Elait sent updates as his ship made its way from Galaton to their location. Sophia was terrified about what would happen to her and her baby and could think of nothing else. When he finally arrived in their system, the pilot gave him coordinates to their hiding place within the asteroid belt.

The Breaking Dawn had taken heavy damage in the collision with the asteroid belt and fire from the Mulgor. Sophia’s piloting skills had saved them from certain destruction but their ship was beyond repair and barely able to sustain their life support.

Elait’s ship had a much stronger cloaking device that allowed him to sail past the Mulgor undetected. When his ship manifested right outside the windows of the Breaking Dawn, it nearly gave Sophia a heart attack.

But that couldn't compare with the fluttering in her heart at the prospect of meeting her mate for the first time. She hurried to her chambers and fixed her hair and face before picking up Hectosh. Gathering him in her arms, she stood and hurried down the hallway to the entrance of the bride ship.

Elait and his crew came through the entrance hatch and emerged into the hallway of the Breaking Dawn.

Sophia held Hectosh, breathing heavily and barely able to stay on her feet from the intensity of her heartbeat and the excitement in her chest.

When he saw her, their eyes locked. He covered the distance between them in two strides and looked from her to the baby and back again.

Her voice caught in her throat. He was more gorgeous than she could have ever imagined. The holoimages were nothing compared to this man standing before her. The height of him, his broad shoulders, the way he moved. Not to mention his masculine smell. It overpowered her senses and she was instantly light-headed.

For the very first time, they were in the same room, breathing the same air. He reached out to her and touched her shoulder. She looked up at him, her lips parted, her eyes watering with unshed tears of excitement.

In that moment, she knew that she needed him more than anything.

“Prepare your things, we are abandoning the Breaking Dawn.”

The crew of the bride ship hurried into action, packing up their things and readying for abandoning the ship.

Sophia didn't move, she waited for Elait to address her again. Slowly, he turned to look at her, but she still could not make her mouth form the words she so wanted to say. Finally, she spoke.

“This is your son,” she said at a whisper.

She handed the baby to his father and Elait took the child in his arms, clumsily, as if he had never held a baby before. Which of course he had not. A child hadn't been born on Galaton for a hundred years. Elait looked down at Hectosh with wide eyes.

“He is perfect, and strong,” Elait said.

“Like his father,” Sophia said, her voice cracking.

“We must hurry,” he said, reluctantly handing the baby back to her.

She took Hectosh and went to her room, confusion and desperation pounding in her brain. She could feel her desire growing deep in her core. At a time like this she should not be thinking about coupling, but it was all that she could think about.

Her desire for Elait was unbounded. As she threw her things into a bag, visions and her fantasies played across the screen of her mind. Sophia shook the thoughts out of her mind and quickly packed hers and Hectosh’s things. She hurried back to the exit hatch of the Breaking Dawn where the crew were all assembled and ready to depart.

The exit hatch opened and they walked through the tunnel that led to Elait’s ship, the Slipstream. When they boarded, she saw that it was a much more technologically advanced vessel than the bride ship. Once the exit hatch had been sealed, Elait addressed her.

“You will come with me,” he said, his voice tight.

“All right,” she said.

He led her down the hall and brought her to his private chambers. There was already a cradle set up for the baby in a side room off the master bedroom.

“Husband,” she started. “It is so good to finally meet you.”

“I have been holding back for so long. It is painful for me to even look at you. But I must first address the crew. Then, my love, we will be together,” he said.

“I need you,” she said, unable to hold back.

“Soon,” he said. “First, I must fully understand how this happened.”

“I was piloting the ship at the time,” she blurted out. “I am the one who piloted the ship away from the Mulgor attack. It is because of me that we are still alive.” She couldn’t lie to him. Not now. Not ever.

“That's impossible,” he said.

“But it's true.”

“What were you doing piloting the ship?”

“The pilot taught me everything he knew about the vessel. He let me fly from time to time when he needed a break. But one day, a Mulgor mothership appeared in the distance and immediately sent fighter jets out to attack us. I thought fast and piloted away as quickly as possible. We took some damage but I was able to outmaneuver them. I then took refuge here in this asteroid.”

“I will have the pilot’s head for this,” Elait growled.

“No! I did this of my own free will. You can’t blame him. He was overworked for almost a year. The only pilot on the ship. And I pestered him every day. I’ve been a pilot all my life. My skills and attitude may be the only reason we are still alive.”

“You are my bride. I do not want you put in that kind of danger. You will not pilot again,” he said, turning to leave the chambers.

Sophia was hit hard with mixed feelings.

She had come to space for the opportunity to pilot a spaceship. And now her mate was telling her that she could never pilot again. She wouldn't stand for it. But then she looked down at Hectosh and knew that she could not compromise his safety and security.

Her first duty was as his mother. And she would never back down on that. She only wished that her mate could see that she was valuable for more than just her ability to produce young. She had a mind; she had abilities and talents. And she refused to waste them.

She walked over to the crib and put Hectosh down for a nap. With a melancholy weight on her shoulders, she paced the chambers and looked out the windows at the dark walls of the asteroid she'd been staring at for the last week. Things had to get better. They had to. She couldn't spend her life with a man who refused to see her for who she was.