Page 37 of Alien Knight Teddy Bear Troubles

He’d rather be dead.

He leaned back and lifted his hands from the controls. “Why did you come back? To Mora Five?”

She leaned forward over the controls, concentration in the deep lines around her lips and at the corners of her eyes as she kept their ship on course—straight toward the missile. “What do you mean, why did I come back?”

Her hands began to sparkle, the odd glow lighting up the small space with a color he’d never seen before.

“Cassie?”

“Shut up. Trying to focus here.”

The missile drew closer. As it did, Cassie’s glow increased in strength, every bit of skin he could see now sparkling like she was covered with tiny crystals.

“Cassie?”

She didn’t respond this time, her eyes closed as the ship alarms flipped to a screeching level he hadn’t heard since his days fighting in the war. Imminent impact.

“Cassie!” he growled, his hands clenched into tight fists to keep himself from grabbing the controls.

His bellowed warning faded as a rush of power moved through his body like he hadn’t felt in a millennia. Longer.

Cassie.

She sparkled like a crystal infused with starlight and the power that pulsed from her small frame knocked him flat on his back behind her.

A wave moved through him, through their ship, like a percussion blast from a bomb. He lay there as the missile that had been about to kill them both flew through the front of the ship, straight over his head and out the back without exploding.

What. The. Fuck?

“Cassie!” He yelled but he couldn’t see her frame. All he could see was a bright shimmering light where his mate should be.

“Fire the Black Star! Now! Straight ahead of us. Taeger! I can’t hold it much longer!”

Fuck.

He scrambled to the Black Star, inserted the activation crystal and waited what felt like an eternity but was only a few seconds for the weapon to indicate it was ready.

“Straight ahead. They’re close. You can’t miss. Do it!” Cassie’s command rippled through the continuous waves of power coursing through him. His marking began to glow as well, as if she’d smeared his entire body with maju paste.

How did she know where the larger enemy ship was? How had that missile passed right through them? What the fuck was happening?

He mounted the weapon on his shoulder and aimed it straight at the front of their own small ship. If she was wrong, firing the weapon inside would kill them both.

“Cassie?”

“Do it.”

Live or die, he was with her. He activated the weapon.

Nothing happened.

He took aim, straight ahead, fired again.

Nothing.

Cassie collapsed in the pilots seat and the power pulsing through him dulled at once, leaving him feeling empty and cold.

The ship’s sensors lit up once more and a new set of alarms were blaring.

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