Page 24 of Eclipse Bound (Galaxy Alien Mail Order Brides #7)
The stone pulsed against her skin, three rapid beats followed by a pause, then three more. Rowan understood. She needed to wait.
Three minutes later, a maintenance worker emerged, a cigarette already between his lips. He propped the door open with a small rock and moved a few paces away to light up, his back to the entrance.
Rowan didn't hesitate. She darted forward, keeping the worker between herself and the guard, and slipped through the open door. She was in.
The corridor beyond was dimly lit and utilitarian, lined with pipes and electrical conduits. Rowan pressed herself against the wall, listening for any sign she'd been detected. The stone grew warmer against her skin, pulsing in a different pattern like a kind of directional guidance.
"Left," she whispered, interpreting its signals. "Then right at the junction."
She followed the stone's guidance through a maze of service corridors, occasionally ducking into doorways or maintenance closets when footsteps approached. The facility was larger than it had appeared from outside, much of it extending deep into the mesa itself.
The pulse of the stone grew stronger, more insistent as she descended a metal staircase to a lower level. The air here was cooler, with the distinct hum of advanced equipment. Signs on the walls warned of restricted areas and security protocols.
Rowan rounded a corner and nearly collided with a woman in a lab coat. Both froze in surprise.
"You're not authorized to be here," the scientist said, reaching for an ID badge that presumably contained an alarm.
Rowan reacted on instinct. "Actually, I am," she said with all the confidence she could muster. "Director Vega sent me to check on the twilight subject. There's been an energy fluctuation."
The scientist's hand hesitated. "I wasn't informed?—"
"It just happened," Rowan interrupted. "He's waiting for my report. You can call him if you want, but you know how he gets when he's kept waiting."
It was a gamble, but one based on the fragments of information she'd gleaned from Eclipse's communications. The scientist's expression shifted from suspicion to uncertainty.
"Fine," she said finally. "But you'll need to sign in at the security station."
"Already did," Rowan lied smoothly. "Look, just point me to Containment Lab 7, and I'll get out of your hair."
The scientist's eyes narrowed. "Lab 7?"
Rowan's heart sank. Wrong guess. But before she could backpedal, the stone against her chest grew searingly hot, and words seemed to form in her mind, Eclipse's voice clearer than she'd ever heard it.
"Sector 7. Not Lab 7. Authorization code 25-Twilight-9."
"Sorry, long day. Sector 7," Rowan corrected. "Authorization code 25-Twilight-9."
The scientist relaxed slightly. "Through those doors, then take the elevator to sublevel three. You'll need your access card."
"Got it right here," Rowan patted her pocket. "Thanks."
She walked confidently in the direction indicated, feeling the scientist's eyes on her back. The moment she passed through the doors, she broke into a run. That bluff wouldn't hold for long. The scientist would check, find no record of her authorization, and sound the alarm.
The elevator required a key card, but Eclipse was ahead of her again.
The stone showed her an image of a maintenance override panel hidden behind a decorative wall plate.
Rowan found it exactly where indicated, used Poppy's multi-tool to pry open the panel, and followed the sequence of button presses Eclipse showed her.
The elevator hummed to life, descending to sublevel three without requiring any credentials. As the doors opened, the stone pulsed so strongly it seemed to be trying to pull itself from around her neck.
"Close now. Hurry. They know."
An alarm began to wail somewhere above her. Her bluff had been called.
Rowan sprinted down the corridor, following the stone's pull. The hallway opened into a large laboratory filled with complex equipment. And there, in the center of the room, was a glowing cylindrical containment unit.
Inside, a swirling mass of purple-blue energy pulsed weakly.
"Eclipse!" Rowan rushed to the cylinder, pressing her hands against its glass-like surface. "I'm here. I'm going to get you out."
The twilight essence within shifted, forming a semblance of Eclipse's face against the barrier where her hands touched.
"Control panel. Hurry."
Rowan spotted the control console nearby. It was complex, with dozens of switches and readouts monitoring Eclipse's containment.
"Which buttons?" she asked desperately, hearing footsteps approaching.
The stone guided her hands to specific controls. None of them meant anything to her.
“Um, power regulators, containment field generator, emergency release protocols.” She hesitated. “Eclipse, this is going to trigger every alarm they have.”
"Already detected. No choice."
"Right." Rowan took a deep breath and began the shutdown sequence that Eclipse showed her. Warning messages flashed across the screens. Automated voices announced containment field failures.
The door to the lab burst open. James Petersen stood there, flanked by security personnel with weapons drawn.
"Step away from the controls, Ms. Clark," he ordered.
"Sorry, Jimmy. Not happening." Rowan slammed her hand down on the emergency release, then grabbed the stone from around her neck and pressed it against the containment field.
The effect was instantaneous and spectacular. The stone shattered in her hand, releasing a burst of twilight energy that merged with Eclipse's essence. The containment field collapsed in a shower of electrical discharges. Alarms screamed from every corner of the lab.
Eclipse's twilight form surged outward, expanding rapidly to fill the room. The security personnel fired their weapons, but the energy pulses passed harmlessly through his diffused essence.
Petersen backed toward the door. "Containment breach! Seal the facility!"
Eclipse's twilight energy coalesced around Rowan, enveloping her in a protective cocoon of purple-blue light. His voice resonated within her mind, clearer than ever.
"Hold onto me."
Rowan felt herself lifting off the ground as Eclipse's energy field intensified around her. The sensation was familiar. It was the same resonance they'd shared during their night together, but magnified a hundredfold. Her body tingled as her biorhythms synchronized with his energy patterns.
"What are you doing?" she gasped.
"Trust me."
She did. Wholeheartedly.
Eclipse's twilight form surged toward the ceiling, taking her with him. Security personnel continued firing uselessly as Eclipse's essence simply flowed around the energy pulses.
"The ventilation system," Petersen shouted. "Seal the ducts!"
But Eclipse was already flowing into the air circulation system, carrying Rowan like air with him.
She felt simultaneously solid and insubstantial, her physical form partially merged with his energy field.
It should have been terrifying, but instead it felt right, as if this was how they were always meant to be.
They traveled through the narrow ducts at impossible speed, Eclipse's twilight essence adapting to each twist and turn. Rowan could sense his thoughts, fragmented but determined.
"Surface. Freedom. Together."
Ahead, light filtered through a vent grating. Eclipse's energy surged toward it, breaking through the metal barrier and erupting into the open desert air. They emerged on the facility's roof, momentarily free but far from safe.
Eclipse reformed into a more humanoid shape, still holding Rowan close within his energy field. She could see the facility mobilizing beneath them. The security personnel poured out of the doors, starting up vehicles as weapons were being deployed.
"We need to run," she urged.
"Can't run. Too weak. But can fly."
Eclipse's form expanded again, becoming less defined, more like the twilight sky itself. Rowan felt herself growing lighter as her body harmonized further with his essence.
"Eclipse, what are you?—"
"Trust me."
How could she not? Their connection had transcended physical boundaries from the first moment they'd touched. Now, Eclipse was taking that connection to its logical conclusion… a complete harmonic convergence.