Chapter 5
Cristox
I paced the length of the guest house, my boots wearing a path in the woven floor mat.
Ruby.
Her name was Ruby.
It suited her—warm, precious, rare. I'd never known her name before. Never thought I'd get the chance to learn it.
My tail lashed behind me, completely beyond my control. The appendage whipped back and forth with such violence I'd already knocked over a decorative vase and sent a chair skidding across the room. I couldn't stop it. Couldn't calm the frantic energy coursing through my body.
She was here. Here. On Tau Ceti.
I'd almost fainted when I saw her face. I'd actually stumbled, my vision going dark at the edges as my heart hammered against my ribs. Of all the places in the galaxy, of all the possible paths her life could have taken after that nightmare, she'd ended up here.
My mate.
The word echoed in my mind, as it had for years now.
Ever since that terrible, wonderful, impossible night.
I'd never thought I'd see her again. I had resigned myself to a lifetime of wondering, of carrying the weight of what happened between us.
Of knowing my mate was out there somewhere in the universe, forever beyond my reach.
And now she was on the other side of that door.
I ran a hand through my mane, my claws catching slightly in the strands. What was I supposed to say to her? How did you face someone you'd been forced to... someone who you'd...
My tail cracked against the wall hard enough to leave a mark.
I was terrified. Absolutely, completely terrified of what came next.
The knock at the door made me freeze mid-pace. My tail went still for the first time in an hour, suspended in the air like a question mark.
"Come in," I managed, my voice raspy and rough.
The door opened slowly, and there she was.
My breath caught. She was more beautiful than I remembered, and I'd remembered her every single day.
Her hair caught the light from the window, that sunshine color that had haunted my dreams. Those hazel eyes, wide and uncertain, met mine for just a moment before darting away.
Her full lips pressed together nervously, and I couldn't help but notice the way her curves filled out the simple blue dress she wore.
She'd been thinner before, worn down by whatever hell the Kwado had put her through. Now she looked healthy. Vibrant. Alive.
And so incredibly nervous.
I noticed it in the way she held herself, in the tension in her shoulders, in how her hands fidgeted at her sides. That made two of us.
"Are you okay?" That was my first concern. I'd nearly gone out of my mind when she'd fainted. Nearly attacked the other males who'd tried to help her. Thankfully, Mei had been able to calm me down.
"Yes," she said softly, and the sound of her voice sent a jolt through my entire body. Sweet and feminine, it wrapped around me like a cloud. "I'm... I'm okay. I think. Are you...?" She trailed off, then seemed to gather herself. "I'm Ruby. I don't know if you... if they told you my name, or..."
A laugh escaped me—short, sharp, edged with relief and disbelief and a dozen other emotions I couldn't name. "Ruby," I repeated, savoring her name on my tongue. "I'm Cristox. Mei told me your name. I didn't know anything about you except..." I gestured vaguely, unable to finish that sentence.
Except that you're my mate. Except that I've been searching for you in every crowd for five years. Except that you've been the last thought in my mind before sleep and the first when I wake.
I cleared my throat. "Do you... do you remember? Any of it?"
Her expression shifted, became distant. She wrapped her arms around herself, and I had to fight the urge to close the distance between us and pull her into my embrace, to shield her from every painful memory.
"I get flashes," she said quietly. "Not everything. Just pieces. I remember being taken. The abduction." Her voice wavered slightly. "There were these... the Kwado. They were so cold. Not just their skin, but their eyes. Like I wasn't even a person to them."
My hands clenched into fists at my sides, claws digging into my palms. The thought of Ruby in their hands, helpless and afraid, made my blood boil.
"They drugged me," she continued, her gaze fixed somewhere past my shoulder. "It was horrible. My body felt like it was on fire. Like I was going to explode from the inside out. The pressure, the heat—I thought I was dying."
She finally met my gaze, and the vulnerability there nearly undid me.
"I remember your eyes," she whispered. "Even through everything, I thought they were kind. That sounds stupid, doesn't it? Given the circumstances."
"No," I said hoarsely, my chest tightening. "Not stupid."
"The next thing I remember clearly is waking up on the Ardeese Valout space station.
The medics there explained what happened.
That I'd been rescued. That I'd been..." She paused, color rising in her cheeks, painting them a delicate pink that made my pulse quicken.
"That I'd been treated for the drug's effects. "
I waited, letting her take her time, even as every instinct in me yearned to reach for her.
"I was going to go back to Earth," she said. "That was the plan. But then...” Another pause, another blush. “I heard about Tau Ceti, and I just... I couldn't go back. Earth felt too small after everything. Does that make sense?"
"Yes," I said. "Perfect sense."
I drew in a breath, knowing I needed to say this, even if the words felt inadequate.
"Ruby, I need you to know—what happened between us, I would never have.
.." I stopped, my jaw tightening with the memory of that night, of her body trembling beneath mine.
"The mumje they gave you was laced with a powerful aphrodisiac.
Without release, the drug would have caused your heart to give out. You would have died."
Her eyes widened slightly, but she didn't look away.
"I know it doesn't excuse what I did," I continued, my voice rough with emotion. "But I need you to understand that it wasn't..."
"The medics told me,” She interrupted softly. "They explained everything. The drug, what it does, what would have happened if..." She swallowed, and I watched the delicate movement of her throat. "They said you saved my life."
The relief that washed through me was almost painful. "I'm still sorry. For all of it."
"You saved my life," she repeated, and something shifted in her expression. A hint of color in her cheeks, a slight curve to her lips that wasn't quite a smile but held a warmth that made my heart race.
The tension between us eased, shifting into something warmer, more intimate. I found myself taking a breath that didn't feel quite so heavy. "I heard you opened a bakery," I said, grasping for safer ground even as part of me wanted to dive deeper, to know everything about her. "Here on Tau Ceti."
Her expression brightened immediately, and I felt something warm unfurl in my chest—like watching the sun break through storm clouds. "I did. Ruby's. It's small, but it's mine."
"And you're working with the Space Pearl's restaurant?"
"You've been asking about me," she said, though there was no accusation to it. Instead, I heard curiosity and something that sounded almost like hope.
"I asked Mei. I wanted to know you were safe. That you were... happy." I hesitated, my voice dropping lower. "After everything."
She studied me for a moment, her head tilting slightly, and I found myself memorizing every detail of her face.
The way her lashes cast shadows on her cheeks, the small freckle near her temple, the scar at her brow that had faded lighter with time.
"What about you? What happened after you rescued me? "
The question hung in the air between us, and I felt my jaw tighten involuntarily. "I was captured," I said simply.
Her face went pale. "Cristox?"
"I'd stayed behind to cover your escape, to make sure they couldn't track you. The Kwado ambushed me near the extraction point."
Ruby's eyes widened, luminous with unshed tears, but she remained silent, waiting for me to continue.
"The Kwado kept me for about a week," I said, my voice flat as I tried to keep the emotion out of it. "Interrogated me about Alliance operations, intelligence missions, that sort of thing. When they realized I wasn't going to break, they sold me."
"Sold you?" Her voice cracked, and I saw her hand move instinctively toward me before falling back to her side.
I nodded. "To the Kerzak. They pay well for intelligence officers. Especially ones with tactical knowledge." I felt my hands curl into fists, the phantom pain of old wounds flaring to life. "The Kerzak were... more creative than the Kwado. More patient."
"How long?" she whispered, and the anguish in her voice nearly broke me.
"Three months." The words came out harsh and flat.
The Kerzak had specialists. Beings who knew exactly how much pain a body could endure before shutting down, and how to keep you conscious through all of it.
I saw her flinch, but I couldn't stop now.
She'd asked, and she deserved the truth.
"They used neural disruptors, chemical agents, sensory deprivation. Sometimes all at once."
A tear slipped down her cheek, catching the light like a gem, but I kept going.
"I didn't tell them anything. Not one word about Alliance operations, not one name, not one coordinate." Pride flickered through the darkness of the memory. "After three months, they realized I never would. So they sold me again."
"Where?" Her voice was barely audible, trembling with emotion.
"A gladiator pit." I met her eyes, saw the horror dawning in them. "They figured if I wouldn't give them information, I could at least provide entertainment. And profit. I fought for three years before the Alliance repatriated me."
"They tortured you." Her voice was barely a whisper, and I saw her hands clench into fists at her sides. "Because you saved me."
"It wasn't your fault."
"I know that," she said sharply, and I saw the glistening of tears in her eyes. "But it doesn't make it any easier to hear."
I took a step toward her, unable to stop myself, drawn to her like a moon to its planet. "Ruby..."
"You could have died," she said, and another tear spilled down her cheek, tracing a path I wanted to follow with my lips. "You almost did, didn't you?"
I reached up slowly, giving her time to pull away, and brushed the tear from her face with my thumb.
Her skin was so soft, so warm, like touching starlight made flesh.
The contact sent electricity racing through my veins, igniting every nerve ending.
I saw her pupils dilate, watched her lips part slightly as her breath caught, and knew she felt it too.
This magnetic pull between us that had been there from the beginning, this undeniable connection that transcended species and circumstance.
For a moment, we stood frozen, my hand cupping her cheek, her eyes locked on mine. The world narrowed to just the two of us, to the warmth of her skin beneath my palm and the rapid flutter of her pulse at her throat.
Then she stepped back, breaking the contact, and I let my hand fall to my side, already missing the feel of her.
"What are your plans?" she asked, her voice slightly unsteady, breathless. "How long are you going to be on Tau Ceti?"
"I'm an intelligence officer now," I said, trying to ignore the acute loss I felt at the distance between us. "Aboard the Historia. I leave in two weeks to rendezvous with the ship."
Something flickered across her face—distress, unmistakable and raw. "A couple of weeks," she repeated quietly, as if testing the weight of the words.
"Yes."
She was silent for a moment, her gaze distant, then seemed to come to a decision. "Would you... would you like to come by the bakery tomorrow? Around eleven? I usually close for a bit after the breakfast rush, and we could talk more. If you want to."
"I'd like that," I said, and meant it more than I'd meant anything in a long time.
"Good." She offered me a small smile, genuine this time, and it was like watching the sun emerge from behind clouds. "Ruby's Bakery, on Oak Street. You can't miss it. There's a giant cupcake sign out front."
"I'll be there."
She moved toward the door, then paused with her hand on the frame. Turning back, she looked at me with an expression I couldn't quite read. Soft, vulnerable, something like gratitude mixed with wonder—and perhaps something deeper, something that made my heart skip a beat.
"Cristox," she said, testing my name on her lips. "Thank you. For saving me back then. I never got to say that to you."
My throat tightened. "You don't have to thank me."
"I do, though." Her smile grew a fraction wider, reaching her eyes this time. "It's nice to finally know the name of the person who gave me my life back."
Before I could respond, she slipped through the door and closed it softly behind her.
I stood there for a long moment, staring at the place where she'd been, my heart racing like a war drum. Ruby. My mate. Here. Real. And I was going to see her tomorrow.
The thought sent a surge of pure joy through me, and my tail—which had mercifully remained still during our entire conversation—suddenly came alive.
It whipped back and forth with such enthusiasm that it knocked a lamp clean off the side table.
The crash barely registered. I was too busy grinning like an idiot, already counting the hours until tomorrow, when I could see her again and maybe, just maybe, begin to explore this connection that had bound us together from that first impossible night.