Chapter 22 #2
“We must hurry,” she said as she freed one hand and moved onto the next.
I immediately pressed my hand to her hip, dragging it along her body, and relief shuddered through me.
To touch her, feel her, settled some of the rage simmering in my gut.
It even brought some sweet relief from the pain throbbing in my fractured ribs and the painful lump at the back of my skull.
Irena, alive, warm, breathing beneath my palm.
“I gave my guard the slip by slipping out of my coat, and then I called your ship again and we hatched a plan. They’re rushing to get here.
” Those were some of the sweetest words I’d ever heard.
When she freed my second hand, I wordlessly hauled her against me and bent low to kiss her.
That was so clever; I was so proud of her.
I’d messed up our grand escape, missing the tracker in my side, but here she was, saving the day.
“That, Irena… Stars, that is amazing. I’m so proud of you, my fierce little Tikai.
Where to now? What’s the plan?” She grinned, and then she outlined it in rough strokes.
It was very simple and relied heavily on Mitnick’s skills to hack the ship.
I had no doubt it would work. There was just one problem: no room for vengeance.
When I stole the weapons off the dead guy and we got ready to leave, I mulled that over.
My ribs were far too injured for any close-combat fighting.
Irena still had the tissue regenerator, but they needed more heavy-duty healing, unfortunately.
That left shifting out of the equation. But that didn’t mean we shouldn’t blow this ship sky-high as we left.
I had no doubt I could convince Jaxin to do it with the Varakartoom, but that wasn’t quite as satisfying as having a hand in it myself.
That also gave the Vidu a chance to outrun us, and it was a ship very good at vanishing.
No, too much was left to chance that way.
My hand tightened around Irena’s small digits, holding her close as we slipped from the brig.
With all the internal cameras down thanks to Mitnick, our escape had yet to be detected.
That didn’t mean I wanted her to be in the lead; she’d already risked so much to get me out.
Even with busted ribs, I was solidly back in protection mode.
“Stay behind me. We’ll hit an armory on our way to the escape pods. ”
She tilted her head up, her brown eyes warm and full of confidence.
“Okay. I trust you.” Ah, beautiful, sweet mate.
She said the most amazing things. Those words, coming from her, were almost as good as her declaration of love back on the planet.
She trusted me, and I knew how hard-won that trust was, and that made it worthwhile.
So many things I could get my hands on as easily as breathing, but not family, a home, a place where I truly belonged.
To keep it, I’d fight to the bitter end.
We slipped deeper into the warm, humid Vidu, hand in hand. The plan was solidly in my mind, and my mate was right beside me. Yeah, Xathena had underestimated Irena for the last time. Now she’d pay. She’d get exactly what she deserved, a fate just like Dimon’s.
The armory wasn’t guarded, though it usually was, possibly because the crew was stretched alarmingly thin at this point.
Irena had stolen weapons before, but she admitted those had been personal items. She did not have the access code for this door.
Mitnick hadn’t unlocked it for us, though he’d helped my mate locate the keys to my shackles.
That didn’t matter. It was the work of a moment to break the lock and give myself access.
Then we were in, and I quickly loaded a backpack full of small but very effective explosives.
“Let’s leave a surprise before we leave, shall we? ”
She opened her mouth, possibly to tell me we shouldn’t waste time, and I silenced her with a kiss.
In the darkness of the armory, it was easy to forget we were in danger of discovery—that we were breaking out again, and that it wasn’t just Xathena who was the danger.
Jalima, or a kill squad sent by him, could arrive at any moment too.
Yet it felt incredible to hold her and have her taste flood my senses.
A reminder that we were both alive and in love.
“Flack,” she whispered, her hands lingering against my chest. Fingers soft and uncalloused after I’d healed them.
She clung as if she needed me to steady her, and I felt immense satisfaction in knowing that.
“We really should get moving, especially if you want to plant bombs. Jalima’s ship could arrive at any moment.
” She reminded me of reality with a husky voice; temptation incarnate.
“I know just the place for these. Follow me.”
I did, because I’d follow her anywhere. She trusted me, but I trusted her, and she knew this ship better than anyone.
A bomb beneath the deck near several major junctions I’d never even considered was just the start.
We were making good progress and had still avoided discovery, my backpack growing lighter with each carefully selected stop she made.
I was beginning to understand the grit she had in spades, the strength that had carried her through the six-month-long ordeal she had endured.
From injury to slavery to the struggle for food and survival.
I was seeing her backbone in action, and suddenly this did not feel like my vengeance, but hers.
We had almost reached a row of escape pods that lined the hull of the Vidu’s belly when everything went sideways in the worst possible way.
Something blew up, and it wasn’t us. The whole ship rocked with the force of it, and alarms began screaming madly.
I threw myself over Irena to protect her just as a structural beam sheared clean off from the ceiling and came crashing down on top of us both.