Author: Talia Jager
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Are you all jaguars?”

“Who? My crew?”

“Yeah.”

“No, but you’ll have to ask them. We made a pact not to talk about each other to anyone else.” I stopped, thinking about my crew. “I know they’re probably dead, but I don’t feel comfortable spilling their secrets.” I peeked over at her. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I respect that.”

By mid-afternoon, another change in the landscape occurred. Trees vanished and fields started to spread across the lands to both sides. I thought I could see the hint of a city in the distance. If we hurried, we could reach it by nightfall.

Akacia stood next to me. “Ready to get off this planet?”

I didn’t respond.

She started walking.

“Wait!” I called after her. She turned around and looked at me with those big blue eyes of hers. “Do you think we could take one more night?”

Her face lit up. “Yeah.” She looked around and then pointed. “We can stay over there.”

While I set a trap, Akacia gathered twigs and built a fire. The wind blew, tousling her hair and leaving a strand in her face. I desperately wanted to reach over and brush it to the side. She was so beautiful. I just wanted to touch her, kiss her, and claim her as my own. I had no idea if she’d even let me, but damn, I wanted to.

“You told me what you have to do, but what do you like to do?” I inquired, wanting to hear her voice longer.

“I don’t get a lot of free time.”

“You must enjoy something.”

She quirked her mouth to the side as she thought. It was one of my favorite expressions of hers. Just after the way she looked at me before we kiss. “I like the way the dirt feels in my hands when I’m planting. I like the way whatever weapon I’m using becomes a part of me. I like making up stories of exploring the universe. I like singing, though I’m not very good at it. And I like animals.” She looked at Nero.

“I would like to hear you sing, even if you’re not good. What’s your favorite color?”

“Gold,” she answered quickly. I smiled and started to say something about her color choice, but she interrupted me. “What do you like to do?”

“I like adventure. I like traveling and doing things. I like riding horses and feeling the wind in my hair and diving underwater looking for treasure. I like playing truth or dare—I always choose dares. I also like sitting around with my friends playing a game of cards and getting a massage at the space station.”

She nodded and “hmm’d” like she was storing all that information somewhere.

After eating, Nero ran up and down a tree until he got tired and then crashed in Kaci’s lap. She stroked him and I felt a pang of jealousy in my chest. Rolling my eyes, I laughed inwardly. I was jealous of an animal.

Night fell and we stoked the fire. She started singing a song I didn’t know. Her voice was raw and beautiful and just for me. Well, maybe Nero too.

“See?” she said when she was done. “Nothing to write home about.”

Rolling my eyes, I leaned over and seized her lips. She let out a moan and kissed me back with the same intense response. Without really thinking about it, I grabbed her hand and scooted backward until I was against the tree. Pulling her to me, she straddled me. I held her away from me for a moment and just looked at her.

She had the most amazing smile on her lips and her eyes were so vivid. Her beautiful curves, her ample breasts, all of her beckoned me. With my thumb, I traced from her ear down her jawline, and placed it on her neck feeling the steady thrum of her pulse.

Kaci’s eyes seemed to beg as she licked her lips and looked at my lips. I kissed her neck and she arched her back. My hands found the small of her back and pulled her closer, eliminating any space left between us. I lifted my face to hers and she brushed her lips across mine sending a shudder all the way through my body. Our lips crashed together again with a surge of fire. Her fingers brushed over my cheeks, down to my neck, and finally tangled in my hair.

She pulled away leaving me breathless and wanting more. I lifted my head up again to meet her lips, but she smiled avoiding me and trailed kisses from my neck down to my shoulder.

As much as I wanted to be with her in every possible way, I didn’t want it to be out in the middle of nowhere with a bum leg. I think she understood that too because after a few more kisses, she turned around and settled down in between my legs for the night.

Morning came quickly. When I woke, I realized Kaci hadn’t woken up with a nightmare. I kissed her neck. My heart picked up pace when she let out a low moan. I didn’t want to get up. Didn’t want to start walking. Didn’t want to find out what was in that city. I just wanted to stay here, with her.

“Guess we should start the last leg of our journey. We should be on the way home by nightfall,” she said. Her tone of voice was somewhat sad and I couldn’t help but think she might be having some of the same thoughts.

I didn’t know what would happen when we got off this planet, but I feared that once she was safe, her feelings about me would change. I didn’t want to have hope. I didn’t deserve it.

We began our trek to our destination when I noticed something in the ground up ahead. Once my brain realized what I was looking at, I grabbed her arm. “Stop!”

“What?”

“Look.” I pointed to the field in front of us. There were pieces of bodies scattered throughout.

“Are those the beasts that have been attacking us?”

My eyes scanned the area. “I think so. I think it’s a minefield.”

She blew out a long breath. “How do we get across then?”

“I don’t think we can. We need to figure out how to set them off.”

Kaci was quiet while she stroked Nero’s head. “Bristow and I skip stones in the lake. What if we throw rocks?”

“We could do that, but it’ll take time and make a lot of noise. They’ll know we’re coming.”

“Any other ideas?”

I picked up a rock and threw it as far as I could. It landed silently and I released a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. We both gathered big rocks and first started rolling them and then throwing them.

“We’ll have to take a few steps at a time to be far enough from a blast if we trigger one.”

“Okay.”

“Follow exactly in my footsteps.”

“Why do you get to go first?”

I stared at her. “I can only hope I’m fast enough to get us out of the way if one goes off too close.”

She studied me for a minute, but then nodded. She was rubbing her wrist, one of her nervous ticks.

For what seemed like the entire day, we carefully picked our way through the field trying to set off any bombs. Three went off before we reached the city limits.

Chapter Fifteen

Akacia

The stone city before us was surrounded by water. It didn’t have tall buildings or skyscrapers, but it did have two towers. My guess was they were lookout towers to see what was coming. I wondered how long they had been watching us and why they didn’t come to our aid. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Ever asked the question I was thinking, “Do you think they’re trying to keep people in or something out?”

“I don’t know.”

“How do we get in?”

“There must be a way.” I spun around. “Look at the fields. They’re for farming.”

“So we circle around the city and find it.”

“Okay.”

We were almost at the water when Nero started running around in circles and then took off to the left.

“Dumb thing.” Everleigh sighed.

I stared at him for a minute. “I think he wants to show us something.” I followed him to a tunnel leading under the water. “Looks like that’s the way in.”

Concern darkened her eyes. “Maybe there’s another way?”

I studied her face. “Are you scared?”

“No.” She narrowed her eyes.

I raised my eyebrows.

“Maybe a little.”

She looked adorable nibbling nervously on her lower lip. She was so badass, and yet she had a phobia. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and protect her from whatever it was she was afraid of.

“It’s the only way home.”

She fiddled with the button on her pants. “I know.”

I walked to the tunnel entrance and then turned to look behind me. She hadn’t moved a step. I held out my hand. “Come on. I’ve got you.”

Slowly, like each step was a death sentence, she closed the space between us. She looked at my hand and then took it. Our fingers fit together perfectly. The darker it got, the harder Ever gripped my hand. I didn’t think she was scared of the dark or the water, so I was guessing it was either being underground or small spaces. I didn’t ask though. I’d let her open up when she was ready.

It was pitch black in there and even I began to get creeped out after a while. There was a tiny pinprick of light very far away that I headed for. I hoped it was the right way to go.

“Could you talk to me?” Ever asked.

I smiled. “Sure. About what?”

“Anything. I don’t care.”

“What do you think is in the city?”

“I don’t know.”

Laughing, I said, “Well, if you want to talk, we both have to use words.”

“Okay. What do you think is in the city?”

“Hopefully people. And hopefully they have some technology so we can contact our homes. Food would be good. Really good food. And lots of water.”

“A soft bed with a nice blanket.”

“Yes.”

“You said ‘homes’.”

“What?”

“You said you hoped we could contact our homes. I don’t have one. The Nirvana was my home.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said. I wanted to invite her home with me, but there was still a part of me that didn’t trust her. The betrayal ran deep and I was still healing. Would I ever be able to trust her enough to have a relationship with her? Would she want to stay on Valinor with me? Or would she want to be exploring? Too many questions, ones that I didn’t know if I should ask and I didn’t want to know the answers to some of the others.

“Kaci?”

“Hmm?”

“I can tell the mood changed even if I can’t see your face.”

“Just stuck in my head.”

She grew quiet probably guessing what I was thinking. “What are you going to do with Nero?”

“I don’t know.”

“You know, to talk, it requires words.”

I laughed. “Yes, it does. I want to keep him.”

“I guessed that.”

“The light is getting closer. We’ll be there soon.”

“I don’t like tight spots,” she admitted finally.

“I don’t particularly like them either.”