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A year has passed since I found Zariah. She is by far the best part of our family. Teol has remained a good friend and has introduced us to Cylene and Vitus of Nytheralia who also found one another through the Alien Bride Race. They have kindly opened their home to our offspring and Caddok while we take a short trip to resolve one final issue related to Zariah’s family.

Rosy bonded us in one final act, an honorary bride match to me, televised after the official race had ended. I clutch the stone amulet Rosy gifted me that once belonged to her Larisien mate. I swore as she passed that I would find a way to keep our species alive. She is with the stars now, but I will never forget her.

With the help of a special chameleon cloaking device introduced by Aurelius, one similar to that which he added to MONA and our Scintilla, Zariah makes herself completely invisible.

“Ready?” I ask, glancing outside at the red planet of Mars hovering below us.

“Never am. But I need to see him one last time.”

I guide her through the prison facility that orbits Mars. Since Zariah gave birth to our twins, she’s become more driven than before. She’s the planner, the instigator, the one who seeks to end our division by healing common weaknesses and bonding us all where we are strongest.

The federation has given Zariah a special department to coordinate rescue efforts for orphans and refugee camps on the outer rim, which I’m now a part of thanks to a confession from Jiuli. She’s recently joined our growing team and has ignited the core of an Isonian soldier under General Viriden’s command.

I’m already looking forward to returning to work on medical advancements with Viriden and Ihna . Sometimes, our rescue missions lead us to discover previously unknown species. But together, we’re finding ways to save everyone we can.

Caddok has opened up more since the twins’ arrival. He definitely has Zariah’s curiosity about others. I know he will grow into a good being like her. I just hope he’ll be ready to untangle relations with his native empire when the time comes. Either way, he’s found a safe home with us.

I think back to what Zariah said when she told me she wanted to visit her brother as we make our way to his cell. I don’t want us to end up like my family. I don’t want our children to lose one another like my brother and I did. Just because we come from one place doesn’t mean we have to choose to be the same. Our ancestors do not have to decide our actions today.

I take up a guard post in the shadows of the hallway outside his cell. I know where she is even though I cannot see her without MONA’s help or my iris enhancements. But for security purposes, all augments and tech are highly regulated. Since Zariah is female, she is permitted a cloak in the all-male prison.

Few ever visit this place, even fewer females. But I’ve had practice keeping track of her when she’s invisible. I know her position by the soft breaths she takes, the way her armor rustles under the cloak, and the lingering scent of her first heat since she brought our sons into the world.

Her brother lifts his head inside his cell. Cazir knows someone is watching him. He gets up, walks to the bars, and finds my eyes in the shadows. “What do you want?”

“To forgive you,” Zariah says right in front of him.

He jolts back and frantically scans the area in front of his cell. “What the fuck?”

“Reality is not as beautiful as what we make up in our minds, but it is far more precious,” she adds.

“Zariah?” He swivels as if she’s somehow entered his cell. “Where are you?”

I smirk when he glances at me as if I’d tell him.

Zariah continues. “In order to grow, we must first stop dreaming and accept the here and now. What can we do with this? What could our next step lead to, depending on what it is? Is it going in the direction we want? And do we have a goal that will benefit us today and tomorrow, not just in this moment?”

“What’s with the riddles and shit?” Cazir demands.

Zariah lets out a breath but doesn’t quite sigh in irritation like I would. She is more patient than I am. “Brother, listen to me. I cannot get you out of here. And I don’t want to. You killed a lot of people, stole from even more, betrayed your family, and gave up on the boy I knew when we were younger.”

His jaw slacks. He hangs his head and looks away.

“You remember when you picked me up from the gravel pit after I fell during kickball? You bandaged my knees with scraps of fabric from your own shirt.

“You think I learned to be good from Mom, but she was only part of it.” Zariah shows her face to him. “Look at me.”

He reluctantly meets her gaze.

“There is goodness in you that rotted out because of our father. I know you were just trying to survive. I just wish you had run with me. But you didn’t. And here you are. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a better life.

“Talk to the feds. Tell them what you know. Help us make this universe a better place.

“The war with the Nebulous Empire isn’t getting any easier. We need to be united. You’ve been on the inside of critical vessels. Help us help each other.”

He runs a hand down his face.

“I miss that good side of you, brother. I want to see it again,” she says. “Our sons would benefit from seeing you break the cycle and heal from the poison our father laced your veins with.”

“I have two nephews?” He tugs on the bars of his cage out of frustration. “I can’t make promises, Zariah. It’s been a year.”

She steps back. “Then I’m afraid this is the last time that I will visit. I don’t want my children to grow up with your kind of influence in their lives. I want them to be proud of you, not pity or hate you. So they will just not know much of you at all.”

Zariah conceals herself completely, her face fading like a hot mirage over a cooling starship thruster. She walks toward me. “Let’s go. This was clearly a mistake.”

Nothing Zariah does is a mistake.

“Wait,” her brother calls to her.

She stops. I can hear her beside me and catch the scent of her musk in the air. My core heats and eases light to the surface of my skin.

Cazir studies me as I draw her protectively close.

“Call the guards,” he says. “Tell them I need Tenac. I’ll give them everything I can. Just promise you’ll visit.”

“I’ll make that promise when I have proof you’ll do what you say,” Zariah replies.

He slumps and leans against his bars. “Fair enough.”

She slides an arm around me. “I may be disappointed in you, but I still love you, brother.”

He lifts his head in surprise as Zariah leads me out of the prison. I relay his requests to the out-processing officer, then walk out to the hangar.

Zariah uncloaks when we’re aboard my ship. MONA closes the ramp as we slip into our seats. I guide us out of the dock and into space.

Zariah doesn’t speak as she belts in and stares out at the stars.

“You okay?” I ask, resting a hand on hers.

She looks over at me, a hesitant smile forming on her face. “As much as I hate the way my life started, I am glad for the struggles that made me who I am because they led me to you.”

I draw her fingers to my lips and kiss them. She closes her eyes as a tear slips down her cheek. It breaks me to see her cry when I know she’s trying so hard to be strong.

“MONA, guide us home,” I say.

“Yes, sir.” MONA opens a portal and launches us through, into lunar orbit.

I unbelt Zariah, collect her in my arms, and then settle her into my lap. “I have to confess something.”

Her eyes look up at me from my shoulder with soft lashes and a dreamy smile.

“I used to wish I was born a winged Talhuskin so I could simply fly away. I’d have given anything to be from Ferrim so I could move ferrous materials by feel. I hated that I was a serum-giver, a healer, a commodity tossed around like a manufacturing plant. It was mostly because my species was dying. I had no friends except you, and I rarely managed to get to a spaceport when you were there before you disappeared again.

“You saved me more than once. To me, you are hope. Hope for my people as much as you are for me. But you’ve done so much for this universe already that I feel like I’m trying to hold on too tightly. I just have a desperate need to protect you. But I fear my desires might stifle your true potential. Does that make sense?”

She braces the side of my face and guides my lips to hers. I savor the taste of her velvety tongue as it glides over mine. My core stirs and lights my skin.

I look away and force out a breath, wishing it wouldn’t give away the true power of her touch.

She giggles. “Elix, I love that you want me so much. And I don’t ever want to be without your sexy green ass ever again.”

The spaceport outside Earth comes into view. StarBuster is docked in a repair hangar getting upgraded with the reward money Zariah got for turning in her family plus the triple-ticket price Ruby refunded last year. Zariah tried not to take it and gave most of it away to refugee organizations, including Ihna’s medical outreach. But I’m glad I convinced her to give our new home a battle-worthy makeover.

“MONA?” she asks. “Please orbit Earth once before docking in Tempest .”

“Understood.”

MONA guides my ship away from the port to circle Earth.

“What’s that for?” I ask her.

Zariah gently tugs my bottom lip between her teeth until it slips from her grasp.

My core pulses faster. When her scent changes, carrying heavier notes of musk and her skin, I know she wants me.

Zariah kisses me, mischief sparkling in her eyes. “Don’t want your species to die off.”

I hug her to me and practically run us to our nest. I’ve built it up since our family expanded, and it provides a plentiful cushion as I launch us into the pile.

Zariah squeals a joyful sound that I’ve not heard before from her. She sheds her clothes as I kick out of mine. I roll onto my bare back and guide her on top of me, savoring her plush breasts, still swollen with milk for our sons. Her hair falls around my face in a soft curtain, making her even more stunning.

I guide the tendrils from her eyes as my cock swells with hunger to feel her warmth surround me again. She wiggles her hips down over mine, sheathing herself over my rigid shaft. Her grunt of relief makes my core ache with joy.

“I love you,” I rasp.

“Love you more.” Zariah rests her forehead to mine. I can hear her heart pounding and sense it in her body beneath my hands. I can feel it in her core, the one that holds me now—her willing hostage for life.