I wondered why he had placed me here. The room was too clean to be a prison and the lack of medical equipment meant this wasn’t an infirmary. The room was bare of any personal belongings other than the cushioned bed that the naga-like alien male was lying on.
This must be a guest bedroom of some sort.
Wherever I was, I didn’t want to remain trapped with him.
Swinging my other leg over, I sucked in a deep breath as I summoned the courage to leap to the floor. On any other day, I wouldn’t have hesitated, but my body felt strained and I wouldn’t be able to do much more acrobats in my weakened state.
Sending a prayer to the Stars, I jumped, stumbling when I hit the floor hard. Hissing from the painful shock that rattled my bones, I pushed the soreness away and dashed toward the door.
I was better than this. When had I become so soft? Ignoring simple aches should be easy considering what both my Yaarkins masters and the Trr’kiki kidnappers had done to me.
“Ixxaka yuisst twtskk.”
Ignoring my captor’s shout, I reached for the door and slammed my hand on the scanner.
It blinked red.
Growling in frustration at my terrible luck, I smacked my hand onto the scanner again—and again.
“Why won’t you work?”
Suddenly, something snaked around my torso and yanked me backward, flipping me upside down. I screamed as I clawed at the naga-like tail, failing to break free.
The Kaede look-alike pulled me closer until I was hanging face to face with him. Pursing his lips, he shook his head as his fiery eyes dimmed with sadness.
“What do you want from me?” I hissed, struggling against my restraints. “Why can’t you just let me go?”
Something shiny glistened in my peripheral vision. Snapping my head toward the glint, I opened my mouth to protest too late. He pressed a medgun to my shoulder.
“Wait!” A sharp prick burned my skin. Growling, I glared at the male. “What was that for?”
A sad smile was his only reply. I could sense my body numbing. The ishing frax had injected me with mind-numbing drugs—once again.
Why did everyone want something from me?
I jerked toward him, trying to take a bite out of his neck, hoping for a chance to inject him with my venom. My sluggish movements were too predictable, allowing him to easily dodge my repeated attempts.
Slowly, my body stuttered to a halt as I lost the energy to move any longer. Closing my heavy eyelids, the last image I saw was the concerned male, who looked eerily like the security guard I wished he were, frowning back at me.
Chapter Two Kaede
It had been almost a month since Selena’s kidnapping, and every day that had passed without finding her was another reminder of how badly he had failed.
No matter where he looked, her face haunted him. Even his dreams couldn’t protect him. Whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was her expression the last time he had been with her.
Videos of Selena in her best moments played on the hundreds of displays around him. Watching them as he leaned back in his commander’s chair had become a daily occurrence. All he could do was to try to fill his last memories of her with times when she was happy to replace the nightmare that replayed in his mind.
The layers of her laughter filled the room, echoing off the walls and creating a symphony of joy around him. Closing his eyes, he could almost lose himself in her delightful song.
Now he understood how Odelm found beauty in music.
Kaede had often wondered why the purple male would sit on the edge of the villa’s private wing’s pool and play his shelled ocarina. One time, as the musician floated on his back with his eyes closed in the sanctuary’s pond, Kaede had stopped by on his way to the garage to ask the male what he was doing. The gentle Ulax hadn’t even opened his eyes when he’d smiled and replied, Music is always around us, but everyone is too busy to stop and listen these days. Maybe you should try it sometime. You will be amazed at what you’re missing.
Why not try it right now? There wasn’t anything else pressing to do other than spiraling farther into depression and self-doubt as he searched for his star—the center of their constellation.
The ship was in capable hands. No hint of danger showed on the sensors, both on the star map and the mental signature one. He trusted his vessel’s systems would alert him if anything changed while he tried to relax and sense the direction they needed to go.
Selena was nearby, or at least, her kidnappers had stopped and the Abyss was heading directly toward them, shortening the distance between.
Whether it was her blood stored within his system or the will of the Stars showing him the way, if Kaede let go and allowed himself to feel, he knew he would be able to find her.
Or he would die trying.
“REI, you have command while I focus on my hunt. Let me know if anything changes.”
“Are you sure that is wise?” REI replied, coalescing in her ethereal form beside him. Her soprano voice was tinged with a concern he hadn’t known her kind was capable of. “Your behavior isn’t healthy, and it has been keeping your body’s stress levels elevated. I do wish that you would take better care of yourself and perhaps even call off this search.”
If he hadn’t built his Abyss from the ground up, observing every detail of its creation process, and installed his five core systems himself, he would question his success on this personal mission. Unfortunately for those who had captured Selena’s escape Cryopod, Kaede was willing to do anything to return her to where she belonged: in his
