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He parted his dry lips and spoke for the first time in weeks. ‘Sante. For taking care of me.’

She smiled, her manner genuine and trusting. ‘Anytime, stranger. What’s your name?’

He shared it without holding back, discerning that he could rely on her. ‘Riv Sable.’

She smiled, her lips parting with such sweetness he gaped as he reached her hand out. ‘K’Élisa Djan. But call me Élisa.’

Her voice was like a cool breeze when Alphetraz’s stars were in close adjacency on a hot lunar day.

It resonated deep inside his soul and reverberated around him, making his hair stand on end and goosebumps erupt over his skin.

He took that soft hand in his, and at that moment, Riv’s heart was lost to her for eternity.

His entire core took a free fall, tumbling, soaring, and cascading into a mind-blowing connection to her and only her.

She must have felt it, too, because her eyes dilated, and she froze, keeping his hand in hers.

‘I’m pleased to meet you, Riv.’

He smiled slowly, then caught his breath as she sealed their silent connection by leaning forward and kissing him at the corner of his upturned mouth.

In that instant, they fell into an unspoken promise—a soul bond of meteoric levels.

Unless Élisa needed to work from that day on, they never left each other’s side.

They cooked, read, slept, woke, and walked the dark subterranean world of Eden II together.

Luna Pika was a volatile place with tribal and gang-affiliated tensions.

The informal settlement was divided into twenty densely populated ‘habitats’, including East Pikani, West Village, Pikani South, and North Pika. Most were at ‘war’ with each other for the meager resources underground.

This was a harsh world where the law of Pika-eat-Pika took centre stage. Where senseless murder, breathtaking violence, and wild lawlessness ruled.

The Pika gangs ran drug rings, gambling dens, and speakeasies, where the residents, half of whom had employment on the surface, spent their earnings.

They worked among Eden II’s flourishing hotels and restaurants at the spaceport as unskilled labor or space porters.

The Edenite companies paid them well; however, the vices of the tunnels were irresistible, and many stayed mired in poverty after succumbing to the lure of the hideouskokonarcotic or the alluring yet intensely addictive nebula dust.

Others were gamblers. Still, others were traumatized refugees from Alloria and Falasia who’d found it challenging to fit in with the ordered life on the surface. It didn’t help that the drug epidemic had turned many young Pikas into koko heads, who were a menace to the peace on the rock.

Despite the peril surrounding them, Riv and Élisa worked hard to make their tiny home as comfortable as possible.

When he recovered, Riv found more boards to reinforce the synth walls.

They laid synth hide over the dirt floor. They covered their walls with colorful posters, prayers, and rugs on the floor.

Their relationship blossomed into a passionate, mind-blowing union.

Riv had never met anyone like Élisa and was so grateful for her love that he showered her with affection.

They touched at every opportunity.

In time, they sealed their union with such wild, passionate sex he nearly passed out the first time.

They were intimate every day, and their lovemaking so flamed they felt their souls fly into the heavens every time, their ardor for each other almost combusting their young hearts.

Riv’s curiosity about her background only grew. Yet she never shared where she’d come from and how she’d arrived on Eden II.