Christine was awed at the sights around her as she sipped the fizzy, fruit-flavored drink Emilia poured for her. The jeweled stars winking in the velvety blackness of space were amazing. She wished she could enjoy them more, but right now every thought in her head was about getting to Roarn.
Maybe we can take this trip again, once he’s better, she thought hopefully. Maybe we can do lots of exploring and travel the galaxy!
She had always wanted to travel—though before that had always meant exploring her own planet. But think how exciting it would be to visit others as well, Christine thought. Honestly, though, she didn’t care where she ended up, as long as she and Roarn were there together.
The trip, as promised, took only thirty minutes. It seemed like no time before the round, reddish ball of Mars was growing in the shuttle’s viewscreen. And orbiting around it was a magnificent golden ship. It was shaped rather like the Kindred Mother Ship, Christine thought, but its burnished gold sides gleamed in the blackness of space like a beacon of hope.
Her breath seemed to catch in her throat and her heart started hammering. Soon, she was going to see Roarn, soon.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t’ it?” Emilia murmured and Christine saw that she was gazing at the golden ship with awe and affection. “I’ll never forget the first time Rarev brought me here—it was like entering some kind of fantasy world out of a fairy tale.”
“A fantasy world? What do you mean?” Christine asked her.
“You’ll see.” Emilia smiled mysteriously. “We’re about to dock.”
The golden shuttle flew into the much larger Monstrum Mother Ship and soon Christine felt it settle.
“Thank you for the ride,” she said to Dakarn.
The black panther Monstrum inclined his head graciously.
“It was my pleasure. I hope you are successful in your endeavors.”
“Come on,” Emilia told her. “I believe my husband is waiting to greet us.”
As the door to the golden shuttle popped open, Christine saw that she was right. Chief Commander Rarev was standing just outside. She would have thought it would be difficult to read his emotions because of his leonine features, but his entire face lit up the moment he saw his mate.
Emilia, who had seemed somewhat reserved before, suddenly seemed to lose all her inhibitions as she flung herself into her husband’s arms.
“Darling, I’ve missed you!” she exclaimed.
“Not half as much as I have missed you, my l’eeja.”
Rarev caught her and pulled her close to his broad chest, rumbling something in his low, purring voice that seemed to be meant for his wife’s ears alone.
As the two of them greeted each other, Christine climbed out of the shuttle and looked around. The Monstrum Mother Ship Docking Bay looked a lot like the Kindred’s did, she decided, with one important difference. Instead of a silver metal floor, the vast area was carpeted in a kind of smooth, dark blue moss. It felt soft and bouncy under her feet and it seemed to exude a faint, wild fragrance that made her nose tingle.
Also, the light had a soft blue tinge to it that made the ship seem as though it was twilight inside. Christine looked around, wondering what other differences she would see.
“Dearest, here is Christine, the woman I’ve been bespeaking you about,” Emilia said at last. “I know you’ve seen her before but I don’t think the two of you were formally introduced.”
“Actually, we were,” Commander Rarev remarked. “When Commander Baird and I first started looking for Roarn.”
Christine, who had been looking around the Docking Bay in order to give Emilia and Rarev a bit of privacy for their extremely affectionate greeting, looked at the Monstrum commander and nodded politely.
“Thank you for letting me come to try and bring Roarn back to his senses,” she said politely. “And I’m sorry I lied about seeing him when you and Commander Baird first came to my cabin looking for him.” She felt a lump in her throat and swallowed it back down with difficulty. “I just…didn’t want you to take him away.”
“I understand—you were protecting him.” Chief Commander Rarev nodded, his golden mane glinting in the soft blue light. “And I understand that you hope to save him now, but I am afraid the odds are stacked against you.”
“What? What do you mean?” Christine felt her heart fist in her chest.
“Well…” The Monstrum commander sighed. “From what my beloved Emilia has told me, the Fury receded from his mind for a short time when the two of you were together.”
“Yes, it did!” Christine clasped her hands between her breasts and looked at him earnestly. “And he was perfectly normal!”
“Well, the problem is, that once the Fury retreats and then is allowed to return, it comes back ten times stronger,” the Monstrum commander explained. “So I fear it will be no easy task for you to get through to him now.”