Page 240 of Filthy Royal

She was beyond sick of their foolishness.

The small ship rattled, and Anya braced herself, trying to keep from making any noise that might alert Darvish to the fact he had a stowaway.

Her brothers meant well. She understood they’d had it hard early in their lives, losing too many they cared for too soon. She also understood how tormented they were over Zaya.

But enough was enough.

They seemed plenty capable of acknowledging, even worshiping, their prime omegas’ powers, but their little sister’s? Not so much.

But, newsflash, she was an omega with powers and urges, just like any female of her kind.

And what’s more, she was a Skolov. Which meant that, despite having a vagina, she knew how to take care of business too.

Zaya was her sister as well.

And, like her brothers, Anya was tired of losing those she loved.

She was also sick of losing out on her dreams.

So, here she was.

Because, after breaking out of the containment pod—easily, she might add, thanks to her gift—she’d done what she could to assist Kadon, Luc, and Maddox.

In truth, it hadn’t been that much since she had to either be touching or directly in sight ofher target to have an impact, but it was still something. She’d managed to shut down a whole bunch of comms and lasers during the battle, despite her limited vantage point perched on a nearby shuttle’s wing.

That’s how she’d seen Darvish toss Maxheim’s cloak over his shoulders right before he leaped from his shuttle. It was also how she’d, thankfully, caught sight of Damien propelling himself and Scarlett safely from the ship right before it exploded.

She’d been busy thanking the gods that Damien and Scarlett were safe while cursing Darvish’s escape when it dawned on her that he’d be scrambling for an alternate escape from the planet. What’s more, he’d want it to happen fast.

From there, it had been a simple matter of beating her enterprising half brother to where the smaller, single-pilot ships were docked. After using her gift to disable all but one, she’d climbed inside the only still-functioning shuttle and, in a familiar move, hidden inside the ducts.

A furious, frantic Darvish had stumbled on board a few heartbeats later.

It honestly was close to genius how easily she’d outmaneuvered the monster.

She’d have liked to reach out to her brothers to explain her plan in real time, but first, there hadn’t been much time to do anything but put her scheme into action. Second, she was pretty sure they’d have told her to back off and, once they’d gotten hold of her, locked her up again.

So she’d wait until she could patch into the shuttle’s comms and give them a location. Or, if worst came to worst, they could trace the tracker they’d had inserted in her bloodstream. Another overprotective gesture she deliberately hadn’t told them she could turn on and off at will with her gift.

But this time, she’d be leaving the tracker on, so her brothers could follow her signal, run down Darvish’s ship, capture the bastard, andfinallyacknowledge she was a contributing Skolov family member.

It would have been nice, of course, if she could have had Darvish restrained and Zaya’s location revealed by the time her brothers arrived. But she suspected that was beyond even her abilities. She might be bold, but she was no fool. Even she knew she wasn’t strong enough or well-trained enough to take down an Alpha in his prime, especially one as vicious as their half brother.

The ship rattled yet again.

Anya stifled a curse. She’d chosen a rusted piece of space trash for Darvish to steal, wanting to slow him down and give her brothers time to catch up, but it wasn’t the smoothest of rides. The ship she usually flew was nothing like this.

It shook again.

Still, there was no point in worrying. She’d handle what came next. Just as she always did.

Since there was little to do but wait—and using her gift had taken a lot out of her—Anya allowed her eyes to sink shut, the hull’s rattle lulling her to sleep.

“Warning.” The shuttle’s impersonal robotic voice woke her sometime later. “You have breached Federation airspace.”

Now fully awake, Anya shuffled closer to the duct opening.

Darvish’s broad back loomed in front of the console, his fingers tapping away at the instrument panel.

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