Mated in the Stars (Galactic Courtship #25)

Prologue

Ak’kel watched the metal debris floating around him. Damn Haldon for blowing up his warship and leaving him here for dead. Haldon thought he was gone, but he’d managed to get off the ship in a space suit.

Now though?

Now he was screwed.

There was a certain amount of oxygen left in his tanks, and the tiny thrusters on his suit wouldn’t get him far.

This suit wasn’t designed for sitting in space for extended periods of time.

It was designed to fix the outer hull of a ship during small space walks.

It wasn’t like he could get to a planet or a space station.

Glancing around the vast expanse of blackness that surrounded him like a dangerous shroud, the stars teasing him with their twinkling. Pieces of his ship floated past him, reminding him of his failure and loss to Haldon.

Perhaps he should have stayed aboard the ship and died with his crew.

Only time would tell if he’d made a horrible decision.

He might just suffocate out here by himself.

Turning his attention to the small beacon on his suit, he turned it on, the faint blinking light cutting through the darkness.

Haldon’s warship should be far enough not to pick up on it, but there was still a chance it could reach the wrong ears, and land him in even more trouble.

But anything was better than wasting away in space.

Hours blurred together, as he watched the oxygen gauge slowly drop.

For the first time in his life, he felt despair fill him, constricting his lungs.

As another hour passed, black spots formed on the edges of his vision.

Inhaling, Ak’kel sucked in a couple of greedy breathes.

It wouldn’t matter at this point. No one was going to find him.

None of his strength or wit could get him out of this situation.

As the oxygen slowly faded, Ak’kel squinted into the darkness…

was that? He blinked back the black dots clouding his vision.

Was it a ship? For a moment, joy spread through him.

Closing his eyes, he chuckled to himself.

He could just imagine Haldon’s face when his enemy discovered he’d been rescued. Opening his eyes again, Ak’kel frowned.

Where was the ship?

Eyes scanning over the immediate area around him, he felt despair over take him. The lack of oxygen was causing him to hallucinate. There hadn’t been a ship.

In less than thirty minutes, he found his consciousness fading. As he closed his eyes, he swore he saw a ship drop out of subspace. But maybe it was just his oxygen-deprived brain making up another hallucination. Then everything went black.