Page 30 of Breakaway
I'm guided to an overly plush sofa, one I've sat in plenty of times before to watch some game show or another with George while we ate dinner. A glass of water is set in front of me on the coffee table. Then Marr is beside me on the couch, talking softly, his voice rumbling in the room as he tells me about the call he had earlier with his mate. He's trying to keep me occupied, trying to keep me calm, and he's doing a good job of it.
By the time I'm halfway done with the water, my hands aren't shaking. The door opens as a pissed off Zill and Brandr walk in. Zill's shadows are tense and tight against him until his gaze falls on me. The shadows soften just like his features do, and in a few long strides, he's in front of me, kneeling.
The letter is in his hands, but he doesn't show it to me just yet. "Reese, we're going to move you to a secure location, okay?"
I don't answer. Despite the water I just drank, my mouth feels dry. I reach for the letter, and Zill hesitates for just a moment before handing it to me. It's almost comical just how cliché the note is. Cut-out letters are glued to a piece of paper. Still, as B-rated movie prop as it looks, it still sends an ice-cold spike of fear down my back.
'You are mine. I've been patient. I've been kind. And you disrespect me by letting some creature from another planettouch you? You will pay for this betrayal. I would've been good to you, and you ruined that.'
The note slips from my fingers, my entire world turning upside down once more in a matter of seconds.
CHAPTER 12
ZILL
Breaking News! Empress was seen fleeing her apartment and making her way up to the Central Canadian Space Port. Is the pop star leaving Earth because of family drama? Or is it something more?
The terms of my contract state that Reese's primary residence is her apartment. She wants to remain there to make it easier for her job, and partially because she doesn't want people to think she can be scared out of her home. I'm almost positive the latter reasoning is due to Mauve; she's one of those people who tells you not to back down to bullies. However, if someone threatens the well-being of the other half of my soul, well, fuck everything else. My one and only concern is getting Reese somewhere safe, and right now that means getting her out of her apartment and, because I'm not asking permission before doing it, getting her onto my ship.
Isha
We're still at the station. Skia left a couple of days ago, and Kolos and I are waiting on take-off approval.
We'll be there in maybe half an hour.
I send the message and then tuck the comm back into my pocket. After I told Reese we were leaving, she went over to her apartment, and we packed up enough of her belongings to live comfortably on my ship for a little while, and downloaded enough episodes of her Rytharian show to last her the day-long journey we were about to take. There's a good chance I kidnap her off this planet and tell Mauve she can shove her contract–
Okay, I won't tell my mother anything like that, but I'll make it clear that we only do what Reese wants now, and if she's done with all of this, she's done.
My fingers run through Reese's hair as she leans against me. She fitfully slept for the first seven hours of the trip, woke for a while and watched her show while chewing on her nails, and then fell asleep again about an hour ago. My shadows haven't stopped trying to soothe her worried nerves since she read the note, but thankfully, they let me sleep when Reese did the first time.
I didn't want to show the letter to Reese. I wanted to keep her from knowing that the whole situation was worse than just her apartment getting broken into. Knowing I'm part of the reason this stalker of hers is even more upset makes my stomach twist. My shadows want to rip us to shreds for putting her in more danger.
There's no way Mauve knew this was a possibility. She loves Reese. She might not have ever used her name and instead called her by her stage name the entire time she was her managerbefore the leak, but she still loves her. If anything, that proves how much, since she wasn't even willing to share with her family what Reese's real name is.
Reese shifts in her sleep, a soft whimper coming through. My shadows tighten their hold on her, ranting about how we're not doing a good enough job protecting her. I ignore them, focusing instead on how Reese tries to nuzzle closer to me.
This isn't how I thought we'd be spending our night together, and I'm upset it's come to this. Not because I want to get into bed with Reese, though I'm still looking forward to that once she's no longer in danger. No, I'm upset because all of this feels so pointless.
I'm trying really hard not to blame my mother, but it's hard when all of this could've been avoided if Reese had just left. I can't be thinking like that, though, because there's no telling what her plans would've been or if she would've had anyone watching over her. I wouldn't have been called in to protect her, so I wouldn't know she's my soulbond. And if I wasn't around, who knows if her stalker wouldn't have made some kind of move to meet her.
Gods, he's probably already met her at some point, and now I'm just trying to go through all of our days together to pick out if there was anyone suspicious around. No, my shadows would've warned me if anyone wanted to harm her, so there's no way he was there.
Marr doesn't speak as he drives the transport. I almost ordered us an automatic one so the Lokans could all stay together and watch Reese's apartment, but Marr feels like the note is partially his fault. It doesn't matter that he couldn't have known what it held or how it would affect Reese. The note upset Reese badly, and that's enough for him to be mad at himself for not doing more.
The current plan is to have the Lokans watch the apartment. Once Reese is safe and on my ship, I'll return to speak with the human who dropped off the note to see if I can pick through his thoughts and find who offered him the money to drop it off.
Marr, Ingo, and Brandr will keep me in the loop on who comes to visit Reese's apartment, and I'll use everything in my arsenal to track down whoever threatened her and make sure they're no longer a threat in whatever way necessary.
A ping on my comm has me pulling it back out of my pocket as Marr navigates docking the transport in the space port in Earth's atmosphere. Humans don't have any stations planetside. When they were first being built, the humans couldn't stop arguing about where they should be placed. The Intergalactic Alliance had to step in and designate the locations. Because they were irritated with having to delegate such a simple thing, they placed all of Earth's docking stations in orbit.
Skia
Feel free to move the ship to the closer port. Leave my personal ship behind and I'll meet up with you all when I get finished with the trial.
Skia's message is a relief. I planned on asking him if he wouldn't mind exactly what he's suggesting, so I wouldn't have to make such long transport journeys back to Reese's home. His job is likely to last only a couple of weeks, if it runs long. It made sense for me to take the long transport trips since my job was scheduled to run until the end of the year, but things have changed. Moving the entire ship closer to Reese's area of Earth means the twenty-hour trip will be cut down significantly, and I won't have to be away from her for longer than necessary.
Thank you. I'll let you know where your ship is stationed, and the company will pay for docking and upkeep.
