Page 93 of Alien Captain's Prisoner

That being said – my life is going to require one hell of a lot of running now. When The Instigator is back to full functionality, we’ll have to deal with it powering up and lumbering after us. Until then, who knows how many Reavers Aelon will spare to pursue us.

I hope it’s not too many. I hope he doesn’t jeopardize his fight against the Toads just to pursue me.

As for my fate – well, it’s no problem. The Reaver outpaces The Instigator easily, as long as it doesn’t Orb-Shift. Other than that, there’s no way for Aelon to catch us. I’ll change course once I’m out of his scanner range, and once I’ve done that he won’t even be able to Orb-Shift after me.

“How long do you think we have, Theme?”

“I was a little antsy when I gave my estimates back onboard,” my engineer admits. “Weshouldhave at least half an hour before Aelon regains control of The Instigator. Even if they Orb-Shift after us, by then they won’t know which direction we went in. Aelon runs a tight command on his ship, but even he couldn’t convince his men to Orb-Shift in random directions just in hopes of catching us. Aurelians are brave, but they don’t have a death wish.”

He snorts.

“Well, most of them don’t.”

I know he’s making an underhand comment about Captain Aelon – but I let it slide.

Theme’s right. No matter how much he rages and yells, Aelon won’t be able to convince his men to chase after us by Orb-Shift. There are chilling rumors of ships being lost in the void, and they won’t gamble on shift after shift just on the slim chance of finding us.

This means our escape is clean.

I can hardly believe it.

This means they’re not going to be able to find us.

That’s what I wanted, isn’t it? Itryto smile, but I can’t. I press hard on the accelerator and we blast forward, far exceeding the speeds I could reach with the Wayward Scythe.

Despite the speed, there are no g-forces to make my head lurch back against the seat. The Reaver is a marvel of alien technology, with inertial dampers that can turn dizzying speed into smooth sailing.

When we get wherever we’re going, I’ll be able to sell this stolen vessel and I’ll make enough to start a legitimate business that will sustain me for centuries to come.

The only drawback? I can’t plant roots anywhere. If I do, the Aurelians will find me. I know Aelon, Vinicus, and Iunia are going to search for me endlessly – for the rest of their thousands of years of life, if needs be. Even when I blot them out of my mind, I’ll always have a general sense that they’re in one specific direction – as they will with me. All they’ll need to do is keep moving towards my location. The closer they get, the clearer it will be to them where I am.

Even if it takes thousands of years, they’ll continue to hunt me.

But that’s okay. Better to be hunted than dead, which is what I’d have been in a hundred years if I hadn’t allowed myself to be Bonded to the Aurelians. No matter what downsides there are to the Bond, itwillbe worth it. I just have to learn how to deal with the wave of urges magnified and amplified by the Bond – including the one to turn this ship around and return to the arms of those three magnificent warriors.

I didn’t expect to want them as badly as I do. It isn’t just the Bond that draws me back towards them. In fact, the Bond almost feels…dormant– like it’s lying in wait, letting my own urges do its work for it.

And that’s most certainly happening. Every cell in my body is screaming to turn around – to return to The Instigator – and I know it’smemaking that call. I can tell the difference between my own independent desires and the ones influenced by the Bond.

I suppose part of me will always belong to those three Aurelians now. Part of me will always wish I could be with them. Part of me will never cease wishing that I could change their very nature, and I’ll hate myself for not trying.

From the first moment I saw Captain Aelon, I knew I wanted him – and yet I hated him at the same time.

I just wish I could give him more peace than the sweaty hour we’d spent coupling together – the only time I’d ever sensed that burning, vengeful anger quiet inside him.

I check the HUD and the controls, and then call over my shoulder:

“Keep your eyes trained on space. I don’t expect anyone to test us, but we need to be ready.”

“Aye, Captain,” says Sawoot, more relaxed now that The Instigator is becoming smaller and smaller in our viewscreen.

We’re quiet as we fly. The adrenaline dump after that frenzied escape has made us all docile. Sawoot scans space with enough firepower at her fingertips to rip through anything that tests us – short of a warship like The Instigator – but she’s calm and silent as she does so.

In fact, not a word is said between the three of us for the next hour or so, as I pilot us to nowhere in particular. I’m just trying to put as much distance between us and the Aurelians as possible. The impulse engines are at full power, with only a fraction of the energy allocated to the shields and weapons batteries. If we get ambushed by surprise, a las-gun would slice through the weak shields and turn us to dust; but I’m not expecting anything in the darkness of empty space.

People forgot just howbigspace is. It’s easy for a woman to disappear into that gaping maw of emptiness. I don’t worry my crew with the knowledge that Captain Aelon and his battle-brothers will always have a general idea of where we’re going. Their muted auras are growing fainter with every mile of distance I place between us and them. If I didn’t have The Instigator marked on my maps, I wouldn’t even be able to pinpoint where they are on the HUD anymore.

That won’t stop them from coming after me as soon as they regain power.

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