Chapter 66
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
Well, hells.
I’m dead.
In the words of my little one: fuck.
I had many thoughts as I hurtled to the ground, knowing my collision was imminent. Knowing I had nothing to slow my fall or stop the inevitable combustion when I hit.
Norabi will be furious.
Sofi.
Zolkan will have to cut off his tail this time.
Sofi.
And Cylus will probably chart the exact trajectory of my flaming death so he can—I don’t know. Science-y shit.
Sofi.
Who will feed Stanley?
Sofi, Sofi, Sofi.
I record a transmission, apologizing to my human as many times as I can, snapping out a quick explanation of what the fuck just happened. In case there are no survivors to give an account.
It strikes me, as my getaway pod begins to smolder through Khanos’s atmosphere, that these things are a very stupid oversight on the part of the Galactic Council.
Half our people have wings.
Why is there no escape hatch?
Truly, one of my wings is currently torn and throbbing like a bitch, but…
I ignore my injuries, waiting until the last of the atmosphere burns away. When it does, I feel a sharp drop. Gravity kicks in. Dragging me closer to the opalescent planet below.
Sofi.
I sure as hell won’t leave her without a fight. Just like I didn’t abandon my ship until I was confronted by the choice between staying strapped to my chair while the Drakosians blasted the bridge to smithereens or hitting the button to launch the final emergency pod.
My ship had thirty thousand, and nearly every one was already deployed. I’m glad they all got used, though now I realize—if the person inside launched themselves as close to Khanos as I did, the gravitational pull will suck them down, along with all the debris from our ship.
See? Yet another reason I should have paid more attention to Cylus’s favorite subject in school.
Twisting, I find the pod’s only door. It’s sealed, of course, so I start to kick at it with both feet, putting all my might into getting it open. I make a crack, but that only allows wind inside, knocking my trajectory from a straight line into a curling one.
Fuck, I think again, kicking more frantically. I have to get out. I have to get to Sofi.
The hinges finally snap, giving way to a dizzying slice of sky and then the ground, rushing up to meet me.
Too fucking soon.
I bolt for the exit anyway, diving through without grace. My wings barely fit, but once I get them out—
FUCK.
There are too many holes in my thin tissue. Air whizzes through the torn flesh. I start to fall again, tumbling. Tangling myself among the wreckage that’s about to hit the—
Fuck.
Ground.
Every bit of air hefts out of my body. I feel my head hit the dirt, crunching and wet. My leg is the same, cracking along with a series of ribs. Blinding pain blares through me. I gasp, trying to remember how to breathe—why I need to—
Sofi.
I manage to scent her on my final breath. And I know, if this is all I get? I’m okay with that.
My last inhale is sweetness and salt. Layered with smoke. Life-ending, hearts-stopping perfection.
Mine.
My mate.
I barely have time to think the words. My lips twitch into a smile as my last breath leaves my body, and I move the one arm that still works, covering the brand on my chest. Dying a happy male.
I knew it.