Epilogue
FIFTEEN YEARS LATER
This…was not the plan. This is not the perfect moment that I waited fifteen years for.
It took seven years for me to complete my education and return to the Melsbach Research Facility as a full-fledged scientist. By that time, X’s wounds had fully healed.
But I kept telling myself to be patient, to be careful.
I couldn’t risk freeing X only for him to be injured or captured again. The next time we walked out of that damned facility, we were going to be truly free. So I told myself to wait for the perfect moment.
And I waited. And waited.
And before I knew it, more years had trickled by. I climbed the ladder at the MRF, but Ramsey climbed faster. And he was always, always, keeping an eye on me.
Eight more years of biding my time, climbing the ladder at the MRF, familiarizing myself with the security systems and personnel.
Ten years of stolen moments, watching X hibernate through the cameras when no one was around to see my silent tears slip free.
Hiding my contempt as I watched Ramsey become a worse version of the man he replaced as he ascended to the position of Director.
The longer I was stuck working at the MRF, the more I realized X is not the only one within these walls who doesn’t deserve confinement. There are so many others who need help.
For so many years, my dream was to reunite with X. But I remembered that I had another dream, once. A dream of having my own lab. A way to make a difference.
I realized if I could change the MRF itself, then there was no need for X and me to run. We could stay in Ash Valley, which I had begrudgingly come to love, and which reminded him of his home planet. We could help others like him.
So I began to work on a new plan, one to slowly change the MRF from within. The higher I climbed, the more influence I had. I tweaked policies, found excuses to get rid of the worst of the staff members, hired replacements who would be loyal to me instead of Ramsey.
All I needed to do was replace Ramsey. One way or another.
And I was finally getting close. So close. All of the pieces were in play.
Yet one of those new assets turned out to be my downfall. I hired her because she reminded me of my younger self. Smart, curious, open-minded.
But oh, I had forgotten what it was like to be young and—I realized too late—in love. When her own beloved subject was in danger, she did not have patience like I did. She acted recklessly. Foolishly. Bravely.
And I realized, too late, that Ramsey had his own plans for her. Now there’s one subject dead and another loose in the halls, much of it, I suspect, in a long-awaited plan for Ramsey to finally take me out.
Unfortunately for him, I’m not the helpless girl I once was. He’s left me with only one choice: take advantage of the chaos. If anything, I suppose, I should be grateful to our rogue new hire. Who knows how long I would’ve waited, if Mara Vance hadn’t forced me to take action?
Now, ready or not, it’s time to make my move.
So I turn up the temperature in the cell.
I unlock the freezer that has contained X for the last fifteen years.
And I stare through the observation window.
Waiting, praying, heart in my throat. It’s been so long.
So much longer than I ever anticipated. I’ve checked, so many times, to ensure that his vitals are stable, but I have no idea what effect such a period of hibernation could have on him…
My thoughts stall as I watch a familiar blue tentacle emerge from beneath the freezer and grip the side of the metal container. X lifts himself out and lands heavily on the tile floor.
His black eyes, his sharp teeth, his soft tentacles…oh, he is exactly the way I remember. Exactly the way I’ve dreamed about for all of these years.
My breath hitches. My heartbeat seems to pause for a second.
X. My X.
I pause in front of the door. My heart is pounding, my hands shaky with anticipation, and I want nothing more than to be in the arms of my beloved again, but I have no idea what state he’ll be in.
He might be confused. Hungry. Perhaps even angry when he realized what I did to him.
I’ll need to be careful not to set off any predatory instincts.
After a moment to compose myself, I step inside. X’s head whips toward me, but it’s hard to read the look on his alien face.
“X,” I whisper, taking a step closer. I realize, all at once, how different I must appear to him.
I was a young woman when we met. My appearance has changed considerably, and I expect my scent will have, too.
Will he even recognize me? Will he find me as enticing as he once did now that I’m no longer young?
“This may be a shock for you,” I say, keeping my voice quiet, calm.
“It’s been a very long time since you went into hibernation.
Do you remember me?” His lips part and he sniffs the air, but he doesn’t answer. I swallow hard. “It’s C—”
He lunges forward. Too fast for me to do anything but suck in a sharp breath before his tentacles are wrapped around me, pulling me in.
His face lowers toward my neck. And despite everything, despite how risky it might be, my instinct is to surrender myself to him, to bare my neck as he breathes in deep.
I shut my eyes and breathe in, too, letting that familiar scent fill my lungs.
I never forgot it, though there were times I wish I could have.
“Taujak,” X says, and lifts his head to press his forehead against mine as he holds me to his chest. “It could be one thousand lifetimes, and I would never forget you, Calli.”
“I never forgot you either,” I whisper, clinging to him. After all these years, I want nothing more than to be held, to soak up this moment. But instead I force myself to pull back. “We’re so close to free, X. But there’s one more thing we need to do first.”
His gaze never leaves me, never falters. “Anything.”
I lean close and whisper my plan.
We fight our way through the halls of the MRF. This time, I refuse to sit back and let X do all of the work. I help him navigate the endless maze of doors that has become so familiar to me over the years. As soon as the first wave of security officers falls, I grab a vest and a gun.
I recognize most of these men. They are Ramsey’s people through and through; dumb enough for him to control, cruel enough not to question the barbaric things he does in the name of science. They are the ones who deserve to be locked up, not the various monsters behind the doors we pass.
So I don’t feel much guilt about what comes next.
Despite the years of separation, we operate as though we’re one. X obeys my shouted instructions without even a flicker of hesitation. Zhat, left. Dhoaut, right. Kuho, forward.
X covers my weak points before I even notice them. We cut through the security team like a knife.
When it’s finished, we are both bloody but unharmed. All that’s left is to clean up the mess and take what’s mine.