Page 106 of Fractured Souls

The warm feeling inside him grew, feeding into his lust. He turned away from her, fearing he’d lose control if he didn’t get moving.

Time was short. If he didn’t get on the enemy ship soon, they could slip away. Kordolians were sneaky like that.

He retrieved his swords from their resting place against the wall and checked his guns, deciding to go past the weapons store on the way out and pick up a few more small blades and something with a bit more firepower. He liked the big semi-cannon, with its long barrel and increased range. Yes. He would take one on his way out.

Alexis rose and walked to his side. “Hey.”

“Hmm?” He could barely look at her. She was too fucking beautiful.

“Come back to me in one piece? I know this is probably a bread-and-butter mission for you, but I don’t want you to take any chances.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward her, demanding his attention. Ha. Nobody did that to him, ever. “You’re too fucking important to me.”

Almost at breaking point, he stared down at her, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled her essence. She had no idea how close he was to…

“I’m coming back,” he whispered, his hand trembling as he stroked the side of her cheek, “and then I’m going to do unspeakable things to you.”

“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. Her sultry little smile made him growl.

“Later, Alexis.” He leaned in and kissed her fiercely, giving her a small glimpse of the savage desire that he just barely kept at bay.

She responded eagerly, running her hand down the back of his head, threading her fingers through his hair, down his neck…

The faint, addictive tingle of power crackled along her fingertips.

He wanted her so badly right now.

No. He couldn’t fuck up this mission because he was an indisciplined idiot.

Later.

Nythian gently broke the kiss. Seething and unsated, he reluctantly turned on his heel and disappeared, leaving her breathless and flushed.

He’d never known such exquisite torture.

Maybe killing a few Imperial scum would help relieve this unbearable tension.

Twenty-Seven

“There you go, brother,” Lodan said over the comm as Nythian dropped through the Mhyndin’s lower hatch. “We’re kissing the enemy’s roof now. Our cloaking’s good, but it isn’t infallible. I can’t stay like this for too long without avoiding detection, so hurry up and get your ass inside. I dare say they’ll be expecting your ugly face. They know who they’re dealing with.”

“Gracious as ever, I see,” he grunted, while at the same time appreciating Lodan’s skill. It was an extraordinary feat of flying, one that very few Kordolians in the Universe could accomplish.

In that sense, Lodan was a special kind of freak.

Nythian slipped into the flying boom and dropped to his feet—right on top of the enemy’s ship. The boom was a long flexible tube made of Qualum fibers that could form a perfect seal against any Qualum-Callidum composite. It was designed solely for the purpose of infiltrating other Kordolian ships, and was designed to remain stable at hyperspeed. “Give me a moment.” He pulled out one of his blades and sank it into the thick outer shell of the ship’s roof, where he quickly cut a neat hole in the exterior. “I’ve breached. Entering now. Seal the bastard up behind me and get out of range. We don’t want to take any chances with the humans onboard.”

“I would never take chances with your human, brother. Are you clear?”

Nythian listened carefully, checking for movement. “All clear.” Then he dropped into the opening below, right into the enemy’s ship.

“Activating the seal now.” Above him, the dark metal he’d sliced sealed over as Lodan applied a temporary patch that would maintain the cabin pressure. “Okay, I’m out of here. I’ll be on standby. Holler when you need retrieval, and please don’t kill the information.”

Nythian sighed. “I won’t kill the information.” He just couldn’t seem to shake off his reputation for excessive violence—and this was even amongst the First Division, who lived and breathed violence. Okay, so he’d lost his temper once or twice and accidentally killed a few hostages in the past, but that was a long time ago. Things were was different now, especially since he’d found Alexis.

He took stock of his surroundings. He was in one of the rear compartments, a space usually used for storage or holding prisoners. The Qualum doors were sealed shut, engulfing him in comfortable darkness.

The cruiser would be standard-issue military. Only the Empire had made ships like this. Nythian didn’t need to access the spatial data. He already knew the layout like the back of his hand.

According to Ashrael, there were five targets onboard… and then there was the Xargek. If not for the fact that they needed to take one alive, Lodan would have just blasted the thing into oblivion and been done with it.

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