He’s talking about going Rogue.
He wants us to remain free – ready to fight a war that no one is certain will even happen. We don’t even know what enemy we face…
…but all of us know we won’t be able to face it from the inside of a jail cell.
But once we go Rogue? There’s no turning back.
We’ll never see Natali again.
“We don’t have a Reaver. Our accounts are already frozen. Escaping won’t be easy.” My eyes narrow. “However, I can come up with a plan.”
There’s a flicker of emotion in Brennan’s aura. “I thought she’d care for us.” Then, his aura turns cold and intense. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
Our leader wheels around to face us.
“There are only two people in this universe I can trust. You two.”
Otho was silent during all this, drinking in our words. He grunts: “You weren’t wrong to do what you did, Lazar. Have faith, my battle-brothers. She has not betrayed us yet. She will choose us. Natali will make the decision to help us.”
We both look at him – hoping desperately that he’s right.
“She needs to make a decision without the Bond’s influence,” Otho finishes in a low rumble. His rage is calmed now.
I take a ragged breath.
Is it possible?
Logically, it feels like Natali would have only kept the Bond-disrupter on to sever ties with us permanently.
“But if that was true, she would give us a sign. She’d have communicated with us.”
Otho shakes his head.
“I’ve had faith in you two since the day we were first Bonded – back when we were killing Scorp and barely surviving. Now, I have that same faith in Natali. We must turn ourselves in. We must throw ourselves at her feet. We must allow her to choose us. Otherwise, we lose everything.”
Brennan’s mind flickers like quicksilver.
One moment earlier, he was ready to go Rogue.
The next, he’s gained a new confidence.
“Fuck. I’ve got a bad feeling about this – but if we turn Rogue, we know for a fact we’ll never see her again. If there’s even a chance…”
It feels thin. I saw the hesitation on Natali’s face. I felt her withdrawing from me, even when I was at my most vulnerable and open. I worried even then, deep in my heart, that she’d choose a future without us. Without the Bond to help us entice her, I fear Natali won’t want to be with us.
You’ve set me free.
She meant those words. They were not a lie.
If there’s even a chance…
…we have to take it.
Brennan pulls his smartwatch to his face. “Put out an open call – Aurelian Law Enforcement frequency.”
Within seconds, the holograph of an Aurelian Law Enforcement Lieutenant, in his signature light blue armor, is projected from his watch.
I recognize the man instantly – one of the officers with the highest arrest record in the agency. He’s particularly brutal in sentencing those who work against the Empire. If he learns of everything we’ve done, but knows we did it for the good of our Empire, maybe we have a chance.
“Brennan.” His voice is cold.
“Lieutenant Taggar. We wish to turn ourselves in.”
“For what crimes?”
Something feels off.
“You know bloody well what crimes,” spits out Brennan, the anger burning inside him. It’s not like him to lose control, but we’re all pushed to the limit. Making him spell out his crimes may be a way for Taggar to humiliate him.
“I need to hear it from your own mouth.”
I freeze.
Some instinct is telling me that there’s more to this.
“Wait,” I telepath to Brennan, before he can utter another word. I’m trying to buy us a second to think. “Tell him that we know Law Enforcement is after us, and we wish to come in for questioning.”
Brennan shoots me a glance of confusion.
The plan was to plead for mercy and hope for leniency – but plans change. Lieutenant Taggar wouldn’t need the power of the Bond to communicate this change with me – I could see it in his slate-grey eyes.
Now, it’s Brennan’s turn. I know my leader trusts me, and I have to trust my own gut.
“We know Enforcement is after us,” Brennan repeats the words I’d telepathed. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt when you take us in for questioning. These are our coordinates. We’ll be unarmed, and you can take us in with no resistance.”
Brennan reads off the coordinates. Taggar’s eyes narrow. He seems suspicious, but he doesn’t press the issue.
“Very well. Be outside the building with your Orb-Blades ten feet away from you. Same goes for that nasty rifle Lazar uses. If there’s even a hint that you’re planning a trap for my agents, I’ll turn you and the building into glass with our Orb-Beams.”
“Understood,” Brennan nods, and abruptly cuts the feed.
Then, he turns to me, staring at me intently.
“What the hell was that? Our one chance was to plead guilty and beg for leniency.”
I shake my head.
“Something was off, Brennan. He should have accused us formally of the crimes for which we’d been accused – of kidnapping. You’ll notice he didn’t.”
Brennan’s eyes narrow.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” I admit, “but we need to be smart here. Trust me, Brennan. If there’s a way out of this, I’m going to find it.”
Otho strides up to me, clapping me on the back with his meaty palm. “I trust you, battle-brother.”
14
Brennan
The handcuffs around my wrists are forged steel. I flex, testing them – feeling the power of my Bond-Enhanced muscles. Natali may have taken away the sweetness of her aura from my mind, but she can’t take away the power that she’s imbued me with.
I tense – and for a moment, I think I might even be able to snap out of these handcuffs.
But it wouldn’t change the steel bars in front of me. Escaping from an Aurelian Law Enforcement Reaver, while confined to the brig, would be no small task.
Lazar sits across from me. He looks fine on the outside. We’ve all learned to hide our emotions from an
