Chapter 21
Nia stared at the overhead beams, tapping her fingers to count the seconds. If she closed her eyes, then she saw the shriveled flesh, the empty eye sockets, of the three dead Tellusians hanging on the bulkhead.
Tap. Tap. Tap.She focused on her fingers.
All other attempts at distraction had failed. She’d tried to read in Orion’s Law Library to learn about the old laws but hadn’t been successful. The legal jargon, the “refer to subsection 612,” the mind-numbing dryness of the text made it impossible to learn anything.
She’d turned to the History Library instead. That only lasted a handful of minutes before the Tellusian interpretation of events became muddled with the CORE facts she’d learned in school. She couldn’t separate truth from fiction.
The only thing she was able to concentrate on was an accounting of the origin of Tellusians. They took their name from Tellus, the Roman goddess of the Earth, and their affinity toward blue came from water and Earth’s oceans.
The discord between their peoples began when the majority of the system’s people still lived on Earth. But the planet was dying, couldn’t sustain their numbers. Two factions developed. One set of people wanted to move into space to allow Earth to heal, the other, Tellusians, wanted to remain, to give up all technology and industry and return to a hunter-gatherer society.
Having more power and influence, the CORE won the decades-long conflict, forcing everyone to evacuate except for pockets of conservationists. And Tellusians were herded to the outskirts of the system, claiming Saturn and beyond as their own, and didn’t believe the battle for their home planet was over.
Frustrated, she’d given up reading to stare at overhead beams.
Tap, tap, t—
Abruptly, the lights went out, submerging the room in pitch dark. Nia lurched upright to sit, seeing nothing in front of her but inky black. A moment later, the lights brightened to quarter luminosity. The doors to Mace’s quarters slid open.
Nia pressed a hand to her chest. No one entered, but the doors remained ajar. She stood, then glanced at her wrists. Her heart thudded hard. The light was off. No cred exchange or time of day. Nothing. No security features.
Nia crept toward the exit, then stuck her head out. Every door along the corridor was open, people coming out with frowns on their faces. A woman had a baby wrapped in a gray blanket on her shoulder and bounced the bundle to an inaudible rhythm.
“If I stop moving, she wakes up,” the woman said when she caught Nia staring.
Nia ducked back inside, out of sight.
A low-pitched tone permeated the air. “Attention. We are experiencing isolated power failures. Please remain in your quarters or duty stations. Thank you.”
Nia stared at her deactivated bonds. Had someone come for her? She pulled one bond downward, over the hump of her thumb joint. But no matter how hard she yanked, it wouldn’t come off.
She quit when her skin reddened from the strain, her bones aching. Tugging her sleeves until they covered her bonds, she stuck a toe over the threshold. Nothing happened. No shock, no pain.
She stepped fully into the corridor, tensing every muscle. Still nothing. Head bent, she strode toward the lift, gaze averted from catching anyone’s eye,
Two teenagers stood in front of it, trying to access the inert control panel.
“It’s totally dead. Can’t jack it,” said the one.
“Then let’s take the emerg hatch,” the other replied. “I don’t want to be stuck down here.”
Keeping a few steps behind, Nia matched their pace. Ahead, a group gathered around an access hatch. Nia stopped behind the boys, hands behind her back, and tried to act natural.
“You going up or what?” one of the teenagers asked the man at the front of the group.
“As soon as whoever’s coming down gets out of the way,” he replied, then cleared his throat as a bulky form exited the hatch. “Oh, sorry Commander. Didn’t mean any disrespect.”
Nia took a step away from the hatch, heart slamming in her ears, stomach dropping into the deck. There was nowhere to hide.
“None taken,” Mace replied as he straightened. He focused on her and his whole body went rigid, expression shuttering.
Every part of Nia tingled in warning.
Mace took one step to her side. “Turn around. Start walking. Don’t stop until you’re back in my quarters.”
Nia couldn’t move—even with the heavy threat sinking every word into her gut.
“Now,” he added between clenched teeth. He didn’t touch her, but the force of the one word made her jump in a half-circle and scurry toward his quarters, the sound of his boot steps following close behind.
“Commander,” said the woman holding the baby. “Can you tell us what’s going on?”
“Some glitch in the power grid,” he replied as Nia stepped over the threshold to his quarters. “Should be rectified shortly.”
She spun around, fists clenched, ready to be reprimanded. Mace reached above the door, pumping the manual release until it sealed them inside the dimly lit room.
Nia stayed still, waiting, her breaths shallow.
His posture hadn’t relaxed. He paced in front of her like he was trapped. “Do you know what would have happened if a processor or enforcer found you wandering the corridors unescorted?”
She didn’t move but kept tracking his movements back and forth.
“The rights you’ve earned so far would’ve been taken away.” He ran a jerky hand through his hair. “You’d probably put in the common holding with all the other captives, and I wouldn’t be able to protect you. You might be fine, sure, but then again, you might not.”
He dropped his hand and kept pacing. Heat crept up her throat. Seeing him like this made her senses prickle.
He stopped and abruptly turned to her, making her head jerk.
“If you were in the corridor when the power returned, you would’ve received a painful shock. Or worse yet, if you’d made it to—oh, I don’t know, let’s say the docking bay—your bonds would’ve killed you.”
Her stomach dropped. Of course she should have considered that possibility. He’d basically told her so in the med bay. But after today, after what she’d seen in the theater, she needed to get off this station.
The lights returned to full power, and Nia gasped at Mace’s expression. Haggard. Tortured.
“What the hell am I doing?” He ran a hand over his face. “Elec told me…” He shook his head and walked away to brace his palms against the bulkhead, head bent.
Heart pounding, Nia stayed where she was, hands by her sides. The lights on her bonds were back on. She swallowed.
When he straightened and turned around, his face had become an impassive mask.
Nia fisted her hands. “Let me go home.”
He closed his eyes briefly. “It’s impossible.”
She shook her head, not believing it. There had to be a way.
Then he met her gaze straight on, his jaw locked. “Unless you want to experience something similar to those traitors, Euphenia Jannex.”
All the blood left her head. It was the first time she’d heard her full name since leaving the CORE. Bright light flared in her eyes, her skull becoming weightless. Before she realized what was happening, Mace was there, strong arms around her waist as he stopped her from hitting the deck.
She blinked the fog from her eyes. They sat on the bed, his arms cradling her. Every part of her felt secure. But she knew it was a lie.
“You’re safe.”
She shook her head at his words.
“I will not allow that to happen to you,” he asserted.
“I just want to go home.” The raw words exploded from her mouth, painful.
He cupped her jaw in his hand. “I know.”
“I need to go home.” She stared into his icy blue eyes, willing him to free her.
His thumb brushed her cheek.
Tingles spread across her skin. His thumb moved again, creating another wave of sensation, this time tumbling down her spine. His eyes darkened. She couldn’t look away. She wanted to drown in their depths and never resurface.
She gripped the collar of his uniform and yanked him forward. His lips smashed into hers, inelegant, brutal. Heat flared in the pit of her stomach. Shivers exploded across her skin. Every one of her frustrated emotions flooded into the kiss. She trembled, and it had nothing to do with fear.
On a groan, he gathered her closer, his arms tight around her ribs. The shift of their bodies pressed her breasts flush against his chest. Her nipples puckered under the thin material of her top and bra. His mouth took ownership of hers, his tongue stroking inside until she couldn’t breathe from the flood of sensation. His masculine scent filled her head, minty and warm. The taste of him stoked a primal part of her she didn’t know existed.
She wanted to get closer, needed it. Her fingers pulled at the material of his uniform, trying to rip the cloth from his body.
He tore his lips from hers on a groan. She gasped for oxygen. His icy eyes bored into hers. Their chests rose and fell in tandem. The moment hung in time, suspended, until Mace pressed his forehead against hers, hands on either side of her throat.
“What are you doing to me?” he whispered. Their noses touched, breath mingling.
Then he turned his face to the side. In one movement, he scooped her up, set her on the bed, and strode to the door. It closed behind him with a soft whoosh.
The absence of his heat made her shiver. His abandonment sliced through her stomach like one of those daggers she’d seen today. Conflicting and traitorous thoughts tumbled through her head one after the other.
She wanted him to come back.
She wanted to finish what they started.
Arms wrapped around herself, a sob clogged her throat—one she was determined not to release.
Mace strode from his quarters, his hand scrubbing his face. The way Nia had looked—lips puffy, eyes glistening, her whole body trembling. He couldn’t get her out of his head. If he hadn’t left right then, he would have had her naked and been inside her within the next few minutes.
The thought did nothing to extinguish the way she made him burn. Her jasmine scent hovered around him in a cloud. He rubbed his lips, remembering how she’d tasted.
Fucking hell.He needed a cold steam. When he entered an empty corridor, he stopped and stared at the bulkhead.
He wanted to let her go, he really did. Taking her had been a mistake, a weakness. He should have left her to die. His chest tightened at his thought. No. He couldn’t have. Not when those russet eyes had already seared his soul, when her heart beat under his arm, alive and full of fight. Not when thinking her dead along with the rest of Elara Five had turned in to an unacceptable scenario in those first few minutes.
His mind ran through strategies where he could take her back to CORE space and let her go. But even if she arrived at a CORE controlled ship or station unharmed, he knew what would happen. She would never be able to return to her old life. She would be monitored, restricted, and controlled. The CORE never trusted those who returned into the fold and treated them like criminals instead.
The safest place for her to be was in his quarters.
The most dangerous place for her was in his quarters.
He would not turn into something to fear like his ancestors before him. He wouldn’t touch her again. Because if he did, if she made those encouraging sounds in the back of her throat that set him on fire…
Fucking hell. He hit the bulkhead with his fist. The resounding crunch filled the quiet.