Page 10 of Starfighter’s Salvation

Damn it. If he was dead, or injured, I wanted to know. “Where is Corvan? Why isn’t he here? Is he dead? He does exist, right?”

“Yes. He does exist.” Dekker dropped his hand and straightened to his full height. “Elite Starfighter Corvan is…”

I watched multiple possible answers flicker behind the alien’s eyes. None of them were good. All of them probably included a version of ‘He didn’t want you.’

So much for fairy tales. “Forget it. I’m ready. Let’s go.”

He looked shocked. “You are ready to leave the planet? You do not want to collect any personal items from your home? You will not be back.”

“I know. I’m ready.” I’d had the bag packed for weeks, since a couple days after Priya disappeared. There was nothing left at my apartment—or on this planet—that I couldn’t live without. No parents. Couple cousins who wouldn’t miss me. Alisha and Priya were my family now.

Dekker’s head came up before I heard anything. His hand dropped to the weapon on his hip and every muscle under that armor went tight. Then he relaxed. Not all the way. The way a cop relaxes when the guy walking up is another cop he doesn’t like.

“Late,” Dekker said over my shoulder. Not to me.

I turned around and my heart almost jumped out of my body.

Corvan was taller than his avatar made him out to be. Wider through the shoulders. Very much not made of pixels. He wore matte black from throat to boots, his hands were scarred, and his gray eyes were exactly the way I’d designed them, except the game version of him hadn’t included the exhaustion underneath those eyes. Or the guilt. For months I’d stared at a computer generated image of this man but not seen anything that truly mattered. This was the real Corvan and just my luck he was even sexier in person.

He looked at Dekker first. Then at me. Then at how close Dekker was standing because Dekker hadn’t bothered to step back.

The back of my neck went hot. The dark swirl that had shown up under my hairline the morning after the game died took on a life of its own. I’d told myself it was a bruise. Nurses are excellent at lying to themselves. Now the strange mark on my neck woke up at the sight of him like it had been waiting just for him.

So, he was real, and my body did not give a damn that he was late.

“Georgina Reyes,” he said.

Oh, that voice. My headset speakers hadn’t done it justice. Gravel at the bottom. Low enough to travel straight down my spine and settle low in my belly, then lower. My heart skipped a beat as his gaze locked with mine and my entire body flooded with lust. I’d been awake for sixteen hours. I was exhausted. A very gorgeous alien had just offered to take very good care of me, but my body didn't care. My traitorous heart raced, waiting for Corvan to convince me he had a very valid excuse for being late. My more primitive body parts didn't care about anything but getting him naked. I tore my gaze from his, which turned out to be a mistake because the only thing I seemed to be able to look at were his sexy as hell, very muscular forearms.

Damn, I loved a man's hands and Corvan's looked like pure orgasm machines baked into perfect form. I should look away. Demand answers. Instead, I shifted my stance and stared.

Excellent priorities, Gina.

“You’re real,” I said. Stupid. I’d already met one of the aliens from his world. That question had already been asked and answered. But not by him. I wanted to hear the truth from him.

“Yes.”

“How is Priya?”

“Alive. On Moon Base Arturri. Bonded to Vesh. She is well.”

Relief hit hard enough that I had to put one hand on the roof of my car. Corvan moved toward me, but Dekker stepped between us. Corvan stopped himself a full step away. I saw his scowl at Dekker, the flex of one scarred hand, the way he shifted his weight right before deciding that trying to physically move Dekker out of his way probably wasn't the best option. He obviously wanted to close the distance between us but chose not to.

Dekker didn’t have that problem. Dekker’s hand settled on my shoulder, light and steady. “Breathe, Georgina.”

Corvan’s eyes went to that hand and stayed there as if he could incinerate the other man's entire body with his glare alone.

“She’s really okay?” I asked Dekker, not Corvan. Why? I had no reason I could put into words except Corvan had hurt me and lost my trust. Not completely. I wasn't going to lie to myself and try to convince my heart that I wasn't still half in love with him. But if this experience had taught me anything so far it was that real aliens and those in the game were not the same. Similar, for sure. But not the same. My game companion would never leave me stranded and alone, wondering what the hell had gone wrong. No, he said honorable, romantic things like, 'I have you. Hold on.' And the old me from a week ago totally believed him. Not anymore.

Did I even know what Corvan was really like? Obviously, I knew what he looked like now, and even that comparison didn't match how he'd appeared in the game. The real version was too intense, too hard around the edges.

"Priya Anand is doing well and already making a name for herself among us. She and her bonded mate, Vesh, successfully completed a very dangerous mission." Dekker's hand slid down my shoulder to rest at the small of my back.

Corvan practically snarled. “She threatened me this morning. I believe that qualifies as well.”

That, I could believe. Leave it to Priya to go to outer space and start threatening the aliens who took her. I laughed, and it came out half sob. His whole body tightened at the sound, but he didn't step closer and Dekker didn't move away.

“The retrieval order is mine,” Dekker said. Pleasant. Reasonable. Like a man reminding another man whose parking space it was. “Signed by General Aryk. You declined.”