Jaxor sprinted down the tunnel, but the hovercraft was still there. They hadn’t taken it, but it almost certainly meant Erin hadn’t escaped.
His anguished bellow made the kekevir screech. They clamored down the tunnel, their claws scraping at the stone, their eyes flashing behind the gate.
Launching himself into the hovercraft, he powered the engine on and shot up through the entrance of the tunnel. It was a clear span, perhaps another reason why the Mevirax had spotted his base.
“Erin!” he bellowed into the endless sky, wind rushing. He knew where the Mevirax base was. But looking in that direction, he saw nothing. Not a glimmer of metal on the horizon. He’d strayed too far from base during his last patrol, had taken too long to return.
Jaxor couldn’t think. Rage and worry and dread filled him. He needed to think.
His hand shook when he brought it up to his horns, when he clawed at the thick bone. Just that morning, he’d had her in his arms. Just that morning, she’d smiled and kissed him and looked at him like—
Vaxa’an.
His brother’s name cut through his jumbled thoughts and he latched onto it, desperately.
Even in the frenzied state he was in, Jaxor knew he couldn’t very well storm Tavar’s base alone. He had planned to tell Vaxa’an everything in the Golden City, which was what he should have done from the very beginning. But would his brother listen to him? Would he help him? Or would he turn his back on him, just like Jaxor had done to Vaxa’an ten rotations ago?
But he couldn’t do this alone.
As much as his Instinct clawed at his chest to go hurtling after his female, he couldn’t take on over two hundred of the Mevirax alone. He had a single weapon on the hovercraft.
He turned his sight south, towards the Golden City. His brother would be there. If he flew through the night, he could be there by morning. He would beg if he had to, he would agree to anything, as long as Vaxa’an would help rescue Erin from the Mevirax…before they had the chance to hand her over to the Jetutians.
He didn’t have time to think about it. There was such little time to be had and he didn’t know what Tavar knew or if he’d already been in contact with Po’grak.
But if he reached the Golden City, he could out the spy in the command center. They would realize Luxiria had been breached multiple times and they could ensure that no vessels entered. If only he could reach the Golden City before Erin was delivered to the Mevirax base.
He didn’t have a choice.
He would be punished for his crimes, along with the Mevirax. It might mean death, it might mean exile, but he would sacrifice whatever he needed to to keep his female safe and out of harm’s way.
Without another moment’s hesitation, he began the long journey to the Golden City.
The mark of Oxandri seemed to burn on his chest, where Laccara had pressed the blade to his flesh.
Sacrifice. Perhaps this was what Oxandri had wanted all along.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Erin woke to darkness, which she knew wasn’t right. Jaxor always had a lantern lit in the cave as they slept because he couldn’t stand the darkness.
Then she remembered and she lay perfectly still, blinking, willing her eyes to adjust to the almost nonexistent light.
Her temple was throbbing, a headache blooming behind her right eye. Her shoulder was sore, though when she chanced to move, she saw it was in a sling. It had been popped back into place, thankfully while she’d been knocked out.
Wherever she was, it was humid. Her skin was sticky with it. She heard the distant sound of rushing water. A waterfall or a river? And she smelled wet stone—like rain on concrete after a storm. Wet stone and fragrant earth.
She couldn’t pretend to be asleep forever and as her eyes slowly adjusted, she saw a sliver of light to the left, out of the corner of her vision. Daylight. Or moonlight. It was filtering in through a crack in the stone.
When she didn’t sense any movement, slowly, she pushed up from the ground. It was dirt, she realized. Packed earth. So dark it looked black. But the walls were stone. Was she in another cave?
Blinking in the darkness, she saw she was alone. But she was caged. Trapped. Mercifully, it wasn’t like the cage at the Pit, small and cramped. Instead, she was sitting in a cave the size of the