I spun on my heels and ran. This wasn’t a fight we’d win. There was no shame in running away.
My feet punched the ground as I sprinted after Ella and sucked in air rapidly. Veon was becoming a dangerous and ugly planet, no longer feeling like my home. Things had changed so much in the last couple of decades, all because of the Khonsu invasion and our Council’s response to hide in the cities while these monsters slowly grew in numbers, kidnapping women from around the galaxy to breed with.
I burst into the woods, following her and her father. She was swinging left and right through the woods like she’d lost her way to the ship.
But I didn’t have time to chase down a lost girl. Our time was almost out.
Closing in on her, I swept an arm around her side and swooped her against me. “Faster,” I shouted toward her father noting that his clothes were ragged, his flesh bruised and covered in healed wounds. The Khonsu had tortured him for fun, for blood, for anything they needed. Fucking vile things.
“Run faster or we die,” I barked the order, needing to get them both to safety.
“Thane,” she cried with relief in her voice, her breath racing, eyes wide and terrified.
I dashed toward her ship as it sat closer. Slapping my palm over the sensor, the door slid open with a swooshing sound, and we rushed inside. A sudden surge of exhaustion rattled through me and I stumbled on my feet. I dropped Ella on her feet and darted to the controls as the door shut closed.
“Don’t hurt us,” the man’s shaky voice pleaded, his body so frail and thin.
“Dad.” She scrambled to her feet and threw herself into her father’s arms, crying uncontrollably. An ache settled under my heart to hear the sorrow in her whispers, to finally find her father after he’d gone missing so long. Once she settled down, she’d ask questions… so many questions about how her dad ended up here...like if we knew anything about it. I swallowed down the boulder in my throat and my head spun, but I couldn’t collapse now. Not fucking now. I refocused on getting us out of here.
The cruiser hummed beneath me, and we started to ascend.
“What are you doing?” Ella’s footsteps padded toward me in a rush. “What about Corran and Derrial? You can’t leave them.” Panic strangled her voice.
“They have the other ship.” I’d find out as soon as they escaped in their ship. We soared higher, and I glanced down to the ground.
Ella was crying and her sorrow sent a spear into my heart. “You can’t leave them behind. We just found out that my dad was alive and rescued him, we can’t now lose Derrial and Corran.”
“You should have thought of that before you drugged us. Now come here.” I leaned over and grabbed her arm, bringing her closer to the window. “Look down below. What do you see?”
She leaned over, staring at the field, at the army of Khonsu running toward the woods. “Where are Derrial and Corran?”
“Exactly, they got away. We’re trained warriors, kitten. You don’t need to worry about us, but you scared the hell out of us. What were you thinking running off like that?”
She faced me and fresh tears tracked down her cheeks, her chin quivering, and my heart melted.
“I’m sorry.”
“Kitten, please don’t cry. Take your father into the back room as he looks ready to pass out. We have food rations filled with vitamins his body will need and it will help him sleep.”
She didn’t move at first, but as if my suggestion took a second to sink into her thoughts, she rushed into the back to her father, and I focused on flying us out of here.
I rapidly punched in our coordinates and flicked on the masking shield over the space cruiser. A small green flash in the bottom of my screen told me the other ship was engaged and ascending. I breathed a sigh of relief.
I hated seeing Ella this broken, but what her actions taught me was that she was a danger to all of us because she was reckless. And that was something we needed to rein in if she intended to survive on Veon.
Already exhaustion swept through me, and the energy I used to fight had diluted my last reserves. There was only one way to address that… something I hated but I had no choice. Return to the Council lab for an antidote.
If I didn’t pass out first.