AVREN

I couldn’t believe Mr. Verrat was the person behind the attacks. Why would someone try to profit from the tragedy of the Auxem?

I didn’t know what I was going to do. I couldn’t let him hurt Gwen, but I wouldn’t hand Vanessa over to a maniac, either. He planned to kill her.

Even though she had chosen her career over me yet again, she had a hold on my heart. She hadn’t said anything to me about it because she knew I would be upset. I meant nothing to her, and she was going to leave.

Vanessa had cracked my heart in two, but that didn’t mean I was going to let her die. I had to figure out how to save both of them.

Mr. Verrat looked at me. “You have to make a decision, Avren. If you want Gwen and her unborn child to live, meet me at these coordinates.” He tapped his communicator, and a location appeared on my computer. “As for Vanessa, I don’t know why you’re trying to protect her; she’s just going to leave you again. It’s in her nature. She’s not worth it. Her true love is her career, and that is where she’ll find her happily ever after.”

He was deliberately driving a knife into my heart and twisting it. I couldn’t look at him. How could he could say those things to me?

I had trusted him.

Mr. Verrat flashed Vanessa a dirty look before walking to the balcony. As we watched, he pulled out his wings and grinned at us. Mr. Verrat jumped off the edge and sailed into the skies. He was as old as my father, but age hadn’t slowed him down at all.

“Taking out his wings didn’t hurt him at all.” I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. “He must be taking his own drugs.”

“Good for him, but we have problems of our own to deal with.” Vanessa was determined to pull my mind back to the issues at hand. “I think we should do what he wants us to. We’ll meet with him. I can’t imagine he’s going to kill me.”

He had just tried to kill her several times. “I hate to contradict you, Vanessa, but he’s tried to kill you before. He means it.”

“I’m not going to have Gwen’s death, or her child’s, on my conscience.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Neither will I. We’ll figure out a way to save all three of you. Let’s go, my family has arrived for my birthday. It’s going to be one to remember.”

Vanessa put a hand on my arm to stop me. “Avren, you’re going to have to give me to him if there’s no other way.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“You were prepared to die as long as it would save your race.”

“Yes, but you wouldn’t let me.” I felt my jaw clench. “And I’m not going to let you sacrifice yourself to save Gwen. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

* * *

VANESSA

Two hours later, the Madellans stood in the courtyard under a darkening sky. It looked like a thunderstorm was approaching.

I glanced around at everyone, feeling a little disoriented. It wasn’t how I imagined a typical family. None of the men were wearing shirts. They had their wings out and were ready to fly. They each wore a leather belt across their chests with a sheathed short sword on their backs. I knew they also carried blasters in their pockets, although they weren’t visible at the moment.

Arnon and Jayne were hugging and whispering to each other — her light head stood out against his dark one. Ayrie and Elle sat on a bench, holding hands. He was talking to her earnestly, and she appeared to be reassuring him. Allex and Priya were kissing passionately, without regard to anyone watching. I turned my eyes away from them, feeling like I should give them privacy even if they hadn’t asked for it.

Avren and Anders were isolated from the rest, standing and talking together. Avren put his hand on Anders’ shoulder. They stepped apart a moment later, and I felt Anders’ empty eyes look at me.

He looked shattered and destroyed. He and Gwen had already saved our lives once. My heart went out to him.

When I thought about Gwen being a prisoner of that asshole, my heart ached. I was sure we could have been good friends if I had the chance to get to know her. Our potential friendship would never exist, because if the Madellan plans worked, Avren and I would finish our experiments, and I would move on to the job at Genetic Futures.

Avren wasn’t going to forgive me, and I didn’t want him to. My epiphany in the cave wouldn’t make a difference. I loved him, but I wasn’t right for him. Everything would work out for the best.

If it didn’t, the least I could do was help protect Gwen.

Arnon tossed a small package to Anders. “It’s a personal force field. It will protect you from the EMP blast and projectiles and will extend to anyone you touch. Be careful with it.”

Anders nodded at his oldest brother, stowing the device in his pocket.

Avren patted Anders on the shoulder before approaching me. His eyes locked onto mine.

I wriggled around in the tight, protective body suit I wore beneath my clothes. The Madellans borrowed it from their planet’s secret service detail. It was state of the art but uncomfortable.

Avren took one of my hands. His chest was bare, and I could hardly keep my eyes off it. The snow-white wings made him look like an angel. His gray eyes burned with an unnatural intensity.

“Are you ready to go, Madellan?” I tried to keep a light tone to the conversation.

“Not at all, but I’m going anyway. Vanessa, before we leave, I need to tell you something.” He paused.

I held my breath and could barely make my voice go above a whisper. “Tell me what?”

Emotions flashed across his face too quickly for me to read them.

Ayrie called out to Avren. “It’s time.”

Avren shook his head. Had he changed his mind? “Don’t try to be a hero, okay? No one has to sacrifice themselves. We’ll look after her. You know what you’re supposed to do, Vanessa.”

The plan was for us to make the trade. The brothers would swoop in and grab both of us, taking out Mr. Verrat’s thugs if they had to. We had security coming to back us up, but the Madellans didn’t fully trust anyone else after Mr. Verrat’s betrayal.

We also had an advantage Mr. Verrat wouldn’t know about — we were going to make the exchange in an open field. But Gwen and Anders had brought one of the new fighters to Auxem.

It had a stealth mode. When it was running, a person could stand beside it and not know anything was next to them unless they reached out and touched it. We were going to stuff it full of Auxem men. It would be a tight fit, but the Madellan brothers and security guards would be in there. If we needed help, they would open the bottom hatch, and dozens of Auxem would fly out to save everyone.

Theoretically.

I noticed Avren had a strange look in his eyes, and I didn’t like it. “Avren, is something the matter?”

“Everything’s fine. Just remember what I said.” He looked nervous. I wondered if he was keeping something from me.

“Madellan, spill it. What are you keeping from me?”

“Nothing, Vanessa. It doesn’t matter. I have a backup plan.”

“Damn it, Madellan, what are you talking about? You have to tell me.”

Avren’s face closed off immediately.

Anders called out to us. “Avren, it’s time to go. You lovebirds can finish your conversation later.”

Avren pressed a quick kiss to my lips and pulled me to our hovercraft. Everyone else would follow in the fighter.

What was he doing? If he wouldn’t tell me, it couldn’t be anything good.

* * *

AVREN

I felt around surreptitiously in my pocket, checking to make sure the dispenser was still there. My hand closed around the cylinder, and I stifled a sigh of relief.

When I placed the end of the container against my thigh and pushed a button, it would distribute a serum into my bloodstream, injecting nanobots into my body which would alter the genes in my regenerative cells. Over time, they would replace the genetic code in every part of my body.

My wings were the next target of the nanobots. Changing my cells was permanent, but slow. Modifying the wings directly would let me experience the changes almost immediately. We hoped test subjects would be able to deploy their wings without pain within three days of injection.

I had retrieved the dose while Vanessa was showering and changing.

With luck, Mr. Verrat’s attempt to destroy our research had failed. Even though he had tried to erase everything we had stored electronically, I had backups I hoped he didn’t know about. Before we began work in the laboratory, Anders had helped me set up a covert backup system.

I tried to be meticulous about everything. Mr. Verrat should have remembered that. He seemed to remember everything else I wanted him to forget. I was surprised he remembered how the relationship with Vanessa devastated me the first time around. I didn’t appreciate him bringing up my folly like it meant nothing. It was humiliating.

But I would make him pay. We were going to retrieve Gwen and bring Mr. Verrat to justice. He had abandoned my family for credits he would never be able to spend.

* * *

When we approached the landing site, we could see Mr. Verrat in a hovercraft. When we landed, he emerged with Gwen, holding a blaster to her head.

She looked like she was ready to kill someone. If she could get the drop on Mr. Verrat, he was a dead man. The only reason she hadn’t kicked his ass already was that she was pregnant and didn’t want to risk hurting the baby.

I checked my computer while we were still on the hovercraft. The cloaked fighter was above us and slightly behind our location.

Our hovercraft landed, and we exited the ship. The sky was ominously cloudy. It looked like there was a storm on the horizon. The wind was picking up, whipping Vanessa’s hair into her face.

I whispered so only she could hear me. “Remember, all you have to do is go with him.” We hoped Mr. Verrat wouldn’t try to kill her immediately, but instead take her somewhere else to do the deed.

If he showed any signs of hurting Vanessa, we were going to take him out. She wore protective clothing that should keep her from immediate danger. We walked toward Mr. Verrat and Gwen.

“Let’s not waste each other’s time by playing games, Avren.” I couldn’t believe we had once trusted Mr. Verrat. “We’re just trading one lovely lady for another.”

“I wouldn’t do anything to harm either one of them.” I tried to keep my face expressionless. Mr. Verrat didn’t look convinced. “Give me Gwen, and I’ll hand over Vanessa.”

He laughed in my face. “You’ve got a big pair of balls, I’ll give you that. Our exchange is going to work the other way around.”

“How do I know you won’t take them both and fly out of here? No deal. Either Gwen comes over first, or we both fly away.”

His eyes looked nervous for a second, and I was surprised. I hadn’t thought he was bluffing.

“Fine. Gwen can get in your hovercraft. Make sure Vanessa is bound before she walks over to me.” Mr. Verrat tossed a pair of handcuffs in my direction, and I put them on her.

Gwen had her hands tied behind her back, and I nodded at her. Mr. Verrat released her, and she ran inside the hovercraft, closing the door behind her.

“You might be wondering why I’m trusting you, Avren. I’ve got snipers trained on all of you, and a cannon aimed at your hovercraft. If you try to trick me, you’ll seal your own fate. Come over here, Vanessa, nice and easy.”

Vanessa narrowed her eyes but followed his directions. The two of them slowly made their way to Mr. Verrat’s ship while I watched them like a hawk. When I saw him raising his blaster, I gave a signal, and all hell broke loose.

He shot Vanessa, but her suit protected her from most of the damage. She was hurt, but she could still walk. The blast had deflected off her suit and hit Mr. Verrat’s left arm, leaving it dangling loose and awkwardly at his side.

When I gave the signal, our friends appeared in the sky, dropping out of the starship and attacking Mr. Verrat’s crew. They had materialized on the field and started charging toward the fray when Mr. Verrat fired his gun.

The fighter sent out an electromagnetic pulse, disabling all electronic guns and equipment. My brothers and the security team pulled out their blades and started swinging. The fighting was as dirty as it could get. The Madellan brothers were in the center of the action, fighting back-to-back, which was a circle of death for anyone approaching us.

As princes of Auxem, we had learned diplomatic skills essential for everyday living, but our teachers also trained us in primitive weapons. My sword clashed against the weapon of one of Mr. Verrat’s men. The edge of his blade sliced across my bicep, but it was a shallow scratch. I could ignore it.

I saw Ayrie dart forward and slice open someone’s sword arm. Arnon threw a punch and nearly took off a thug’s head. The man fell crashing at his feet.

I couldn’t find any sign of Mr. Verrat. I looked for Anders. “I’m going to find Vanessa!”

“Okay, Avren. Be careful.”

Anders hadn’t looked good before we left, but after we had retrieved Gwen, I noticed an immediate change in his demeanor. I had never seen such desolation in my brother’s eyes before, and I hoped I never would again.

I made my way to the edge of the fray and spotted Mr. Verrat dragging Vanessa’s body away from the fight. I hoped she was alive and merely unconscious.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I moved toward him aggressively. Mr. Verrat pulled out his blade and pointed it at me.

“Don’t come any closer, Avren. You know you can’t overpower me. I taught you how to fight. I could easily best you.”

He was probably right, but I didn’t need to fight him to get what I wanted.

“I told you to stop moving.” Mr. Verrat held his sword over Vanessa’s heart. I was terrified. “If you actually care about her, you’ll leave now. Maybe I won’t kill her. There’s always space for a brilliant mind in my laboratory.”

I couldn’t stop myself from inching closer. I wasn’t going to let Mr. Verrat take Vanessa anywhere.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, startling me. We rarely had thunderstorms on Auxem.

My movement hadn’t gone unnoticed. “Avren, if you keep moving toward us, I will kill her.”