Page 78 of Starfighter’s Salvation

The soldier dropped.

The sound rang off the walls. My ears rang with it. My hand was still shaking inside his, the sidearm cold and heavy, and I realized I had been ready to kill to protect him. Adrenaline left me shaking. I would have done it without hesitation. For him.

“Gina.” His voice dropped low, fierce and quiet. “Look at me.”

I did.

“You put people back together. That is who you are. Let me do the rest.” His thumb brushed my knuckles as he took the weapon away from me. I let him have it.

Another shape moved in the smoke. Then another. His last round was gone. We both knew it. I should have brought him a bigger gun, not just packed in medical supplies. Stupid. But I had the Titans with me, so… Fuck. Could Corvan take out the rest of these guys with my little pistol?

“Down,” Lily screamed over the comm.

I threw myself over him, but he pulled me into his chest and rolled on top of me as metal screamed. Just behind us, the ceiling collapsed. A few seconds later, the wreckage was torn away like the lid of a tuna can as Lily’s Titan hauled it clear. The moment the path was open the corridor filled with light and noise. Darius’s cannons opened up, firing on the enemies' positions on the other side of the room. The assholes who'd been trying to kill Corvan regretted it now. Fuckers.

The explosion of sound hammered through the floor and into my teeth, and the smoke churned white and orange around us. When it cleared, the soldiers at the far end were gone. Down or running. I didn’t care which.

“Clear,” Darius said.

“Get out of there! You've got incoming. Thirty seconds,” Wroxxon's sharp command warned through our comms. “The dome force has realized Mia’s order was false.”

“It was a real order,” Mia objected. "They should obey me."

“Their commander disagrees." Was that a hint of amusement in Wroxxon's tone? No way.

“Well, we've still got some of their ships' comms jammed. So, they aren't all about to come down on you like thunder, but enough. Get out of there.” Mia's voice held zero humor, which made me wiggle in protest under Corvan's heavy frame.

"Let me up. Let's go."

"Are you hurt?" Corvan pulled away just far enough to start inspecting me.

"No you don't. I'm not the one bleeding. Let's go. I'm fine."

"I thought you did not like that word?" Corvan leaned in and I really, really wished we had our helmets off so he could kiss me.

Our gazes locked as Corvan rolled off me. I pulled out my medical scanner and ran it over him as fast as possible. Five seconds. Maybe ten, with Lily and Darius breathing down our backs and Maro yelling at us to get back to the ship. Every readout was a small mercy and a fresh terror at once. Gunshot through the shoulder. Burns down one arm. A gash above his eye. His knee swollen tight inside torn armor. Two cracked ribs, blood loss, dehydration. No major organ damage. Nothing I couldn’t hold together long enough to get him home. “You’re going to live.”

“I planned to.”

“Your plan was terrible.”

“I am alive and you are unhurt. I'd say the plan was perfect.”

I opened my med kit as Darius's Titan bent down and lifted Corvan to his feet. "Can you walk? I can carry you."

"I can walk."

I opened my mouth to insist he allow Darius to carry him, but the dark look he gave me stopped me cold. Fine. Stubborn, stubborn mate. “We can argue about your plan later. Hold still, big guy.”

“You always say that before causing pain.”

“Part of my charm.” I smiled as I injected pain meds, sealed the worst of the bleeding, and locked his shoulder in a brace. The entire operation took maybe a minute. My hands stayed steady only because loving him and working on him were the two things I knew how to do. I had played the game, I knew how to go through the motions. I had no idea what was actually inside the injections I was giving him. Alien medicine? Alien herbs? No clue. I was going to fix that.

“Let's go." Darius pointed at Lily's Titan, where she stood in the gap protecting our retreat. "Follow Lily. I'll bring up the rear."

“Twenty minutes," I warned. "Then what I gave him puts him to sleep.”

“I am still here,” Corvan said.