Page 15

Blaize and my guards , like the other security teams, follow in the racers’ ships not far behind as the Abr transport travels us to Earth’s moon.

The enforcement squads employed by Abr are now comprised of a mix of human males and bonded alien males in greater numbers than I remember with Elix and Zariah’s race.

They’ve made some changes. I hope they’re effective this time.

I’m still not sure I should be here.

A human walks up to me with a crate tucked under an arm. He holds up a familiar disc. “You need to wear a spark arrestor.”

I chuckle. “That doesn’t do shit. I have my own.”

He glowers at me.

“It can handle ten times what yours can.” I pull the much larger disc from my shoulder blade and show it to him. With the device disconnected, my Storm lights my skin with green arcs. “You want an upgrade? Talk to my munitions specialist, Eluni.”

He nods and walks to another species with glowing eyes. I slap the device on my shoulder blade again and feel it bite into my skin.

Aura?

Yes, Allele?

Is now a good time to refresh your memory of the additional mating practices of the Amphirans?

Additional? No.

Why not?

I walk through the transport’s open cargo areas, hanging onto the grab bars overhead.

Finding a window, I peer out at the moon we approach, still just a marble in the distance.

We are traveling fast, behind schedule due to a conflict with some Ginarigons who wanted in when they aren’t allowed this round.

I do not care to follow my people’s ways any longer. They are stifling and formal and do not reflect who I am.

Sir, I have been researching the old ways.

Allele, stop. I can’t take it anymore. This is something I need to do alone. And listening to you talk about sex when you’re a ship is a bit strange.

Have I offended you?

No. I just need to listen to my Storm and feel this out. It’s not you or anyone else. I’ll keep the chip in my armor so you can track me.

But to not use all available resources puts you at risk for mistakes, Aura.

How did you navigate the nebula when navigation was down and you couldn’t access any external databases before Elix and MONA arrived? You knew only what you knew. I couldn’t help you.

Allele is quiet.

Used your Storm, didn’t you?

Yes.

MONA offered you a beacon when they arrived. Your Storm could hear him when no sensors could. Well, this race feels as chaotic as the nebula did to me.

I regret entering, but I’m here, and I have to navigate my way out by feel. When I find her, if I find her, I will let her guide me. And I will let my Storm do what it needs to navigate us through this. It has never let me down.

I understand. I will await a signal from you and let your crew assist with these matters of the flesh.

I hang my head and smile. You have a vessel, too, Allele.

Ha. Ha. Double-meaning joke, correct?

Yes, Allele. It has only taken you a decade to understand humor.

I am not a slow learner with other things.

A smile cracks on my face. She’s saved my ass far more often than I have hers. You are very capable. I would not be here to say that without you. I run a finger over my augment, feeling for her chip as I pull the case out of my armored pocket.

Promise us something. Allele takes on a serious, almost sad tone.

I pause. Something wrong?

There might be.

I’m not sure what it is exactly, but I sense Allele is afraid I will leave her when I find a mate.

I am picking up reports of a conflict brewing between Denarso fleets and those of Thorians and Mindorans. But a crew of Drathious has become involved as well. It sounds like they think the Mindors took Jorusk. There is a chance we may need to leave to keep Abr safe from any spillover.

Your request?

Warn her.

And ruin her week of fun?

If she isn’t interested in dealing with this, you should not waste your time with her. You must find a mate. Find one who can accept this life.

The transport’s internal lights flash with the announcement that we are in lunar orbit.

Allele, are you worried I will pick someone who does not like or accept you?

She is quiet.

If a female does not like my friends or family, including my blood brother, Elix, and you, then I will not ask her.

Even if your Storm demands it?

I will not betray my Rogue family.

I do not think you understand the strength of a Torchbearer’s Storm, Aura.

Maybe so. But I will figure it out as I go. I think expectations will just set me up for disappointment when they aren’t met. I take things as they are, not as they might be or should be. We are not the Amphirans in history books, Allele.

No, sir. You are something much greater.

I don’t like the sound of that. It might go to my head. Please have one of the crew contact me if you must leave so I know where you are.

Yes, sir.

I disconnect and slide out the chip, pack it in the case, and tuck it in an armored pouch in my suit.

All around me, the males chat with one another about the females they’re hoping for.

Faerillans are new and unsure of what to expect.

Their opalescent skin dances with pale colors under the transport’s lights.

Vahnxings, a species with a vision that allows them to see heat signatures and, therefore, through certain mediums, cluster together, checking each other’s pitchy armor.

They’re new to the races, too, and look like they’ve teamed up for the first.

“Only one of your species, too?” someone asks from behind me.

The male has eyes the color of blue stars, predatory irises, and gray-blue scutes so dark they’re almost black. “Helsvian?”

“Yes. I am Sa’Tai.”

“Aura.”

“Humans like to shake hands,” he says. “But I hate wearing gloves.”

“It is a strange custom, problematic for my species as well, with our electric discharge. I despise Valence missions because I am stuck in a damned insulated body condom the whole time.”

Sa’Tai takes off his glove and shows me his palm that crawls like spiny black worms. “We have barbed threads that grip things as we crawl around our planet. I cannot let go easily. And humans often find the touch painful. But I want to touch a female, so I must wear these. I hate that I cannot feel the world.”

I show him the disc on my back. “So I don’t nova. It makes me feel cold inside. I miss my Storm’s strength. It is still inside but sleeping.”

Sa’Tai grimaces, exposing many long, slender teeth in light gray. He cants toward me and lowers his voice. “My kind do not know I am here. I have saved so I can take my female to Anurra, the free, civilized world just beyond the Sol galaxy. I will give her a good life.”

He looks out at the lunar shield and the flecks of the green arena that become visible as we approach. “If anyone will take me, that is. I am not often chosen on my planet to do public things. My kind views my sturdier frame as unattractive.”

“Such is the case for most Hellions , correct?”

He cocks his head. “You know of us?”

“In a manner. Well, that’s not as bad as being disowned by your people,” I mutter. “They do not want me to mate outside our species or show my Storm. But my Storm wants a human, and I cannot contain it forever.”

Sa’Tai loosens up. “My Seeker wants a human too. Why is that?”

I shrug. “My ship would tell me it is to diversify the gene pool. There is something humans have that our Storms see as beneficial to our species’ future.”

“Your ship?”

“She has a Storm. Sort of like AI but alive.”

“Your ship is alive, too?” Sa’Tai blinks at me. “Ours are alive, but they do not speak. They just want care and communicate it with hums of different pitches. They are like huge angry space beetles.”

Someone shouts at the other end as a door slides open.

“You ready?” I ask him. He grumbles like he isn’t, and I find my sense of humor again. “Come on.” I lightly pat his shoulder. “One look into those eyes will lay her out flat.”

“How can you be so sure?”

I waggle my eyebrows. “I have a little experience. Ladies love glowing eyes. It’s inhuman without being creepy. Besides, they like to know they’re wanted. Let the monster out. You can’t hurt her with this many drones and all the security watching.”

Elix’s advice comes to mind. “Act like the mate you want to be.”

He sighs. “Thanks.”

I smile, but it’s all just a ruse to cover my own insecurity. That’s always how it’s been. If I can make a joke or deflect the conversation, I won’t get asked the tough questions I don’t have answers to. And no one will have to see me get emotional.

“I guess we’re all kind of dangerous to them in one way or another.” Sa’Tai wades into the cluster of others jumping from the transport. “Aren’t you coming?”

My heart beats faster the closer we get to the race arena. The energy inside me is a furious crackling chaos, zapping erratically at my skin husk as it begs to be freed. “In a second. My Storm is getting too excited.”

Sa’Tai nods as he gets funneled toward the open door. “You’re not the only one!”

Males scramble over each other, eager to exit. A Klaphos and a Jorbiun get in a shoving match, trying to be the first out. Guards try to calm them and get knocked around.

“Alright, enough! Both of you, just go!” I shove them out together and chuckle as they scramble for balance as they fall.

“You could’ve just killed them!” a human guard snaps.

“Those two?” I gesture. “Fuck no. Have you never been in a spaceport bar fight? Or fought alongside them against the Nebulous Empire?”

He glares at me.

I grab a beam in the doorway and look down. “See?”

He peers over the edge as the two land on their feet.

“We are not human,” I reassert. “Many of our species are older than yours by thousands of years or more.”

A fighting cluster of Mindorans bumps him, knocking him out of the transport. I see the guard’s harness strap stretch tightly and know it won’t hold his weight and that of the males who tumble out.

Reaching out, I snag a strap on his vest and lug the human inside as the others bump us on the way out. They twist and reorient themselves as they fall.