Bianca suddenly regained control of herself. “We have to go. This is a trap! They’re going to blow up the factory!”

  Of course. Why didn’t he see it sooner? Soren didn’t hesitate. He scooped Bianca up in his arms and ran at the same time as he contacted Arus, telling him to find a way to disable the explosives or jam the signal if it was possible. They had made it down the stairs and were halfway across the wide empty space in the main factory floor when that voice spoke once more over the loudspeakers.

  “Enjoy hell, alien scum!”

  Soren roared as he tried to reach the freedom of the doors. The blast knocked him to the ground and sent Bianca rolling away from him.

  The ceiling above them shuddered from the explosion, and he had only seconds to scramble to his feet and throw himself over Bianca, pinning her tightly to the nearest wall as the factory crumbled down all around them.

  12

  Bianca blinked away the dust in her eyes, coughing violently as she tried to move, but she couldn’t. She was pinned. By what? Oh right, a building had fallen on top of her. How was she still alive?

  The dizzy thought danced around her aching head as she tried to process what had happened. Then her gaze settled on Soren in the suffocating darkness. His body was pressed against hers, crushing her into the floor. Everything hurt, even her eyes.

  “Soren…” She shifted an inch, and it cost her so much energy that she went limp, panting for breath in the dark ruins of the factory.

  “Soren, are you okay?” She breathed his name, and he stiffened above her.

  “No,” he rasped. “Not again…can’t be trapped…” He panicked, thrashing above her, the rubble still groaning and shifting around them.

  She realized he must be remembering his time trapped on Zaruth, waiting to die in the Wailing Pit. The claustrophobia of that experience had to be magnified exponentially right now. She had to find a way to reach through his fear and get him to calm down, or neither of them would make it out of this alive.

  Bianca tried to bottle up her own fear and the numbing pain that was slowly spreading through her limbs.

  “Soren, it’s okay. Listen to me. Just breathe.” She was able to get one hand on his chest and caress him in small reassuring strokes. “It’s okay. We’ll both live. We can breathe. We’ll find a way out.” She was lying, though. She couldn’t breathe. Not enough fresh air was coming in. Dizziness swamped her as she kept trying to focus on him. She couldn’t imagine how scared he had to be, trapped again like this.

  “Bianca, I can’t move. I can’t” He grunted, and the debris around them shifted an inch.

  “Don’t panic,” she whispered. “Just breathe…” Her vision turned fuzzy, and she knew she wasn’t going to stay conscious for much longer. Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes. If this was it, there was something she had to say before the end.

  “Soren…I love you. Don’t forget me if I…” Blackness closed in around her, and her hand fell away from his chest. She thought she heard him roar her name as she fell deeper into a quiet nothingness.

  Soren felt her heartbeat slow as her hand fell away from him. He closed his eyes, the three hundred years of loss and isolation spurring something other than crippling fear in him. Now it came out in rage. It exploded through him, igniting every fiber of his being until he was pushing back against the debris above, demanding it bow to his will. He roared until his voice was stripped away, and at last the concrete and steel began to succumb. And then the rubble was tumbling to the sides all around him, and he could see the sky and take in fresh air once more. He picked Bianca up, cradling her limp body as he stumbled from the wreckage.

  “Soren!” Arus raced over, his face ashen. “We were trying to locate you in the rubble, but something was interfering with our scanners.” He nodded at several other Krinar searching the rubble with small handheld devices, including Sef. “Is there anyone else inside?”

  “No,” he rasped. “Just us.”

  Sef joined them. “I felt you…panicking,” he whispered and touched his shoulder.

  “It was just Zaruth all over again,” Soren breathed. “I couldn’t get free, but…” He looked down at Bianca, and his blood turned to ice. “She needs medical attention.” He stumbled, and Sef caught his arm to steady him.

  “Take her, Arus.” He offered his friend his charl. Her life was fading, and he was unable to help her. This was far worse than anything he’d ever felt while trapped on Zaruth.

  Arus carried her to the ship and laid her down on a bed in the medical bay. Then he began moving a jansha healing device over her. Soren fell to his knees beside the bed, his body hurting like hell. Sef removed his own healing device and began treating Soren.

  “Collapsed lungs, gunshot to her calf, broken arm, broken clavicle. A piece of rebar punctured her spine…” Arus looked to him in concern. “If we don’t inject her with the nanocytes, she won’t survive.”

  Soren grasped the hand of Bianca’s unbroken arm. His eyes burned with tears. Tears he had not shed since those first few moments when he’d climbed from the dark wailing pit on Zaruth and tasted free air again. He had wept like a child then—no, like a man who’d found salvation after believing all was lost. No one had ever seen him like that. Emotionally and physically weak. But Arus was seeing him now, tears streaking down his face, and he was thankful his friend did not judge him.

  “She might hate me forever for taking the choice of immortality away from her, but I can’t let her die. Inject her.” He nodded at Arus, who quickly injected the nanocytes through a slender white tube into Bianca’s chest. The nanocytes would be transported quickly through her bloodstream and start healing the grievous wounds faster.

  “She’s healing—she’s taking the nanocytes well,” Arus assured him. “I’m sorry, Soren. We should have scanned the building before you went in.”

  “There wasn’t time. We didn’t know the extent of her injuries.” Soren’s words came out soft, but he felt almost wooden, unable to move until he saw her begin to breathe normally.

  “I would say she’s stable now. She’s going to be fine. But we should get her to DC. Her father will need to see her.”

  Soren moved to lift his female up, ignoring the pain of his own body. He would be fully healed soon.

  “I can carry her,” Arus offered gently.

  “No…thank you, Arus. I need to do it. I’m getting stronger.” He was grateful his friend had left him his pride. They left the medical bay on Arus’s ship and moved into temporary resting quarters that had a slender bed. Soren laid her down on the bed and used Arus’s jansha to aid the healing process as much as possible. When they landed on the front lawn of the White House, Secret Service agents were there waiting for them.

  “What’s the status of Hummingbird?” one of the men demanded.

  “Healing,” Soren grunted. Arus pulled the agents aside to debrief them while Soren carried Bianca into the White House. President Wells was waiting inside, and he followed Soren as he carried Bianca to her old bedroom.

  “Oh God, Bianca!” Wells gasped. “Let me see her!” He reached for her, but Soren shook his head solemnly.

  “Open the door for me. You can see her once she’s in her bed. I want her comfortable so she’ll heal faster.”

  Wells opened the door for Soren to enter. It was decorated with antique furniture, but the walls were still covered with posters of her favorite movies and photos of her friends. At least she’d be in familiar surroundings when she woke up.

  Soren set her down on the bed and started moving the jansha over her body once more.

  “What happened?” Wells demanded.

  “The resistance fighters didn’t care about us actually leaving. I doubt they ever believed we would leave. They wanted us dead. The Krinar ambassador and the president’s daughter killed together. I believe that would have made a big statement.” Soren could now see the moves and countermoves being made by the resistance fighters. His and Bianca’s deaths could have caused a severe setback for the peaceful relations between their peoples. Blame could have been thrown in every direction—Krinar, human government, and resistance alike—which was no doubt what they wanted.

  “Because you and my daughter…” Wells’s face was red now. “You are…” He still couldn’t continue.

  “Together, despite your orders, and those of my people. I hate to remind you, President Wells, but she is mine. It never mattered what you said, nor did it matter what my own Council said. It only mattered what she said. And once she said yes, I would have battled the universe for her.” Soren brushed a lock of Bianca’s hair back. She made a soft noise and leaned into his touch.

  To his surprise, Wells chuckled. “A total eclipse of the heart, eh?”

  “What?” Soren was half listening, and the reference was confusing.

  “It’s an old song by…never mind. Point is, the love you feel for her eclipses everything, right?”

  “Yes,” Soren agreed, now understanding.

  “It was the same for me with her mother. She was out of my league. Smart, beautiful, compassionate. I was a lovestruck teenager whenever she was around.” Wells smiled. But then he met Soren’s gaze solemnly. “Tell me, what does this mean for you and my daughter? What life will she have? I don’t mean as your companion or pet like many charls are. I want to know, what does she mean to you, really?”

  Soren considered his words and gazed at Bianca. His heart fluttered as her lips parted and she murmured his name, still asleep.

  “She is my eclipse, as you said. There will be nothing I will not give her. There will be nothing I can deny her, either. Friends, her own life, her career. Everything that matters to her now matters infinitely more to me because of our bond.” His throat tightened. “I waited so long to find her. My lilana.”

  “Lilana?” Wells asked.

  “It means soulmate or precious one. She will have all the freedom she wishes, so long as I can be at her side.” As he spoke those words, Bianca’s eyes opened, and she glanced around, eyes wide with fear.

  “Soren, are you okay? How did we get…” Her eyes drifted to her father. “Dad? What are you doing here?”

  “Bee, honey, you’re back at the White House.” Wells smiled at his daughter, and Soren felt a flash of envy for the man and the closeness he had with his daughter. He had known Bianca her entire life, and Soren had only been able to call her his for a few weeks. He reminded himself that he would get the rest of their very long lives to be with her.

  “I’m okay, Dad.” Bianca moved slightly as her father gently knelt by the bed to hug her. After a moment, they both let go, smiling at each other. Then she leaned into Soren’s touch, which made his heart tighten in his chest.

  “Is Claudia okay? She was hurt, unconscious when I was kidnapped. Can you go check on her?”

  “She’s fine. She’s at the hospital, but she has a minor concussion. She’ll be able to go home tomorrow,” Soren explained.

  “Thank God, I was so scared for her.” Bianca sighed, closing her eyes briefly. Then she looked at Soren with fresh fear. “Soren, there was a woman there…I don’t think she was a part of the resistance movement, but I think she hired them. I heard part of their conversation. Her name is Tarah Crowley. She owns a tabloid.” Bianca’s eyes were clear of pain now, and only a weariness from healing showed in her face.

  “Tarah Crowley?” her father snarled. “I should have let the FBI throw the book at her.”

  “No need,” Soren said darkly. “I will handle her. She threatened my people, and we have far more effective and lasting ways to punish someone.”

  President Wells cleared his throat. “I normally would be concerned upon hearing that, but because of what she did to my daughter, I’ll certainly be glad to let you Ks deal with her.”

  When Bianca tried to sit up, Soren pressed her back into the bed. “Please, rest. You sustained severe injuries, lilana. I need you to rest while the nanocytes do their work.”

  It was the wrong thing to say. Her eyes widened, and she stared at him. “But we were going to wait, Soren. I hadn’t…I wasn’t ready.”

  “I’m sorry, lilana, but you were dying from your injuries. It was the only way to save you.” Soren squeezed her hand, but she pulled away, a look of pain on her face.

  “Nanocytes?” Wells asked. “What did you do to her?”

  Soren faced the president and then looked at his agents. “Send them outside, and I will tell you.”

  Wells agreed and sent his security detail outside, and Soren told him about the nanocytes and their immortality benefits.

  “So these nano things saved her life?”

  Soren answered with a nod.

  The president glanced toward his daughter. “Then I’m glad she has them. If I’d been in the same position, I would’ve made the same call.”

  Bianca stared at them. “You don’t understand. I’ll never grow old, but you will.”

  “I will live out my life as intended. I can accept that, sweetheart.”

  Soren saw Bianca’s eyes fill with tears, and he couldn’t bear to see her in such pain.

  “Actually, if President Wells makes it clear he welcomes our union, Bianca, I may be able to petition the Council for your father. They recently allowed another human charl’s family to be given nanocytes. It’s possible they might make an exception for your father once he is out of office and away from the public light.”

  The blossom of hope in Bianca’s eyes made his chest tighten, and she reached for his hand again.

  “Thank you,” she whispered. He almost forgot her father was right next to him, or he would have tackled her on the bed—gently, of course—and covered her face with kisses.

  Wells’s eyes were wide, and he looked a little stunned. “Thank you, Soren.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. The Council will have to agree, but if we show them that we are family now, it will strengthen our case.”

  “I know I promised you my blessing before you left, and you kept your end of the bargain. I stand by my word. But you’ll have to marry her in the human way. Public relations, and all that.”

  “Marriage? Guys, slow down. I’m only twenty-one,” Bianca reminded them.

  “I will marry her,” Soren promised. Bianca huffed, which made Soren chuckle. “When she is ready,” he added.

  “You had better plan one heck of a proposal, buddy,” Bianca muttered, but Soren heard a hint of amusement in her voice.

  “I will. Once I’m certain you’re safe.” Ignoring her father, he cupped Bianca’s face and kissed her, reminding her of everything they had to look forward to once she was feeling better. When their mouths parted, he relished her dazed, happy look. It was the perfect way to leave her for now. Because he had to go.

  He was going to track down the resistance fighters and Tarah Crowley and make sure they could never hurt her again.

  “You’re sure about him, Bee?” her father asked after Soren and his brother, Sef, left to track down Tarah Crowley. Bianca was still resting in her bed in the White House, and her father had pulled up an armchair nearby to keep her company.

  “More sure than anything in my life,” she assured him.

  Her father’s brows drew together. “You used to be so scared of him, ever since K-Day. You avoided him every chance you had when you were here.”

  “I thought it was fear of him, but it was fear of the unknown. I know him now, I know his heart, his soul. He sees only endless potential in me, and in all humans. He wants to help us, to make us their equals. He has faith in us and faith in me.”

  “Honey, you are his equal. The Krinar aren’t better than us. Not when it comes to what lies in our hearts. Yes, they have better technology, but that doesn’t mean they have any more nobility and strength of purpose than you do.”

  Bianca chuckled. “That’s not what I meant. I mean I feel like he fits with me. It’s not just chemical—it’s emotional, even spiritual. When I think about the future, I always see him by my side. He’s home to me, a home I’ve been looking for all my life. I just never knew it until I found him.”

  Her father cleared his throat, looking away as he blinked away the tears. “A good father wouldn’t stand in the way of a man like that.”

  “I would say a good father would welcome a man like that with open arms, as the son he never had.” Bianca curled her fingers around her father’s hand. She’d always wondered if her mother’s death had left her father feeling that he had missed out on the chance for a son. She had tried to be the best daughter she could, but still the question lingered.

  “You know that you’re all I’ve ever wanted and needed, Bee. But I’ll be glad to have someone like Soren as a son-in-law.” He suddenly laughed. “Though I can’t imagine him wanting to go throw a ball on the front lawn.”

  Bianca giggled. “Probably not. But maybe he likes golf?”

  “You think?” Her father perked up.

  “I honestly don’t know.” She laughed even harder than her father. It helped ease her fears about what dangers Soren might be facing while he was away.

  Please be careful. She sent the message out into the universe, hoping he could somehow hear her.

  Tarah leaned back in her desk chair, gleefully watching a news report on one of the local stations in New Jersey. Any moment now, the newscaster would mention the breaking story about the bombing of an old tire factory. And thanks to the information she’d fed them, they would put the pieces together and speculate that Ambassador Soren and the president’s daughter had been having a torrid love affair and were killed by Krinar terrorists in revenge for their cross-species relationship. By the time the truth was discovered, it wouldn’t matter. The damage would be done.

  The news station had agreed to pay her well for the story, and the funds should be hitting her bank account at any moment. She retrieved her phone from her desk and opened the banking app. Nothing yet. Might have to wait for the next business day.

  A sudden knock on her office door made her curse.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18