Page 53 of Shattered Silence

In that moment, he realized he didn’t want to let this human go.

Mine.

He would fight for her, kill for her, maybe even die for her.

Mine.

His erect cock strained against his armor-plate, and he was glad for the exo-helm that covered his face, because he didn’t want her to see his expression right now.

Not yet.

“Found you, brother.”

Lodan’s voice filtered through Enki’s comm, tearing him out of his lust-filled thoughts. The bastard had the most irritating sense of timing, but in truth, Enki was glad for the interruption, because he couldn’t get Layla out of here quickly enough.

Only when she was on the Fleet Station with him would he be satisfied that she was truly safe.

“I’m going to sweep down with the retrieval line in three, two…”

One. The familiar form of the Virdan X coalesced out of the inky darkness, approaching them at great speed. The retrieval line—a long, metallic arm—extended down toward them.

Of course, Lodan had been lurking around the Ristval V all along, waiting for Enki to eject the pod. The stealth cruiser had been heavily cloaked, but Lodan knew what to expect—they’d discussed it in detail—and the pilot could be extraordinarily patient when he wanted.

Only the secret tiny tracking device Enki had embedded beneath the skin of his left arm had given his location away, and now Lodan was coming to their rescue, doing the crazy sort of precision flying that only he could get away with.

The hooked end of the retrieval line whooshed toward Enki at impossible speed, and he didn’t hesitate. Releasing one hand from where he gripped the pod’s outer shell, he whipped his arm around and grabbed the line in an unbreakable grip.

Drawing on all of his strength, he brought the line closer, closer, closer, until it connected with the wall of the pod. The line’s Qualum fibers did the rest, extending toward the wall, meshing with the Qualum-Callidum composite of the pod, forming an unbreakable bond.

The whole time, they were moving, because although Lodan had slowed down, he hadn’t stopped at all, and now they were starting to accelerate again as the Virdan X retracted the line bit by bit, and they were drawn toward a small airlock in the side of the hull.

“Hold tight.” There was a warning prickle at the back of Enki’s neck, and then the Virdan X veered sharply to the right, and Enki gripped the pod tightly, creating a barrier with his body as a giant plasma flare tore past them, narrowly missing the pod and the ship’s hull, and for a moment, Enki’s entire body was engulfed in blue fire.

Then it was gone, leaving immense pain in its wake.

But he had shielded Layla from the blast, and that was all that mattered.

The stealth cruiser gained speed.

“No way I was going to let that one get you,” Lodan grunted. “Don’t worry. We’re almost out of their plasma range now, and I’ve told Ny to go up to the gunport and deal with the shooter. Remember, they can’t chase us. They’re crippled.”

The airlock opened and the metal arm grew shorter and shorter, drawing them inside.

The airlock closed.

Gravity kicked in. Enki dropped to the floor, his entire body on fire. A blast from a plasma gun was one thing, but catching even just the edge of a massive blast from an alpha-class Kordolian warship was a completely different experience.

That shit was powerful, and it hurt.

He dropped to all fours, gasping, drawing oxygen into his lungs for the first time since he’d left the Rysor. His nanite exo-armor broke apart, withdrawing through his skin as the tiny machines instantly reacted to the massive heat-damage in his cells.

The pain caused by the retreating nanites was something he was used to, but when it came with a side of plasma burns, it became unbearable.

He screamed.

A torrent of memories flooded his mind, and suddenly, he was back there.

On Tharos.

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