I need someone to talk to, someone that won’t give me a hard time like Blaize. Fieri likes rules. I don’t know Eluni or Jorusk. “Call Elix.”
It beeps twice before someone picks up. Elix’s green face appears onscreen. “Aura, what’s cracklin’?”
I run a hand through my hair and try to strengthen my voice. He is used to me being upbeat, snarky, carefree. Today, I am not. “Hey, Green Bean.”
“Oof, he sounds sad.” A feminine voice comes over the coms. “Hello, Aura.”
“How are the twins?” I ask.
I am jealous of my friend for finding such peace after so long in isolated turmoil. As eager as I was for the same event that helped him find his mate, Zariah, I fear I cannot proceed with my entry. I am not caring or helpful like Elix with his species’ healing gland. If I hurt a female, I cannot do anything but watch her suffer.
Zariah murmurs as she leans up against Elix and smiles like she doesn’t have a worry in the universe. “They are content, growing fast. I’m already swelling up like a balloon. Elix keeps me very comfortable, as comfy as a pregnant chick can be. So tell us, what’s darkened your spirit so much?”
“Your ABR heat is in just a few days, right?” Elix asks.
“Yeah.” I tell my friends about the last twenty-four hours as I lean forward onto my knees. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, you have to go now,” Elix remarks.
“Why?”
“You are free, Aura. ABR has lots of security measures in place to ensure you cannot hurt other participants, includingwhichever female you catch. Trust me. It is worth all the initial chaos, my friend. And if you find yourself stranded, call us. We will return your favor.”
I smile and nod to myself, thinking back to finding them stranded on Elix’s homeworld. “How did you put up with his weird shit?”
Zariah snickers. “Glowing was definitely unusual. But the healing serum he shoved in my chest wounds with his tongue was a serious point of inflection for me. I had to accept it.”
“Had to?” I ask.
“No one in the whole universe had ever cared for me like that before, not that much,” Zariah continues. “I’d have been an idiot to turn him down. A lot of us women come from terrible places. They’re looking for an escape. Anything is better than where they’re from.
“Just because I had a ship doesn’t mean I didn’t feel that way. But more than that, it was the moment Elix stood between me and death that made me realize any other struggles we might face were inconsequential.”
“Just be yourself. Yourusualself,” Elix adds. “Let the universe decide the rest.”
“I’m more dangerous than you,” I say.
“So pick a female that can handle your electric ass,” Zariah laughs. “I like my green one. Someone out there will like yours.”
Elix grunts, and the camera blurs for a second. “Zariah, not while we’re on the coms.”
I can’t help but smirk a little. “If you two are going to screw, please, for my sanity, end the call.”
Elix encourages Zariah back into their nest, then quiets his voice. “Aura, you can control your Storm just like I can control my serum. We don’t decide if it exists, but we choose the situations and the thoughts that build or lessen it.”
“I know so little about my Storm that I fear I will hurt a female,” I admit. “I didn’t think this through.”
Elix carries his tablet into another room. “I am one of the last of my solar system. You may be the only one of your power class or…”
“Allele says I am a Torchbearer. I may be the last.”
A grin grows on Elix’s face until I can’t take it anymore. “What?”
“Solightthe way for your people.Ampup the crowds.Shocksome viewers. And find the female thatignitesyour Storm, so you’re a force to be reckoned with. I know you’re unhappy with the dark road your father’s going down.”
“Stars, Elix. You’re worse than poorly paid PR interns in Amphiran Tourism Inc.”
He chuckles. “The other day, I told someone they were as likable as a perpetual scornbug butt rash, and Zariah busted up laughing. But it’s your fault, my friend.”
