoughtfully.
“That’s just because that’s the biggest one. It’s not like you have to compensate or anything. Your dick is already big enough,” I retorted, before pointedly looking straight down at his cock.
“I didn’t hear you complaining the last time you begged me to fuck you with it, now did I, baby doll?” he questioned rather bluntly, immediately making me blush with shame at just how right he was.
“Pffft. I was paying you a compliment, Mr. Sensitive,” I answered with as much bravery as I could muster.
“You’ll find out just how sensitive I am later, little mate,” he warned, and a shiver of anxious pleasure raced down my spine.
“And Kendra?” he asked pointedly.
“Yes?” I answered.
"I'm proud of you," he said, his dark eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made it impossible to look away. There was no teasing smirk this time, no sharp edge to his tone—just quiet, unshakable sincerity. It caught me off guard, sinking into me in a way I hadn’t expected. For so long, I had relied only on myself, never looking for approval, never needing it. But hearing those words from him, spoken so simply and without hesitation, sent a warmth through my chest that I wasn’t prepared for.
A slow smile tugged at my lips before I even realized it, something soft and unguarded. His praise left me speechless, my throat tight with emotions I didn’t quite know how to name. For a long moment, I could only stare at him, letting the weight of his words settle into the deepest parts of me. When I finally found my voice, it came as little more than a whisper.
"Thank you," I murmured, the words fragile but honest.
Without thinking, I shifted closer, drawn to him like gravity itself had changed. My fingers traced the bare skin of his arm, and before I could stop myself, I leaned in, pressing my lips softly to his cheek. The touch was fleeting, barely more than a breath, but I felt the way his muscles tensed beneath my fingertips, the way his body stilled. When I pulled back, his gaze was still locked on mine, unreadable yet smoldering with something that sent heat curling through my stomach.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” he said, and I nodded as he led me to the ship he’d chosen. The hangar was at least a block in length, lined with several different kinds of vessels that appeared to be either very old or very new. It took a few minutes to reach the one at the very end that had caught his eye.
Having only been exposed to the possibility of space travel for a short time, the sight of it still caught me off guard. The ship loomed ahead, its sleek, jet-black hull absorbing the faint, eerie light of the ship hanger. Its surface was impossibly smooth, reflecting only the occasional flicker of blue and red from thin, pulsing veins of light that ran along its exterior like some living thing. It wasn’t like the bulky, clunky spacecraft I had always imagined—no rivets or seams, no protruding thrusters or visible engines. It looked more grown than built, as if the metal had been sculpted into existence rather than forged.
The vessel stood several stories high, its towering presence rivaling the building that surrounded it. The sides sloped in long, predatory angles, making it look like some massive beast poised to strike. Along the edges, faint etchings of an unfamiliar script glowed dimly, shifting slightly as if adjusting to the environment around it. At the base, a ramp extended from a nearly invisible seam, leading up into the belly of the ship like a tongue waiting to swallow whatever poor soul stepped forward.
Had I seen it on Earth, I would have thought it was just a glorified prop from a sci-fi movie set, something directors would drool over for its aesthetic alone. But here, standing on alien soil, the truth of it settled into my bones like ice. This ship was real. Functional. Dangerous.
“This beauty is going to make our escape much easier than I anticipated,” he said happily, and I shook my head.
“Famous last words,” I muttered. If I had learned anything on Ghengra, it was to not be surprised anymore.
He scoffed and shook his head. He started to climb up the ramp, and I followed. Once we reached the top, he scanned Needle’s badge and an entry door opened. We entered the ship, andthe door closed behind us, shutting out the world of Ghengra completely. We made our way toward the cockpit. If I had thought I was in a science fiction movie before, it felt even more like it now. This was very clearly the command center of the entire spaceship. There were myriad buttons and controls that reminded me somewhat of an airplane, only there was about ten times more than that. There was so much to see that I couldn’t take it all in at once.
When Alaric placed his hand on a pedestal next to the captain’s chair, everything lit up like a Christmas tree. A laser scanned over us and then, a robotic female voice came over the intercom.
“Welcome to the Shadow XIVX. My name is Tanika. Would you like me to prepare a full system diagnostic before we travel?” it asked.
I looked around, startled by the sudden appearance of a hologram at the front of the ship, right in front of the massive, curved viewing window. She materialized in a shimmer of light, her form solidifying into something unmistakably humanoid, yet distinctly alien. Her skin was a deep, royal blue, patterned with darker navy spots that trailed down her arms, across her exposed shoulders, and likely farther beneath the tight, barely-there outfit she was wearing. The hologram stood at least six feet tall, her elongated limbs giving her an almost ethereal grace, though it was hard to focus on anything beyond the exaggerated proportions of her body.
Slender, impossibly curvy, andpainfullywell-endowed, she looked like she had been plucked straight from the fever dream of a teenage boy who had spent way too much time designing his perfect virtual companion. Her breasts were unnaturally high and round, straining against the impossibly tight bodysuit she wore, while her hips flared dramatically. I lifted an eyebrow asshe walked back and forth, then glanced down her body to see that she had an ass that looked sculpted to defy gravity itself. Even the way she moved was overly fluid, like some AI had been programmed to make every step a sultry sway.
I exhaled sharply, rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of it all.
