He'd destroyed the station. He'd killed Kalipuk. He'd murdered six other Prime candidates over the course of decades, systematically eliminating anyone who might stand in his way.
And now he thought he had me cornered.
"You're right," I said quietly. "The shuttle is our only option."
Cullen nodded, relief flickering across his face. "We'll need a plan. A good one. We can't just charge in—"
"No. We scout first. Watch their patterns. Wait for an opening." I turned away from the ruins, already mapping the route back down the mountain in my mind. "And when we move, we move fast and we move smart."
"Agreed."
We started back down the slope, leaving the smoldering wreckage behind us. The descent was easier than the climb had been, but every step felt heavier. We were walking back toward danger, toward the very people hunting us. It went against every survival instinct I had.
But Cullen was right. It was our only chance.
As we picked our way down the rocky terrain, I felt that strange sensation in my chest again—my heart reaching out, searching. I glanced at Cullen, at the determined set of his jaw, the way he moved with lethal grace despite his injuries.
Could he really be—?
I pushed the thought away again. But this time, it didn't go as far. This time, it lingered at the edges of my consciousness, a question I couldn't quite silence.
Because if Cullen was my true mate—if that's what this feeling meant—then everything changed. The bond between true mates was sacred, unbreakable. It transcended politics and duty and all the careful walls I'd built around my heart.
It meant I'd finally found what Chavon had with Ilayta. What I'd thought I'd never have.
But it also meant I had something to lose. Something precious and irreplaceable. And Riuondo would use that against me without hesitation.
"Serna?" Cullen's voice pulled me from my spiraling thoughts. "You're doing it again. That look."
"What look?"
"The one where you're carrying the weight of the universe on your shoulders and refusing to let anyone help."
Despite everything—the danger, the fear, the impossible situation we were in—I felt my lips twitch. "I'm the Prime. It's my job to carry the weight of the universe."
"Not alone." He stopped walking and turned to face me, his hands coming up to cup my face. "Not anymore. Whatever happens down there, whatever we face—we face it together. You understand?"
I looked into his eyes and felt my heart do that strange, reaching thing again. Felt it pull toward him like a moon caught in a planet's gravity.
"Together," I whispered.
He kissed me, soft and brief, then released me. "Come on. We've got a shuttle to infiltrate."
We continued down the mountain, moving carefully through the scrubland and back into the jungle's edge. The twin suns were high overhead now, beating down with relentless heat. Sweat soaked through my bodysuit, and I could see Cullen struggling with the temperature despite his military conditioning.
But we didn't stop. Couldn't stop.
Because somewhere below us, Riuondo was waiting.
And our only hope of survival lay in walking straight into his trap.
Chapter 12
Cullen
It took us a solid day to work our way back down the mountain.
Hours of careful movement through increasingly dense jungle, every step calculated to avoid detection. The sun had begun its descent toward the horizon, the twin yellow suns dipping toward the horizon, their light refracting through the dense canopy in shades of gold and amber. Long shadows stretched across the forest floor, and the temperature—mercifully—had started to drop.
