Page 98

I turn and glance at her – filled once again with incredible gratitude for my fearless, compassionate, brilliant friend.

Then, I turn back to the controls.

Sawoot might not have mated with Garrick and his triad, so she’d keep a level head and be able to leave The Instigator – but now we’re going back there.

Everything has come full circle. We’d started this by running away from Toads and stumbling into Captain Aelon’s lap. Now, we’re going back. It might be by choice this time, but the circle is complete.

I just don’t know what reception we’ll get when we arrive back at The Instigator. I’ll have no one to blame but myself if Captain Aelon drags us in with his tractor beam again and throws us in the brig.

The Instigator may be our demise.

But I couldn’t have left without giving Aelon, Vinicus and Iunia a chance – just as Sawoot wanted to give Garrick that chance.

I know the pain that lurks in Aelon’s mind. I know he has a death wish, and he sees himself as an angel of destruction to the Toads – but I just hope he can change…

I hope he can change forme.

The calm before the storm is deadly. We have an hour of travel ahead of us to get back to The Instigator. I just hope we can evade the signal jammers in the meantime, so I can communicate with Captain Aelon and convince him to run.

“We’ll get out of range. You’ll see.” It’s like Sawoot can read my mind – although perhaps she can. Who needs the Bond when you have friends like her? She and I grew up together, worked together, and went into business together. Her hands are shaking on the triggers of her Orb-Beam, but I know she’ll be with me to the end. She tries to sound confident, so I ignore the fear in her voice.

If Captain Aelon choses to fight, we can only hope to be blown into atoms. I remember what Aelon told me about the human women he’d encountered on that Toad ship – beinghurtfor the entertainment of the Toad Captain. Death would be preferable to that – especially for me.

After all, most human women could stand weeks of torture at best – maybe years of abuse.

But me? Thanks to the Bond? I’d have thousands of years of torment to look forward to as one of their slaves. I’d be the heirloom one generation of Toad pass down to the next; to be tortured in the most horrific ways that my stronger, healthier body could now withstand.

I shudder. I won’t let that happen.

The voyage back to the Instigator seems to be taking forever. This calm is a dull terror. Our vessel is faster than the Toad Mothership, but as I cover the distance I have to wonder how much of a difference it will make.

What good will a warning of a few minutes be? How could even a brilliant commander like Captain Aelon turn defeat into victory with just seconds of warning?

I dial down our life support, diverting even more power to the engines. Our air is slowing thinning, and we have no shields, but we’re making incredible speed.

Theme and Sawoot might have their fingers on the triggers, but the Orb-Beams are now useless. I diverted all power from them to the engines.

Without shields we’re defenceless. If there’s a Toad reconnaissance ship ahead that we run into, it could land a single lucky shot that tears right through the armor of our Reaver.

I’ll have to risk it, though.

Every second we outpace the Toads is another second I can use to warn Aelon.

I just have to hope Aelon doesn’t snap. I can’t imagine what it’s like for an Aurelian to lose his Fated Mate. I certainly can’t think what it’s like to suddenly have her reappear.

I’m half-expecting Captain Aelon to handcuff me, throw me into a cell, and charge into battle without consulting me at all. I’ve seen women try to change men, and you might as well try to change the tides of the ocean or the alignment of the stars.

Can Aelon put his future above his need to battle? Can he choose his Fated Mate over his bloodlust?

My eyes flicker down to my charts. My HUD is finally clearing. It’s staticky, but that means we’re getting out of range of the Toads’ jammers and signal disruptors.

We’re twenty minutes out from Tarrion. If the Toads keep their pace, I’ve gained ten minutes on them – but that’s only if they’ve kept their pace. Toads usually wait until the last second and then come in at attack speed – hurtling towards their enemy fast enough to totally blindside them.

Suddenly, my HUD flicks back on fully. I focus every thought I’ve got towards my triad, trying desperately to bring them back into my mind like the sensors and HUD came back to life.

The Aurelians suddenly blink back into my mind. I focused so hard on finding them again that when they do reappear, their presence is so powerful and overwhelming that I lose my own identity for a moment.

A triad of anger, confusion, grief, and lossfloodsmy mind. My hands twitch, pushing our ship off trajectory. Sawoot looks over in concern.