24. A Happy Ending
A HAPPY ENDING
SARAH
“D ad!” My throat is raw from crying and screaming, but I can’t stop. After all this, after all we’ve gone through, he can’t be gone. He can’t. Ulfar’s at my back, wrapping his strong arms around me and whispering comforting words in my ear, but I may as well not hear them. Everything’s centered on my father’s still form in front of me. It doesn’t matter that Atraxia is no more, if this was the cost.
And then there’s Ulfar, seemingly unfazed by my betrayal and holding me tightly, keeping me from spiraling more than I already am, barking orders into a unit on his wrist as the lights come on in the compound once more.
“I’m sorry,” I sob over and over. I can’t think of anything else to say. No other words come to mind. I’ve done the unthinkable—forsaken my contract with the ISA, left my assigned mate, and possibly put all of Aesirheim in danger. How can he be here hugging me like this?
I wrestle my way out of his grip and turn around to face him. Blurred and tear-streaked my vision may be, but the man looking back at me is the same man I fell in love with.
No, I think. Not man. Alien.
At that, there’s a surging of something deep within my chest, a warmth that spreads from my core outward, all the way to the tips of my fingers and toes. That internal ‘itch’? Scratched at last. He’s with me, after everything I’ve done, he’s still with me. I’m still alive.
But my father...
“Don’t worry,” he shushes me, running a hand through my hair and down my back. “I’ve got someone coming to take care of him.”
“I’m sorry,” I say again, crumpling into his arms. I bury my face in his chest, unable to hold back the bone-shaking sobs that tear through me. “I never meant to hurt you, or leave you. I had no choice, and I was so scared...”
“It’s all right,” he reassures me. “We’ll talk later. Let’s focus on helping your father right now.”
Another alien comes rushing in, and as he gets closer I recognize him. He’s Vi’s mate, Djorn!
“What’s he—” I start, but Ulfar cuts me off with a kiss. I can hardly complain, though, when his lips are so hot and soft against mine. When his body fits against me like we were made to be together. I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed this.
“You’re so much better than dream you,” I say deliriously, only realizing how silly it sounds after I’ve said it.
“What?” Ulfar asks with a grin.
“Nothing,” I say, and for the first time in forever, I crack a smile.
Djorn kneels down next to my father, pulling out a med-kit and hooking sensors to his body with quick, practiced efficiency.
“Is he...” I’m almost afraid to ask. But if he was actually dead, then Djorn wouldn’t be doing all of this, right?
“Not dead,” Djorn says, his words short and clipped. He’s too focused on the task at hand. “Hurt, bad, but not dead.”
That’s a small relief but only barely dampens the panic. “Is he going to be okay?” My voice breaks, and Ulfar pulls me even closer.
“Not sure. Doing my best. Let me work.”
I choke out one more sob and turn back to Ulfar. He holds both of my hands and presses a kiss to my forehead. “You heard him. Let him work.”
“But...”
“He’s a damn good field medic. We’ll get him stabilized and in a stasis pod back on the ship. His body will do the rest.”
Right. Ship. Everything is happening so fast. Moving so fast. After over a month of a drug-induced haze, everything’s finally come to a head. Ulfar is here, and I’m in his arms, and I’m alive, and Atraxia is finished, and...
“Where are the others?” I ask, ideas and questions finally beginning to filter back in. “Djorn, and you...did anyone else come?”
He nods. “The whole gang. Soren, Rathgar, Orri, Djorn, and me.”
The gravity of his statement isn’t lost on me. Five of the planet’s most powerful and decorated warlords, teaming up to track down a single human female. Me.
“Why did you...” I whisper. The guilt is too much. I don’t deserve this, not after everything I put them through.
But Ulfar won’t hear of it. He shushes me quietly and kisses away my tears. “There’s something I wanted to tell you back at the lake. Something I should have said back then, but I guess I wasn’t brave enough to do so.”
My heart thuds once, painfully, waiting for an answer. “What?”
“I love you, Sarah.” His gaze, soft and warm, envelops me and fills me up from the inside out. Even the little one seems to take notice. There’s a faint but distinct fluttering deep in my belly and I gasp, pressing a hand over my navel. “Let all the stars be our witness, but you are my heart-mate, and I will never let anything happen to you again. No matter where you are, I’ll always come for you. Always.” He rests his forehead against mine, and the energy flowing off of him melds and mixes with mine, crystalizing in the center of my chest. “Will you be mine, Sarah? Now and forever?”
At this moment, it doesn’t matter if the entire world is burning around us. I have him, and he has me. As long as we’re together, there’s nothing we can’t face. “Yes.” I kiss his neck. “Yes.” I kiss his chin. “Yes,” I say the final time, leaning up to claim his lips in a fervent, passionate kiss.
“I’m yours.”
“Let’s get you out of here,” he mumbles, hefting me into his arms. This time, it’s not at all like being dragged along by cuffs and chains. He cradles me tenderly, lovingly, and for the first time since I left the planet, I feel safe.
* * *
Back aboard the starship, Ulfar and the rest of his battle brothers stand on the bridge and start running the pre-flight checks. Before we boarded, Djorn bandaged up my father and applied a reagent to his wound to stem the bleeding.
The downside? The treatment put his entire body to sleep, essentially. Some kind of space coma. It’s better than letting him die, but he’s going to be in the stasis pod for some time, Djorn says. At least until we can get him to a proper medical center.
Speaking of which...
“Where are we headed?” Djorn turns to me, fingers poised over the navigation panel.
I look around. “Me?”
He nods.
“What about Soren?” I point out.
“This is about you.” His voice is firm, unwavering, but with a kindness I don’t often see with the others. At least, not in public. “You’ve been through hell and back at the hands of those Syndicate bitches. What happens next is your choice.”
My choice.
Something dawns on me, just then. Ever since this entire adventure began, everything I did was because I had to. Because I was afraid of the consequences if I didn’t. But now, for the first time, I have a choice. A real choice.
I look up at Ulfar, who’s been at my side this entire time. He squeezes my hand.
“What do you think?” he asks. “You can return to Aesirheim with us, or...” He pauses, his hand resting on the small of my back. “There’s another option.”
“There is?” I perk up, curious.
He chooses his words carefully, but I can feel the conviction in them. “If you want, we will take you and your father back to Earth. After seeing how much you sacrificed to save your homeland and its people, it must be very dear to you. I couldn’t keep you from that, if that is your wish.”
The reality hits me in the chest. I could go home. Back to my bedroom, back to the library, back to lazy Sunday mornings.
But I’m no longer that scared little girl, whiling away her life while reading about adventures in books. I’m living my own adventure, right now, and I can’t wait to create the next chapter.
“You’re right,” I say, looking up into his eyes. “I love Earth. I love my town, and my work, and the people. But I learned something throughout all of this.”
“What’s that?” A warm, easy smile creeps up the corners of his mouth. I could look at that smile for the rest of my life.
And you know what? That would be my choice. My own. No one else’s.
“I learned that home doesn’t have to be a place. It doesn’t depend on material possessions or the house you live in or the clothes you wear. It’s about the person—” I think of my father “—or people, that make you feel at home. Accepted.” I blink away tears. “Loved.”
Ulfar gathers me into his arms, and I let out a shaky, relieved breath. So much tension I’ve been holding floods out of me, and I simply feel at peace. “You are my home, Ulfar. You, my father, and my new friends.” I gesture around at the men on the bridge. “Remember when you bought me that book? The series we both liked to read?”
“Of course,” he says, smiling.
“Let’s make up a happy ending. Together.”
“It would be my pleasure,” he says with a smile, and then he leans down and kisses me as the engines roar to life and we set off across the galaxy once more.
Toward home. My new home.
Aesirheim.