Page 17 of Stars on Fire

Holy Dunia,she thought, as her gaze and what felt like her entire soul fell into pools of molten gold flecked with flashes of electric sapphire.

Each spark in his deep-set eyes was charged with a blue energy band and pulsed with electric centres that graduated in colour and frequency, glowing as they seemed to flow from his corneas toward her. His life force washed over her in waves, and she broke into a hot flush. One that travelled over her skin and down her spine.

The sensation was almost familiar. That thought alone threw her off.

She took a tentative step back and almost lost her balance but managed to recover before losing her dignity.

He kept coming towards her, casually lifting a sizeable palm. Not in greeting, but a cool command to drop her weapon.

He was, hands down, the most lethal man she’d ever seen or met.

She jerked her gun at him. ‘Stay.’

He arched an eyebrow and paused, his sapphire and gold eyes coolly assessing her as he came to a stop. At that moment, she knew her handheld piece would have no effect whatsoever on him. Still, she kept it trained on him.

His lips twitched. Then he crossed his massive arms across his chest and jerked his chin towards the corvette behind him.

‘Your transport awaits,Excellency.’

Selene blinked in surprise. ‘You know who I am?’

‘I do.’

His voice was deep, rough and gravelly, echoing with a lingering melody that roused a stir in her innermost being.

She tamped down the sudden stab ofwhatever-the-fokk-it-wasthat almost took her breath away. ‘You’re my ride?’

He lifted a dark eyebrow, and his sapphire-flecked eyes glimmered. She instantly knew where his mind had leapt to.

She felt a flash of heat.Straight to her core, dammit.

To his credit, he didn’t indulge the thought further.

‘Naam. I’m yourpilot.’

His voice was deep, mellow, smooth, and accented. She couldn’t quite place it, but he spoke Standard fluently.

‘What were you expecting?’ he continued.

‘Maybe less of a sneaky fly-in and more of an obvious and on-time announcement of your arrival?’ she snarked.

He shrugged his massive shoulders. ‘But I was on time. To be exact, I was here before the agreed time. Purely precautionary, of course. I didn’t know what I’d be walking into.’

She had to lean back her petite frame to look up at him even though he stood a few feet away. ‘Well, neither do I, so excuse me as I check in with my people.’

His lips quirked once more before he stepped back to give her privacy.

She kept one hand on her weapon and tapped her wrist comm, slightly turning away from the stranger. The holo screen popped up, and Rina grinned at her. ‘Still here!’

Selene cursed under her breath and whispered. ‘Of course you are. Can you confirm that my ride to Eden II is a stealth fighter slash corvette piloted by an unidentified scary-looking colossus?’

Her best friend nodded chirpily. ‘Sounds about right.’ Rina’s voice dropped to a whisper as she peered at the view behind Selene. ‘And what a ride, might I add. And I’m not talking about the ship.’

Selene gave her friend a withering look. ‘Really, Colonel? Get a grip,’ she hissed. ‘Now, why didn’t you tell me what to expect?’

Rina quickly sobered up at her friend’s glare. ‘Like I was trying to tell you earlier before you interrupted me, Excellency, the Edenites agreed to help by secreting you off the planet. The only way they could exfiltrate you was with a stealth craft. They also reassured me that the pilot they would send would have all the required security clearances and is trustworthy. I didn’t know he was already on planet, but I’m taking notes of his skills at sneaking past our sec drones without us having any idea. All that said get on that damn ship and go talk to them.’

‘Are you sure about this?’ Selene asked, concern lacing her voice.

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