As we walked out of Orion’s office, my knees were still trembling from the effects of the chip. Navan’s arm was around my waist, helping me along, and I clung to his side, longing to be anywhere but here, with the dark cloud of the mission to Vysanthe looming over us both.

A guard walked slightly ahead of us, ensuring we moved in the right direction, but I could barely look at him. Unless it was Navan, I didn’t want to see another coldblood until I had to. I was done with their superiority, and their penchant for aggression and manipulation. I was done with the way they thought they could control everyone and everything, to meet their own ends.

My attention snapped to the sound of footsteps approaching. Glancing up through still-foggy eyes, I saw a small group of coldbloods walking straight toward us. Grimacing, I wondered if this was another of Orion’s tricks—had he granted us a moment of peace, only to dash it with violence? These coldbloods looked particularly grim, their faces crosshatched with scars and black tattoos that webbed across their skin. It was then that I noticed the familiar figure in the center of the nasty-looking trio.

Galo.

He looked surprisingly unhurt compared to Navan, but the grim expression on his coldblood escorts’ faces made me worry how much longer that would be the case. If Galo was experiencing fear, however, his posture wasn’t giving it away. He was standing tall, his chin held up almost defiantly—as though he’d rather die than give the coldbloods the satisfaction of seeing him cower—and as he spotted me, his face softened.

“So, we meet again,” he said as we drew closer, his lips spreading in a faint, crooked smile.

“Galo,” I breathed, concern for his safety setting my nerves on edge. Impulsively, I ran forward on wobbling legs and tried to reach out to grasp at him.

“Stay back,” one of the coldbloods snarled.

“You have to let him go!” I shouted, unable to take my eyes away from the lycan who had been so surprisingly kind to me. I remembered how gentle he had been when he took my hand in his as we traveled through the compound, like someone’s much-loved grandfather. Part of him must have known he was walking into a trap, but he had come along anyway—and suffered for it.

“Ah, there’s no use bargaining for an old goat like me, Riley.” Galo sighed. “You’d better stay back—these coldbloods are party poopers. They won’t let me go.”

“I’m not going to leave you here,” I said, tears pricking my eyes. Navan tried to pull me back, but I jerked away from him.

“Just take care of yourself, kid,” Galo said as the coldbloods pushed him forward. He set Navan with a stern look. “Take care of each other.”

Navan’s expression remained stoic. “Thank you.”

The coldbloods marched him around the corner and out of sight. Even to the very last second, Galo kept his chin up, that soft smile upon his canine lips.

“Galo!” I choked back a sob, hardly daring to imagine what would happen to him.

Navan pulled me toward him, enveloping me in his arms. I couldn’t muster the energy to fight him this time.

“Galo’s right,” Navan whispered. “Orion would never allow his release. He has complete control over us, with the deal we made, and…” His fingers brushed the back of my neck, where the chip was embedded beneath my skin, and I shivered at his touch.

“You have to promise me that we’ll come back for him,” I said, my voice firm even though it was shaking. “He risked so much to save you.”

Navan held me closer to his chest. “Once we return to Earth, I promise that I will do everything in my power to repay our debt to him.”

“Keep up!” our coldblood guard barked, having turned at the end of the corridor to see us lingering behind.

Navan pulled me forward, keeping his arm around me, though all I could think about was Galo’s face, and what punishment might lie in wait for him. I’d already seen what they’d put Navan through. To know that there was a species out in the universe that relished such brutality, and wielded such enormous power… I shook the thought away. If I continued down that mental path, I knew the figure standing next to me might start to shift, morphing from beautiful to terrifying in the blink of an eye. Navan was not his father, nor a true representation of his people, but there was a darkness in him. He was Vysanthean, after all.

The coldblood guard stopped in front of a door, and opened it wide for us to enter. As soon as we were inside, he loomed in the doorway, a nasty look on his face.

“While the chief makes his preparations, the pair of you are to stay here,” he said. “Don’t try to escape. We’ll know about it, if you do.”

With that, he slammed the door shut, my ears picking up on the faintest beep as it closed. We were locked in. Usually, I wouldn’t mind the idea of being locked up in close quarters with Navan, but right now I wanted to feel fresh air on my face, and see daylight on Earth once more, in case it was the last time I ever got the chance.

The room itself was much nicer than the one they’d previously kept Navan hostage in, but claustrophobia shivered through my veins, constricting my chest with panic. There was a sofa and a bed, with another door leading to a bathroom, but that was about the extent of it. The lack of windows underscored the fact that we were trapped.

“Are you okay?” Navan asked, his arms still around me, his eyes gazing down into mine. He paused, a grim smile turning up the corners of his mouth. “Stupid question.”

I nestled into his chest, wanting to feel the solidity of him around me. If I closed my eyes really tight, I could pretend none of this was happening. I could pretend we were in my childhood bedroom at home in New York, and he was there, comforting me over something stupid, something ordinary.

“I will keep you safe,” he promised, murmuring into my hair.

“If anyone can, my bet is on you,” I replied, keeping my eyes squeezed shut. It was hopeless. I couldn’t push the mission out of my head, no matter how hard I tried. There was too much at stake—too much that could go wrong. “What if, after all of this, the queens still find Earth, Navan? What if I mess up—what if they find out what I am, and what my blood can do, and come looking for my species? What will they do to humankind if they find us?”

It was a question that had been bugging me through everything that Orion had said. There were too many lies to keep juggling at one time. Surely, one would slip through, ruining everything? I was the evidence the queens needed that an immortality elixir could be created, and I was about to walk right into Vysanthe.

“I won’t let that happen,” Navan said, lifting my chin. “I swore I’d keep Earth safe, and I’m still going to.”

“You’re one man, Navan. And you told me yourself that it’s only a matter of time before one of the queens’ engineers cracks the technology that’ll enable them to find Earth.”

“We can’t worry about that now. Don’t be a defeatist,” he said, a little coldly.

I withdrew from him, surprised by the tone in his voice. Instantly, his features softened, his arms reaching out to pull me back into his embrace.

“I’m sorry.” He sighed. “It’s been a long day.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice.

“I’m just worried about taking you there, to Vysanthe,” he explained, his words tightening as he uttered the name of his home planet.

I let myself relax back into the closeness of him. “I understand,” I whispered. “I’m worried too. Seeing Galo in the hallway—I feel like I keep putting people in harm’s way. Orion would never have been able to make you go, if it wasn’t for me,” I admitted, pushing away tears. I didn’t want him to see how much it was getting to me. I was stronger than this, but at this moment, I didn’t feel it. In fact, I’d never felt so scared and vulnerable, fearing for the lives of those I cared about. If I messed up on Vysanthe, it wasn’t just Navan and I that I’d have to worry about—it was everyone on Earth. Everyone I loved. Angie, Lauren, Roger, Jean… All of them.

“Galo will be okay,” Navan promised, though I didn’t know whether or not he was saying it just to comfort me. “They’ll likely keep him to trade for one of their own, if the Fed were to capture a rebel coldblood.”

“Sometimes, there are things worse than death,” I reminded him, thinking of the chip in my neck, and the power Orion now wielded over me. Over us both.

Slowly, Navan lifted my head up, forcing me to look in his eyes. There was an oath in them, a promise that everything was going to be all right. It must have been hard for him to appear so confident, when I knew the insecurity he felt when it came to protecting other people. It stemmed from losing his sister, Naya, even though her death hadn’t been his fault.

Gratitude swelled in my heart for him, that he was being so strong for me. Seizing the moment, I looped my arms around his neck, my hands running through his hair, and pulled him to me, my lips crushing against his in a desperate kiss. Fireworks went off inside me, my mind emptying of everything but him. I wanted to feel his warmth surrounding me, strengthening my resolve for what was to come. This had to be worth fighting for, right?

It was frantic, his hands on my hips, running up the curves of my waist, bringing me as close to him as possible. His kisses weren’t soft or delicate, but that wasn’t what I wanted anyway. I wanted passion and fire, to remind me I was alive. As his mouth fell to my neck, planting fierce kisses along the fragile skin of my throat, I knew how easy it would be for him to taste the blood that ran in my veins. He never would, but the thought crossed my mind. My pulse quickened as his lips returned to mine, his tongue exploring my mouth. I felt the world fall away. It was just me and Navan, unified.

Like this, we could take on anything Orion and Vysanthe had in store.

About an hour later, the door burst open to reveal two guards. I had been sitting next to Navan, holding him, and immediately drew away, but the smug look on the faces of the two coldbloods told me they already knew what had been going on between us. Feeling my cheeks flush, I scowled at them, determined not to let them sully what Navan and I had.

“The ship’s ready,” one of them said.

“Best not keep them waiting,” the other added, flashing a fanged grin in my direction.

With that, Navan took my hand and led me out of the room, following the two guards through a labyrinth of hallways. We exited through a seemingly innocuous door, out into the bright light and fresh air of the real world. I had never been so glad to draw crisp oxygen into my lungs, or see the sun gleaming overhead, casting its warming rays down through the invisible barrier of the compound and onto my face.

The gentle caress of a light breeze on my skin felt almost heavenly. It seemed I would get to take one last look at Earth, before I left it… for who knew how long. There was a good chance I would never make it back.

“What if this all goes wrong?” I whispered urgently, gripping Navan’s hand.

There was a gleaming ship, similar in structure to Navan’s Soraya, standing in the middle of the open expanse of ground, the shimmering, liquid-metallic surface shifting beneath the light of the sun’s rays. It was all getting too real now. Never in a million years had I thought I’d leave Earth. A painfully short time ago, such a thing hadn’t been possible for someone like me. An astronaut maybe, after years and years of training, but not me.

“I’ll make it work. Trust me,” Navan replied, so casually I wanted to scream. How could he be so calm, in the face of something so life altering? I had a feeling he was doing it to spare my feelings, to show he was confident of our success, but that just led me to wonder what he was really thinking, beneath that stoic façade.

As promised, there were four coldbloods and two shifters waiting on the field in front of the ship, their eyes all turned toward us. I shuddered at the sight of the shapeshifters in their natural form, their pale flesh hanging from their limbs like melted pools of skin. I quickly looked elsewhere, taking in the faces of the four coldbloods. Lazar was there, though I couldn’t say it was particularly nice to see his familiar face. The other three were burly males with the same shaven buzzcut, though one had a shock of white-blond hair, while the other two had jet black. Three sets of impenetrable, dark eyes looked over me, making my skin crawl.

“Welcome aboard the Asterope,” Lazar announced, gesturing at the ship behind him.

Pressing a button on the side of the ship, Lazar prompted a gangway to slide out from the underbelly of the vessel, as a door shot upward with a click. With no time to waste, everyone entered, though Navan and I hung back, not wanting to be the first on board.

As soon as I stepped into the interior of the vessel, my heart sank. It was much smaller than I’d anticipated, with barely enough room for Navan to stand upright. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t something so tiny. I mean, where were we all going to sleep? Were there hidden pods somewhere, where we could rest our heads on the trip? I didn’t even know how long it was going to take, but I knew it would definitely be long enough to need to eat and sleep and move around a bit.

“I suppose we should get down to business—who is sleeping where, and who is sleeping with whom?” the blond-haired coldblood spoke up, a curious glint in his dark eyes, which, upon closer inspection, were actually a very deep shade of brown. His voice was gruff, with a hint of mischief in it.

Lazar shot him a look. “Not now, Kalvin,” he warned.

Kalvin shrugged. “Why not now? It’s a long journey, and I’m going to need some shuteye at some point. Might as well get it out of the way now, before we set off.”

Lazar sighed. “Well, I’m going to get us off the ground. You can talk amongst yourselves for a while. I’ll be sleeping in the cockpit, so don’t think to include me in your game of pairs,” he said, before disappearing through a door at the far end of the ship’s cramped main room. I watched him go, not feeling comfortable being left alone with three strange coldbloods and two shifters.

“So,” purred Kalvin, turning his intense stare in my direction, “who gets the girl?”