Epilogue

-Clay-

“Is it supposed to do that?” Arcay asked, gripping onto the back of my seat while the jet dipped.

I tried to cover my amusement. It was kinda cute how scared he was of flying, while pretending he wasn’t. As if I couldn't read him like a book through our bond. The thermals from the surface of Adelemar tipped the jet the nearer we got, even with me trying to keep it as smooth as possible for him. It would be smoother if I went faster, but that would probably make him feel even worse.

“Just a bit of turbulence, Babe, nothing to worry about,” I reassured him.

The queasy green aura of nerves coming from Arcay warmed at the nickname. He loved it when I called him ‘babe’, and I had to admit I loved it too. It felt cringey at first—I’d avoided pet names for most of my life—but I was getting used to it, and the way it made Arcay feel was like a shot of endorphins straight to my central nervous system. Now I understood why soul bonds were so sacred to these people; it added a whole new quality to life. It was like I’d only been seeing everything in 2D up until now. No, that wasn't right, it was more than that. It was like I’d been walking around in a dark cave with my eyes shut my whole life, and now I’d stepped out into the sunlight and I could see everything for the first time.

I stared out of the cockpit window at the land laid out beneath us. On the jet test flight we’d been going so fast that I’d barely had a chance to register any of it. It had all just been a green and brown blur. Now I stared as we sailed above, taking in every detail of my new home. Gotta say I liked what I saw.

Lush forests blanketed the ground and climbed the edges of distant purple mountains, and through the trees, smooth white structures emerged like ripe fruits; Aldarian dwellings. They grew denser until they replaced the trees entirely, congregating around a huge structure that looked like a cross between an ant hill and a fine art sculpture. It glinted in the sunlight.

“Is that the city?” I asked.

“Amalya,” Arcay confirmed. “And at its center the Melandar. My home.”

“You live in the sexy ant hill?”

“The…what?” He looked at me, a line appearing between his brows. “I do not understand how those words go together.”

I laughed. “The big fancy-looking building.”

“Ah, yes. All of the high council reside there, so that we may lead our people together. It is our ende-mar, our…” he hesitated, fishing for the right word, “our center.”

“Like the head of the government?” I asked.

“It is similar, yes, but…not.”

Right. Well I’d see for myself soon enough. The grand structure was definitely an upgrade on my one bed apartment either way.

The city was hemmed in on one side by a huge cliff edge, the white buildings pressing up right to the edge of the precipice. A silver shimmering river ran through it all, weaving between the structures until it raced forward to tumble over the cliff, kicking up a spray of mist that created an array of rainbows, framing the whole city.

Damn, it was beautiful. I already liked it more than Earth. It looked clean and fresh. None of the smog, pollution, and overcrowding from my home planet.

Yeah, I could get used to this.

I took a deep breath and circled the jet around, just enjoying the feeling of freedom. It felt damn good to get off that huge ship.

It had taken a few days to reach the planet and all the while I was painfully aware of Ulgar lurking somewhere on board, like a hidden spider waiting to pounce. He was held in a secure bay during the journey, but still, just the knowledge that he was there was enough to make my skin crawl. What if he got out? What if he had another bound Aldar we didn’t know about, and compelled them to do something? We still didn't know exactly how many he’d forced his one way bond on.

I shuddered.

Arcay sensed what I was feeling and sent calming vibes through the bond to soothe me.

“He cannot hurt us again,” he said, reaching forward to grip my upper arm. “He will receive his punishment.”

I nodded, grateful.

Assault and breaking the law hadn’t been enough for Jursin to take any action against Ulgar, but apparently messing with soul bonds was a step too far. As bitter as I felt about that, Ulgar was finally getting what was coming to him.

Earlier that day, before Arcay and I had left the ship, Ulgar was officially stripped of his position as the Second and shipped off to a secure compound located on one of the moons. It was better than he deserved, which was to be torn apart by wild Qualarks, but unfortunately, I didn’t make the rules.

Now, I was just relieved to put all of that mess behind me. And Ulgar’s plans were finally being reversed. Jursin had ordered a huge search of the ship, ensuring every inch was inspected. The search party had discovered even more secret rooms, dotted around the ship like rat holes, and in them they found not only the missing Aldar, but others too. Ones that no one even knew were missing, that had flown under the radar and gone unnoticed. Most of them had been experimented on too, just like my crew.

I shuddered again at the memory.

Everyone they found was given the same serum that had severed Arcay and me, to remove any chemical bond binding them to Ulgar. It was a dangerous move–all of the properties of the serum weren’t known yet–but it was the best they could do for them. The poor fuckers. I couldn’t imagine what kind of hell they’d gone through, having their souls tethered to a psycho like that.

Now they were free, but it would take some time to recover from the ordeal. No doubt they’d all need months of therapy to heal, if not years.

Tarro, the alpha guard who tried to stop me when I found my crew, had been badly hit with a double whammy. Not only had he been forced to disobey direct orders, he’d then had to suffer a severed bond. I knew what that was like, and even if it was a forced bond, it can’t have been pleasant.

From the way Arcay had spoken about Tarro, he seemed like a nice guy. Someone who definitely didn’t deserve the shit he’d been handed. I’d last seen him when I accompanied Arcay to his final checkup. While we were there Arcay wanted to visit the victims to see how they were doing, and there was Tarro lying on a cot, shivering and curled up in a ball, making small noises that shouldn’t ever come from someone so big and strong. Hopefully one day he could get back to the person he once was.

As for Ulgar’s experiments themselves, after the serum had been administered to the victims, whatever was left over was gathered together along with all of his equipment, chemicals, notes, tools, and any proof that it ever took place, and destroyed in a secret location.

I frowned.

I would have liked to see it all get happen with my own two eyes, just to be sure. Jursin had assured everyone this was the end of it, but his track record for knowing what was going on amongst his own people wasn’t exactly great.

But there was nothing I could do about it now. Ulgar was gone, and the victims were being helped, and that was what mattered the most.

Arcay leaned forward and pointed to a wide open space between the trees below us.

“There,” he said.

I steered towards it, keeping the jet as even as possible as I took us down. An updraft tipped us, making the craft sway, and Arcay clapped his hand over his mouth as a new wave of nausea fizzed through the bond. My own stomach tightened in response and I swallowed around it. Would Arcay barfing make me sick too? I didn’t want to find out.

“It’s nearly over Arcay. Just hold on.”

Steadying the controls as much as I could, we dipped below the line of trees and I set us down lightly in a textbook landing.

God damn, I loved this jet.

Arcay scrambled out, almost tumbling in his haste, and then leaned against the side of the jet, unsteady on his feet and looking much paler than normal. He was practically pink. I climbed out and peered at him.

“You ok, Babe?” I asked.

He clenched his jaw and gulped, his throat bobbing. “Yes, I am fine…I just—”

He broke off as the nausea swelled huge and green.

Uh oh.

The next second he hunched, his body tensed, his cheeks blew out, and then he spun and threw up down the side of the jet. I winced and rubbed his back while his body shuddered.

“Let it out, Babe.”

Poor guy. On the plus side, my own stomach contents didn’t seem to be making a break for it, so I guess the bond didn’t make you vomit together. That was a relief. I didn’t fancy joining him in this particular experience.

“You really don’t like flying do you?” I said gently.

He coughed and sniffed. “It is not the flying, I must have eaten something that did not agree with me.”

“Mhm ok,” I said, smoothing circles on the warm skin between his shoulder blades.

He glared at me. Or tried to. The effect was ruined slightly by his watering eyes and miserable face. “I am not afraid of flying.”

“Of course you’re not.”

He took a long breath in through his nose, and the nausea subsided. He straightened and wiped his mouth, embarrassment radiating off him.

I gave the poor guy a moment to compose himself while I took the opportunity to look around. We were in a wide open space, standing on what looked like dark, flat, spongy grass, so soft it was almost mossy. It made the ground feel bouncy and padded underfoot, like if you fell over you’d bounce and then sink a few inches. In the middle distance, at the edge of the clearing, monstrous trees towered. They looked similar to earth trees only much bigger, and the leaves grew all over their twisted trunks, not just on the ends of the branches. Vines hung in thick ropes and huge bright flowers burst out from among the leaves.

There was a buzzing next to my ear, and I spun as a small cluster of glowing insect-looking things buzzed past, leaving little patterns of light trails in the air behind them. And up above, two blue moons hung in the sky, one big, one small.

We weren’t in Kandas-5 anymore that was for sure.

“What do you think?”

I turned. Arcay was back to his normal color now, though his face was still drawn. He stepped up beside me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, holding me against himself possessively. His huge hand covered my entire shoulder, and I leaned into the warmth of his body, feeling giddy.

I couldn't have foreseen the absolutely bonkers chain of events that led me here, and if someone had told me a few months ago that I’d go from my lonely, dull, and safe life, to being bound to the soul of a huge, hot, alien from a species I didn't even know existed, I’d have asked them what they were on.

But it did happen, and getting abducted by this big, stern, soft, loving puppy was the best thing that had ever happened to me. As insane as that sounded. And I wouldn't change it for the world.

I looked down at the ring on my finger, then up at him, into his burning amber eyes.

“I love it,” I said.

Arcay beamed.

'How to Train Your Human Omega' epilogue