I glanced at each of the M’rora in turn.
Two male, one female.
I ensured not to catch their eyes.
None wanted to be reminded they had resorted to this place—the same way I didn’t either.
If we happened to come across each other on the street back home, we wouldn’t have to recall this event.
It could only conjure painful memories.
None protested when we were ushered past them and through the facility by the Surgeon himself.
If anything, they were probably relieved the Procedure would be delayed a little longer than expected.
After all, there was always the chance their fated mate would change their mind.
“This way to the scanning machines,” the Surgeon said in an upbeat tone. “Now, there are some things I need to tell you about the process. First, it’s very quick, requiring just a few minutes of your time. I will warn you, the after-effects can be disorientating. It varies from species to species. Sometimes they hop up and leave without barely even noticing anything missing, while others take a full twenty-four hours to recover.”
He drew up so fast we almost walked into him.
“May I ask, how strong is the bond between you?” he said.
I wasn’t entirely sure how to answer.
After all, I had never been bonded before.
The Surgeon must have noticed the perplexed look on our faces, so he made it easier for us.
“How strong is the bond between you now?” he said. “One being a faint pinprick, two being a dull glow, three being a bright furnace like the surface of the sun.”
“Three,” I said.
Emma nodded.
A nurse handed the Surgeon a clipboard before he even finished extending his hand.
Another did the same on his other side but with a pen.
“How about distance?” the Surgeon said, directing his question at me. “When you scaled the Wailing Mountain, how far away was your mate?”
“Halfway across the galaxy,” I said.
The Surgeon nodded and made a note on the clipboard.
“And how about the bond with the Shadow?” he said, peering over his bifocals with his tiny eyes focused on Emma.
She glanced between the two of us.
“Pretty strong,” she said “When he’s close. Right now, he’s fuzzy with distance.”
“A good thing too!” the Surgeon said. “We wouldn’t want him showing up here unannounced now, would we? You appear to have a deep connection. It’s likely the effects could be quite severe. We’ll see what we can do to minimize them.”
He handed the clipboard back to one nurse and the pen to the other.
He turned on his heel and continued to march down the hall.
“You mentioned after-effects before,” Emma said. “What are they?”
The Surgeon spoke over his shoulder without slowing.
“After the Procedure, it’s highly likely you will feel what we refer to as a ‘phantom bond,’” he said. “It’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s a perfectly natural part of the process. In the hours after the process is complete, you may occasionally feel a slight tingle where you currently have that throbbing pulse in your chest. It’s nothing to be alarmed about. It’s merely the bond healing itself. It will fade with time and you will come to forget all about it.”
And that was what the M’rora feared most of all.
I didn’t want to forget the sensation deep in the middle of my chest.
I wanted it to last forever.
Sometimes I wondered if discovering this new surgical procedure was really the best thing.
Then I had to remind myself it wasn’t about me.
It was about doing what was best for Emma.
If my Shadow were to claim her, the bond we shared would be torn out by the roots, leaving me with even greater pain than the Surgeon’s Procedure.
But for Emma, it would help her avoid the dismal future laid before her if the Shadow got hold of her and dragged her back to the Shadow Realm.
And there was little doubt in my mind he would succeed eventually.
His ship was bigger, faster, and better equipped than mine.
I couldn’t outpace him forever.
The Surgeon paused, and for a moment I thought he was coming to another sudden stop, but instead, he turned at a ninety-degree angle and entered a room on the right.
I moved to cut the corner and save time but a nurse blocked me.
She shook her head and nodded to the white line that ran down the center of the hall.
I hadn’t realized the surgeon had been following it the entire time.
“Okay…” I said, edging to one side and following the line.
The Surgeon was quite a character, I thought.
But nothing better described him than the room he’d brought us to.
A dozen machines cluttered the broad space.
Strange egg-shaped pods that reminded me of the emergency escape pods on many of our warships and ocean liners.
“If you please,” the Surgeon said, nodding to Emma and motioning toward the machine.
She turned to me, fear haunting her eyes.
“It’s all right,” I said. “It’s a scanner. Nothing to be afraid of.”
Nothing for her to be afraid of maybe.
Buoyed by my confidence, Emma removed her jacket and handed it to me.
She stepped in the pod and turned around inside it so she was facing me.
“I’m going to shut the door now,” the Surgeon said. “Please try not to move.”
The door slid shut from the side and thumped into place.
A pair of nurses approached the pod on either side.
They pressed various buttons that flashed on its outer shell while the Surgeon sat at a nearby kiosk, his hands slipping into a pair of rubber gloves inside an empty box.
The pod hummed and bright lights flashed around it first horizontally, then vertically.
It whirred and made a high-pitched noise like feedback from communications equipment.
Emma’s holographic image appeared in the box before the Surgeon, one layer at a time.
First, the skin of her body and the smooth contours of her gorgeous frame.
Then the muscles and tendons that strung it all together.
Then the intricate network of nerves and electric pulses.
Right down to her organs and bones.
I watched, fascinated.
The M’rora might be similar to humans but we were not identical.
I noticed strange little bones we didn’t possess,
