Page 30 of Bonded

“So long as we don’t miss the window, I will allow it,” he said.

“Understood.”

“Over and out.” Ithran’s face blinked off screen.

I flipped off the comms and said, “What a mess.”

I didn’t expect that something like this could have derailed our mission so horribly. And all of it stemmed from trying to coordinate where Priya would be and who would protect her.

I turned around and Priya stood in the doorway, a blanket wrapped around her, the surplus gathered in her arms. Her eyes were luminous, her nose was a little red, and her skin was a little puffy.

She looked lost. I felt an overwhelming sadness that I realized came from her.

“What’s happened?” she said

“I would say the same for you. What’s the matter?”

She gave a half shrug and then her lower lip quivered.

The next thing I knew, I was gathering her up in my arms and letting her cry against me. Between sobs and hiccups, she said incoherent words that not even my translators could decipher. The only thing that clued me in were her repeated phrases of “I’m sorry.”

I didn’t know what she was even apologizing for. It didn’t seem as if she broke anything or committed an offense.

And so I let her cry. How could a creature so small and young apologize so much? What could she have possibly done during her brief span? “Surely you haven’t lived long enough to be this sorry,” I said in as soft a tone as I could. Ruzan was better suited for such things. But I stroked her back, smoothed back her hair, and tried not to be distracted at how soft she was.

Such a being was so vulnerable to everything. How in the world she lived this long without being broken was beyond me.

Stupid Vryek, use your head.The reason she was even here was because she was a survivor of some traumatizing event. So much so that she couldn’t even remember what had happened fully.

“I’m just apologizing for being such a mess. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“You don’t make me uncomfortable. I just want to know why you’re crying.”

“I just realized that one of my friends is dead. From the ship I was on.” And then she cried again.

Oh, my sweet soul. No wonder she was sad. It devastated me when marauders attacked my tribe. All my friends, even my promised mate, were all destroyed.

Priya’s heart was so big that it hurt for someone she barely knew. I made some soothing noises. If Ruzan were here, he would’ve been able to sing to her to calm her down. Too bad I was not so gifted.

RUZAN

The space station was even dirtier than I remembered. Louder. More hostile.

I never really noticed it before. It had always been a venue for trade, nothing more. Sure, I needed to watch my back—and that of anyone else’s with me—but seeing the space station with a fresh eye made me grateful that Priya was not here.

There were too many people skulking in the shadows. Too many exits. Too many ways to get around the minimal security features the Intergalactic Republic required.

What did the ship call it? Variables. There would be too many variables to keep track of.

If Priya were here, I would be too worried that she would be vulnerable to attack or abduction.

I could only imagine what a soft, human female would go for in this kind of environment where people traded anything.

Centuries ago, when the Legion first started contacting multiple galaxies, they were the ones who were most protective of the humans who inhabited Terra Prime.

Now that I had Priya, I understood why. She was so small and soft, with no armor or basic defenses to ward away predators.

I saw the cantina up ahead. I had a few good men with me. There were crew that preferred the ship, and others who volunteered to be on rotation. We all served, but there were those who were more attached to the landlocked life. I did not judge them for their choice. At the end, it was good to have enough hands, especially now, so that we had options and did not have to be alone.

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