Page 51 of Sawoots Story

“Close, dammit, close,” I whisper to myself. The doors are wide open, and I can hear the shower running.

Part of me wants to go back to them.

I ache to lock myself in with the aliens and let them go wild. I ache to experience the utter release of being theirs. It took a cruel lie to break their Mating Rage.

Nothing has broken my ache for me. It pulses up in me, an instinctual desire to run back to them.

I shudder and run to the control room. It’s up to Theme to close the doors behind me, and I must trust him.

Because if he doesn’t, I’m going to have three angry, betrayed aliens running after me, and this time they won’t stop.

The control room is as near as Theme said it would be. The door is haphazardly open, and I press it, slipping in. Tasha turns to me, but relaxes when she notices who it is.

Theme stares. I look down. My dress is torn, my nipple poking out, still traitorously hard. “Eyes up, Theme. Though after what you just did? I guess you deserve a peek.”

Tasha probably thinks I ripped my dress on purpose, just to torment him. “We gotta go,” she snaps. “TheWayward Scytheis still in the loading bay, but if you can hack a Reaver, I’ve been looking forward to getting behind the controls of one of those puppies.”

I twist my hand, revealing the keycard. The mining crew stopped letting me play in their poker games when they saw how good I was at sleight of hand. “No need. I snagged this from Garrick. Poor guy didn’t know what hit him.”

I can’t shake the awful feeling that I’m running away from my destiny, but I can’t let it show in my words. I’ve got to keep strong. I’ve got a duty to Theme and Tasha.

But he smelled soright.It did something to me. Maybe…no. I won’t dare to let myself think it. If I start expecting him to be Bonded to me, it’ll destroy me. Both if I run away and wonder forever if I missed my one chance for a connection with the man and his triad…

And if I stay with him, and have my heart ripped out when it’s not true.

The only thing that let me escape was knowing how much it would hurt when the protective, gentle triad no longer looks at me the same way.

I’m disassociating. I’m meant to be in the room with the three men. I’m being pulled back to them…

But I have my duty. I’m first mate, dammit, and I’m going to do my part to get everyone off this hunk of metal alive.

“Alright, a Reaver it is.” Tasha is oblivious to my mental anguish. She’s in full captain mode, and she’s going to get us out of here.

“Once we get in, we can Orb-shift out of here,” I say. Reavers may be the smallest attack ships in the Aurelian Empire, but they are powered by an Orb and can travel massive distances almost instantaneously. Aelon would scour the depths of the universe to find his Bonded Mate, but there will be no way for him to catch her if we Orb-Shift in a random direction.

Will Garrick come after me?

Will he hunt me down, to find me and confront me for my betrayal?

Or will he hate me for the rest of his life?

“Not quite,” warns Tasha. “There are rumors about Orb-Shifting becoming dangerous—and Captain Aelon says those rumors are true.” Her eyes flash. “But don’t worry, I can get us out of here, no problem.”

Her confidence inspires. No one pilots like Tasha. IfThe Instigator’stractor beam is disabled, we’re free. “I’ll always trust you, Captain.”

We step outside the control room and get ten feet towards the loading bay when Tasha freezes. I stop, but inside I know every second is another that Aurelians could be using their Orb-Blades to rip through blast doors.

“Listen, Chris is a grade-A asshole, but technically, he’s still my crew. I need to give him and the rest of the men a chance. Set the doors to his prison cell to open in ten minutes, as well as a path to the airlock. They’re unarmed, and if they’re lucky, they’ll make it to the loading bay. Then, they can take theWayward Scytheand go wherever the fuck fate takes them.”

Ten minutes. It’ll give them a fighting chance.

Theme hesitates. “They…they werelaughingat you, Captain. While we were waiting for you to get spanked they were all looking forward to it—making jokes.”

“Set the timer,” she growls, resolute. “I’m done with them—but I won’t leave them to rot.”

“Alright.” Theme nods. “I’ll set it for ten minutes. The Aurelians might get back control of the ship by then, but at least they’ll have a chance.”

A slim chance is all they deserve. It’s more than they deserve. Theme tinkers with the controls, and it only takes him seconds. The boy is a wizard.

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