Page 161 of Stars in Umbra
Mo lay in bed, spooning Rina in the captain’s quarters, one hand splayed over her hip as his nose nestled into her hair.
Her scent grounded him, a blend of vanilla and spring blooms, stirring his need for her.
His cock swelled as she shifted, murmuring an incoherent whisper, and he tightened his hold, mulling whether to make love to her once more.
As he was about to nuzzle her nape and wake her, a pulse came through his neural link.
A signal spike.
His eyes opened as Kainan’s communique streamed into his cerebral HUD.
Data cascaded over his vision: battle footage, encrypted transcripts, and confirmation codes.
The previous night, the Sable Group, in tandem with the United Pegasi Military, launched overnight coordinated strikes against multiple Stygian black sites throughout the sector.
The mercenary forces mounted stiff resistance but got crushed with clinical efficiency.
Dozens of hardware depots and experimental weapons caches had been secured.
Even more surprising, Kainan offered Stygian’s surviving fighters the chance to be absorbed into their respective planetary armies in Pegasi, across Dunia, Galicia, and Rhesia.
It was a solution that hopefully put an end to Stygian’s chaos; a conclusion to their shadow war.
But only if you three take their HQ and eviscerate it.
Kainan’s ultimate words came through like steel.‘We’ve isolated Stygian HQ. No comms. No backup. No escape. It’s your move.’
Kainan’s sign-off was uncompromising and final.
Mo exhaled.
He brushed a hand over Rina’s waist, then leaned in, mouth brushing her temple. ‘Rise and shine, troublemaker.’
She mumbled into the pillow about needing the bathroom urgently.
He grinned. ‘That’s what you get for going so hard on the water last night, hydration queen.’
Her hand reached back and slapped his ass. ‘Keep talking, I’ll leave you to storm Stygian HQ alone.’
He laughed, deep and real, and sat up, stretching his arms over his head, every muscle sliding beneath skin still warm from her body.
Rina blinked awake, hair tousled, lips curved.
He kissed her long and hard, then tapped her ass. ‘Fun times are over. We have our marching orders.’
They moved through their morning with fast precision: showers, a protein-packed breakfast, and a final run through of their plans.
The Corvette was already in complete stealth, cloaked above the stratosphere.
They hovered in perfect position over the jagged steel structure that marked Stygian Corp’s endmost bastion, an obsidian fortress.
In the loading bay, the atmosphere shifted.
Armour hung waiting like silent sentinels.
Mo adjusted the clasps on his suit and checked the pulse rifle at his back.
He turned to find Rina zipping up her torso plate, sliding her gloves into place with a snap. Even now, on the precipice of war, she appeared like power incarnate.
