I expected Kayal to spit in his face, to turn him down, to issue a smart quip and open fire with everything he had.
Instead, he was thoughtful for a moment and nodded.
“Very well. End communication.”
The image snapped off.
After a moment, the enemy ship drifted toward us.
I stomped over to him and jabbed a finger in his face.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I spat.
“What’s best for you,” he said, still not looking up at me.
“Being with you is best for me! Being with you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Then I feel sorry for you.”
I blinked, taken aback.
Didn’t our time together mean anything to him?
Couldn’t he see how special our relationship was?
How rare it was to find someone you enjoyed spending time with without feeling insecure or afraid?
Anger flared in me like an erupting volcano.
“I’m not going with him! I’m staying right here! With you! And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it!”
He took no notice of my quivering finger thrust in his face.
He calmly stood up and approached me.
I tried to shove him away but he was too strong.
He wrapped his arms around me and whispered in my ear.
“It has to be this way.”
I struggled against him, attempting to pull away.
I hammered on his chest with my fists.
“No! Why are you doing this?”
None of it made any sense.
“We’re supposed to be together! We’re going to hide somewhere or head back to Earth!”
“None of those things can happen,” he said distantly.
His tone reminded me of the first time we met.
He came across as a man on a mission more than a caring creature.
Now he assumed that role again.
He was a monster, I realized.
He’d always been a monster.
I glanced out the window at the M’rora ship as it drew nearer, taking up almost the entire window.
He would be thinking this was some sort of trick, and approach cautiously, shields up, weapons armed and aimed for a full assault.
The one person who could protect me from him was now refusing to do so.
Tears sprung into my eyes.
I felt beaten.
Betrayed.
“Why are you doing this?”
His face was blank as devastating words crystalized in his mind before he could say them to me.
“I lied to you. I lied to you about what I am, about what I was here to do. The M’rora wants to marry you as he believes he is your fated mate too. Only, they don’t force you to marry them. They give you a choice. If you decide not to, you can leave, and return home. It is us, the Shadow, that force you to perform in our mating ceremony.”
“I… I don’t care!” I stammered. “I want a relationship with you! I want the relationship you promised me!”
“The relationship the Shadow have with their fated mates is not the one you think it is. It won’t be anything like the one we shared on Qyah’an’ka. You will take part in a mating ceremony watched by every Shadow in the empire.”
Okay, so I wasn’t expecting that.
Some kind of voyeuristic show?
It wasn’t the romantic setting I imagined but it was something I could put up with if it was part of his culture.
“Okay. If I have no choice, then I’ll do it. So long as I get to be with you afterward.”
I raised my chin in defiance.
He seemed surprised by my reaction, but his expression was no less cold.
“Then, you will be passed to another male Shadow. And another. And another. They will each take their turn with you and pump you full of their seed. You will become a breeder. And if you don’t become pregnant soon after, the ceremony will be repeated the next day and the next and the next, until, eventually, you are impregnated. Then, once you give birth, the babe will be taken from your breast and trained in the military. You will never see it again. The process will start all over again and you will breed until your body gives out and is of no further use to the empire. Only then will you be discarded.”
Pure horror coursed through my veins, threatening to spill over and launch a scream into his face.
I searched his expression for any hint he was lying but found nothing there.
He was calm, cool, collected.
And telling the truth.
I was certain of it.
I eased back and his arms released mine.
I walked away, stumbled, and braced myself on a computer terminal.
The M’rora ship disappeared from view but I heard the locking mechanism as the two ships came together.
Soon, the M’rora would be here.
He would take me away from this place, from the life I thought I was promised.
“Is that something you could put up with?” Kayal said. “Becoming a breeder? Even if it is part of my culture?”
I could put up with a lot of things.
I could force myself to partake in some kind of voyeuristic mating ceremony, and as much as I would miss my friends and family back home, I could put up with living on a far and distant alien planet…
But I couldn’t give my body to hundreds, even thousands of strangers.
I knew the effect it would have on me.
It would tear me apart piece by piece until there was no part of me left.
Even if I made that sacrifice, would I ever see Kayal again?
Probably.
When he came to do his duty and plant his seed inside me.
Eventually, his face would blur and merge into all the others.
Not exactly the fairytale I envisioned for myself.
Without turning to him, I stared at the blinking emergency lights on the computer console.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before? Why wait until now?”
“I didn’t know if we would survive the solar storm a second time. The odds weren’t good we would return to this time and place either.”
“You thought we would die,” I said dully.
“Yes.”
“And that’s your excuse for not telling me sooner?”
Now my voice was the one to turn cold.
I stood and turned to face him, finding a new reserve of strength.
“Was anything
