Page 209 of Star Claimed Omega

Just a day earlier, Miral had invited her and Santi to the med-lab located on the executive level ofThe Sombra.

Soleil sat still, Santi at her side, while Miral prepped her with a gentle local anesthetic.

‘This shitty nanite cuff in you is afokkin’ crude and cruel device,’ Miral muttered, inspecting the embedded node. ‘Obsolete. Borderline barbaric. Whoever designed this abomination should be shot into the sun.’

Santi grunted. ‘That’s probably where his bones lie now.’

With deft precision, Miral used a neural tool, gleaming and bone-thin, to disengage the wrist controller nestled deep in the fibers of Soleil’s hands.

She didn’t experience any pain, only the strange sensation of the pressure she endured on her wrists for years being lifted away.

When the procedure was complete, Miral smiled. ‘All done. You’re now free as a bird.’

Was she?she thought even now, seated by Santi at the fire pit.

The heat and muscled hardness of Santi’s arms curled around her, as unbidden memories of the suffering wrought from her forearms and her past assailed her mind.

Santi leaned into her, brushing her ear with his lips, pulling her to the present.

‘Nada, cariño,’ he murmured. ‘Focus on the here and now.’

She turned to him and lost herself in the love in his violet-gilded eyes.

She inhaled as the unwanted evocation faded like dissipating smoke.

‘Naam, my honey,’ she whispered, kissing the corner of his lush, curved lips, meaning it with all of her heart.

Safe and adored in the arms of herStar-ClaimedOmega.