I grew frustrated at waiting for the call to be answered.
I barked at Computer:
“Call the Surgeon again. Use a second line.”
Computer carried out my order without questioning it.
He must have sensed the edginess in my voice.
The same secretary answered as before.
“Hi, how may I help you—”
“This is Vai. I called you a moment ago. You said you would pass me through to the Surgeon’s communicator.”
“Yes. Hold, please. He’s in the middle of a very important call—”
“Tell him if he doesn’t return my call within the next thirty seconds, I’m calling my father and telling him about the failed Sever procedure. And tell him to expect a team of M’rora special forces to knock on his door within hours. Thank you.”
“Sir, please—”
“Computer, hang up.”
I continued pacing and massaged my temples.
I thought through a lesson my father had taught me many years ago about situations such as this.
“Always prepare for the worst,” he said. “If things turn out better than you hoped, then you can alter your plans to cater to them. It’s always much harder to cater to a more difficult situation than an easier one.”
What was the worst thing that could happen?
The answer to that was simple.
Iav could have captured Emma.
Then what was the worst thing?
He would take her to the Shadow Realm and carry out the ceremony in all its horrific glory.
Was there anything worse than that?
Yes. He could claim her right away.
That was unlikely, I thought, as the Surgeon had said it took twenty-four hours before either of us could fully recover from the Procedure.
But we hadn’t gone through with the Procedure, I thought.
So we had nothing to recover from.
The fact I could still feel her out there, that the bond was still active, meant he hadn’t claimed her yet.
The initial worst option was the most likely.
There was greater honor for a Shadow to bring his fated mate back for their mating ceremony than to claim her in our galaxy.
The thought of that turned my stomach but at least there was one advantage to it.
It meant she would not be claimed until the ceremony took place.
And that gave me time.
My hopes hung by a single thread that relied predominantly on the Shadow’s primary driver.
Their greed.
Greed for power and fame.
So long as that prevailed, there was still a chance I could rescue her.
“Computer, take us back to the Rift,” I said.
“New coordinates initiated.”
I felt the thrust of the engines as they eased us in a new direction.
I glanced at the clock.
It’d been a full minute since I made my threat.
And I wasn’t a M’rora to make idle threats.
“Computer, call my father—”
“Call incoming,” Computer said.
On the monitor, the Surgeon’s profile image flashed on the screen.
It’d been taken from his advertisements.
His smile was broad and smirking.
At once, that polite and affable figure became sinister in light of my recent discoveries.
“Answer call,” I said.
After a beep, the Surgeon’s holograph appeared in the middle of the medical bay.
“Vai,” the Surgeon said warmly. “A pleasure to see you again. How can I help?”
I turned the medical bay monitor around so he could see my readouts.
“Do you care to explain why my bond isn’t Severed? Why I can still feel my fated mate out there?”
The Surgeon’s smile didn’t falter.
“It’s a ghost of your bond, that’s all. I told you there would be phantom sensations. This is just one of them.”
“But the bond is still there. How do you explain that?”
“The bond exists on a plane beyond the reach of science. We understand more about it every day but much is still a mystery to us. What I can tell you is, with my long history of successful Procedures, the bond has been Severed. And within—” He checked his display. “The next twenty hours, you won’t feel them either. I realize this is a difficult emotional process—”
“I can feel her bond tugging on me. I can still feel her out there.”
I could hear the emotion in my voice.
Part of me wanted the Procedure to have failed, for us to still be bonded, I realized.
Maybe now I was just taking out my desires on the Surgeon.
He spread his hands.
“No matter how much we might want these things to be true, they aren’t. When a fated pair comes to me, there’s always one member who wants the Procedure more than the other. I could tell from the moment I met you that person was you. It often is the M’rora.
“We care very much for our fated mates, perhaps because we have a greater understanding of how it operates, that it’s not something to be Severed and thrown away without good cause, but to be kept and maintained. If our situation with the Shadow were just a little different…”
He shook his head sadly.
“This is your new reality, Vai. You must accept it if you’re to move on.”
No doubt this was a speech he’d given many times over the years.
He would improve it with each iteration.
It probably had the effect he wanted too.
He played on my painful emotions and very real fears.
I could feel it affecting me now.
I ran a hand through my hair and touched my horns where Emma had felt them.
Was I holding onto her too tightly?
Was I trying to keep hold of the thing I’d always dreamed of but had now lost?
Was I grieving?
And could I let her go?
Despite all the doubts?
“You’re right,” I said. “I’m just having second thoughts. I never should have threatened you with my father.”
“It’s quite all right. Sometimes we think something is there when it’s not. It’s natural to be skeptical.”
His hologram reached out and touched me on the arm.
I couldn’t feel it but I appreciated the gesture anyway.
“You call me any time you need to speak with someone, okay?”
I nodded and felt the need to be alone.
“I will.”
“All right,” the Surgeon said. “I’d better get to work. These mates aren’t going to part themselves.”
“Yes. Right. Sure.”
“End call—” the Surgeon said.
“Perhaps you can show him Emma,” Computer interjected.
The Surgeon blinked and
