Page 84 of Alien Prince's Claim

Cayah had come to another stop and he was struggling with something.

The sound was metallic and coming from above his head.

As he scrambled at something, he grunted and shifted his weight, accidentally — or perhaps not — kicking me in the shoulder.

He turned another wheel and it snapped into place.

He pushed against the door, spilling light into the tunnel, and illuminating our grimy surroundings.

Cayah stood upright, bracing the hatch door with his shoulders and back, and eased it open further.

I could see he didn’t want to throw the door open completely.

His shirt was drenched with as much sweat as mine.

He gradually climbed out of the hole, holding the hatch door, and gently eased it back so it didn’t make a loud noise.

Then he reached into the hole and offered me a hand.

I didn’t take it.

I crawled further along, released the harness about my shoulders, and climbed up through the opening.

I immediately bent down and grabbed the bed and began dragging it out.

I wouldn’t allow Cayah to do it in case he got it into his head to snap the door shut, crushing my head and locking Emily inside.

The sooner Nisa was out of the tunnel, the sooner Emily could be too.

I yanked the bed up and took it in my arms.

I placed it in the corner of the room.

While Cayah busied himself with removing the straps that held his mate in place, I reached into the tunnel and helped Emily up.

The moment she was out, I immediately grabbed the hatch door and locked it shut tight.

I took Emily in my arms and embraced her tight.

We were soaked with sweat, our hands, arms, and backs black.

Emily had smudge marks of dirt on her face from where she had wiped the sweat away.

I led her to a small dirty sink with a tiny mirror.

I washed her face, dabbing away the grime.

She did the same for me and we shared a sigh of relief that we were out of there.

I could only hope Fate would find it in her heart to be kind to us after we had passed through the gauntlet and emerged clean on the other side.

Cayah picked his mate up and carried her in his arms.

He nodded toward a door. “This is the engineers’ rec room where they take their breaks between shifts. The dock is through there. My ship is on the far side. There always appear to be Goblars around but they may not be there now. If we’re careful, we can sneak past them and get to my ship without them noticing us.”

I hated to admit it but so far, he had come through.

He had not betrayed me or Emily and I was beginning to suspect that maybe — just maybe — Cayah was not as dastardly as his brethren.

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