Page 1 of Saving the Space Pirate

Chapter One

Killian

Hot air whipped past my face.

I was diving headfirst straight into hell. As I’d done so many times before.

Just keep going.

The sensation of falling was so familiar that, for a second, I was cast back to my former life and the old feelings almost overtook me. And as always, the temptation to take this to its inevitable end washed over me. What did it matter? My life was one long grind of fear and pain and exhaustion. There was no way out. But falling like this, the fear was gone.

Let the fires embrace me.

I shook off the feeling—this time was different. That life of zero hope was long behind me. No way was I going to give in this time; there was more than my miserable life at stake. I concentrated on keeping us away from the walls, angling my body, shifting my muscles as I clutched Ruby’s small body against mine. She was so still that I thought she might have passed out. Or worse—that one of the stray shots had caught her as we jumped. Panic flared, but then her fingers dug into my shoulders, hampering my movements. And relief flooded through me.

We weren’t finished yet. I wouldn’t let her down.

I shifted my hold so I could free up my cybernetic arm. I’d need it for this. Clearing my mind, I allowed instinct to take over.

Soon.

As I flicked the internal switch that turned my eye to infra-red, the world around me changed. The walls glowed violet, and the heat below almost white. I scanned the rock rushing past us. Took note of our position. My internal processor calculated the estimated time to destruction.

Everything seemed to slow. Reaching out with my cybernetic hand, I counted down in my head. Ten seconds out, I flipped us in midair so we were heading down feet first—we’d be less likely to be damaged on impact that way. I used my free arm to wipe the sweat from my eyes, but actually, I hardly noticed the searing heat.

I’d never done this while carrying someone. Would the arm hold? I could only hope so.

My eye homed in on the spot while it was still beneath me. I extended my arm.

Three, two…one.

The snap as I caught the ledge nearly tore my arm from its socket. But the joint had been strengthened and it held.

I swung us into the narrow tunnel beneath the rocky outcrop, released the grip of my metal fingers, and fell the last foot, landing lightly.

I swayed, more from relief than weakness. The familiar feeling that I would live to jump another day overwhelmed me. I remembered it well. Part elation, part fear, part despair. Though again, this time was so different. The elation and fear were still there, but the despair was relegated firmly to the past.

I had hope. For a long time, that had been an alien concept.

And I had Ruby. All hot and soft and sweaty and clinging to me as though she would never let me go; her fingers digging into my shoulders, her legs wrapped around my waist. Slowly she raised her head, gazed across at me, and I melted inside. What was it about this one woman that touched me so deeply?

“Are we alive?”

I grinned. “Have you no faith?”

She was silent for a moment, staring into my face, and then she nodded. “I have faith in you.”

Aw.She was capable of breaking me, and I had no clue why.

She peered over my shoulder into the tunnel beyond, with its flickering dim orange light.

“Will they follow us?”

I shook my head. They didn’t even know of this place. Even the guards working in the mines didn’t know about this particular tunnel. It was my secret place. “No. They’ll probably put guards at the entrances to the known tunnels. But if we’re lucky, they’ll believe we’re dead.”

“So there’s no one coming after us right now?” She wriggled, pressing up close. Naked but for my shirt, I could feel the heat of her sex rubbing against me. My dick wasn’t averse to the idea, and blood sank to my groin.

“What are you doing?” I asked. In case I was mistaken; I didn’t want to get my dick’s hopes up, just to have them dashed.

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