He swore. “I said not to say it. Wait until we’re on the ship. Then I can kiss the daylights out of you. Right before I spank your fine ass for scaring me like this.”
She gave a choked laugh. “I love you.”
He made a growling noise. “I love you, too.”
“I’m sorry exploding spaceship debris hit me and scared you.”
“So you should be.”
She laughed outright. Life with this man would have always been laughs and adventures. Nothing sensible or stable or perfect.
It would have been exactly what she wanted.
Her laughter died away. “You aren’t going to go back to the ship, are you?”
“Nope. If we’re going to die, I’ll damn well do it holding onto you.”
Tears were making her vision blurry.
And, it seemed, they were making her see things, too. There was movement against the green of the gas giant. Something…? Or nothing?
But as she spun around again, the movement grew larger. And she realized something big was coming toward them. From the planet.
She spun again and this time she blinked rapidly and focused hard.
“Oh. My. Goddess.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
At Nissa’s exclamation, Justyn’s head shot up.
And his mouth dropped open.
A…creature was flying out of the gas giant. Headed toward the space fight.
It looked like a dragon, or a giant snake, except it was huge—as big as the starships nearby. Its body—covered in metallic scales—undulated, its long legs flowing back behind it, almost like tentacles. When Justyn saw the double sets of red eyes, he realized the creature on theNerohad been a baby.
This was obviously mama.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he murmured.
“The rumors were real,” Nissa said. “It’s the same creature from the wreck.”
Yep, and when this one opened its mouth, they were going to see some massive teeth. Teeth capable of tearing a ship apart and stranding it on a small, rocky moon.
The creature kept coming with its fluid movements.
Straight at them.
“Shit. Nissa, watch out?—”
“Can’t control where I’m going here, Justyn.” Her tone was irritated. She was still spinning, her arms outstretched, like she hoped she could grab onto something.
The creature loomed over them, absolutely huge.Biggerthan the starships.
It brushed past Nissa, and the impact sent her shooting in the opposite direction—straight back toward Justyn.
She slammed into him and he grabbed her with one arm. He yanked her into his chest and held on tight.
