Page 38 of Tamed By the Alien Prince

It took little more than dropping his own name for the clerk to offer him a ship free of charge, and soon they were making their way to a small zoomer on the other side of the space station, escorted by the clearly starstruck Xoyosan rental clerk.

“And I hope you have a wonderful trip, Your Highness” the clerk crooned, handing Levi the paperwork. “If we can do anything else for you, please just let me know.”

Levi flashed her a quick smile as did Cora before they climbed into the vessel.

“Oh my gods,” Cora said as she sat in the copilot’s seat and surveyed the control board. “This thing has a solium hyperdrive.”

They were the best on the market but insanely expensive. Cora had never even seen a ship fitted with one, let alone ridden in one.

Levi grinned, slipping into the pilot’s seat.

“Only the best for His Highness,” she joked as he fired up the engines.

Cora strapped herself in for what was sure to be a powerful ride. She didn’t have to wait long. The clerk had put them at the top of the launch queue, and they rocketed out of the space station so fast the internal stabilization hardly had time to catch up. And they weren’t even in warp speed yet.

“All right,” she said once she’d recovered. “Let’s see where they are.”

Cora punched in the coordinates of the space station the Imperial Surfer was supposed to be headed for, and the holoscreen brought up the galaxy map showing the Jorvlen ship’s location.

“Prepare for hyperdrive,” Levi told her with a grin.

Cora raised an eyebrow but didn’t have a chance to reply before Levi pressed the hyperdrive button. For a split-second, Cora felt like her heart had fallen into her navel, her brain into her throat, and her stomach into her knees.

A split second later, though, the stabilization kicked in and all her organs resumed their proper positions. She looked to her right and saw that the same thing must have happened to Levi.

“Damn,” he said, looking at Cora. “That is powerful.”

“Which means we should catch up with the Jorvlens in no time. Right?” she asked.

“Here’s hoping,” Levi replied, smiling at her. “The Desolation Stone had better still be on board that ship, too,” he added.

Cora took a deep breath, praying the stone was indeed on it. They still had a long way to go before they could call their mission a success, and despite how much they’d gone through already, she still felt the hard part hadn’t even started yet.

They were on their way, but what if they didn’t find the Imperial Surfer? Or they found it and the stone wasn’t on board? And what if they got captured again?

But as these thoughts ran through her mind, she felt Levi’s hand touch her head softly before running his fingers through her hair. It felt as if a cool waterfall not only washed over her but through her. All the fears and doubts that had consumed her just a moment before now fell at her feet and were floating downstream.

“We can do this,” Levi told her, and Cora opened her eyes to look at him. She hadn’t even realized she’d closed them.

Levi had put the ship on autopilot when she wasn’t looking and he turned to face her, his beautiful violet eyes peering intently into hers.

“I know we can,” she told him and hoped he knew she didn’t just mean the mission.

His eyes soothed her the most—more than his words, more than even his touch. She saw in those eyes that despite the vastness between their two worlds, their two ranks, and their two histories, he really understood her.

She wanted to be with him, wanted to build a life with him somehow. All thoughts of guarding her heart had long been cast off, whether consciously or not, and all she wanted was to get through this mission and out onto the other side. Together.

Chapter 28

They were almost at the space station when Levi heard a ping over the ship’s speakers.

“Ship code E3792—the Imperial Surfer—has just been logged at refueling station Theta 694,” said the AI.

“Yes!” came Cora’s cry beside him, and Levi couldn’t help but smile.

“Reroute to that fueling station,” he told the AI.

It wasn’t far, and Levi pulled the ship out of hyperdrive to better approach the station. As they got closer, the ship’s tracker locked on to the Jorvlen mothership’s location. This time, Levi didn’t need to sneak around—at least not yet.

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