Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
VENNOX
The ship had settled into a hush so complete it pressed against my ears, heavier than exhaustion. I kept my vigil from the edge of the command deck, close enough to know Quin finally surrendered to the kind of sleep that only comes when the body gives out before the mind does.
Before our arrival, the human females had slept on makeshift pallets spread across the command deck.
To make room for the additional males, they moved to the crew quarters tucked deeper within the ship, beyond a hatch at the rear of the compartment and down a short corridor.
We claimed the deck for ourselves. Even separated by walls, I knew exactly where Quin slept.
My senses tracked her as surely as if she lay within arm's reach.
I hadn't slept. Not since we'd boarded Vala's ship, and if I was being honest with myself, not truly since long before that. Since the rescue. Since Gorka.
Sleep had become a thing I rationed like a resource I couldn't afford to waste, because every time I closed my eyes for longer than a few mims, the dark filled with things I couldn't fight.
Uri's palace reassembled itself around me with the patience of something that knew it had all the time in the world.
The stone floor. The collar's weight. The click of her jewels as she circled the cage, unhurried, certain of her dominion.
I had learned to stay awake rather than face the Gorken queen again behind closed lids.
And then I had met Quin, and sleep had become impossible for an entirely different reason.
My muscles burned with fatigue, but rest felt like a betrayal when every instinct I possessed screamed at me to watch over her, to answer the bond that snapped taut between us with every breath she took.
My ancillary heart was relentless, hammering out its promise of protection and flooding my veins with adrenalyne, a hormone that existed for one purpose alone: to make me strong enough, fast enough, dangerous enough to keep her alive, drowning out hunger and weariness and everything that wasn't her.
The exhaustion was familiar. I had learned to move through it on Gorka, had learned that a body could endure far more than the mind believed possible.
I would endure this too. My spirit mate's safety depended on it.
Twin suns crested the horizon before I heard Vala move. Light pushed through the viewport in thin, pale strips, falling across the pallets, and he was already stepping between them, a hand on a shoulder here, a quiet word there, pulling everyone back to the weight of the light hurs ahead.
Mehr and Ruze flanked Elishbeth the way males do when the instinct to protect has already made the decision for them. Bodies angled inward, shoulders squared outward, a living wall built for one. It spoke louder than any words could about what the three of them shared.
Mara crouched next to Brunnex as he refused her outstretched hand and fought to sit up on his own, the stubborn glint in his gaze dulled only by the bandage wrapped around his head.
Across the room, Truxxet leaned into the shadows, arms crossed, attention fixed on the females, curiosity laid bare and unashamed.
"We need a junction conduit," Vala said, his silver gaze sweeping over us.
"The primary power-transfer assembly was destroyed during the crash.
Without it, the reactor can't feed the engine array, and this ship will never fly again.
There's a crashed Troken freighter to the northeast, beyond Spore Valley.
If the conduit assembly that is compatible with our systems survived the crash intact, it should be enough to get the engines operational again. "
The Yulineon's eyes moved from face to face, pausing, measuring. "Without it, we're not leaving this planet."
Fatigue clung to my flesh and bones, but instinct made me stand taller. My spirit mate was stranded on a world determined to kill her, and this mission offered a chance to change that.
"I'll go," I said, purpose hardening my voice. "Whatever we need to get the ship operational. Describe the component, and I'll retrieve it."
Vala shook his head. "Stand down, Vennox.
You will not be going alone." His luminous gaze settled on me.
"The junction conduit is buried deep within the engine array.
You would not know what you are looking for, and even if you found it, removing it without damaging it requires tech knowledge.
" He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll accompany you.
You deal with any threats we encounter. I'll handle the salvage. "
"Agreed."
"I'm coming, too," Quin declared, her voice immediately capturing my attention. She stood with the other females, shoulders set and chin lifted in stubborn determination.
A surge of instinct swept over me, every cell screaming to keep her safe. "No," I snapped, the word harsher than intended. "The journey will be too dangerous. There is no telling what predators await us." My gaze locked on hers. "You are safer here aboard the ship."
The females cast silent glances at each other, an entire conversation playing out in the flicker of their eyes. But Quin didn't flinch. She squared her shoulders, chin rising like a challenge, stubbornness radiating off her in waves.
"Excuse me? I've spent every waking moment since we crashed learning how this planet tries to kill us," she said, her voice steady even as a flush crept up her cheeks.
"I'm the only one who knows the bio-analyzer inside out.
I know which plants bite back, which trails are traps, and exactly when the predators hunt.
" Her eyes found mine, steady and fierce.
"Spore Valley is filled with spore-producing flora.
Disturb the wrong patch, and you're hallucinating monsters while the real ones eat you. I'm going."
Heat spread beneath my scales. Silver rippled across my forearms before deepening into vivid bands of blue that climbed toward my elbows, broadcasting my agitation for everyone to see.
I clenched my hands into fists, fighting for control as the protective instincts consuming me warred with the undeniable truth in her words.
"She's right." The voice came from Erin, the tallest of the human females, her short-cropped coils framing a face that radiated the calm of someone who had learned to keep their head when everyone else lost theirs.
She fixed me with a look that brooked no argument.
"If it weren't for Quin and her list of everything that wants us dead, none of us would've survived this long. "
I wanted to argue. Every instinct I possessed demanded it. But Tyrk's words from the dark hurs before came back to me, As a human, she may not have the same visceral reaction toward you as a Valosian female would.
He was right. A Valosian female would feel the call of her spirit to mine.
But Quin was human. Her spirit may be the complement to mine, but she has no instinct to recognize the call of her spirit to mine.
She would have to find her way to me through an entirely different path, without the certainty that had already undone me the moment I laid eyes on her.
I will let her choose me, I had said those words to Tyrk and meant them. And I would wait for her. However long it took.
"Fine," I ground out. "But I'm not letting you out of my sight."
For the briefest moment, her expression softened. Surprise flickered across her features, followed by what looked suspiciously like relief before she quickly masked it. The corners of her mouth curved upward, not quite a smile but close enough to send a rush of satisfaction through me.
"Whatever floats your boat," she replied, her voice carrying that stubborn confidence I was starting to crave.
I had no idea what a boat had to do with any of this, but the meaning beneath her words was clear enough.
She'd agreed. More importantly, she had accepted my condition without argument.
It was a small thing, perhaps insignificant by human standards, but it felt like a victory, nonetheless.
Quin trusted me enough to accept my protection, and for a male who feared he might never be worthy of his spirit mate, that was enough to kindle a fragile spark of hope.
"I'll go, too," Tyrk said. "You'll need specialized tools to get the conduit out in one piece."
"Four's the right number," Vala nodded. "Quick enough to stay ahead of trouble, strong enough to push back if we have to."
Tyrk was already moving before the words were out, dropping to one knee beside his worn pack and flipping back the top flap.
He worked through the contents with practiced efficiency, checking gear and stowing tools with the methodical calm of a male who'd done this a hundreth times.
He pulled out several small flat discs that fit in the palm of a hand and held each one up to the viewport.
In the pale suns-rise light filtering through the viewport, the discs caught a faint luminescence and threw it back, and the quality of the glow made my chest tighten unexpectedly.
Solaris rocks.
The thought surfaced before I could stop it.
On Valose, the phosphorescent stone cast that same steady bluish glow through the dark hurs.
I had spent only a handful of suns-rises after my rescue, barely long enough to remember what home smelled like before I ventured back out among the stars.
The light lasted only a second, but the deep longing for Valose cloaked me in a grief I hadn't given myself permission to feel.
Tyrk tucked the light discs into the pack and closed the flap. The moment passed as he swung the pack across his broad body in one fluid motion, the straps crossing his chest as it settled against his back.
We gathered at the hatch where Vala’s molten gaze landed on Quin. "Before we go," he said, "I want to hear from our resident expert. What do we need to know about Spore Valley?"