Page 2 of Swept By The Alien Pirate Prince

Cyburn reached across his seat and linked his hand with mine. He gave it a unifying squeeze. “Stick with me and you’ll be alright. She’s not going to try to hurt you again.”

“She just knocked into my shoulder at a hundred miles an hour,” I complained. “It’s probably going to leave an ugly bruise.”

“At least you’re alive.” Cyburn’s eyes held with mine.

“You’re right.” I reverted my gaze to my lap. Some of the crippling anxiety melted away after that — because I knew he was right. Cyburn knew how to humble me when it was necessary.

“I don’t know aboutyou, butIwant tostayalive,” Cyburn declared as he popped one of the gears into place and hit a few buttons on the screen in front of him.

“Yes,” I whispered, swallowing hard as I stared out the window at the nightmare unfolding all around us.

Thanks to Amada, we were encircled by a cluster of fleets from the Belic Empire, our sworn enemy. These adversary ships were run by robotic cyborgs with human organic matter wired into their brains and body parts. They called themselves ‘Imperialists’.

They’re going to start firing rounds at us soon,” Cyburn warned.

The engines came to life and the hum of their power vibrated through the very ground I stood on.

Cyburn looked at me and lifted his eyebrows. “You are probably going to want to sit down and strap in when the boosters fire up.”

I tossed a wary glance over my shoulder. “What about Amada?”

“What about her?” Cyburn had his back turned away from me, staring out of the glass where the fleet surrounded us.

“Should I go help—”

“No.” This time Cyburn turned around, his black eyes flashing with defiance. “Stay here with me. My guards know what they’re doing. They’ll catch her.”

They let herescapethrough their grasp, too, but I kept my mouth shut. Now wasn’t the time to argue semantics.

At least Amada had chosen to run deeper into the guts of the ship and didn’t stick around to torment me any further. Maybe she’d gotten over her jealousy regarding my and Cyburn’s relationship.

Of course, that came with its own set of headaches, however. Now we had to worry about what she was going to do on board the ship if the guards didn’t halt her crime spree before it got out of control. She had the potential to wreak all kinds of havoc in the interim.

Amada didn’t have boundaries or now — morals either — apparently.

She sold us out — but she didn’t seem afraid of losing her own life in the battle. She’d lost her mind, that much was clear.

I glanced out the window. A firework display of orange, red, and white splattered across the void of deep, black space.

I screamed and ducked. I couldn’t help it. It was my instinctive reaction. My body was thrown to the right. I slammed into the wall, jamming up myothershoulder.

I collapsed to my knees, landing on them so hard that my bones felt like they were vibrating. My skull felt like it was sloshing around loose inside my head.

Panting hard, I lifted my chin, but I didn’t dare remove my hands from where they provided a protective shield on the top of my head.

“That is why I told you to strap yourself into your seat,” Cyburn roared in front of me.

The ship took a hard left this time, and I skidded across the floor, but I didn’t crash into anything because I was already on the ground, and I had enough time to plant my hands out in front of me for better grip.

“What’s going on?” I screamed.

“I’m dodging their missiles, that’s what’s going on!” Cyburn’s voice was shrill.

“Was that fireworks display out there one of them?” I asked.

“Yes, but it’s a lot more dangerous than actual fireworks and there’s more coming. Sorry for the jolting — but if I don’t whip out of the way in time we’re going to explode.”

I didn’t want to imagine what it would be like to be incinerated in a ball of fire in the middle of the universe.

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