Page 79 of Cosmic Soul

“I see Caleb, and he’s not moving. Move the ship, so he’ll be inside.”

“Maybe he needs a moment?”

“Or he is being ripped apart. Move. Now.” When Monqilcolnen didn’t shift, I growled. I couldn’t pilot a shuttle; I’d never learned.

“One moment, Zoltilvoxfyn. Give him a chance.”

“I can’t.” Every fiber of my being was screaming to protect Caleb.

“Breathe,” he said, tail wrapping around my forearm.

I took a shuddering breath, and before I finished, Caleb rolled and stretched out. “He’s moving.”

“Good.”

Caleb appeared incredibly peaceful as he drifted to the ship, as if he’d done this frequently. As much as I knew about my mate, he hadn’t spoken of his wanderings, and I didn’t know why. Now, I was determined to ask him. I wanted to know everything about him.

He paused right outside the ship, hovering in place, completely at ease. Caleb had never looked more beautiful, but he was so far away, untouchable. My soul clenched at the thought.

Finally, Caleb slid through the shield and into the ship without a hint of trouble. When he disappeared from sight, I said, “He’s inside.”

Powering up the engines, Monqilcolnen said, “Time to head back.”

“What? What about Caleb?”

“You can see him on the screens. When he exits the ship, we’ll come get him.”

“No,” I said. “I will wait here for him.”

“Dontilvynsan ordered me to come back if you could see Caleb from a distance.”

Anger rumbled in my chest. I would not abandon my mate. Not ever.

His tail wrapped around my forearm again. “I don’t say this to injure you, but Caleb is dead. You are not. I have to protect you. We are going back to the ship, and you can watch for him there. I swear by the Crystal’s light, the second you see him, I will take you to get him regardless of the danger.”

My hands fisted as I stared at where my mate had vanished. “I will hold you to your word.”

“Don’t fret. My instincts tell me this all works out.”

“What?”

He said, “I sense things.”

“Precognition?” I asked, shocked. If there was a gift rarer than mine, precognition was it.

“Not quite,” Monqilcolnen said as he directed the shuttle away from my mate. “I do not get visions. Sometimes I know things. It’s not true precognition, but I do have a sense that this will work out.”

Part of me wanted to snarl at Monqilcolnen. He expected us to be honest with him, and yet, he rarely told us anything. While inner fires didn’t have to be disclosed, nor was it odd for someone to keep it to themselves, it irked me that Monqilcolnen had never told us, though he might have told Hallonnixmin and Dontilvynsan because they were all the best of friends.

I wished when I was a child that I had kept my inner fire secret, as apparently Monqilcolnen had. It would’ve spared me a considerable amount of trouble.

Pushing my anger aside, I glanced out the front screen to see the ship that held my soul. “I hope you are right.”

Chapter 32

Into the space cheese.

My first impression of the ship was:God, this is boring. There was nothing besides endless dull white corridors. No windows. No doors. No people. Nothing. I saw absolutely positively nothing. I poked my head around a curve, and more nothing. Damn, this ship wasn’t worth the freak-out it brought about.

---