“One move and I’ll break her neck,” Edmond says.
I can’t see anything but his back, and to the far right, Jérémie’s shifting eyes and stiff body. It’s obvious he wants to attack, but scared that he won’t make it to me in time.
I’m positive he won’t.
Edmond directs his attention to Eden, ignoring my fingers clawing into his arm. “Ever wonder what it’s like to have half of yourself die?”
Where’s a Gemini-tossing Tu'Ver when you need him?
“I killed plenty of Gemini halves to hazard a guess,” he continues. “Weakens them at first. Makes them an easy target. A few hours into survival, the loss begins to set in. The devastation manifests as physical pain. I watched one Gemini claw the heart right from her chest.”
My stomach turns a nauseous swirl. I have wondered what it would be like, obviously. Because Alexandre grabbed me at such a young age, I never had anyone else of my race to ask. Now that I know, that sounds like a pretty rotten idea, and we should avoid it at all costs.
“If you survive a few months,” Edmond says, laughter in his voice, “that’s when the real fun begins. That missing half exists like a phantom. You’ll talk to it. Laugh with it. Cry with it. Never sleeping. Never eating. And eventually die with it.”
Edmond’s arm strains around my neck. “That might be a better alternative to death. For me, anyway.”
“Oh, c’mon,” I grit out, finding a firm place to grip his arm. I’m beyond over this situation. “Nobody likes a tease.”
“Release her,” Jérémie warns.
The second Flux manifests as a man and faces Jérémie, acting like a wall, though not nearly large enough to contain my beast.
“You know,” I say up to the back of Edmond’s head. “Alexandre taught me one important lesson that somehow escaped you.”
He glances down. “I seriously doubt that.”
“Want me to show you?”
I don't give him the chance to respond. I swing and kick my right leg up hard and fast. The momentum takes my left leg with it, and over goes my body. I get an arm around Edmond’s neck and by the time I land on my feet, my head is free, and I hold the weighted body in a backward lean. Much like he’d had me.
With a quick jerk upward, the sound of bones breaking in Edmond’s neck mingles with the distant happy rings of slot machines awaiting another rich gambler.
“Never hesitate,” I say, then drop the dead body.
Jérémie changes into his beast in the blink of an eye, and smashes the remaining Flux under his weight. By the time the animal springs back onto its hind legs, Jérémie shakes his head at me.
“What happened to the plan allowing them to capture us so we can get on the ship?” he asks.
Eden and I approach each other for the merge. “I got bored.”
My twin shrugs at him. “It’s exactly what I would have done.”
The nice thing about Tu'Ver... They don’t let just anyone wreck their ship. Flux are taken down all over the casino floor. It’s a happy surprise ending to my original scheme that went from “not the best plan” to “completely jacked plan” in under a minute. Now Jérémie and I can get on Edmond’s ship.
Or do we?
“Hey,” I say, stopping my very handsome, very naked man outside the elevator. It’s a thing of beauty watching him strut through the crowd as if his beautiful dick isn’t pulling the attention from everyone in eye line. “Plans can change, right?”
“If nothing else,” he says with a glance over my head at the wreckage, “you have just proved to me that if you are involved, they will.”
A Tu'Ver rushes up to Jérémie with a white robe, and helps him into it.
As soon as we’re alone in the elevator, I fist the robe and pull Jérémie flush to me. “What do you say we get my money’s worth and finish up this cruise?”
He laughs. “No, Eden. I have waited too long to put an end to this situation.”
He has a point. But my request sounds like much more fun. “It’s only a few days to the last stop on Deltia, and we don’t have to make the return trip to Earth.”
He kisses the tip of my nose. “A few days, huh?”
“There aren’t any more hunters after me, are there?”
“Not that I am aware of, no.”
“So a few days wouldn’t really hurt anything, right?”
Jérémie makes me wait through a slow, chest expanding inhale. “No. I suppose not.”
“And”—I tilt my head and lower my voice—“you know what Deltia is known for, don’t you?”
“White beaches, cloudless skies, and the best service in the galaxy.”
“Don’t tell any of the Tu'Ver that.”
He rolls his eyes skyward. “You want me to agree to vacationing on Deltia so you can work on your tan, rather than returning to the council so we can finally close your case, and set you free?”
“Not exactly what I had in mind, no.”
My gaze falls to the pure silver tattoo twinkling under the perfect white sunlight. The delicate chains wrap up from my hand, around my wrist, and toward my elbow. The tattoo is a perfect match for Jérémie’s.
We had a choice between the traditional wrist cuffs of the Flux—only the female wears them, and fuck no to that—or the customary Gemini tattoo. The chains are a sign of binding between a man and woman, and an eternal promise to the souls within.
In other words, the more romantic of the two traditional wedding bands.
I peek over at my new husband. He relaxes naked under the sun—this really is the best vacation spot in the universe—eyes closed, breathing even. Below our lounge chairs, the silver sand twinkles like diamonds all the way out to the greenest water I’ve ever seen. Two pale moons kiss like lovers on the far horizon in the pale blue sky.
“What do you think so far?” I ask. “Happy with my plan?”
“So far,” he says, lips quirking sideways. “I am happy to be married to you, and I look forward to the beautiful children you will bear in the near future.”
Wait. What? “Excuse me?”
He laughs and glances over at me. “Is that panic I hear in your voice, beauté?”
Yes. “No. Of course not. I um... Well, the thing is...”
“If only you could see your face right now. Relax, my love. Until we are settled, and long past the need to fuck senseless at a moment’s notice, children will have to wait.”
I let out a relieved breath. I’m quite content with my life as a free woman, able to make snap decisions about what to do next, and not worry about how a child plays into my questionable life choices. Jérémie will slow me down a little now that we’re married, but I’m okay with that.
Jérémie leans over and cups my cheek. “Right now, I am content being your husband. The two of you are enough to keep me busy for years yet.”
“Awe, my poor delusional beast. Don’t you mean decades?”
He laughs. “You have not factored in how I plan to keep you busy in return.”
“Promises, promises.”
I meet Jérémie in the space between our lounge chairs and kiss him. That’s all it takes to ignite the fire of need between my thighs. That and the fact that we’re both naked. I’m five seconds from finding satisfaction, except...
“I’ve finally discovered the downside to vacationing on Deltia,” I say. “Public sex is still illegal here, and our room is way too far away right now.”
He nods, expression grave. “That is a very serious downside.”
Behind us on the beach, an authoritative man’s voice calls out, “Eden Black.”
Jérémie and I blink at each other once, then slowly look between the backs of our chairs. An entire fleet of Flux in battle black, faces rippling with change, aim guns at me. I guess Edmond wasn’t the only hunter on my trail.
Oops.
Jérémie lets out a sigh. “One day, I am going to stop blindly following along with your plans.”
I give him my brightest smile. “Let’s table that discussion for tomorrow, shall we?”
He kicks up an eyebrow. “Why do you look like you already have a plan?”
“It’s a good one; I promise. Stop frowning at me, will you, and be ready to change on the count of three. Three...
“Two...
“One—”