Page 34 of Swept By The Alien Pirate Prince

I screamed, but the noise got lodged in my throat and wouldn’t come out. A blinding white light crippled my vision. I stumbled backward as the grenade landed directly in front of my feet.

The fireball exploded in front of my face. It melted my clothes to my skin and caused my flesh to fall off my bones like raw meat.

My hearing tapered, then vanished altogether. Each of my five senses began to disappear after that. I couldn’t see, feel, touch, or smell. I was dying, melting, transforming into nothing but a ball of flames.

My hair caught fire and incinerated the top of my head.

I tried to scream again, but when I opened my mouth, I breathed in the angry fire. My lungs turned to ash.

The last thing I saw before the world went black — was Amada’s deranged laughter and her mouth, wide open and roaring in victory.

Then, the blackness faded out and I saw Amada again, only this time I wasn’t with her. She was on the escape pod. Her teeth were chattering, and frost covered the inside of her chamber.

She was screaming and banging on the windows, gasping for air. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, full of fright as she suffocated in the abyss of darkness as it swallowed her from all angles.

I woke up in a cold sweat, drenched, my shirt clinging to my skin. My hair was damp on the back of my neck. One minute I was freezing cold, and the next I was burning hot.

I gasped, desperate to draw in oxygen but my lungs couldn’t take it in quick enough. The room was dark and humid. The air smelled muggy. I was in the same bed I’d been waking up in for days on the planet of Machinoor.

“Carmela?”

Cyburn’s deep voice cut through the silence of the night.

I turned my head and found his almond eyes, glassy and blinking at me.

“Where is she?”

Cyburn’s eyebrows knitted. “Who?”

“Amada — the grenade — she threw it — huge fireball — orange light — explosion—”

“Hey, hey, darling, calm down.” Cyburn’s voice lowered to a soothing tone. “You must have had a nightmare.”

“Where is the Blade?” I swallowed hard.

Cyburn’s expression shifted from concern to confusion. “The… Blade? It’s… baby, it’s docked where we left it. You were just helping me work on it this afternoon.”

My heart wouldn’t stop hammering. My eyes darted around the room while my stomach rolled with nauseating paranoia.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. It was a bad dream. You must have just woken up from it.”

Tears pooled in my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. I cupped my head in my hands and cried.

“It was so… soreal.”

“It’s okay, darling,” Cyburn murmured, his hands stroking my back and hair in a consoling way. “I’ll protect you. You're safe with me, I promise. Amada isn’t here. There are no grenades, no explosions. We are on Machinoor.”

I nodded and raised my head. Cyburn’s face was etched with compassion. My racing heart began to slow down and some of my anxiety subsided.

“It was an awful nightmare,” I said, choking back a heavier sob.

“Come here, baby,” Cyburn said and roped his muscular arms around my torso. He pulled me closer and hugged me as tight as he could without squeezing me to death.

He was right. I felt safer in his arms.

“I’m sorry I woke you up,” I said.

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