I ran down the street and hopped, skipped, and jumped.
I leaped as high as I could, two dozen feet into the air, and seized the low hanging guttering.
I pulled myself up and over it, onto the tiled roof.
I scaled the slippery tiles and slid down the other side.
She was out there.
I could feel her.
Her heart thumped, tapping a code on the bond that linked us.
The M’rora was out there somewhere but I could not sense him, just as he could not sense me.
The only thing that connected us was Ava.
And right now, she could well be unexpectedly running into his arms.
My only hope was for her to show the same disdain for him as she had for me.
And why wouldn’t she?
After all, to her, we were one and the same.
I leaped from one ceiling to another, knocking the tiles free and leaving huge holes in my wake.
Screams emanated from inside but I ignored them.
Soon, I had pulled alongside Ava, but she was still two dozen yards distant.
I changed the angle of my approach, sharpening it, so I would meet her at the next crossroad.
I jumped over the final ceiling, slid down the other side, and landed on the sidewalk, smashing the slabs beneath my feet.
I bolted for the corner and focused on our bond.
Three…
Two…
One…
I hurled out my arm and snatched her about the waist.
I spun her around to work out the worst of the amassed energy and wrapped my arms around her.
She screamed.
I wrapped my hand over her mouth.
I had to admire her spirit.
It took great strength to escape the clutches of a Shadow but it was folly to think she could outpace me.
But every creature was entitled to make the attempt.
Her eyes grew wide and her breath felt hot beneath my hand.
She kicked and flailed, her lungs threatening to burst with the oxygen debt she still had yet to pay.
At this rate, we would never reach my ship.
I needed to calm her down.
Sedate her, perhaps.
I caught sight of a green hedge across the street.
A park.
There had to be fewer onlookers in there.
I checked the M’rora wasn’t nearby.
The enforcers must be giving him some trouble.
I snickered at the thought and hastened across the road.
Ava had exhausted herself.
Thankfully, it made her a little more pliable.
But it wouldn’t last forever.
The moment an opportunity presented itself, she would take off once more.
I dragged her into the park and hustled behind a thick bush.
I needed to get her to trust me.
It was the only way I was getting off this backward planet in one piece.
“I’m going to remove my hand from your mouth. Don’t scream. I’m here to help you.”
I slowly eased my fingers from her mouth.
I watched her closely, preparing to clamp my hand back down over her if she began to scream again.
But she didn’t.
I lowered her feet to the ground and took a step back, giving her a little space.
Not enough for her to escape, but enough for her to feel she had some control over her situation.
“What are you going to do with me?” she said.
I had planned on telling her outright, about how I would take her to the Shadow Citadel where she would take part in a ceremony and be joined with me and then a host of fellow Shadows, one after another, to ensure she would be impregnated.
I would tell her it was a great honor and she should be proud to carry out her duty to the empire.
But by the wild, half-crazed look in her eye, I sensed she wouldn’t react well to the truth.
I was going off script, but I sensed it was the right thing for her to hear.
“I’m taking you away from here, to protect you from the creature you saw in the coffee shop earlier.”
She blinked at that, coming awake from her earlier catatonic state.
“Protect me?”
“I told you. He wishes to kidnap you and take you back to his homeworld. There, he will force you to marry him. You will live out the rest of your days on his planet against your will.”
My description perhaps wasn’t entirely accurate.
Beyond all common sense, the M’rora allowed their fated mates to choose whether or not to mate with them.
It defied all logic.
A shadow would never give in to such stupidity.
“Why are you helping me?” she asked. “And why does he look just like you?”
How did I explain this to a lower lifeform?
“We’re reflections of each other. We grew up on different planes. When we were born, we were two halves of a whole. Identical at birth, it is our upbringing that shaped us. His culture insists you marry him. You see, he thinks you’re fated mates.”
“Fated mates?”
She turned an even paler shade of white if that was possible.
“Fated mates are two souls bonded together.”
She backed away from me, shaking her head.
“What are you talking about? Are you insane? There’s no such thing as fated mates! There’s no such thing as a bond!”
I took a step toward her.
“There is, but not amongst your species. At least, not most of you.”
Her expression turned ashen.
“What do you mean ‘species’?”
“You saw it for yourself. No human could survive getting shot in the chest as many times as I did. Look at me. I don’t have a mark on me. I am not human, and neither is the M’rora chasing you. We’re from another time and place.”
Her eyes broadened with each passing word.
“You’re insane… You must have escaped from an asylum…”
I took another step toward her.
Any moment now, she could bolt, and I would be forced to do what I wished I didn’t have to do.
I would claim her where she stood, forcing the mating ritual to take place here and now.
It was better to do it at the actual ceremony, where I could finally ascend into the upper echelons of Shadow society.
But worse than claiming her now was losing her to the M’rora.
Only the lowest members of Shadow society failed to bring their fated mates home.
And I had been among them for too
