They made it through the door and the Oscavians didn’t see them. They flew along a steady route away from the base and the Oscavians still didn’t see them. They broke atmo and nothing shot after them. But Sierra didn’t fully let out her breath until they were several thousand kilometers away from the base and speeding their way towards the right jump gate, still wrapped up in the ship’s powerful stealth engine.
“Our path is mapped,” Mindy told them. “We should reach Earth in a week.”
After they were through the jump gate, Sierra got up and went to tend to the women. She did a head count and checked it again when she only came up with eleven survivors, a certain blonde conspicuously absent. Rather than level an accusation at the group, she crouched near Quinn’s chair. “Please tell me Laurel is locked in a room somewhere on this ship.”
Quinn’s head whipped around and she did the same count that Sierra had just done, eyes wide. “I could have sworn she was with us. I saw her all the way to the hangar, I’m sure of it.”
Sierra nodded and stood. She surveyed the women again and saw a few wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Has anyone seen Laurel?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
A few looked away from her, but one, Valerie, smirked. “I guess she missed the bus.”
Rage flashed through Sierra and she took a step towards the woman before she felt Quinn’s hand on her leg. Footsteps down the corridor let her know Raze was on his way, her emotions flashing in his mind. “You left her behind?” she yelled. “It was the middle of a battle!”
“One that she called down on us,” Valerie crossed her arms and sneered. “We couldn’t trust that traitor not to sell us out as soon as we made it somewhere else. She made her choice.”
“She didn’t have a choice!” Even though she knew she should keep her voice down, Sierra didn’t care. “It could have been any of you who go stuck with a control chip and forced to do that shit. You are all—”
Raze placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked back to see him shake his head slightly. Even if a distant part of her understood what some of the women had done, she wanted to tear into them. No matter what Laurel had done, it wasn’t okay to leave her on the battlefield where she was vulnerable to attack and capture.
“There are three rooms just down the hall.” She forced false evenness into her voice. “Choose your quarters. We’ll be home in a week.”
She grabbed Raze’s hand and tugged him through the sea of women to the room she’d claimed for them. She’d managed to rescue her bag full of a few changes of clothes, and luckily the ship was stocked with enough soap to keep them all clean for the next few days. Raze had nothing but the clothes on his back. And her.
“They left her there to die,” she said against his chest as he pulled her close.
Raze brushed his lips against her forehead. “If any of my people find her, they’ll keep her safe and remove whatever is in her brain making her do this.” Neither of them mentioned what would happen if the Oscavians found her first.
Crashing behind the weight of Laurel’s disappearance was another realization. “Are you okay with leaving like this?” Her head snapped up to see calm dark eyes. “We never got around to this conversation and I know how much your—”
His finger covered her lips as she started to speed up and spiral into panic. After a second, he replaced it with his mouth, capturing a quick kiss. “My home is at your side, denya. Don’t make this one of your burdens.” He tugged her forward until they were both laying down on the narrow cot and he held her close, his arms around her.
Sierra played with the green fingers in front of her and smiled when her hands roamed over his knuckles, remembering the dangerous secret he kept hidden there. After a moment, a laugh burst out of her and she couldn’t stop it, rocking against Raze as a realization crashed down. He didn’t say anything, just held her as hysteria swept through and left her a mess, almost like she’d been crying. Several minutes later, she calmed down enough to breathe evenly again. “My dad is going to freak the fuck out when he meets you.”
Raze tightened his hold. “He’ll object? Can he? I am not familiar with Earth mating customs.”
That sent her off laughing again and she vaguely realized that it was the stress of the battle and the loss of Laurel that had her off this cliff. It was laugh or cry, and Sierra hated crying. “Sorry.” She lifted her mate’s hand up and kissed it. “No, he can’t object. I mean, he can say shit, but he has no hold over me like that. I’m an adult. He’s just…” Was there a good word to describe her dad? “He adopted me when I was little out of a very bad situation, and I think that makes him more protective than a lot of parents. He’s always wished I were a soldier rather than in intelligence, and he doesn’t understand the choices I’ve made. He might think you’re a rebellion.”
Raze didn’t react to her roundabout confession to being a spy, which she hoped was a good thing. Sol Intelligence and Defense were going to have a lot to say about everything that just happened, but they’d never objected to aliens on principle before. There might even be a place there for her mate, if he wanted it. But she’d save those suggestions for later, when they weren’t riding a survival high and still in the process of escape.
Raze kissed her cheek. “A rebellion?”
“You’re not,” she felt the need to reassure him, and then it was Raze’s turn to laugh. She flipped over so they were face to face and knew she’d never get tired of looking at her mate. He was still so new to her, but he’d become vital, and she’d spend her life memorizing every piece of him until there was no way she didn’t know him. “I can’t promise you that it’s going to be easy,” she warned.
“I don’t need easy,” he said. “Just you.”
They lay there together as the ship rumbled closer to home, closer to an entirely different set of problems. Was the ambassador she’d seen in that picture a threat? Would her father have a problem with her mate? Would the survivors be okay once they were back on Earth? None of it was easy, and she couldn’t guarantee success. But lying next to Raze, it didn’t seem impossible. If Earth was under threat, they’d face it. They’d find a way to help the survivors, despite what had happened to Laurel, and somehow she’d bring her father around to suddenly having a giant green son in law that she was crazy about.
“I can’t wait to figure this all out,” she said, and kissed him. That part came as easy as breathing.
***
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