Isla

Lexi and I burst into tears at the same time.

“Oh my god, Isla. Where are you? Are you alright? I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Lexi sobs.

I sense Ryock coming up behind me. His big hands come down on my shoulders and Isla’s eyes widen as she takes him in.

I wipe at my tears with the back of my hand and take several deep breaths, drawing on Ryock’s reassuring presence to calm myself.

Though I’ve been waiting for this day ever since we crash landed on this planet, I couldn’t be sure I’d ever my sister again. So many things could have gone wrong. Yarrel could have been lying to us, or he could have gotten killed before he ever made it to her.

When my throat finally loosens up enough for me to speak, I answer her. “We’re on a tropical planet. I’m sorry, I can’t remember what it’s called.”

“Galierre,” a helpful voice pipes in.

I blink and take a better look at the projection. Now that the shock of being reunited with my sister is wearing off, I can finally take in the entire picture. There are several medical machines surrounding Lexi, a floating silvery orb, and a tall, stern-looking silver lizard guy with green glowing eyes standing beside her bed.

There’s also a little silver baby cradled in her arms that looks a lot like him.

Wait a minute. “Is that your baby?”

Lexi beams a proud smile and looks down lovingly at the baby. “Yes, his name is Thorn.”

The baby coos and snuggles closer to her.

So many realizations hit me at once, if Ryock wasn’t standing behind me I’d probably fall on my ass.

His hands squeeze around my shoulders, steadying me.

Lexi looks up and asks tentatively, “Is that your… mate?”

Still reeling from all the shit dawning on me, all I can do is dumbly nod my head.

Lexi smiles and her eyes glisten. It looks like she’s about to burst into more tears. “I’m so glad you have someone to protect you. I’ve been so worried about you.”

There’s something about seeing my big sister brought to tears that makes me feel like crying again.

Between the two of us, she’s the strong one. The reliable one. The only other time I’ve ever seen her cry like this is when our parents passed away.

“His name is Ryock,” I push out and smile in an effort to keep my shit together.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ryock,” Lexi chokes out.

“It is… nice to meet you, too,” Ryock answers back.

Lexi nods and I hear her suck in a breath before she looks to the silver guy hovering over her bed. “This is Maul, my bonded.”

Maul’s glowing green eyes meet mine. At first they’re almost too sharp, too strange and intense. Then something softens inside them and he looks at me with a fondness I don’t deserve yet.

“It is nice to finally meet you, Isla,” he says in a deep, gravelly voice.

I force my lips to curve up into another smile and he returns it. But if I’m being completely honest, the guy is pretty weird looking. His features are too pointed and too reptilian to be mistaken for human.

After my fun little experience with Gararl, I think I’ve developed an aversion to lizard-like men.

Maul’s eyes slide away from mine and I watch his face harden as he looks up to Ryock. I glance up at Ryock to see his features just as hard as Maul’s.

The way the two of them glare at each other makes me thankful that there’s miles and miles of space between us.

“I’m Marketh, by the way. In case anyone was wondering,” someone says sarcastically, but for the life of me I can’t see anyone else in the projection.

Noting my confused expression, Lexi gives a small, embarrassed smile and points to the floating orb. “Marketh is Maul’s symbiote,” she explains as if that’s supposed to make sense to me.

She looks to the orb. “I’m sorry, Marketh.

The orb moves, floating closer to her bed. “It’s okay, Lexi. I forgive you. This time.”

Lexi rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “He’s also an annoying smartass. I apologize in advance.”

The orb seems to buzz with agitation and then it says, “I resemble that remark.”

Lexi and I both laugh, and our laughter draws Maul and Ryock’s attention. Maul breaks his death glare to look towards the orb. “Behave, Marketh.”

The orb buzzes and flares. “Oh, I am. While I’ve been floating here, politely waiting to be introduced, I’ve been running all the calculations.”

Maul scowls. “What calculations?”

“Oh, just the calculations we need to get to Galierre from here. From my estimations, it will take us approximately five days, fourteen hours, twenty-five minutes and seventeen seconds. If we don’t stop along the way.”

Maul shakes his head and my heart drops when he says, “We’re not going to Galierre.”

From Ryock I sense a burst of relief.

Lexi gasps and she looks to Maul with disbelief. “What do you mean we’re not going to Galierre?”

Maul stiffens and his expression becomes resigned. “My heart, you just had a baby…” he explains.

Lexi sits up straighter and narrows her eyes at Maul. “And?”

Maul glances towards the orb as if he’s looking for help there, but Marketh remains silent. With a sigh, he looks back to Lexi and says, “And neither you, nor our newly born son, should be traveling yet.”

“I’m not some delicate flower,” my sister protests. “I don’t know about you Rathturians, but we humans are designed to be able to have our babies and get right back up and keep moving.”

“Rathturians lay eggs. They—” Marketh starts and stops as soon as he gets his very own glare from Lexi.

“Shut it, Marketh,” Lexi and Maul both say in unison.

Marketh grumbles something unintelligible and zips away from the bed.

“Maul,” Lexi says, looking back to him.

Her eyes narrow again but she doesn’t say anything.

No, it seems like she’s just letting her eyes do all the talking. I watch the two of them closely. Though neither one of them speaks, I could swear from the small changes in their expressions that they’re somehow communicating.

The two of them just seem to stare at each other for a long time and it becomes extremely uncomfortable watching them.

I shift, waiting for someone to speak, to break the silence.

After another couple of minutes, Lexi eyes become pleading and finally Maul seems to give in.

“Very well, my heart. We shall depart immediately,” he says with a sigh.

Lexi sags against her bed and smiles with relief. Knowing that she just had a baby and she’s obviously still recovering, fills me with guilt. She definitely shouldn’t be coming after me.

“Lexi…” I start and she shoots me a look.

“No. Don’t even give me that look. I’ve been looking for you for over a year and a half now. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to stop me from coming for you,” she says with a determined glint in her eye.

“A year and a half?!” I repeat and feel faint.

I mean, after seeing that she had a baby, I kind of figured I’ve been missing longer than I remembered. But a year and half… where the hell was I? What happened to me?

Seriously, what the fuck?!

Lexi frowns and all eyes turn to me.

“Yes, I’ve been searching for you for over a year and a half now. Since the night you disappeared.”

My ears buzz and I have to shake my head to keep my vision from clouding.

“I…” I don’t even know what the hell to say to that.

My heart starts to race and I desperately think back, willing my brain to pull up the memories of what happened, but all I get is one big blank.

“Do you remember what happened? Do you remember Jack?” she asks.

I shake my head some more. “I don’t remember anything. And what does Jack have to do with this?”

Lexi and Maul share a knowing look.

I have no clue what it means, but it’s starting to piss me off a little bit. Or maybe just knowing that I lost so much of my life is pissing me off period.

How does that even happen? How? Is it some kind of amnesia?

“Maybe we should wait to discuss this in person,” Maul suggests.

Lexi nods her head in agreement. “We’ve got a lot of packing to do.” She looks back to me and her face softens. “Isla, I love you. I’m coming for you. Just hold tight.”