Chapter 9
"Fire on the other ship! Now!" Ak’kel barked sharply as the ship attacking Sara’s rust bucket came into range.
Fucking space pirates. Thought they could take his mate from him?
They'd laid the perfect trap, he'd give them that. The debris field would have been too good for Sara and her crew to pass up on. He’d be surprised if any scavenger would have been able to fly by without a closer inspection of the wreckage.
"They've boarded your mate's ship." Drax informed him grimly, his voice steady but tense.
Ak’kel’s jaw clenched at the thought of the potential firefight that might be going on inside her ship right at this moment. There was no way Sara would allow anyone to take her ship or crew without a fight.
"Get the men to the shuttles!" Ak'kel growled as he sprinted across the bridge of his warship.
His heavy boots pounded across the bridge.
He entered the lift with Drax following close behind on his heels.
"I want as many armed men as we can get aboard her ship." Ak’kel commanded, his eyes burning with a raging fire. His mate was potentially in distress, and a sense of helplessness entered his chest. A feeling he wasn’t used to, and it disturbed him greatly.
"The men are already boarding our shuttles as we speak." Drax informed him.
The lift shuttered as it zipped past floors. When it stopped and the doors opened, they rushed out, quickly filing into a shuttle with some of their men.
"She'll be alright." Drax said softly, placing a reassuring hand on Ak’kel’s shoulder.
Ak'kel looked over at his second, knowing his eyes probably looked crazed. "She'd better be. For the sake of the damn galaxy."
He would never forgive himself if he arrived too late and didn’t save her.
Despite the headaches she caused and drugging him twice, he did not wish his mate dead.
Unlike Haldon, he would never shove his mate out an airlock or even dare threaten it.
He’d threatened her the first time he’d met her only because he hadn't known what she was to him.
"We'll save her from the pirates." Drax reassured him, his voice firm with certainty. “You are like a brother to me, which means she is family. Vrak’rir will do anything for their mates and family.”
Ak’kel flashed him a rare smile, his blue lips pulling back in the unfamiliar gesture. “I would do the same for you, Drax.”
The shuttle lurched as it left the bay with a slight shudder.
Ak’kel gripped one of the handles hanging from the ceiling of the shuttle, not wanting to take the time with a seat.
He wanted to be one of the first ones off the ship.
The shuttle rocked back and forth as they maneuvered into place for one of the airlocks on Sara's ship.
Once the craft attached to Sara’s ship, the door hissed opened, and Ak’kel led his men into the human ship. The narrow corridor didn’t provide cover, and he was thankful there were no space pirates waiting to shoot them down.
Thankfully, he and his men were all familiar with the layout of her ship after having taken control of it earlier.
The nearby sounds of plasma fire reached his ears, and Ak’kel surged forward instinctively, his men hot on his tail. Rounding a corner, he found several humans from Sara's crew firing at the pirates who were a mix of humans and other aliens.
"Try your best not to kill any of my mate’s crew." Ak’kel instructed his men. He didn’t need her hating him anymore than she already did. Sliding over the decking, he stopped next to her crew, joining them in firing at the pirates with a lethal precision.
Sara's crew only took one moment to gawk at him and his men before they refocused back on the pirates.
Addressing the closest human, Ak’kel ducked under cover and then asked, "Where is Sara?"
"I haven’t seen her in a while. She may have been brought to the the medical bay." The human shouted over the chaos of the corridor.
"Why?" Ak’kel grated, as his heart dropped and then thumped like crazy. Was she injured? Was he too late? He felt a white-hot rage building inside him. He’d personally rip all heads from the pirates, if his mate had been harmed by them.
The human’s eyes went wide as his gaze flickered across the enraged Vrak’rir now beside him. "She was shot, I think."
A cold dread washed over Ak’kel. He gripped his weapon tight as he tried to reign in his emotions. "Take care of this." He told Drax, referring to the pirates swarming through Sara’s ship. He’d win it back for her.
Without waiting for a reply, he ducked and dashed in the opposite direction of the fighting. He had to find his mate and see her status. Maybe he’d even take her back to his ship to his medical bay where he had better medical equipment.
He moved swiftly but carefully, listening for any signs of space pirates that might take advantage of his one-track mind and ambush him. It'd take him longer but there was a back way to the medical bay. Thankfully, most of the firefight seemed to be contained to the other area of the ship.
Nearly crashing into the medical bay door, Ak’kel pushed through it with brute force when it didn’t open fast enough. Barreling through, he first saw a human laying on a medical bed, but it wasn’t Sara.
“Where is Sara?” Ak’kel bellowed.
Before the medical staff could answer him, his comm buzzed. Looking down at his wrist, he answered with a quick press of his finger. “What is it Drax?”
“The pirates have all quickly retreated to their ship, and they’ve disengaged from Sara’s ship. Do you want us to follow?”
“Not yet. Let me check in on Sara, and then we will hunt them down for daring to attack my mate.”
“Confirmed.” Drax said. “We will run through her ship to check for anyone that may have been left behind and start cleaning up the bodies.”
“Now,” Ak’kel turned back to the human medical staff, “I heard rumor Sara was hit by a plasma shot. Where is she and how is she doing?”
The humans exchanged confused looks before one of them stepped forward. “We haven’t seen Sara. She was never brought here if she was shot.”
“Could she have been brought anywhere else on the ship?” Ak’kel growled, his patience paper thin. He needed to see his mate, to be assured of her safety.
They shook their heads in unison.
“If she was shot, she would have been brought here.”
Perhaps the other human had been misinformed then. She could still be running around her ship, perfectly fine.
“Thank you. If you hear from her, let her know I am aboard her ship and looking for her.” He turned to leave, but then stopped, “I will send over my medical staff to assist you with injuries.” It was the least he could do for her crew after his previous actions.
“Drax,” he commed his second in command.
“Yes?” Drax responded immediately.
“Sara isn’t in the medical bay. She might be roaming around the ship. Let me know the moment you find her.”
“I will let the men know and we will search the ship for her.”
Sucking in a breath, Ak’kel tried to calm down. Things were fine. If she wasn’t in the medical bay, then she was somewhere else, probably helping her crew. He just had to find her.
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“Time to wake up Sara.”
That voice. Sara groaned, the shoulder where she’d been shot aching like crazy. She had to be imagining that voice. An illusion brought on by her injury. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered open. A bright light blinded her, and she squinted until her eyes adjusted and then she looked around.
“Where am I?” She asked. She’d expected to wake up inside the medical bay, but this room wasn’t the medical bay. It almost looked like a brig. Rotating her head, she tried to move her arms and legs and found herself tied down. Panic started to set in.
“Do you not remember me?”
Sara’s blood ran cold as her face paled. Slowly, she turned her head to the other side, and froze. There, standing before her, was her ex.
“Rob.” She barely murmured in horror.
A smile spread across his handsome face. She’d always felt it had been unfair of the universe to make such an evil person so attractive.
“I was afraid you may have forgotten me.” He leaned close. “My doctor healed your shoulder for you.”
“Why?” She asked, as her brain raced to figure out what was going on and how he had gotten his hands on her. The last thing she remembered were space pirates boarding her ship and getting shot. Someone had dragged her away, and she’d figured it was a crew member.
Unless…
She stared up at Rob in horror. “You were with the pirates.”
“Bingo!” Rob clapped his hands together. “I knew you would figure it out.” He chuckled. “You always were a smart one. How else would you have avoided me for so long? Unfortunately for you, I caught up to you.”
“What do you want?”
“To finish what we started.” Rob smiled down at her, but it was anything but friendly. “You may have ended our relationship Sara, but we have so much unfinished business.” He pulled a knife out of nowhere and held it up. “How should I punish you for avoiding me for so many years? Hmmm?”
Sara gulped as blackness threatened to swallow her up, but she refused to leave. She had to know what he’d do to her. Her foggy mind had trouble forming any coherent words however, she stared up at him wide eyed in terror.
Against her will she felt herself sliding back into another memory.
“Where have you been?” A voice slurred from the darkness of her cabin.
Sara paused just inside the door. “Rob?” She asked the dark, turning in place. “Lights on.” She commanded the room she’d been renting in the space station after she’d managed to slip away from him. But he’d found her. How? She’d been so careful.
“They won’t turn on.” His gleeful voice filled her with absolute terror.
Spinning around, Sara ran into the door. With a gasp, she ran her hands over the door.
“It’s locked, Sara. You didn’t think I’d come all this way just to let you escape from me again, do you?”
Turning to face the dark room, Sara pressed her back against the door, searching the inky blackness for any sign of Rob. She’d been caught. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, but more than anything she wanted this to all be some horrible dream.
“Don’t go fading from me.” Rob’s voice pulled Sara back into reality.
When she blinked and the room came back into focus, she found Rob standing over her, his face so close to hers, she could smell the scent of pine wafting off of him. He still used the same cleanser when he showered it appeared.
“Didn’t you learn you can’t run away from me?” Rob shook his head sadly, like he was disappointed in her. Then he raised the knife and scraped it down the side of her cheek without slicing into her skin.
Sara’s breath caught in her chest, and she felt her heart sputter in fear. Beads of sweat built on her forward and she whimpered. It was easier being a strong-willed captain of a scavenger ship when she wasn’t tied down with a crazed man wielding a knife above her.
She strained against the bonds, but there was no way she was about to break free and fight for her life.
“Why not just let me go?” Sara whispered, scared speaking might whip him into more of a frenzy, but also afraid he might grow angry at her silence. She never knew what move to make in his presence.
“You’re mine… or did you forget we took vows to honor each other for a lifetime.”
Sara wheezed when he suddenly grabbed her neck with a hand and squeezed. Worst decision of her life to marry this man, but he hadn’t shown his true colors until it was too late for her.
“You know,” he leaned in close to her ear, “I really think I ought to kill you this time. Make sure you honor those vows we took years ago.”
Sara blinked against the black dots growing in her vision. Right as she thought she’d black out, he released his grip on her throat and backed away.
Sucking in greedy breathes, Sara never even noticed him raise his hand. Pain exploded against the side of her face and her whole world went dark.