Star's Guardian Book Two

By Odette C. Bell

Grace and Alex arrive in a universe far from home. With no help, with no clue where they are, and with only each other, they’re plunged into a dark mystery. It will rip apart more than they can fix.
This universe has waited for someone just like Grace, and now she’s here, it won’t let her go. Alex, despite his powers, won’t be able to stop it. They’re soon split apart, and every truth he built his career on is ripped right out from under his feet.
Can they fight the forces gathering to destroy them, or will they be torn apart for good?
...
Star’s Guardian follows a runaway and a lieutenant fighting through secrets to save a lost universe. If you love your space operas with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Star’s Guardian Book Two today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.
Star’s Guardian is the 1st Supreme Outer Guardian series. A massive, exciting, and heroic sci-fi world where the day is always saved and hearts are always won, each series can be read separately, so plunge in today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Sep 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005715076

Book preview

Chapter 1

Grace Smith

Everything that happened happened automatically, without my knowledge, without my permission, without anything conscious. But subconsciously, something within me chose to reach out, chose to reveal myself in the worst way possible. Or the best way. My power pulsing into Alex was the only thing that saved us, the only thing that gave him the energy to tear through the Maw.

But that didn’t mean I was safe.

Inside me, everything shook as I threw out a hand, as I begged the drive to finally initiate.

Don’t let yourself be discovered. Never be discovered. Everyone is here to consume you. My grandfather’s words were a swirl of horror. They ripped more energy out of my soul and gave it up to the drives without my knowledge. It was the only thing that could save me. As they all lit up, as this curious, eternal glow was circumscribed in the air just a few centimeters above my face, I twisted my head around and stared. Not at the gate, but at Alex.

He threw himself at me. It was just as the gate initiated in full. I don’t think I had ever experienced more horror in my life. Though that wasn’t fair. It was a complex emotion. It tugged at my heartstrings, traveled down to my gut, and punched me hard.

Most of me – every smart part of me – begged the gate to initiate faster. But the rest of me – this tiny grain of something, the same force that had tried to save Alessandra – reached out. It resulted in most of me lurching back while one single finger twisted toward him.

My heart catapulted through my chest. The gate was almost initiated in full. I felt the strange pull of its equally strange power. For a few seconds, I was consumed by the thought and feeling of something so utterly ancient, it didn’t have any business being in the modern world. It should’ve disappeared not just thousands of years ago, but billions.

Yet that sense of age, no matter how much it plucked specifically at my power, couldn’t overcome the sight of one determined Alex Round stretching a hand out toward me. Time slowed down until I saw every detail. As he crossed under the power of the gate, its singular glow lit him up, pooling under his cheeks and sparkling in his eyes as they narrowed further as he screamed once more, I’m coming with you.

I’d spoken about two parts of me previously. That tiny fragment that wanted me to stay whispered mutinously in my ear that I should trust him. It was that speck that withheld the energy I needed to initiate the gate faster.

My grandfather had always told me I was my own worst enemy. I held back when I should forge forward. I hesitated when I should flee.

If he could see me now—

Alex reached me just as the gate initiated. He wrapped a strong arm around my back. My terrified primal thoughts told me it was a prelude to him stealing my energy. His Peacekeeper would wrap the equivalent of its jaws around my throat and—

The gate initiated.

Alex buried his head against my shoulder. His hard, rhythmic breath beat into my neck, despite the fact he was wearing a thick shield that should have prevented it from touching me. Maybe it was just my imagination giving itself free rein as the gate spun. It picked up speed, looking like a photon powering through space. Where it would land, no one could guess. Yet.

You— Alex managed.

We were lifted up off our feet. It was a replay of what’d happened to him only seconds before when he’d spectacularly defeated the Maw. But this was a sensation unlike anything I could have ever imagined. For as the gate spun and lifted us higher, it felt like every single memory within me did the same. It was the most discombobulating of experiences, something designed to catapult one not just through the universe, but while inverting all experience as it did.

Alex took the chance to look into my eyes one last time, and I searched for the grain of greed that should be there. Though grain of course was a limited word. Anyone upon seeing my power would change their colors. Even the most moral creature would turn depraved to consume me. But the depravity didn’t come. Yet.

We were spirited away.

The gate shivered and closed above us.

This wasn’t the first time I’d traveled through dimensions. This was the first time, however, I hadn’t been on a ship specifically programmed to protect you from the true range of this insane experience.

I wanted to say we flew. But that was impossible, because we also stood still. I wanted to say we sank through the floor, but we rose through the ceiling. I wanted to say we still had our bodies, but we couldn’t. Because you couldn’t have bodies if you were moving this fast, this far, and this completely. Yet something held me to the spot, an anchor that made this inexplicable experience understandable. Two arms. And one face. Alex had nestled his head against my neck. Lord knows if it was a conscious move. My paranoia told me it was just to get his teeth closer to my throat.

As the world continued to invert around us, as I heard this great rushing moan that could easily have been wind or the very substance of reality complaining as we shot through it at a tremendous rate, I saw flashes like stars being born.

All the while, as reality shivered around me, Alex’s arms never left my side. Not once. They got stronger in fact, but not in the way where it felt as if they wanted to squeeze me in half. Finally we landed down somewhere.

Before we did, I felt something twist and shiver within me.

Unconsciously, it interacted with the gate, but I couldn’t be sure, because I didn’t know a thing. This whole experience was so beyond me. But just as I concluded that, I stopped. Didn’t know a thing? I knew the most important fact of all. I was seconds from being consumed by this man.

We landed heavily down on some hard substance. The thunk of his armor against it reverberated around me and into my stomach, but he didn’t let the actual impact harm me. Yet, my mind screamed. Yet.

I bolted back from him.

I expected him to lurch to his feet immediately, but he spent more time holding his head and swearing.

Then, slowly, like someone peeling back curtains to reveal a glimpse of dawn beyond, he let those hands drop. He stared at me. His gaze flickered down to my hands.

I turned.

Wait, no. Don’t run, he said. His voice was strong, strident even. Then it hit the word run. It teetered and bottomed out. It’s okay. He crunched up to his feet. Grace, if that’s your real name, it’s okay. You don’t need to run anymore.

If that was my real name? How much did he know? Enough that he’d come to find me. Which meant he had been following me. Which meant—

I didn’t know where we were. Some kind of man-made cave? No. It was too rough for that. Salt and mineral deposits crunched under my feet. I heard this constant dripping coming from the walls. The scent was musty. But the thing I needed to care about most was the fact that I could breathe, which meant that this planet, wherever it was across the multiverse, was technically habitable. Or at least this section of it.

You didn’t need to know that I had precious little knowledge about the whole multiverse. All you cared about was that I ran.

My feet pounded down onto the salt-crusted stone. My breath came out in wheezes. And I pushed myself forward with no hope to ever stop.

Dammit, Alex spat behind me. He shoved forward. I knew that he could sweep me off my feet. Or he could just attack me with his Peacekeeper. Send out a violent blast of his light, and it would strike me in the back. Maybe it would do enough damage to render me partially unconscious. It wouldn’t matter in the end. He could take my energy from my dying body. He—

Just stop. I don’t want to chase you. Just stop. Please. I’m not gonna hurt you. I just need to find out what’s going on. And, Grace, we need to find out where the hell we are. We just traveled to another universe.

I hated the way he said Grace. His voice was calm. Actually calm. Where was the vitriol? Where was the greed?

I knew my face was covered in tears. But I couldn’t feel it. To confirm it, I would have to peel a finger away from the fists I’d made and touch my skin.

Do that and it would slow me down.

Which was pointless, the smart part of me whispered. He was in armor. I wasn’t. He hadn’t caught me not because he couldn’t – because maybe he was right, and he didn’t want to chase.

But the multiverse wanted to chase me.

I twisted around a corner. I found a path leading up. Again it didn’t look as if it was carved by any intelligent hand. This looked like an underground cave system.

Grace, come on. Please.

I could hear his words, but I didn’t understand what they meant. My mind, jacked high on fear and adrenaline, replaced them with the growls of the Maws. Wasn’t everyone the same in the end? Why had I spent so long fearing the Maws specifically when every single person in this entire multiverse was all like them? When you have power like mine—

That old refrain suddenly broke in my head as my feet slipped. I fell harshly to the side. I cut the top of my leg open on a rock.

Grace, for crying out loud, stop. I’m not going to chase you. You don’t have to hurt yourself.

As blood slicked the side of my leg, I threw myself up. I limped badly.

I even turned to see that my blood glimmered.

Two different programs snapped around in my skull at the same time. Hide your blood, but flee from enemies.

They were both equally as loud, but I couldn’t follow them at the same time. So stupidly I tried to do both. I attempted to swipe at my blood and clean it up at the same time as running past. That just meant I fell again. But this time I tumbled further. My leg, too injured to put too much weight on, buckled right out from underneath me. I hadn’t been paying enough attention to this cave system. My eyes had only just adjusted to the semi-darkness. A luminescent mold clung to the walls in shades of dull green and yellow.

Just to my side, I saw a flash of a deep cavern. I teetered toward it. My breath didn’t even have time to become trapped in my chest. Finally Alex used his full speed. He shot forward. I could see his armor and his Peacekeeper power. It shot high and rimmed his eyes. I could tell you they were still dull in comparison to mine – at least my true eyes. But who cares what eyes look like? The only thing that really matters is how they look at the rest of the world.

Alex Round reached me. He grabbed my arm, twisted me to the side, and stood half over the ledge. It was irrelevant for him. He could fly. And as his Peacekeeper gave him a burst of antigravity, he pushed me further back. There was barely any force. Yet.

I shook my head repeatedly. Tears ran down my face. Just do it fast. If you have to eat me, do it fast. I—

Eat you? Alex’s voice shot up so high and so fast, it should’ve blasted through the ceiling and reached outer space. It would’ve kept going. For something had to account for how fast his eyebrows shot up his head. I’m not gonna eat you, Grace. Why would anyone want to, anyway? You’re some kind of… whatever he wanted to say, it died on his lips as he cast his searching gaze down my form. I watched as his stare locked on my hands.

I tried to buck back, but he had me by the shoulders. Good, because apparently this section of the cave was treacherous. My feet didn’t bang against the floor that hard, but it dislodged a massive stone. Alex, still holding onto me, pulled me into the air.

I shrieked, not at the stones tumbling out from underneath me, but at the look in his eyes as he assessed me further. His stare finally darted down to my bracelet. And that’s… when his suspicion returned.

I shook my head again. Let me go. If you don’t want me to—

You know, I couldn’t even form that thought. The fear of my end had been beaten into my soul with every terrifying story and promise from my grandfather. I couldn’t conceive of the possibility that there was someone out there who didn’t want to consume me. So now as I faced the almost tender but still suspicious look in Alex’s eyes, I told myself it was a game and nothing more.

Grace, please, just take a breath and tell me what’s going on. First, that bracelet—

He flew me to a stable section of the floor and let my shoulders go. He stood between me and any escape, that said. He only let me go so his hands were free. I watched as one clenched into a fist.

Two different fears rose in me at the same time. And there shouldn’t be room for both of them. They were decidedly mutually exclusive. One, of course, was that this was an act, and all too soon he would consume me, ripping my head off to get to the energy within. The other… was a stranger fear, one I wasn’t used to. One that plucked at my intestines nonetheless and slowly climbed to my heart. There it ferreted its way in and started to grow. What if Alex was disappointed in me? What if he thought I was working for Walter?

The bracelet is some kind of communication device, right? It blocks my scanners, doesn’t it? he asked quickly.

I shook my head. I got stuck halfway through. I just watched him.

There had to be something about the look in my eyes. Alex paused. He pressed his lips together, twisted his tongue around them, forced them forward, then reluctantly opened his hands.