The First Starfighter by Grace Goodwin (lightweight ebook reader txt) 📕

We reached Jamie in a matter of minutes, but Trax and Nave peeled off and disappeared. As planned, I walked into the area like I was expected to be there. Which I was. The guards at the entrance to the prison area nodded at me as I passed. “Where’s your escort, Alexius? Or should I say Elite Starfighter?” They enunciated the Velerion title as if it were poisonous. A joke to them. They were taunting me. It only made me eager to kill them, which I refused to do before the proper time. Not now. Not when I was this close to getting Jamie free.

I moved forward to walk past them, but the guard on the left lowered his weapon to block my passage. “I said, where’s your escort, Starfighter?”

Maybe they weren’t as stupid as I’d hoped. “The queen decided she needed a couple extra men in bed tonight,” I lied. It had been known to happen, not just tonight.

The two guards looked at me in silence. I stared back until one of them cracked a grin. The other one, put at ease by his fellow guard, chuckled. “We’ve heard about our queen’s appetites.”

“And seen the results,” the first guard agreed with a shudder.

Leaning in closer to whisper, I truthfully sympathized. “I would not want to be invited to her bed. I prefer to keep my blood inside my body.”

“Go on, then.” The second guard stepped aside. “And don’t take all fucking night, either. We’re on guard until you’re done with her.”

“You two? Why? Don’t you change shifts?” I asked.

The first guard shook his head. “Not tonight. We’ve been with our queen from the beginning. She trusts us, so we’re here until you’re done. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“And don’t fuck around. If you can’t break her, I’ll be more than happy to help.”

The offer tightened every muscle in my body and I ached to twist his head until his neck broke, but now wasn’t the time.

Wait, Alexius. Wait.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I walked past the two guards and entered the prison block. Jamie was the only prisoner in this area, kept isolated, heavily guarded, and alone.

“Jamie.” I approached her cell and turned off the laser barrier. The hot hum dropped away, the quiet settling around us.

She lifted her head from where she sat on the rock bed. Fuck, she was beautiful. The Velerion uniform fit every curve I knew intimately to perfection. Her hair hung long and thick down her back. Her face was devoid of any emotion. No tears. No fury. As blank and empty as the space she was in. All uncomfortable and cold. Not a place for my bondmate to stay a second longer.

Her gaze was directed at the recording camera in the ceiling. It was a tiny device, as were all of them around the base. The fact that her dark eyes were upon it meant she knew it was there. I had to hope the one and only clue I’d been able to give her as to the truth was understood. I had to let her know I was to be trusted, that my actions, while hopefully convincing, were all fake.

While we were true bondmates in all ways now, we’d only known each other in person a very short time. Trust from her was shakily given, and I’d destroyed what little she’d gifted to me, just as we’d intended to destroy the hex port.

“What do you want, Alex?” Her voice echoing off the impenetrable walls. “Here to torture me? Why don’t you just tell the queen everything yourself. You might have been here on this stupid asteroid, but you were right beside me the entire time. You know, in the—”

“Game?” I said the word that was the clue to the truth. I held my breath, looked into her eyes. Instantly they softened ever so slightly.

She knew. She knew. Relief made me almost dizzy.

I walked close to her, turning so my back was to the camera. I leaned down and kissed her forehead. No one would be able to see the gesture since she was so much smaller. They also didn’t see the small weapon I handed her.

I wanted to do more than gently brush my lips over her skin, breathe in her scent, but I didn’t dare.

“It was never a game,” she whispered. “What took you so long?”

The tension in my chest lessened just a bit.

“Later. Let’s get you out of here.”

A blast from a laser rifle hit the floor next to my boot. “I knew it. Told you he was a traitor.”

The first guard who’d been at the entrance spoke, his weapon aimed at Jamie. “Don’t even think about it.”

The second pressed the button on the wall and reactivated the laser barrier, trapping me inside with Jamie. I might have a weapon, but I couldn’t do anything. I could shoot one of them, but we would immediately die. There was nothing to shield us when the other guard executed us within the rock chamber.

“Alex?” she asked.

I stepped between her and the asshole pointing a laser rifle at her head. “I’d put that down if I were you.”

My words held no weight. The two guards exchanged a glance, then laughed, well aware of that. “You really are stupid.”

“Am I?” I held my hands up, palms out. “Last chance. Put ’em down and you live.”

The guard nearest the control panel scoffed and fired another shot at my boots. “Call the queen’s guards. Let them know we’ve got another traitor down here.”

The first guard lifted his hand to tap his comm controls, but he fell over dead before he managed to press the button.

“What the—”

A second silent blast ended the question before the other guard was finished. He dropped over dead on top of his friend as Trax ran to the control panel and deactivated the laser barrier. “Let’s go, Alexius. We will have the entire base after us in a few minutes.”

I ignored