you the fucking plan. But I want something in return.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “What.”
She suddenly softens. Then smiles. And her voice, when she speaks, is low and sweet. “I want you to promise me something, Crux of another Harem Station. I want you to promise that you won’t forget me. Because you know what?”
I swallow hard. Almost afraid to hear what she will say next. “What?”
Her voice hardens and so does her face. She becomes a determined princess. A princess with a scheming plan. A princess who knows who she is and what she wants. “I’m not that dumb bitch, Corla. I know a good man when I see one. And if you don’t spend the rest of your eternity hunting my ass down to find me?” I laugh. “If you don’t hop time for me the way you did that ungrateful bitch? If you don’t put the entire universe on the line for me—I will come looking for you Mr. Violet-Eyes. Because we are not star-crossed lovers. Do you hear me? And that’s my final star-fucked promise.”
I don’t think I have ever smiled so wide, and so hard, and so completely in my entire life. And when I lean forward and whisper my promise past her lips, I suddenly feel… free.
No.
Wrong word.
I feel… uncrossed.
And then, when she tells me the plan, I feel… relief.
And when I walk back into that spin node I know two things for certain.
First. I do have a soulmate. And her name is Alera.
I don’t even care if that’s true or not, I’m going with it.
And second. Time can kiss my ass. Because I’m gonna blow the entire universe up and put it back together in the same sun-fucked moment.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX - CRUX
Klaxon alarms blare in my ears as Luck pulls me to my feet.
He’s wrapped up in silver threads. They wind around his arms, and legs, and continue through the room. They climb the walls. They go out the door. And I can’t see any further than that, but I know the silver threads cover the entire station.
They cover every person. Every bot. Every surface.
They connect us to the rest of the universe.
That was ALCOR’s grand plan.
“We’re under attack,” Luck yells. “Draden is back. Tray is back. Asshole is back. Mighty Boss is here looking for the Succubus. Nyleena, Corla, Tycho, Lyra, and Delphi are unconscious in medical pods on the Harem level. Veila and Valor have let everyone out of their rooms, so the station is in chaos. But no one has weapons, so if we’re boarded, they can’t fight. The Akeelian boys filled up every single empty ship in the showroom with insane girl minds. The Prison Princess is taking on seven Akeelian warships and there are more ships in the gate heading towards us. So Serpint had no choice but to let the insane girl-mind ships leave because the security beacons on this side of the gate are still not functional and Tray and Brigit can’t hold them off much longer. He’s hoping the insane girls will… maybe target the Akeelians? Mighty Boss is demanding access to the spin node to get their stupid Succubus, and—”
“Stop.”
Luck stops.
“Listen to me very carefully. None of that matters. Because we only have two choices, Luck. Die at their hands or go out fighting? Do you have a preference?”
He narrows his violet eyes at me. “You’re going to do it, aren’t you? You’re going to blow us all up just because ALCOR told you to.”
“That wasn’t an answer to my question,” I growl. “I need a fucking answer. And I need it right now.”
“Go out fighting. Of course.”
“Then you will follow my instructions exactly, do you hear me?”
Luck has always had a mind of his own. I mean, all my brothers do, but Luck was voted Least Likely to Follow Directions in an Emergency by the rest of us three years in a row when we were younger.
“What do I have to do?”
I let out a long breath of air. “OK. I want you to keep this node open. I want Mighty Boss inside it—”
“Mighty Boss? Why?”
“Because they know how to use it and I don’t. I need their help if this is going to work.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t have time to explain. Just keep it open, no matter what. And let Mighty Boss go inside when he gets in here.”
“That’s it? That’s all I have to do?”
“That’s it.”
He stares at me, the klaxon alarm still blaring through the station. “What about