Page 28 of Saving the Space Pirate

I struggled, though I knew it wouldn’t help. There was no way out. Zurian laughed and then tossed the control unit to the ground, spun on her heels, and vanished.

“Fuck,” Rekowski said from beside me. “Yolanda, now would be a good time to show those secret agent skills and get us the fuck out of this.”

“I’m trying,” she muttered.

The stake at my back was heating up, not yet painful, but a mild precursor of the pain to come. I wriggled, but I wasn’t going anywhere.

I stared up at the Federation ships. They were of absolutely no help to me. Then theHelldiverburst from between the bigger ships, sleek and beautiful. Killian.

My heart missed a beat, then started racing. I would have done a happy dance except for the stake.

He’d come back for me. This was his doing. Somehow, someway, he’d saved me. I knew he hated the Federation, and he was a wanted man. They’d probably execute him, but he’d done it anyway.

TheHelldiverhovered above the courtyard as close as she could get, too big to land in the enclosed space. Heat seared along my back—a painful reminder that time was nearly up. Had he got here only to watch me die?

Then the doors opened. Killian stood poised on the edge. His gaze caught mine. I saw the fear in his eyes. Fear for me. And then he dived headfirst toward me. He couldn’t survive a fall from that height, but as he neared the ground, the rope attached to his ankle pulled taut. Killian twisted his body, sliced the rope and crashed the last few feet to the ground.

The stake was uncomfortably hot now. I held myself stiff, as far from it as I could, but the stench of charred material filled my nostrils. “Killian, the control box.”

He nodded, searched the ground, picked it up and the heat vanished as if it had never been there.

He strode behind me, drawing his pistol, and a second later I was free.

“My hero.” And I collapsed into his arms.

Where I belonged.

---