Page 73 of Breakaway
"You're right," I tell him, leaning into him again, peeking as stealthily as I can over his shoulder to see we're so close to the door. "But you make me feel safe enough to try the things I've only ever sang about."
"Really?" he asks, the question so sincere, the eagerness in his eyes bright. "There are all those rumors of guys saying you were with them."
"They're lying," I tell him, sobbing again, which is a lot easier considering the only reason I'm not full-on body sobbing this whole time is because I'm trying to seduce him enough to get me to the door. "They're all lying. But you see the real me. You know the real me."
"I do," he says fervently, his hands pulling me close again, and I stagger into him with a little too much force.
He's kissing me again, and I go through the motions. A slight tug here, a little step there. Before he realizes my eyes have been open the entire time he's been awkwardly thrusting his tongue in my mouth, we're at the door. With all of my willpower, I give him a deep throaty moan of pleasure as we press against the door. It opens with a soft whooshing sound as I bite down on Leo's tongue. He wrenches back, pushing at me to get me to stop, and I use the distraction to bolt out the door.
I immediately fall, something in my ankle making a disgusting crunching sound as I hit the floor. My assumption about the door leading out onto the port was correct, but I hadn't taken into account that the height of the door would be without the entrance ramp. In my need to get away from Leo, I fell a good four feet to the ground, spraining something in the process.
"You stupid fucking bitch!" Leo screams from the doorway as I stagger to my feet.
Oh, something is definitely not right, but I'm fueled with enough adrenaline that even if my leg were broken, I'd be running until it gave out. I run as fast as I can, knowing Leo is going to be right behind me at any second.
I rip at the device on my temple, tearing at the stickiness to release it. Leo must've docked as far away from the busy parts of the port as possible because there's no one around but empty and dark ships. That doesn't stop me from screaming, though.
"Help!" My voice is ringing even in my own ears. "Somebody help me! Please!"
My fingernails sink underneath the sticky tack, and I rip it from my temple, crying out and hoping really hard that it didn't take any of my skin with it.
Immediately, thoughts that aren't mine start spilling into my mind. It's Zill, so much of it is Zill, but there are others as well. So many other voices, all Sombrans, all talking to one another in their heads. And then it goes silent as I scream both out loud and in my head. "Help!"
I'm closest. Tell her to keep running straight. I'm headed right for her.It's not the sound of Zill's thoughts, but I don't question it. He's in my head, which means he's in Zill's, which means he's safe.
I pick up my pace, ignoring the screaming in my ankle. A figure appears at the far end of the docking area, and I let out a desperate little sob as I keep hobbling toward them. He's running a lot faster than I am, which is good because my ankle isn't going to get me much further.
Before I know it, I'm engulfed in shadows. I only see blond hair and shadows before I'm burying myself against his chest, letting him support my weight. I cling to him, mumbling Zill's name over and over, hoping that's who's holding me. He doesn't feel like my soulbond, but there were enough similar characteristics that I can't find it in me to check.
I got her, Zill. She's fine. I think she thinks I'm you, but she's fine.
I don't have the capacity to do anything other than listen to his words. On some level, I'm sure I'm embarrassed that whoever this Sombran is, isn't Zill, but I'm too happy not to be stuck on a ship with Leo that I don't care.
"Let go of her," Leo says from behind me.
My whole body goes rigid, thinking that he's going to do whatever he did to Isha to whoever this man is that's still holding me tight to him. He has one hand around me, his shadows blocking everything out just like Zill's have done to me so many times.
"Can't do that, man," the Sombran says. "This is my brother's soulbond. You know the consequences for messing with a soulbonded pair?"
"They're not bonded and we're not on Sombra, so it doesn't apply!" Leo shrieks, like full-on, shrieks. He'd give Zill's shadows a run for their money in how shrill they sound.
No one is allowed to ever comment on that.Zill's voice cuts through my thoughts, and I let out a soft laugh, the awfulness breaking for a slight reprieve.
"Don't do anything stupid," Zill's brother says, taking a step backward, his shadows tugging me with him, keeping me close and covered and protected. "Even if you take me down, the rest of us are on our way here. You can't leave port fast enough."
"You can't take her from me!" Leo screams. "Empress is mine! She is mine!"
Tell her to stay, Zill.The voice in my head, belonging to the Sombran holding me, says.
I stiffen, knowing he's about to do something that could be entirely foolish, but I'm not going to be able to stop him. One second, he's protecting me, the next, he's stepping in front of meand rushing at Leo, who apparently wasn't expecting to be full-on tackled by a Sombran.
It all happens so fast. Zill's brother tackles him to the ground, and a device that looks a lot like a blaster falls to the floor away from them. Then, Leo is pinned to the port floor by the Sombran's shadows. Another Sombran is beside me, almost as quickly as the other left, his shadows doing the same, covering me, pulling me close. I swat at the shadows to clear them from my face so I can see. It's another blond, but I'm thinking more clearly, and noticing that neither Sombran is mine.
"He won't like your shadows being on me," I say, going for lighthearted but missing it by a mile. Wyn, the brother with me, gives me a crooked smile as he looks down at me.
"We're family, now, family's allowed to touch."
"Plus, neither of us has any interest in you," Yryff says with a grunt as he uses his fingers to pry the metal contraption off Leo's temple. Leo thrashes underneath him, trying to say something that's being cut off by the shadows gagging him. Yryff pats the man on the cheek with a little more force than strictly necessary as he says. "You should be glad it's us alone with you and not our brother. He'd have you scrambled in no time."
