Chapter 64
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
The alphas flurry around me, snapping out low orders about armor, transport pods, frontline troops, and alarms. I half-listen, very much aware that no one has answered my implied question.
Where is Rask?
Is he still in space, on the ship? Fighting? Are these invaders here because they snuck past him? Or did he go down fighting, the way I suspect he would want to?
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Right now, I don’t care that he might be my mate. Or that he left without saying goodbye. I only know that he is the best kind of person—honest and loyal and sharp. Funny and tender and full of life.
He can’t be gone.
My Omega whimpers. We would know, right? she asks me, shaking both of us. We would sense it, if he was…?
She can’t say the word.
I’m not sure I can, either.
But something else snaps out of me instead, spoken in the same crackling command I summoned to get to Zolkan when he needed me.
“Stop.”
All three of them freeze. I use the opportunity to wrench myself out of bed, striding to the hidden closet—who knew?—with purpose. I manage to get my hands on a pair of omega-sized leather breeches and a flowy toga-like top before Norabi shakes off my order.
My mates, however, remain pinned in place. Watching me dress.
“You cannot go out there,” my friend insists. “You are the only omega on our planet. Our greatest resource. The mate of the Zortaire. No.”
“Yes,” I crack back, still barking. “And why do none of you people have shoes, goddammit?!”
My feet have calloused over the weeks since I got here, but I’d trade all my “useless, extra” fingers and toes for a decent pair of boots right about now. Cylus finally lurches into motion, joining me.
“Here,” he mutters, reaching into a drawer-like compartment to fish out leathery loafers. “I had these made, based on pictures from the Galactic Council’s Earth index.”
They’re closer to men’s footwear, and not right for running into a battle, but at the moment? I don’t care. I have to find Rask. These are one thousand times better than nothing at all.
I kiss Cylus’s cheek and snatch the shoes before he changes his mind. Zolkan finally snaps out of his trance and joins us. His thick fingers clasp my chin, turning my face up to his.
“You will ride in a medic cruiser with Cylus to see what has happened. If it is an attack, he will take you to the city’s central bunker. It is the most well-stocked, and there is a private space there for mated pairs. You two will have it to yourselves until I return.”
I nod along, but his lip still curls in a snarl. “Promise me,” he demands, growling. “No ruffs to change Cylus’s course.”
I keep bobbing my head. A flash of pain tears across his broad features. “If I lose you,” he rasps, “there will be nothing left of me.”
His words soak into my center, sparkling and stinging. My lungs stutter as I fight to hold my tears in, whispering, “Zolkan…”
His heavy brow lowers, and he bends closer, nuzzling my cheek. Leaving a swath of his musk, tingling with warmth. “You take my hearts with you,” he says, straightening. “Do you understand?”
White-hot adoration bursts inside me, shimmering and singeing like fireworks.
I leap up, surprising him by wrapping my arms around his neck.
He gathers me closer instantly, pressing his forehead into mine as I whisper, “I love you, Zolkan.” I try to smile, but it’s watery. “I will keep your hearts safe.”
He husks out a low groan, eyes falling shut as another series of explosions shake the horizon. “I must go.”
I grip his jaw in both hands, glaring hard into his violet irises. “You come back to me.”
I see my ruff shiver through him. He copies my earlier nod, handing me to Cylus reluctantly.
“Guard her with your life?” Zolkan verifies, meeting the healer’s eyes.
Cylus folds me into his arms, squeezing protectively. Vowing, “With my life, Alpha.”
Norabi waves at the door impatiently and Zolkan follows, disappearing with her. I stare after them, barely breathing. Not believing they’ve actually gone.
Zolkan… and Rask.
Panic seizes me, swirling up from the spot where my Omega hides. Cylus purrs to unlock my lungs, carrying me and my shoes to the nearest chair. He sets me in it and kneels to fasten the new coverings over my feet, pausing only to kiss my useless little toes.
I take the opportunity to wipe the tear tracks from my face and pluck one of Zolkan’s leather hair ties off the side table beside me.
After arranging my hair into a messy bun and standing, I squish my feet in their new homes.
Cylus steps back, ogling me, blindly reaching for his own breeches on the footboard.
God knows what he’s staring at. I probably look ridiculous, dressed in sparring clothes, wearing alien foot coverings, with fabric still wedged between my thighs to catch my blood.
“How do I look?” I joke, presenting my ridiculous outfit and tangled hair. Complete with dried tears and manic urgency.
Rask, Rask. Get to Rask.
Cylus finishes dressing in record time, stepping forward for one final kiss to my brow. Murmuring low and solemn.
“Like a queen.”