Chapter 25 The Step Off
TWENTY-FIVE
THE STEP OFF
Sabrina
Tata follows me off the ship. “You can’t be serious.”
She tries to keep the hatch door closed, except I fight her into opening it, threatening to mess up her brand-new ship if she doesn’t. I may be smaller than her, and weak because of my recent predicament, but I can still do a lot of damage.
I’m done being kept in places I don’t want to be in.
“He’s not even human! Think of the diseases, Sabs.”
“Trust me, it’s far too late for that.” If I’d caught an alien disease, it’s already inside me. I shove the hatch door open and step outside, lurching forward when Tata grabs the handle of the bag to try hauling me back. “You’re crazy!”
Tugging my arms out of the bag’s straps, I turn on her and grab it, yanking on it. “You can’t stop me! I’m going! It’s not like you have enough food for me anyway!”
She tugs and I tug back, growling at each other and jerking the bag back and forth. “It’s my choice!”
“I just lost two more crewmates—I’m not losing another!”
“You’re not losing me. I’m just going to be staying with someone else.”
“An alien!? A naga? Sweetheart, look at him!” She gasps just as I feel Darolus’s presence behind me. His deep hissing fills my ears as I fall against him. Tata releases my bag and backs up several steps into the ship. “Oh, dear god.”
“Are you okay?” Darolus asks as I slowly spin in his arms and gaze up at him. He bears his fangs at Tata before dropping his eyes to me.
“I’m fine. And don’t frighten her, she’s only trying to protect me,” I chastise him, already feeling lighter being back in his embrace.
“Protect you? I think it’s too late for that,” Tata huffs, and my eyes flick to her.
Hers are wide, her face now ashen as she stares at Darolus, an expression of horror and shock across her face.
She grips the walls on either side of her, her knuckles straining on the metal.
“I think you left him out of your story.” She turns on me with a growl.
Looking back up at Darolus, I smile at him though he does not smile back, his features tight. “I made a promise.”
“Sabs, I really think you should come back inside,” Tata pleads.
I ignore her as I lean into Darolus’s chest and his arms slide around to embrace me tighter.
His hissing fills my ears as the vibration of it hums through his body and into mine in comforting waves.
Inhaling deeply, his smell floods me, making me shudder all over. Home. He smells and feels like home.
It’s only been hours since I last saw him, but it seems like much longer. For a time, I was certain I was never going to see him again.
“I shouldn’t have run,” I murmur, hoping he forgives me while, at the same time, some of my anger returns. “It’s not what I wanted to do.”
“I do not want my female to be afraid of me,” he rumbles, his body stiff against mine.
I frown up at him. “I’m not afraid of you. Why do you think I’m afraid of you?”
He tilts his head at me, confusion flashing across his eyes.
“Sabs!” Tata hisses in the background.
“You came searching for me,” I add, surveilling Darolus’s features, seeing worry gleaming for me in his eyes.
It fills my chest and warms me, and I stop myself from pressing my face into his chest and nuzzling it.
Noticing his fresh bandages and the little bit of blood still on them, I draw back instead.
“I will always look for you.”
I cup his cheeks and pull his face down to mine. “Thank you for coming for me,” I whisper, not realizing how badly I needed to see him while also knowing I was going to leave The Wreck to return to him.
“I am ssssorry.”
My brows furrow. “You are? You should be.” They unfurrow. “But I’m the one who should be sorry. I ran without waiting… I got you hurt.” I tilt my chin toward his bandages.
He hisses, stopping me with a thump of his tail. “Enough.” He hauls me against him and peers up at the sky. “It is unsafe for you out here. It issss time we head back to our nesssst. I do not like the look of the sky. I am done with this distance between ussss.”
My eyes flick to the sky, noticing how much darker the clouds have gotten, especially in the few minutes since I last studied it from inside the ship.
A breeze lashes us from the right, sending gusts of dust and little pebbles scattering.
But as I take in the darkness, my anger only grows and I push away from him.
He thumps his tail again in reaction and grabs my arm.
I point at his chest. “I will not come with you until you promise me something. I’m tired of making promises and getting nothing back.
I am sorry for trying to run except at the same time, I’m not, Darolus, I’m glad I did.
I needed to run the first chance I got. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but I still needed to do it. ”
He turns from the sky to narrow his eyes at me.
I continue, “You can’t just lock someone up thinking it’s for their own good.
It’s never okay to keep anyone contained, especially me!
I can’t stand it. I spent weeks under this damn ground doing nothing except stacking and organizing rocks.
If I hadn’t run when Weston and Mickie arrived…
I don’t know what I would have done after enough time.
I know I would’ve grown bitter and resented you for it.
So, if you want me to return with you, I need your promise never to lock me away again.
If you don’t, I’m staying here with Tata.
” I indicate her with a twist of my finger.
“You should stay anyway,” she says from behind me.
Darolus snarls. “I will not have you come to harm.”
My nostrils flare as I squint up at him.
“And I’d rather come to harm and defend myself against it than being forced to hide where I can’t do anything.
What if something happened to you? Worse than what’s already happened.
” My brow furrows at the partially wet bandages crossed across his chest. “What if you weren’t able to come back? ”
“Ssssabrina…”
“It’s non-negotiable. If you want me to stay, I want my freedom.
I not only want my freedom, I also want you to help show me how to survive here, and protect myself from danger.
I’m not some pitiful flower. I’m a lot tougher than you think.
My aim with a knife is spot-on. Agreeing to all of this is, by the way, the only way I’ll stay. ”
He studies at me, his tail coiling entirely around me in several circles the way it often does. “You will stay with me if I agree?”
“Sabs,” Tata says, reminding me she’s still right there. “Don’t do this. Come back inside.”
“I’ll stay with you as long as freedom comes with you. It’s all I ever really wanted anyway,” I whisper. “Give it to me and you’ll never have a more loyal mate. Please, Darolus, make this easy for me.”
He hisses deeply, his right hand coming up to cup my cheek. Slowly he leans down and presses his lips to my brow. “Very well. If it means I can keep you, I will give you what you want, but in return you must agree to something as well.”
“What is it?”
“You never go anywhere without me. You never go off alone.”
“I agree.” I sag into him, careful not to disturb his wound, and breathe him in once more, a sense of warmth and belonging flooding me until I’m whole. For the first time since I can remember, I begin to think everything is going to turn out fine.
I’m okay. Everything is okay.
I’m back with Darolus.
He’s okay.
And…
I’m free.