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‘Wear this,’ Kainan instructed, thrusting a clear plex helmet into her hands. ‘It’s a short run to Mirage outside that airlock,’ he told her quietly. ‘We won’t need a full meta suit.’
She fumbled with the helmet’s straps until he calmly stepped forward and took it from her. Selene felt a jolt run through her, aware of his massive frame looming before her. She could feel his unmistakable heat and intoxicating scent roll off him in waves.
Their eyes clashed, and the wildfire flecks of his glowing irises made her want to squeeze shut her own, but she felt powerless even to move a single muscle.
Then he slowly bent his head and stopped, his lips hovering just above hers.
She stopped breathing.
‘Only a fool tests the depth of a river with both feet,’ he said softly. ‘And your river,khamila, is so wild it would pull me in body and soul. Then it would extinguish my fire and drown me.’
He ran a hot finger down one side of her face and then pressed his lips to the side of her mouth. Her heart was hammering so fast in her chest that she could hear it drumming inside her ears.
The vortex between them broke off when he abruptly pulled back and placed the helmet over her head, cutting off their connection.
Her visor snapped shut. Kainan quietly toggled the controls to the tiny oxygen pack at the back of the helmet. She heard a low hiss of air and static, then watched as he tugged on his helmet over his dark-haired crown.
‘Can you hear me?’ he asked as if he just hadn’t flung another of his sudden chimeric storms in her direction.
She nodded wordlessly.
He handed her a voluminous space jacket, which she shrugged over her jumpsuit and coat.
‘Mirage is a few klicks outside this airlock. Hold on tightly to your gear, and I’ll hold on tightly to you.’
They stepped into the airlock, which whooshed shut behind them. Then, using his wrist comm, Kainan activated the sensors on the other side. It slid open, and they stepped through.
Into a deep black, expansive sky dotted with jewels of stars and Dunia’s emerald profile. She felt the weightlessness almost instantly, and her feet barely touched the fine, silvery talcum powder blanketing the surface.
With Kainan’s strong arm banded around her waist, they slowly stepped through the bleak, barren beauty of Eden II while the metro dome receded from view behind them.
She looked around, taking in the breathtaking view. The moon’s surface was rocky, with craters and mountains stretching as far as the eye could see. She could see Dunia in the distance, an aquamarine marble hanging in the blackness of space.
She took in the magnificence of the view and leaned into the powerful man striding by her side. It felt like an utterly perfect moment she wished she could capture forever.
He pulled her closer, and she strung a hand over his chest for purchase. Her heart leapt, and her core clenched with desire, so strong was her attraction to him.
She could hear his steady breathing against her chest, and she wondered for a moment what it would be like to wake to those breaths every morning.
Would she lean over him and steal a kiss? Would he open his sapphire gold eyes and embrace her? Perhaps nuzzle her neck, stroke her arms, and dot fiery kisses down her body? Would he -
She shook her head free of the fantasy as Mirage’s sleek form materialised before them.What was she thinking?
Despite her internal, unseen battle, her body continued to react to him as he kept his steely hold on her up the air stairs, into the waiting ship and its secure airlock.
Returning to Mirage meant reverting to gravity. Selene’s feet settled on the ship’s floor heavily, not just because of the change in environment but the inevitable loss of Kainan’s physicality.
He stalked ahead, and she followed, woodenly going through the preflight sequence with Mirage’s voice and Kainan’s timbre in the far background. She fought to tamp her uncontrolled reaction to his presence and the surging awareness of possibly being alone with him for a significant time over the next few days or weeks.
As Mirage lifted off into the dark skies above Eden II, Selene wrestled her feelings back into control. It would be counterproductive to overthink the unknown, and it would be prudent to stop the fantasies once and for all.
She called out to the ship’s AI, hoping for a distraction. ‘Mirage, please tell me more about where we’re headed.’
The intelligence, confined to the ship while its gyrfalcon shape was in repairs, answered promptly. ‘J’Urg Mihòr is an extensive mountain ridge - one of the loneliest points on our moon,’ Mirage told Selene. ‘It’s found on the other end of the biggest lunar plain, and the journey there, without a fast ship, is not for the faint-hearted. The approach can only be made from the south. Even with a smaller flyer, all the routes are long and arduous, which has made it a favourite destination for long-range moonwalkers who take a slower three-night hike on foot. Also, for racers drawn to the appeal of a brutal one-day assault to the foot of the mountains in jacked-up flyers or pleasure yachts.’
Mirage paused for a moment, then continued. ‘It’s also the starting point for the famous Eden II Endurance race.’
Selene was intrigued. ‘The Endurance Race?’
