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I stretch up to my tiptoes and pull his head down to press a kiss to his lips. “Don’t be. I-I might need to process the whole soulmate thing a little bit, but I feel the same way. I love you, and I don’t want to lose you, either.”
He laughs, lifting me and twirling like I am a child. It makes my stomach swoop and my heart race. Giggling, I wonder if you can get drunk on joy.
When he sets me down, he continues. “I have a plan to get you and your family off this planet before whatever they’re planning goes down. If you were my spouse, you’d have rights that a girlfriend or fiancé would not have. So, I’ll pull a few strings, and we’ll perform the mating ceremony before I go.”
“Okay,” I say. I’m breathless and giddy from his confession and proposal. We resume our walk home. “And then what?”
“I’ll take some leave as soon as I can and come get you and your family.” He takes my hand. “The military is unpredictable at best, but I swear to you that I’ll be gone for just a few weeks.”
“And I’ll wait for you,” I reply.
He gives my hand a squeeze. “Then, we’ll get your mother to the best doctors on Kalei and buy a house with a guest cottage for her and Isa. Once everything’s settled, maybe we can start our own family.”
He says that last part with a slight question and a note of hope in his voice. I think about how gentle he was with my mother, how caring, and imagine him speaking that way to a child. Our child. He would be a wonderful father someday.
But my own family…. I had thought about having children in the future back when we all had a future, but life forced me to put that dream aside. A war zone is no place to raise a child, and Mom, Isa, and I are barely surviving as it is.
But like the ashes of all my other hopes and dreams, Drex has stirred the embers and reignited the flames.
“I’d like that,” I reply and gesture up to the night sky. “And then, once our children are grown, we can travel the stars together and see all the wonders of the universe.”
He smirks. “I don’t know what you mean. My universe is right here.”
I blush so hot that I’m pretty sure that I look like I have a sunburn. “Stop.”
He leans down to give me a chaste kiss. “No,” he whispers against my lips. Then, he straightens up and points to a bright red star glimmering near the moon. No, not a star. A planet. “That’ll be your home soon. That’s where you’re heading. Just keep that in mind. Wait just a little bit longer, and when I come back, I’ll take care of you and your family.”
We reach the door to my home, and he presses another kiss to my lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” I ask.
“Of course,” he replies. “I’m going to make the most of our week together.”
With one last kiss goodnight, I slip inside. Mama is asleep in her bed while Isa dozes on the couch with the holostream still flashing. She always stays up to make sure I get home safely before going to bed herself. I shake her arm. “Hey.”
Isa jerks awake and smiles, relieved to see that I’ve once again come home safe and sound. “Hey yourself. You were out late. Work hold you up?”
I consider telling her what Drex said to me, but I know how she feels about him. Even though I’m certain that he’ll win her over eventually, she has yet to warm up to him. She’ll be pissed if she finds out that we’re getting married. “Yeah,” I say.
She gets to her feet and stretches. “Well, I’m gonna go to bed. Have a good night.”
“You too.” I head down the hall to say goodnight to Mama and press a kiss on her forehead without waking her before getting ready for bed.
Once I’m lying down, though, thoughts of what just happened swirl through my mind like the winds of a hurricane, keeping me awake. I trust Drex, and I know he’ll be back as soon as he can, but there’s this tangled knot in my stomach that tells me that things will not be as simple as he’s promised they’ll be.
Still, the memory of his lips on mine soothes me to sleep.
12
DREX
I’m pretty sure I’ve thought of everything. By the end of tonight, Sophia will have some legal rights to protection as the wife of a Coalition soldier. If I have to go off and fight a last-ditch battle against the Alliance then I will go with the surety that she will be cared for with all the other soldier's families.
“Come on, lover boy, you’re going to miss the party,” Linus calls from the hotel bedroom door that we’ve commandeered as our barracks while here in Sintaca.
“One moment,” I call back, checking myself out in the full-length mirror.
My dress uniform is a little tight since I’ve been training every day, but I think it makes me look more buff. I turn to check the jacket is sitting okay down my back. It’s tailor-made to fit a Kaleidian’s horny spines, which protrude in two parallel lines down either side of my back. My tail lazily flicks from side to side as if it’s siding with the impatient Linus. ‘Come on,’ it says. ‘Let’s get going and find Sophia.’
“Yes, you look suitably like an idiot in love, I’m sure she’ll be impressed,” Linus says. “Freck’s going to get to the party before us if you don’t come now.”
