Free Lunar Lovers by Emma Abbiss

experienced pilot would have seen the signs of the meteor storm
and avoided it. Sam’s ignorance had killed his parents.
    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
    When Sam reached the old, clunky space station, he
compressed the streamer into a sleek, handheld device that he pocketed as he
made his way through the glittering shopping district, once again following
Achelle’s pulse-pushing scent. The feeling of déjà vu bit at his heels as he
ran down the wide walkway. He prayed to the gods high and low that his mortal
mate was still on the run-down station…and within his reach.
    It felt as though she was close, but maybe that was wishful
thinking. As long as she’d been gone, Achelle could have found and purchased passage
on a new ship going anywhere.
    Her scent led him into a crowded ship repair shop named
Toio’s that looked more like a den of thieves than a legit business. Four
unwashed, unshaven males squatted in the middle of the main room, barking at
each other like rabid dogs as they played dice, gambling credits that were no
doubt stolen.
    “Hello?” he shouted over their yelled curses.
    A long, lanky male with a mashed nose glared over his
shoulder before returning his attention to the game. “Yeah, what?”
    “I’m looking for my mate. A blonde, magenta eyes—”
    “Captain of that piece-of-shit commuter ship grabbed her a
couple hours—”
    Sam spun and ran out of the shop, backtracking toward the
docks, realizing now that her scent had been so strong because she had doubled
back on her trail. But concern over whether she’d done so of her own volition
or was taken against her will was what drove his feet to a dead run. He moved
in and out of the clumps and groups of family and friends strolling, window
shopping, laughing and talking, loving each other and the time they were having
while he felt his whole life slipping away from him.
    If Achelle was lost, he would be incomplete. He and his
brothers had all bonded to her. Ranes mated for life. Without her…their family
would be forever broken, he half the male he was meant to be.
    At the long, orange-and-white-striped chute that would
return him to the polluted docking ring, he pushed his way past several
slow-moving groups and shoved his way into the airstream. He burst out onto the
dock and stumbled in his bulky boots before he caught his footing. A
centuries-old passenger ship loomed in front of him, Achelle’s sweet smell
leading Sam up the steep plank to the captain who walked with a distinct limp.
He grabbed the lean man’s shoulder and wheeled him around.
    “Where is she?” he asked, getting right up into the
captain’s generically handsome face and letting the male see the violence Sam
knew showed on his own visage. “Where is my mate?”
    The captain jerked his shoulder out of Sam’s grasp and
stepped back, placing himself higher up on the ramp so he looked down on Sam, a
sneer cutting across his symmetrical face. “If you’re talking about the blonde
bitch, I refused her passage. Don’t need trouble like her on my ship.”
    The growl that clawed its way up Sam’s throat and tore out
of his mouth widened the captain’s eyes and loosened his jaw. The man stood in
a state of shock that would have been laughable if Sam weren’t so pissed off.
    “Where exactly did you see my mate last?” He bit each word
off as if he was tearing meat from the bone.
    The captain’s eyes widened and bulged. He swallowed twice
before responding. “O-over by the far chute.” He motioned with his head,
nodding toward the service chute across the port from where Sam had entered.
    A full-heavy obstructed Sam’s view, and for a moment Sam
stood there staring while flashes of his parents’ death in the same type of
ship ripped through his brain, reopening old emotional scars. Shaking his head
as if he could fling the memories away, he refocused on his mortal mate.
    He bolted down the narrow plank and hopped over the rail
when he neared the end. The people in his way, the ships