Alex and I moved as fast as we could without looking suspicious, because despite the battle raging in orbit, the enemy troops on the ground did not appear to be surrendering.
If anything, they were getting bolder as the last of our forces pulled back.
Our initial attack had caught the Syndicate soldiers by surprise, but now they were awake and organized. And thanks to the delays, Alex and I were still on the base, behind enemy lines. Avoiding the patrolling soldiers was getting harder and harder.
We were nearly to the outer wall when a blaster bolt sailed by close enough to leave a trail of warmth.
I peeked around Alex. In the distance, indistinct shouts rose from a large group of troops in Syndicate black.
Alex shoved me into the shadows behind an empty supply crate and whispered, “Hide! They haven’t seen you. I’ll draw them off and meet you at the stronghold.”
“No!”
But my cry came too late because he was already crossing into the open space, shooting as he went.
Furious anger mingled with heart-stopping anxiety. Alex moved like nothing I’d seen before, fluid and fast. The Syndicate soldiers couldn’t get a bead on him, so despite a handful of near misses, he disappeared around the corner unharmed. The troops followed—deeper into the base.
What was he thinking?
We were going to have a very long, very pointed talk when we met again. And we would. I had to believe that or I’d be frozen by sorrow, and I had too many people counting on me to fail now.
Still, I hesitated. The desire to go after him, to ensure he was okay, was nearly irresistible. But if I was caught, then I had handed Riccardo a bargaining chip he would ruthlessly use against my brothers.
I had to trust that Alex knew what he was doing—and that he was strong enough and smart enough to pull it off.
I said a prayer to anyone who would listen and dashed for the wall.
I coiled, using my full strength, and leapt, kicking off from the wall to propel myself higher. I caught the edge of the top with the tips of my fingers, and my left shoulder burned like the sun, but it was enough. I pulled myself up, then paused, looking for Alex, but this part of the base was now eerily quiet.
If he’d gotten himself captured, I would wait to yell at him until after I’d busted him out. Maybe. And if he’d been injured, then I would rain hell on whoever thought they could harm what was mine.
With one final look, I dropped over the other side of the wall and headed for the von Hasenberg stronghold.
THE MAIN GATHERING AREA OF THE STRONGHOLD WAS filled with injured soldiers and civilians acting as medics. Those with major injuries had been squeezed into the too small medbay, but out here, minor injuries waited for regen gel and bandages.
Ying and Aoife caught sight of me first. They both looked over my shoulder and I knew Alex hadn’t made it back on his own yet.
Guilt and sorrow stabbed deep. I shouldn’t have left him alone. I should’ve gone after him.
“What happened?” Aoife asked.
“We were almost out when a unit caught sight of us. Alex shoved me into hiding and then took off. I couldn’t stop him.” My voice cracked and I paused for a deep breath. “I don’t know where he is because our glasses were wiped. I had hoped he would beat me back.”
When she mutely shook her head, my vision swam. I swallowed the tears. “I need a suit of combat armor, if we have any that’s still functioning.”
“You can’t go back,” Ying said, her voice gentle.
“I can, and I will. Someone has to.” I turned to stalk off and do just that, but Aoife caught my arm—my injured arm. I hissed out a silent curse as the movement pulled on my shoulder.
“You don’t need to run off heedlessly; you need medical attention. Trust in Alex. He’ll be here. Give him time.”
With a new target, my anger rose and I squared up to her and shook off her hand. “What if he’s already caught? You’re just going to let him suffer? Some partner you are.” As soon as I said the words, I regretted them, but Aoife’s expression never flickered.
“I am his partner. I know him. Have a little faith.” Her mouth turned up at the corner. “And don’t make me kick your ass in front of all of these people. It would be bad for your reputation.”
That pulled a reluctant smile out of me. “It might do my reputation good, assuming you didn’t flatten me with the first punch.”
Aoife’s grin was knowing. “You’re tougher than that.”
She’d as good as admitted that she knew my secret, but the feeling of panic was more muted this time. Perhaps someday I wouldn’t feel it at all. “I’m sorry I took my anger and fear out on you. It wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t right. I know you care about Alex. I apologize.”
She waved me off. “If blowing off some steam gets you to stay put, that’s good enough for me. Alex would kick my ass if I let you out of here to go look for him.”
“She’s right,” a familiar velvety voice rumbled from behind me.
I spun, caught between yelling and throwing myself at him. Instead, I held myself still and drank him in. His armor was cracked and burned. He was favoring his right side and his right pants leg was soaked with blood. But he was here, and he was standing.
“Medbay, now,” I demanded.
He shook his head. “I’m okay. Just clipped my thigh. I can wait for a medic here.”
The urge to yell was winning. “There’s a first aid kit in the office,” I bit out. “I’ll patch you up in there.”
Ying backed away and mouthed, Good luck. She knew me well enough to want to avoid the blast zone.
Aoife looked like she was enjoying herself. “Go,” she urged Alex. “Then you can patch up her shoulder.”
Alex rounded on her. “Why wasn’t it done already?” he growled.
Aoife laughed. “You’re perfect for each other.”
I silently led Alex to Father’s office. The room was empty. As soon as the door closed behind him, I whirled around. “What were you think—”
His lips crashed down on mine.
I nipped him, hard enough to sting, then soothed the bite with my tongue. Alex groaned into my mouth and pressed closer. I poured everything into the kiss, all of my worry and anger and affection.
By the time we broke apart, we were both breathing hard. Desire mixed with all of the other emotions fighting for dominance, and I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry, so I did both.
Alex rested his forehead against mine and carefully wiped away my tears. “I’m sorry I worried you.”
I stepped back so I could see his expression. “You can’t just run off and play hero and expect me to be okay with it. We’re a team. We have to work as a team or I can’t . . .” I hid my face and rubbed away more furious tears. “I can’t be with someone who doesn’t trust me to do my part.”
Alex scowled at me. “I led the soldiers away because I knew you could do your part. It’s easier for one person to get lost in the chaos than two. And I trusted that you could make it back on your own, even though it almost killed me to walk away, to not be there to protect you and watch your back.”
“You could’ve been caught or killed!”
“Taking risks is what I do. It’s what I was designed for.”
“No, it’s what you decided on. And you can decide on something different.” I stalked to the attached bathroom and retrieved the first aid kit.
By the time I returned, Alex had stripped off his broken armor. He looked thoughtful. I approached cautiously, aware that he could shred my heart with just a few careless words.
Alex pulled the kit from my nerveless fingers. “I’m going to patch up your shoulder. Take off your armor.” The stubborn set of his mouth told me arguing that he should go first was pointless.
With his help, I stripped down to my sports bra. My shoulder was a bloody mess, but between my nanos and natural healing, it was already starting to close. Alex carefully cleaned the wound and coated it in regeneration gel.
The gel sped healing, but it burned while doing it. I’d heard the pain described as “white-hot agony,” but it had always been more of a gentle burn for me. Tonight was no different.
Once he had finished bandaging my shoulder, Alex’s hands lingered on my skin, barely touching. “You’re right,” he said quietly. “My team is everything to me. I don’t have any family—they are my family. And I’m bigger and stronger than most of them. So I got used to being the one who’d drag us out of whatever hell we found ourselves in, no matter the risk. If I went down, then at least they would escape.”
I slid my arms around his waist and hugged him, careful of his leg. “If you go down, you’ll take my heart with you,” I murmured. “Please don’t break my heart.”
He shuddered and clamped me closer. “Never,” he vowed.
I enjoyed the comfort of his embrace. This conversation was a starting point. It took a long time to break a bad habit, as I knew all too well. Alex was likely to run in to save the day again in the future, but at least now he knew what he risked when he did. And maybe he would think twice before doing it.
I slowly released him and pushed him back toward the chair behind him. “Sit and let me look at your leg. Can you get your pants off or do I need to cut them?”
We managed to remove his boots and pants without using a knife, but Alex was grimacing by the time we were done. He settled heavily into the chair and I got my first look at his leg—and his bright blue boxer briefs.
He’d caught a blaster bolt on the outside of his thick thigh, in a gap between the ballistic armor panels. It had punched through, taking a whole lot of skin and a chunk of flesh, but it was far from fatal. He’d been very lucky.
I cleaned the wound, then carefully covered it in regen gel and bandages. Once healing veered dangerously close to caressing, I removed my hands and stood. “Do you want any painkiller?”
He shook his head. “Don’t need it.”
As if to prove it, he rolled to his feet in one fluid motion. I started to step back, but he caught my waist and pulled me close. “Thank you,” he murmured against my temple.
I brushed my mouth against his. “I’m glad you’re okay. But next time, you’re not getting off so easy.”
I could feel his lips tilt up into a smile against my mouth. “Deal.”
BY THE TIME ALEX AND I RETURNED TO THE GATHERING area, news was spreading that Benedict and the rest were taking the fight to the Syndicate. We weren’t getting as many updates as we’d like, but it seemed like we were winning. Benedict’s ground troops swept through the city and into the command center. Two more battle fleets of RCDF ships had flooded in, as well as Ada, Loch, Rhys, and Veronica in one of Rhys’s armed and armored smuggling ships.
When Bianca and Hannah arrived it would be a full-on von Hasenberg family reunion.
As the heirs for their respective High Houses, Evelyn and Ferdinand had formally voted to have Hitoshi detained on suspicion of treason. It was a serious charge, but it needed a simple majority to start the investigation. Vermillion had surrendered but Hitoshi wasn’t onboard. The hunt was on for him.
After the RCDF wrestled control of the command center from the remaining Syndicate troops and deemed it safe, Esteri and Idoya returned to help them with the gates. The Earth gate was put into lockdown mode. Ships could request jump points, but they had to be individually approved.
Riccardo Silva’s ship had taken too much damage to jump, so negotiations were under way for his surrender. He vowed to fight to the bitter end, but escape ships were already being launched from his wounded flagship. Some had jumped before the lockdown, but the rest were heading to the uninhabited parts of Earth. It would be a pain in the ass to round them up, but that was a problem for another day.
Just after dawn, with Serenity mostly stabilized, we left the stronghold and went to check on the house. Ada was already there, surveying the pile of stone rubble. This end of the building had held our security offices. It was pure luck that they had been mostly empty when the attack had happened. She looked up, caught sight of me, and rushed over.
I opened my arms and she pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged her just as hard, though it made my shoulder twinge. “I was so worried!” we both said at the same time, then laughed.
“There’s someone I want you to meet,” I said quietly. “Before the others arrive.”
“Would it happen to be Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome over there? The one who can’t keep his eyes off you?” She tilted her head toward where Alex and Aoife were chatting with Rhys and Loch. Alex stood with his side to the group and every so often, his gaze flickered my way.
Joy spread like warm honey through my veins.
“That would be him. Alexander Sterling.” I leaned in and dropped my voice to a whisper. “I’m keeping him, but he doesn’t know it yet, so don’t scare him off, okay?”
Ada widened her eyes and pressed a hand to her chest. “Me?” she asked innocently.
“I grew up with you. That innocent act doesn’t work on me.”
Her smile was fond and wistful. “I missed you, Cat.”
“I missed you, too. I’m glad you’re back.” Ada had run for two years, and then, just when I thought I’d get her back, Father had banished her from Earth. I didn’t get to visit her in Sedition as often as I would like, and I missed having her near.
Ada’s eyes darkened. “Only until Father wakes. Then I was never here.”
“I’m not sure Father is going to wake. The machine is the only thing keeping him alive at this point.”
“It would be a damn shame if someone tripped over the plug.”
I coughed out a strangled laugh. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t had a similar thought, but I hadn’t been brave enough to vocalize it. Trust Ada to cut straight to the chase.
She gave me a wry smile. “Introduce me to your Mr. Sterling before I further contemplate patricide.”
We rejoined the others. Ada turned to Alex, her expression unreadable. “What are your intentions toward my sister?”
“Ada,” I growled, “you promised!”
She smirked at me. “I didn’t, actually. And if you think I’m bad, wait until the others get here. Bianca threatened Loch with a rusty fork. Alex might as well get used to it now. Or get out while he can.”
Burning embarrassment spread heat through my face and I wished the ground would open up and swallow me whole. Or maybe swallow Ada whole.
Alex wrapped his arms around me from behind, pulling me back into the solid warmth of his chest. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said.
I froze in shocked joy, but Ada’s expression softened. “Good.”