Epilogue
“I still can’t believe you lost a zombie replicating machine.”
Xian shot Zack Keller a glare that his friend and new brother-in-law deliberately ignored. “We fucking found it, and everything is fixed now.”
“Yeah, but you drop it in—”
“Can you stop talking about it? I made a mistake, but it’s fixed, and now I never want to see another fucking zombie ever again.”
Zack chuckled. “Is that why we are running away from Evo?”
Xian gritted his teeth and fought the urge to punch the male seated beside him. They were sitting in the lounge of Jaya and Jecca’s ship with two giant lionlike creatures sprawled out by their feet.
The twins’ beloved argos had welcomed the new males into the family, but while Zack was still a little leery of them, Xian got along great with the beasts. Perhaps that was due to his partial Krytos heritage. Although he was a Dragon Warrior now, he could still call upon his Krytos beast form at will. Since he liked to wrestle and play with the beasts in a way the other three didn’t, the argos had declared him their new favorite.
“We are not running away. We are going to visit our in-laws,” he corrected.
After dealing with the holos coming to life on the restricted island, Xian wasn’t upset about leaving Evo. Actually, he was pretty fucking happy about leaving the game world. No one else had been surprised to discover that he was leaving the planetoid with his new mate either.
In fact, it had been expected.
Now they were on their way to Arcadia to visit the twins’ family. Once Xian had realized just how much Jaya wanted to see her parents and brothers, there was never any other choice. His home was wherever she was now, and he would do whatever it took to make her happy.
Zack sighed. “At least it’s going to take a little while to get there. I need to prepare myself for that.”
“Agreed.”
“We are lucky some of them are still on Tartarus,” Xian pointed out.
Zack snorted out a laugh. “I’m sure they will track us down sooner or later. Although, from what I hear, the Tesera males kind of fear our mates. So, I think we are safe.”
Xian glanced over to where the twins were talking by the wide window and smiled when he saw just how happy his mate was to be reunited with her sister.
Jaya and Jecca were like night and day. Both were necessary and vital to one another. Individually, they were formidable, but as a pair, they were unstoppable. While they might have looked similar, he never had a problem telling them apart, even without the different hair colors. Although he would have been inclined to like Jecca simply for being his mate’s twin, he really did enjoy her company.
Living in close quarters with another couple could have been a pain in the ass, but it had come as a great relief to discover that all four of them got along extremely well. Xian and Zack already being friends helped a lot. They had discussed the fact that the twins would need to remain close to one another, and both males were fine with whatever their mates wanted. If that meant spending eternity traveling together, then that was exactly what they would do.
The transition to living in space again was easy for Xian. Then again, Jaya and Jecca’s ship was no ordinary vessel. Every luxury was available onboard, and if it wasn’t, their magic could create it. Being a Dragon Warrior meant never having to worry about stocking up for a long voyage or worrying about running out of fuel or food.
Xian noticed the second Jaya’s mood changed. Not bothering to walk across the large room, he transported directly to her side. While he was still having some trouble using his new magic, transporting was one thing that he’d gotten pretty good at.
“What is it, mate? What’s wrong?”
“Look,” she said soberly, pointing toward the window.
At first, Xian didn’t know what she was pointing at, but it became clear when he used his enhanced vision to scan the area. There in the darkness was an Alliance vessel that had been heavily damaged. More pieces of debris were floating around the vessel, indicating that there had been a battle of some sort and another ship had been destroyed.
“Shit. That’s the Stargazer,” Zack said as soon as he saw it.
“You recognize that vessel?” Jecca asked.
“It’s High Commander Matt Malloy’s vessel. I recognize it because it used to be Jax Spartan’s vessel. And it belonged to Roman Newgate before that.”
“Roman? As in Amari Nazira’s mate?” Jaya asked.
“Yeah, back when he was High Commander.”
“We crossed out of Alliance-controlled territory a while ago. What the hell are they doing out here? Do you think anyone is still alive on board?” Xian asked.
Jaya and Jecca glanced at one another, then they both said, “Stay here.”
Xian cursed when they both disappeared. “They went to look for survivors.”
“I know. We need to get better at using our magic, or we’re going to keep getting left behind,” Zack warned as his hands clenched into fists.
“Fucking hell, it’s only been two damn days,” Xian growled.
But he made a vow right then and there that he would get better. He would learn everything Jaya had to teach him so he could always fight by her side.
A few seconds later, Jaya and Jecca returned with close to two dozen people. Most of them were unconscious and injured. Xian immediately recognized one of the males. He’d met Matt Malloy several times, though he didn’t know him very well. Zack obviously did, since he rushed over to catch Matt before he fell to the floor.
Helping him over to one of the chairs, Zack said, “Don’t worry, buddy. I’ve got you.”
“Thanks for that,” Matt wheezed out. Hugging his broken arm to his chest, he glanced up and groaned. “Oh, man. Your eyes are glowing.”
“What you mean to say is thank you for saving you,” Jaya snarked.
Matt looked at her and nodded. “Thank you. Really.”
“What happened?” Xian asked.
“We were pursuing one of those marked ships with the three dots like the one that attacked an Alliance vessel near Xenthian, and we got caught in an ambush. Two more were waiting for us. We’re really fucking lucky we survived.”
“How did you?” Jaya asked.
“I’m not exactly sure,” Matt admitted. “We were only able to destroy one of the ships and were getting our asses kicked by the other two. Then, there were these strange flashes of light, and the other ships were just…gone. Broken into pieces.”
The twins glanced at one another, then Jecca said, “Describe the flashes of light.”
“What?” Matt’s brow furrowed. “They were just flashes. Like blinding flashes of light.”
“We need to leave,” Jaya said with a hint of urgency in her voice. “Right now.”
“Why?” Xian asked.
But his answer came a second later. There was a blinding flash of light, and the vessel shook and rattled as if they were on a sailboat caught in a storm at sea. The twins flung out magic to stabilize the vessel, making sure no one else was injured. Even with that added protection, Xian grabbed Jaya and wrapped himself around her to shield her body with his own.
Then, everything just stopped.
“What the fuck was that?” Zack growled.
“Wormhole,” Jaya said.
“A what?” Zack gasped. “You’re saying we were just pulled through a fucking wormhole?”
“Not again,” Matt groaned, slumping down in the chair. “Are you sure it was a wormhole and not a time rift? I don’t think I could handle another one of those.”
“Nay, this was a wormhole,” Jaya told them. “I am sure of it since we were pulled through one once before. But this was definitely not my fault.”
Jecca scowled. “Nay, it was not your fault. Still, we are now in another unknown part of the universe. Why does this only happen to us?”
Jaya threw her hands up in the air. “If I knew, I would stop it!”
As they continued to argue, Zack turned toward Xian. “How are you so fucking calm?”
Xian sighed. “Freaking out about it won’t change what happened. Besides, we are a lot luckier than those poor bastards.” He nodded toward the people passed out on the floor. “At least we have a chance of surviving the trip back. All of the humans on this ship won’t.”
That was a sobering thought.
Despite their rather perilous predicament, Xian wasn’t afraid.
They might have ventured into the unknown, but there was nowhere he’d rather be than right there at his mate’s side.
The End