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“When Galactic Intelligence saw the need to protect people who could weaken the Coalition, Galactic Intelligence created several specialized sectors, including GI7. They did not have a pool of warriors from which to choose since Zyan Defense Command assigns active warriors to various posts and positions. Galactic Intelligence sought candidates from retired warriors and males who failed to become warriors.”
“Even if they lost their warrior status through, say, committing a crime?”
“Each candidate was assessed based on skill and history. I was nothing more than a fourth lead in the military. The military could spare me and Galactic Intelligence needed me. Their council appointed me Commander of GI7 and gave me free rein to choose my marshals.”
“It sounds like taking those drugs was part of a larger destiny. You’re excellent at what you do.”
“You speak of my taking the drug as a good thing because that indirectly led to my position with Galactic Intelligence.”
“I’m saying having a bunch of tattoos doesn’t add to your worth, as a commander or a person. Galactic Intelligence wouldn’t have given you command of GI7 if they didn’t believe in you.” She laid her hand on his chest. “Keep talking, Z. I want to hear everything.”
“It is admirable that you see the goodness in people, Magdalena, but you fail to see the consequences. As a result of my selfishness, I will never know who my sholani is.”
“Maybe you have to find her another way. Until then, let people get to know you. Like me, maybe?”
His eyes narrowed.
“I guess the concept is foreign to you, but humans rely on faith that we’ll meet the right person one day.”
“The idea of choosing a mate without knowing she is your heartmate is fraught with risk. If you bind yourself to the wrong person, you will grow apart, even come to hate one another.”
“Or you might fall deeply in love.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
ZIRKOV
Zirkov checked the time on his comm. Three a.m. He had a full day ahead of him. Hacking into the DAA and seeing what they planned to do about Maggie was at the top of his list. If they caught him, he risked his position as Commander of GI7 as well as Galactic Intelligence’s accord with Earth. But he had to do everything he could to protect her.
With his hand on the small of her back, Zirkov led Maggie to his bedroom. “Sleep.”
“One-word orders, Z? I can see none of what’s happened between us has affected you.”
“What do you mean?
She dismissed him with a casual wave of her hand. “You’re ordering me around like I’m a child.”
His eyes dragged down her lovely form. That thin sheet hid little. She most definitely was not a youngling. Despite his words to her earlier, he’d never forget the night they shared. Every time he smelled flowers, or her hand brushed his arm in an innocent gesture, he’d remember her wet heat wrapped around him, nestling him as if he belonged there. He could never forget that feeling of being one with her, of finally finding where he was destined to be.
“I cannot give you orders. You are no longer a marshal.”
“Technically, you couldn’t give me orders when I was. I didn’t serve under you. We were equals, even if you only saw me as just another woman.”
“Women are equals on Zyan. If I’d ever said anything disrespectful to a female on Zyan, my mother, father, and four brothers would have cuffed me upside my horns.”
The corners of her mouth lifted into a smile. “I guess I never fully understood you before. All the time we worked together, I thought you looked down on me.”
“On the DAA procedures and protocols you pushed on me, yes. On you, no.”
With a tentative smile, she wandered across the room, her hand gliding along the edge of the bed before raising her eyes to him. “You said every end is a beginning. What did you mean by that?”
Her question made his horns twist. She was still so lost, and he wasn’t sure how to help her find her way… or if she’d let him.
“It is what we are taught as warriors. When a warrior reaches the end of a path, he must find another. Perhaps the path is not clear. It may be hidden by dirt and leaves, obscured by bushes and trees, or a thick fog. But the path is always there. He must uncover it, even if that means turning over every leaf one by one, getting on his hands and knees to blow away the dirt, or tearing the bushes out by the roots. If he seeks, he will find. But if he waits for the path to show itself, more leaves will blow in, covering both the path and the warrior until one day he cannot see his hand before his face.”
“And then he dies?”
“A warrior never gives up, vasha. He may no longer have the ability to see, but that does not mean he can give up. He must confront his fears, especially the fear of failing. It begins with one step forward, even if he’s surrounded by a void so endless that it threatens to trap him forever. That’s when he must fight, harder than ever. That first step requires the most courage and faith in himself and the gods, but he forces himself to take it. Then he takes another step. Then another, and another. Each step comes more easily, faster, and takes him farther than the last until he discovers—”
