Untangled
PROLOGUE
Tai
“YOU!” It’s not the first time Bri has greeted me as if she is offended by my very existence. I laugh.
Critical mistake.
Technically, I am laughing at her, but really, I'm laughing at the memory of the first time she addressed me the same exact way. Aro had dragged me along so he could flirt with Bri’s friend, Elowen, the human that had caught his attention.
Apparently, Bri has been holding a grudge for the way I treated her since then. She’d puked when she landed. How was I supposed to know she was trying to find a place to dispose of the bag? I honestly thought she was keeping it for some weird human custom.
The angry, blotchy red look on her face promptly dries up my laughter.
The words “retreat,” “danger,” and “volatile” run through my brain as she tears into me.
I’m so focused on our argument, it doesn’t fully register that the warnings are coming from the waystation’s intercom, not my inner monologue.
It takes being knocked over by a Pyrrian rushing past to realize the station is being evacuated.
I’ve been here less than ten minutes, and I’m being evacuated already? At least I got what I came here for, and she’s standing in front of me furious and determined to make my job difficult.
“What’s happening?” she asks while I drag her toward the cargo bay.
“Evacuation. How should I know?”
“I dunno, aren’t soldiers supposed to know things?”
Every word out of this female is aimed at shrinking my confidence. Now I’m expected to know the inner workings of a space station I’ve never seen before?
The evacuation port is utter chaos. Aliens of all sorts run in every direction. I place Bri in an empty lifepod and plant her in the seat with my hands on her shoulders.
“If I’m not back in five minutes, close the airlock and hit the button right there.” I point at the big red blinking light on the control panel.
“Where are you going?!” she yells through the frenzy.
“I’ll be back in five.” I sprint for the main hub. Everyone is moving toward the evac port. I’m the only one stupid enough to run in the opposite direction. I arrive at the empty hub and look around for anyone left behind.
“Zone isolation in 60 seconds,” the overhead speaker announces. I run to the maintenance halls next. Luckily, they are empty as well. I go to retail then to dining. I search behind the garbage chutes and storage units. Nothing.
“Prepare for airlock in 20 seconds,” the speaker blasts. I spin around one last time looking for anyone who might need my help.
The countdown for airlock initiates and time is up. I sprint through the now empty halls back to Bri. She leans the top half of her body out of the lifepod, her white-knuckle grip keeping her in place. She’s biting her lower lip, anxiety written all over her face.
All the other occupied lifepods have already deployed and she’s alone in the echoing evac port. Relief floods her face when she sees me come through the tunnel. Relief that is quickly replaced with rage.
“What the fuck, Tai? What could possibly have been so important?”
“I needed to double-check something.”
I step over the threshold to join her when she stops me.
“Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she asks with fire in her eyes and a firm hand on my chest.
“Evacuating.”
“Not with me you aren’t. I told you, I’m not going anywhere with you.”
I take a calming breath and ball my fists to stop myself from shaking some sense into her. It’s impossible to think straight with the screaming alarm and commotion swirling around us.
“Bri, I can’t argue with you about this. We need to get out of here. Now,” I say, my jaw painfully clenched.
“Get your own lifepod.” She shoves me out and slams her fist on the control panel, activating the airlock and effectively ending our conversation. Her lifepod is halfway down the ejection port when I realize I didn’t remind her to override the autopilot.
It’s fine—she should know how to override coordinates. It’s mandatory training on every station.
Damn it. I really hope she paid attention during the course.
From what Elowen mentioned about Bri’s patience during training at the muraDome, I’m not so sure the module Navigational Systems Trajectory Modification would have kept her full attention.
In hindsight, I would have petitioned to have it renamed brI, PAY ATTENTION! THIS IS IMPORTANT!
Now it’s on me to make sure she’s safe.
Fuck.
I jump into the empty lifepod closest to me, strap myself in and link my location to hers. This conversation isn’t over—and whether she likes it or not, I’m bringing her back to j’Tilak.