Page 68 of Synnr's Ride

Varin choked out a sob, and his eyes flashed to Zilly for only a moment. "Affirmative. Override safety protocols. Override cancelation prot—"

"Stop this, Varin." Jori sent a burst of his spark at the man, but Varin blocked it with his wings.

"Override cancelation protocol," Varin spat out. "Confirm command."

"Command confirmed," the computer announced. "Self destruct sequence theta initiated."

"I didn't mean to kill her," Varin said. His shoulders straightened. "And she wouldn't want me to surrender." He nodded, and Hanna realized what he was doing the second before his eyes flashed white as he turned his spark inward, killing himself.

"Self destruct in fifteen seconds."

"Braznon's bowels. Run!" Hanna grabbed Jori before he could do something heroic like try to recover one of the bodies or search them for any useful information.

They sprinted through the ship, and now Hanna was thankful it was a tiny craft. They didn't have time to move cautiously, and she hoped no one had snuck on board and was waiting to ambush them. Then they'd all be dead.

A sliver of daylight came from the door in the distance just as Hanna heard the rumble of the engines starting to implode.

She kept a tight hold of Jori's hand as they ate up the rest of the distance and she prayed to any spirit listening that they'd make it. They were so close. She could smell the fresh air.

And fire.

Hanna dove off the ramp, wrapping her arms tight around Jori and enveloping him in her wings as he did the same for her, using their spark as a protective cocoon as Varin's ship went up in flames around them.

The air hurt to breathe, it was so hot. But they were alive.

The bad guys were dead, their plans in ruins, and she and Jori had made it.

She kissed Jori, the elation of victory overpowering everything else. And Jori kissed her right back with all the strength she knew he had.

She didn't know how long they lay there, wrapped up in each other and unrelentingly happy for survival. It might have just been the two of them in the entire world, until she heard someone clear her throat.

Solan stood outside the perimeter of the wreckage, his Match, Lena, by his side. He raised both of his eyebrows and grinned at them. "So would you call this mission a success?"

"How'd you find us?" asked Hanna.

Lena was the one to respond. "We tracked the bikes. Major Ozar has a team following right behind us."

Jori wrapped Hanna even tighter in his arms and grinned over at both of them. "Yes. The mission was definitely a success."

23

Two WeeksLater

It still felt weird sitting in an office, her desk opposite Jori. Hanna wasn't sure it would ever feel anythingbutweird. But she could feel the pulse of his power securely inside of her, and every so often he'd glance up at her and smile.

Maybe weird was okay for now.

"Are you finished with your write up?" he asked the next time he glanced over.

Hanna made a face. At least when they were undercover they didn't have to fill out paperwork. "They give you one tiny promotion and suddenly it's all work, work, work," she teased.

"That's not what you said on our lunch break." He gave her a sexy grin.

Her cheeks might have heated a little, but Hanna shot him a brash look anyway. "Yeah, on ourbreak. We both know there's a perfectly good closet right down the hall."

"You just like the risk of getting caught." But he was grinning.

And maybe she did, a little. She'd learned more about herself than she'd expected on the mission, but all that really mattered was the most important thing she'd gotten.

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