Page 91 of Savage Union

I shifted in my seat, feeling the tightness beginning in my uniform trousers. Gods, just thinking of fucking her made me want to do it again…and again…and again. The two ofus couldn’t seem to get enough of each other—we were at itconstantly.

Jessina maintained our inability to keep our hands off each other was because we were Fated Mates. And Goddess help me, I was beginning to believe her. There was no other explanation for why we needed each other so badly we couldn’t bear to be apart more than a few hours at a time.

“Ready to jump,” I heard Gurflug burble, which broke my train of thought.

“Uh, okay.” I nodded. I had given Jessina the time dilation medication earlier, so I knew she would be fine. And since she’d plotted the route the night before, I wasn’t worried about winding up in the middle of a black hole. I was free to go back to worrying about what my best friend would say when he found out I was in love with his little sister…

“Captain?” There was an urgency in Yorrin’s voice that made me look up.

“Yes? What is it?” I asked.

“The route—look at it!”

He nodded at the broad viewscreen at the front of the ship and I saw that it had been subtly changed. And there was only one person on the Bridge that could have overridden Jessina’s route and changed it.

“Hey Gurflug, what the Hell do you think you’re doing?” I demanded, glaring at the big Galafruxian.

He turned his head and gave me a smirking smile that made my stomach twist into a fucking knot.

“Getting my revenge!” he announced. “For the past two months you’ve treated me like dirt beneath your feet! You refused to have my uniform cleaned for me, you didn’t make the cook prepare my favorite stew, you forced me to take a shower and wash off all my lovely slime. Why, you even whipped me for no good reason! Well now, you’ll get what’s coming to you!”

“No! Stop him!” I shouted, because his greenish-brown finger was hovering over the Jump button. The route has given way to a view of the wormhole we were about to dive into—but who knew where we would come out? He might have changed the route to dump us out anywhere—or into any kind of danger.

Yorrin and Snuffy both rose from their chairs but it was too late. Gurflug pressed the button and the ship lurched forward, right into the hole.

56

JESSINA

Iwas lying on the bed, wearing my pink flowered pajamas and reading on the entertainment cube when it happened. Even though I wasn’t on the Bridge, I knew at once that something wasn’t right. I could feel the strange stretching sensation that accompanied a trip through a wormhole, but this one was rough. Instead of speeding up or slowing down, everything seemed to double and then triple for a moment.

I looked down at my hand and saw that I was holding two cubes…then three…then two again. What the Hell?

Somehow I managed to get off the bed and lurch towards the doorway—which kept doubling and then tripling itself. By the time I made it into the Ready Room, everything was settled down and I only saw one of everything again.

But that was when the screaming started.

I’ve said before that the Captain’s quarters were soundproofed, but apparently that didn’t apply to the Ready Room. Because through the door, I could hear people shouting.

“That’s a fucking asteroid field! Yorrin, take evasive action!” That was Turk’s voice—I was sure of it!

The Illyrian lurched back and forth, throwing me from one side of the Ready Room to the other.

“Gurflug—navigate us out of here!” I heard Turk shouting.

“Never!” I heard the Galafruxian burble in reply. “We will all die together here in Deep Space! And may your Gods have mercy on your soul!”

This was too much. I knew I was supposed to be protecting my true identity and hiding until the end of the trip, but I couldn’t anymore. No one else on board was able to navigate us to safety!

Slapping the door mechanism, I rushed through as soon as it opened and ran out onto the Bridge.

Everyone was staring at the Viewscreen, which was filled with huge, lethal-looking asteroids. Yorrin was doing his best to steer the ship around them, but Gurflug had managed to shoot us out right into the middle of the field and the huge chunks of rock were only getting thicker and closer together.

I saw at once that we only had moments before there was a fatal collision that would, indeed, send us all to Eternity. And Gurflug was just sitting there with a smirk on his flat face, his purple eyes bulging in satisfaction as he waited for the inevitable crash.

I rushed over to the self-satisfied bastard and snatched the nav band off his head. It was none too clean, but I jammed it over my temples anyway.

“Hey! What are you doing?” he demanded in his gurgling, underwater voice.

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