Page 39 of Guardian’s Destiny (Space Guardian’s Mate #3)

VRAAX

She exploded like a supernova all around me, and for a moment, everything stood still. Time, space, and even the steady rhythm of my heartbeat seemed to suspend in awe of her brilliance, as if the universe itself paused to witness the power of her light.

Nothing I had ever done felt as right as being with this female. She felt like a part of me, a part that had been missing all my life. I only felt complete when we were like this. Me inside her, anchored to her, her arms and legs wrapped around me while I listened to the rapid beating of her heart, the breaths that were still coming out panting. I wanted to cling to this moment, wrap it up tightly, but it would never be the same. The emotions running through me would be out of my reach, like the wisps of a dream, so I held her tightly for as long as she let me, breathing in her sweet scent, relishing the taste of her on my lips.

"You are my world," I whispered. "I love you so frygging much, it seems unreal."

She buried her face into my shoulder, kissing my skin. "I feel the same way. I love you so much, it's scary."

Her grip tightened around me.

"Nothing will ever separate us again," I swore. "Ever."

"I will hold you to it," she replied, while I rested my chin on her head, just allowing myself to be in this moment.

All too soon, even though it might have been hours later, we untangled to take care of other bodily needs. While she took a shower, I checked out our new room. There were plenty of clothes for me, but I doubted anything would fit her, and aside from the food dispensers, there was nothing on board in ways of nourishment.

"When we stop at Rodbar 2, I need to go and buy some supplies," I told Sloane when she emerged from the cleansing unit. Before we left, I had finally accepted the credits Nova stole from the Ohrurs. They were stored on my comm, and a wave of gratitude toward the other human female washed through me. I hadn't shown any of them how much I appreciated them, and promised myself that this would change once we were reunited. We were brothers and sisters, I supposed, our own family.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Sloane asked trepidatiously.

"I'll make it quick. I probably won't even have to leave the ship."

"Oh," she looked at me as if she just had an epiphany. "The ship."

"Frygg," it hit me right then as well. We were in hyperspeed, and nobody would be able to follow us, but I was willing to bet there was a tracking device aboard or an overwrite from the Ohrurs that would take us right back unless I found and disabled it. Plus, the ship was listed under their name; wherever we docked, there would be a record.

I checked my comm. "Nova put enough credits into my account to buy a new ship," I filled Sloane in.

"But they will know where we last were." She pointed out.

"And they will have a pretty good idea where we are heading and where the others are. Frygg." I finished her sentence.

We looked at each other, and she chewed on her lower lip.

"We don't have time to go to Rodbar 2," she stated, looking disturbed.

I shook my head. "We need to get in contact with the others and warn them."

"How big of a fleet do the Ohrurs have?"

"The only military capabilities they have is us Space Guardians," I said, but I wasn't sure of the validity of that statement since it came from information the Ohrurs had fed us.

"We need to have a word with Moddekdum." She put her old clothes back on and was ready to rush out the door.

"Give me time to check the computers first, to get rid of any tracking or overwrite protocols."

"Alright, I'll have a chat with Zapharos." My insides tightened at the mention of his name. Something about this male made me uneasy. I was good at reading people's auras, but Zapharos’s was a mix of good and bad, so mixed it was hard to tell what kind of person he really was. If he even was a person. I wasn't so sure about that either.

I was about to move by her, but stopped to put my arm around her waist and pull her against me. I needed a kiss before I started the day.

It was a quick kiss, much too short, but she playfully slapped my ass on my way out, "Go get 'em tiger." She laughed.

I had no idea what that meant, but I winked at her, enjoying her playfulness before I rushed off to the bridge.

It didn't take me long to disable the tracker and find the overwriting protocol. It would have set in motion the moment we came out of hyperspeed and taken us back to Ohrur. I double-checked that there weren't any other fail-safes installed, and once I was satisfied, I headed toward the common room, hoping to find Sloane there.

I was lucky, but she wasn't alone. Zapharos and two other human females were with her; one of them was Ella, the other's name I had forgotten. Their mood was subdued as they ate their food and quietly talked.

Sloane's expression warmed the moment I stepped in, and the tension I hadn't noticed in my muscles left me.

"All done?" Sloane asked.

"Yes, have you filled Zapharos in?"

Her eyes moved to the other two females, and I got the hint. She hadn't wanted to discuss it in front of them. Good.

The other females arrived, and we watched the Pandraxians showing the humans how to use the food dispensers. Dread filled me when I noticed that at least two of them were pregnant. There was no way we could take them with us to Darlam. They needed more medical attention than a healing wand. Frygg.

I ran my hand through my hair; maybe it was worth the risk of sticking to our original plan and stopping at Rodbar 2. Like it or not, we were stuck in an impossible situation. I had to trust that my friends were Space Guardians and would know what to do. They were probably already aware of the potential danger of Ohrurs showing up around Darlam. The Ohrurs wouldn't have guessed where to look for us had we not taken Moddekdum. Taking off with two Ohrurs was a dead giveaway.

"I'll try to get a message through to Nock." I pulled out my comm. I would need to keep it short and unsuspicious, but even if we got lucky and he received it, it would probably be days before he did. It would also take us a week to get back to Darlam, and then again, so would the Ohrurs.

"You look stressed," Zapharos remarked.

"We need to talk." I stood up, waving him and Sloane with me. There was no way to kick the females out of the breakroom so we could talk in private. It was easier for us to go to the bridge where we would be undisturbed.

Zapharos looked at Ella, who gave him an encouraging smile. "Go, we'll be fine."

"I'm all ears," Zapharos said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall.

"I disabled all overwrite protocols and tracking on this ship," I filled him in.

"I was wondering when you would get around to doing this," he stated, rising my ire. And by the look on Sloane's face, not only mine. She looked ready to kill him, which pacified me some.

Enough to ignore his jab and come right to the core of the matter, "Either way, our ship will be recognized on Rodbar 2 the moment we land. We won't have much time to find ships for both of us. Plus, I'm certain the Ohrurs now know that we are heading to Darlam. They probably don't know that the others are already in orbit, but it's only a matter of time?—"

"Time we don't have," Zapharos agreed. I was torn between wanting to rip him to shreds and being glad that he already grasped the situation.

"The Ohrurs won't suspect anything if we go to Astrionis," I sighed. "Some of the females need medical attention."

"Agreed," Zapharos nodded. "But you don't have time to do both, warn your friends and take us to Astrionis." He turned to Sloane with a grin, "A conundrum, wouldn't you agree?"

I had no idea what that word meant, but Sloane seemed surprised that he did. Damn him I wanted to bang his head into the wall to punch some sense into him. We didn't have time for his games.

"So you've already set the course for Astrionis then?" he asked, but it wasn't really a question.

"I did."

"I might be able to help," he pursed his lips, assessing Sloane and me.

"Just spit it out, Zapharos," Sloane groaned.

"You take us to Astrionis as agreed, and we'll get you a ship there so you can head straight back out while I find a way to contact your friends and warn them."

"How…" I broke off as he arched an eyebrow at me. Whatever ways the Arkhevari had were probably a lot more advanced than ours, and I doubted he was about to share that information with us.

"That would be very much appreciated." I pressed out, hating the idea of taking his help.

He seemed surprised. "You're welcome."

"We also need to interrogate Moddekdum to find out the?—"

Zapharos cut Sloane off midsentence, "How big of a fleet the Ohrurs have and how many Space Guardians are at their disposal."

I could see the frustration coming off Sloane like smoke. Commiseration rushed through me; her urge to kill the Arkhevari was as great as mine.

"Yes, that," I said, hoping to diffuse Sloane a little.

"What did the Ohrurs tell you?"

"Oh, you don't know ?" Sloane baited, her eyebrows arched, and her tone was dripping with sarcasm.

"They told us that at any given time, there are a thousand Space Guardians on duty." Again, I was hoping to pacify Sloane more than I wanted to answer Zapharos. She needed a moment to take a deep breath.

"A thousand over the span of twenty thousand years," Zapharos’s finger ticked against his upper lip, "that's almost a million Space Guardians."

"He can add," Sloane griped.

Zapharos nodded. "That actually makes sense."

"What does?" He confused me.

"As to what the Ohrurs are up to," he responded enigmatically, making it clear he wouldn't elaborate.

"You're like a goddamn Oracle, Zapharos, saying things without explaining anything," Sloane grumbled. "What good are you?"

Zapharos grinned, "Why do you think Oracles are like they are?"

Sloane narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying you were on Earth?"

"Not me, no."

An exasperated huff escaped her before she got her emotions under control after a deep inhale. "Fine, your ancestors."

"You know I can't answer this."

The bastard was enjoying himself.

"Alright, let's get back to our current situation. You will contact my friends and warn them." I distracted the two.

"I said I would." He pushed himself off the wall, "Now if we're done here, I would very much like to?—"

Sloane stepped into his way, her eyes ablaze, "Hold on, buster, we're far from done here. So far from done, I'm not even sure we'll ever get there."

That seemed to amuse the Arkhevari, and he laughed. "I like it when you get all hot and bothered, Sloane."

I didn't like the way he looked at her or his familiar tone. At all. So I stepped in between them. "Enough, you still haven't answered our question about the Ohrur’s fighting capabilities."

For a moment, I thought he would refuse to answer and leave, but he surprised me once again, "The Ohrurs only rely on their Space Guardian force for everything security related. They don't have an army. They have conned themselves into believing they're untouchable because of the Space Guardians."

"So we need to connect with them, wake them up so to speak just like we were." I began formulating a plan.

"That would be a wise move, but beware, you might have already noticed," here he gazed at me assessing, as if searching for the answer for his question in his mind, "that not all Space Guardians were created equal."

I shook my head, again with his damn puzzling speech. All Space Guardians were equal. We had no ranks since we always worked alone, except… I startled. "You mean the ones patrolling the grounds, the ones who took you and who were aboard this ship."

His eyes didn't give anything away, and neither did his body language, but I knew I was right, and goosebumps ran up and down my spine.

Sloane paled, "Oh Vraax, I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you… " distraught she wrung her hands, "how could I have forgotten?"

"It's okay, Sloane. Just tell me now," I soothed her.

"I'm so, so sorry."

"It's alright," her obvious distress was starting to get to me, whatever had slipped her mind had to be something terrible.

"When we freed the women, where they were held… there were test tubes, large ones, cylinders… they were filled with… with…"

Dread formed in my gut. We had been suspecting this, speculated about it, but now, as she was about to confirm my fears, I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to know.

But she forged on before I could stop her, "They were filled with Space Guardians, in all stages of development."

I swallowed. She placed her hand on my chest. "Vraax, I'm sorry."

Dizziness overcame me as the room began to spin around me, and I think my heart stopped beating for a moment or two. I leaned heavily on Sloane. Test tubes, biological engineering, vat grown, artificially incubated… those words flooded my mind, creating bile in my throat.

I closed my eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. Did that mean I wasn't a real person?

I felt like a real person.

I felt pain.

I felt joy.

I felt sadness.

I felt love.

Love!

"Sloane," I pressed her against me.

"It's okay, Vraax; this doesn't change anything."

Warmth spread through me. She knew. She had known even before we made up last night. She loved me, no matter what, no matter where I came from or how I had been created, and that meant everything to me.

But she was also wrong. This changed everything.