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“It was a fucking ambush.” He growled out the words.
“The Pecket knew we were coming?”
“They must have. Those ass wipes were all over us. They must have been tipped off about our arrival. You don’t put their presence down to coincidence.”
“They could have intercepted messages between the Apocalypse and Tiavac,” Blaze said. “We’re always discreet when we speak, but they’d have been able to guess what we carried.”
“Especially when we came with a military escort,” Eden said.
“We need to get you into treatment,” one of the medical team said to Gunner. “You can talk tactics later.”
“Go,” Eden said. “We’ll visit you as soon as we can.”
Gunner grunted as he was led slowly away from the docking bay.
Horror remained with Eden as she looked over the smoking wreckage of the ships. They’d come so close to being destroyed.
“We really are part of an awesome team,” she said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She looked up when Blaze didn’t respond. “Don’t you think?”
He glanced down at her, looked back at the ships, and then walked away.
***
Eden was right. Thework they did on the Apocalypse was incredible. He loved every minute of being a part of this team. It was so satisfying to rescue an endangered animal, to give it a second chance, and to see the joy on Eden’s face when they had a successful mission.
Blaze felt no joy now. All he felt was anger. His teammates were messed up, his relationship with Eden was a joke, and he had a big decision to make that he’d been putting off for way too long.
Seeing how close they’d been to death only intensified things. His parents would have been devastated if he’d been killed in this attack. And he’d have let them down. All because he wanted to prove he could do things on his own and have some jerkoff, ego fluffing adventure, like he was something special. He knew his place, and it wasn’t out in the stars fighting assholes. Not anymore.
He could turn this around and set things right with his family. Even though being around Eden made him want to tear the world apart and change things, he had his responsibilities. He’d told his family he’d go back to them when five years was up. So, that’s what he needed to do.
It was time to give up playing the warrior and accept his responsibilities.
And it was time to stop torturing himself over Eden. It wasn’t fair on him or her.
He owed his parents a lot. They’d always been good to him. They’d accepted his wild streak and his need to flex his wings. They could have cut him off and abandoned him. But they left him to forge his own path.
And he respected his family. He’d always known what his role was in Apexian society. He didn’t want to turn away from it.
If only he’d never met Eden. He’d be arranging to return home, meet his potential mate, and settle down. He could settle into the role he was born for.
He walked around aimlessly, until his stomach growled with hunger, then headed to the quarters he’d been given at the sanctuary.
Blaze walked into the simply designed room, with its clean lines and comfortable furnishings. He shrugged out of his clothes and boots and hit the shower.
He kept the water hot, letting the heat run over him as he scrubbed himself clean and tried to get clarity. He stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist, and stared at himself in the mirror.
Blaze scowled. His expression looked haunted. He looked miserable. Was this what his time chasing after Eden had done to him? Everything felt tipped on its head. His path was clear. It had been set out years ago, so he shouldn’t resist.
He could find a better way. He could find happiness with another woman. He just needed to get himself to believe that and stop his damn heart from kicking up a gear every time Eden was around.
She wasn’t for him. And this life wasn’t for him any longer.
He dried off, dressed, then sent a comm request to his parents using the private family line.
The response came ten minutes later.
“There’s an incoming call from Viscount Lothar Floridian. Would you like to accept?” the ship’s computer said.
