Harsh Last Words

Chapter 1

"You are nothing but an annoyance. A waste of space. You would be wise to leave so as not to force anyone else to suffer in your presence, ooman."

The words were harsh and acidic, cutting deep to the bone. Her emotions had already been a tangle of anxiety and worry, but this? This burned on a deeper level.

"B-but I thought that you felt the same..." She whispered, her throat clogging with the rising torrent of heartache.

U'kaida sneered at her from above, his yellow eyes were narrow and his tusks tightened in disgust. He folded his arms over his chest and snarled in contempt.

"Why would I ever mate with prey, much less you?" The large male scoffed.

Kelsey winced at every word. The more they spoke, the worse it got. She never anticipated that this would be the outcome. All of the signs had been there...or so she thought. How had she gotten it so wrong? Every ounce of excitement drained from her body to be replaced with hurt on a level she hadn't experienced since she lost everyone she knew to the war.

They had met as bitter enemies in the ruins of her colony. Since that moment a year ago, she had assumed that he had come to appreciate her company as much as she did his. She wasn't sure when she first saw him as a potential romantic partner, or when she found him attractive, but it had happened. Being near him gave her the needed serotonin to get through the day. U'kaida was an alien, a yautja, but there was something about him that was calming. For weeks she had been walking on air in his presence and anticipating when he would return from a hunt to their shared quarters.

He wasn't much of a talker, but his quiet presence was welcome, nonetheless.

"I-I..." Her tongue knotted more as tears filled her eyes.

She swore she could feel her heart breaking as the minutes passed by. Step by step she was already trying to escape the situation.

It also didn't help that they were in the middle of a bustling hallway. She didn't miss that several had stopped to watch and listen. U'Kaida seemed to not care that he was rejecting her so openly for everyone on the ship to hear. Everyone would know she was no longer protected. This place was no longer safe for her. For the first time since she had arrived, fear filled her veins as the implications of U'Kaida's rejection set in.

"You are too weak to even speak. It is pathetic." U'Kaida spat. He turned on his heel and stormed down the hall, his hands tightly fisted at his sides.

The crowd dispersed, the hunters returning to their business. It was a singular familiar figure that caught her attention, however. He stood partially cast in shadow but his evil red eyes had her stilling at the sight of him.

Na'zeiru.

Someone passed in front of him and he was gone. She frantically searched for him in the crowd but he had vanished entirely.

Kelsey staggered back, running to U'Kaida's room. Once she was safely inside, she laid on the couch and sobbed. The tears came hard and fast. She could hardly breathe because she cried so much. The sting of rejection was strong, sitting like molten lava in her chest. It was almost more than she could bear.

She had lost everyone and now she had lost U'Kaida, the one person she thought she could create a new life with.

Apparently fate had other plans.

When she could cry no more, Kelsey collected herself, since she had no personal belongings, and left.

Later that night, when the night cycle was in full gear, Kelsey quickly made her way to the hangar. The halls were empty and dim, the lights turned low. Everyone had gone to bed for the evening, everyone but her anyway. Without the scrutinizing eyes of the others to make her feel smaller than she really was and Na'zeiru to haunt her, she had free reign to quickly escape the ship.