But I hadn’t expected him to look like this.
His body was muscled and toned and every bit as swollen and hard as Iav’s.
For a moment, all thought and memory of why I was there left me and I was suddenly just a woman standing in a room with a gorgeous half-naked hunk before me.
Water dribbled down his horns and formed puddles on the floor.
“I, uh, I, um…” I said, suddenly unsure of the words that’d been fully locked and loaded before I stepped through the door.
Vai just looked at me, clutching the towel he’d been using to dry his horns and hair.
“What’s wrong?” he said.
He must have noticed the look of concern that beat a staccato rhythm in my chest.
“Emma?” he said, crossing to me. “What is it?”
He held my arms and looked deep into my eyes, his golden irises shimmering and bright.
“Iav,” I said breathlessly. “I can… He’s coming. He’s getting closer.”
Vai snapped to attention.
“Where?” he said.
I pointed absently out the window in Iav’s direction.
“Computer,” Vai said. “Activate scanners and aim them in Iav’s direction.”
“Scanning now,” Computer said.
Vai turned to me with fire in his eyes.
“We need to get ready.”
“What do you think he’ll do?”
Vai tugged at his towel and let it fall from his waist.
It pooled to the floor and revealed him in all his glory.
My throat tightened and my mouth turned dry.
“Uh…” I said.
“We’ll go to the brig and prepare for anything he might come up with. If he’s anything like me, he’ll try something.”
Vai seemed completely unperturbed by the fact he was naked and standing before me.
I belatedly turned my back on him but couldn’t help but cast a glance over my shoulder.
He had the body of a Greek god.
Within moments, Vai was dressed.
He placed his hand on my arm and led me toward the door.
It hissed open and I followed Vai as he rushed toward the elevator.
“I thought we were safe in the minefield?” I said.
“We are. But with the Shadow, you never know what they might try next.”
We stepped on the elevator.
It hummed and the lights of each floor flashed over our faces as we made our way up.
A crushing silence ensued.
“I… want you to know, I’m sorry for earlier,” Vai said.
I shut my eyes and turned my head away from him.
I didn’t want to talk about this.
Not now, not ever.
Especially not when we were trapped inside a tiny bullet-like room whizzing at a ridiculous speed.
Even if I wasn’t angry at him any longer, I still felt sore.
I couldn’t bring myself to say a word.
“There is another option,” Vai said, unable to look me in the eye. “Another way to stop Iav from sensing you.”
I ground my teeth and struggled to keep my hands at my side from smacking him in the face.
“I know already!” I spat, glaring at him. “You can fuck me and it’ll make all my troubles go away.”
His eyes flicked up to mine.
The hurt in them disarmed me, knocking me off my bullheaded stride.
“Not that,” he said. “Another option. It’s risky but others have done it before.”
“What?”
“You can have the linked Severed.”
Severed.
My stomach twisted at the word.
Since when did the word “sever” ever happen in a situation that made things better?
“Sever what?” I said.
“Sever the bond you share with Iav. It’s a relatively new process. In the lead up to the Shadow War, they claimed every fated mate they could lay their hands on. We were on the brink. We weren’t fast enough to return our fated mates to safety. That’s when a talented doctor known as the Surgeon developed the Procedure. It meant cutting the bond before the Shadow could take our fated mates from us.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
“It’s the emergency option. To use when all other avenues have been exhausted.”
I had never expected there might be a final option, much less that it might involve cutting a part of me.
“Is it safe?” I said. “Does it leave a scar?”
“It’s not a physical thing. It works on a deeper level. It can cut the bond you share with my Shadow so he will never be able to track you again.”
The look in his eyes was so sad and desperate it made me think there was more to the Severing than he was letting on.
Was he sad that he wouldn’t get to fuck me?
Was that the reason?
I didn’t think so.
It had to be something else.
When I thought the situation over, it came to me.
“Will Severing Iav also mean I’m Severing you?”
Once again, he didn’t look my way.
“Yes,” he said softly. “It means we will no longer be fated mates. We will go our separate ways and we’ll never have to see each other again.”
Despite my anger and frustration with him at his withholding of the truth, I couldn’t help but feel sad at the idea.
Never see Vai again?
Was that really what I wanted?
My thoughts tumbled like tossed alphabet blocks and I couldn’t get a good handle on my emotions.
My head might have been filled with cotton wool for how sharp I was thinking right then.
The elevator came to a stop and the doors hissed open.
The main bridge flashed with red warning lights and an alarm blared.
For now, I was going to have to put my emotions on hold.
Our survival was at stake.
Vai
I was thrilled when Emma came to my room.
I knew I would see her again but I didn’t realize it would be so soon.
And when she thrust the doors open and stood there breathing hard with a look of alarm, I wished it was because she realized I wasn’t there to harm her but to help her.
It was clear from the startled look on her face something was wrong.
Iav had found us.
The alarms and lights flashed, waxing and waning, warning of an imminent threat.
With Iav out there, he was always an imminent threat.
“Computer, deactivate the alarm system,” I said absentmindedly as I peered out the window at the vast
