Page 1 of Swept By The Alien Pirate Prince

ChapterOne

CARMELA

Iheard Armada’s maniacal laughter before I saw her. She screeched in the distance like a wailing hyena hunting after its prey. As far as I knew, she was in the custody of Cyburn’s most trusted officers.

Then, the roar of her laughter hurtled closer like a freight train. Amada’s mucus colored skin blurred in front of me.

I was in the cabin of the ship, standing in the doorway. My heart pounded as I watched our escape ship’s commander, who just happened to also be my lover, Cyburn as he switched buttons on the control panel. He flicked lights on overhead and pushed gears into place.

Amada had been our resident engineer right up until the end — until she went crazy and betrayed us, giving away our location to the enemy Belic Imperialists.

“She must have gotten away from the officers.” The dread was unparalleled in my voice.

Cyburn cut me a distracted glance, his almond shaped, black eyes scanning the control panel with trepidation.

“If we hear her this close, then yes, that’s what happened.” His tone was flat as if there was nothing he could do about it for now. “I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m going to have to steer this escape fleet out of enemy territory. If I don’t, we’ll be dead within seconds.”

I sucked in a deep breath, refusing to let the horror of the situation seep into my veins.

Cyburn’s face drained of color and his mouth formed a straight line of remorse. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way—”

“You’ve flown the ship before,” I reminded him.

“Yes, but the situation is not normally this dire.”

“You can handle it.” I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince more, him or myself.

Cyburn didn’t look at me. He was still too distracted by the ocean of buttons and gears on the control panel, screens, and monitors.

“Hey,” I whispered in a voice that I hoped would sooth him. I cupped my hand over his green skin, a complexion that brought me comfort and reminded me of the plush woods in the summertime on Earth. “We trust you. You’re doing a phenomenal job.”

Cyburn scoffed in protest, but the tension in his shoulders relaxed and the flare of fear in his eyes faded.

Something hard slammed into my shoulder, jamming it. I cried out in surprise as the pain ripped through my muscles and joints. I reached a hand up to clutch the tender area.

Amada shoved me aside. We made brief eye contact. Her eyes were enlarged, and her mouth was twisted. She had a deranged expression on her face, disturbed much like an animal being charged at would have.

She didn’t pause. She barreled her way past me into the belly of our breakaway ship at the last second. Her slyness might cost us all our lives in the end.

“She’s escaping!” officers on our ship shouted, their voices laced with shock.

I was just as stunned. How could something like this have slipped between the cracks?

Heavy footsteps erupted across the metal grates of the corridor floors as the soldiers hurried to weave through the tight space, in pursuit of our ex-engineer.

“I hope they find her and detain her fast,” I said.

“She’ll never surrender even if they do,” Cyburn said. His eyes narrowed with concentration at the computer screens in front of him. “Even if they manage to capture her.”

“Manageto catch her? That doesn’t sound very promising,” I argued.

“One problem at a time, sweetheart.” A nervous sweat had collected on the bridge of Cyburn’s nose, and above his eyebrows.

“I think she might be on drugs or something. Has she ever had a problem with that in the past?” I asked.

Cyburn tilted his head in my direction, but he didn’t answer. I got the suspicion that he knew something I didn’t.

“Her pupils were dilated. It wasn’t normal. She looked frightening.”

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