18

As I prepared for the day and tried to ignore the physical ache from my rejection, a bitter sense of loss settled in my heart when I looked at my Tranquility ops gear in my closet. I’d never wear it again. The one thing I was really good at, the one thing that made me whole, and now it was gone, too. That hurt almost as much as letting down my family. If I still had my job, at least I could have buried myself in work. Catching bad guys was a surefire way to get my mind off everything else.

I’d tried that as soon as the mating ceremony fell apart. Within hours of Jayson rejecting me, I called my superiors and asked to get back to work. I had hoped I would get a new case, a new project that would preoccupy me. Instead, they terminated me over the phone. There had been no build-up, no fake apologies. Just a couple sentences about cutbacks, a week’s severance pay, and a boot in the ass. I’d put my life on the line for the council for years, and then Jayson’s bitch of an aunt pulled a few