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His boss marched past. “Get the rest of these animals on the ship. We need to move.”

The next few minutes were a blur of activity as the Pecket loaded the rest of the pens.

Eden’s gaze flashed around. Someone would come to help her. The team in the sanctuary had to know what was going on. Where were they? They couldn’t be dead. And why wasn’t the security system blaring out alarms and scaring off these goons?

“Let’s go.”

Eden was dragged up the docking ramp, and horror gripped her insides. She looked over her shoulder, and her heart clenched. Blaze was racing toward her.

She sucked in a breath to cry out a warning, but the Pecket guard punched her in the chest and sent her down to the hard metallic floor.

In the distance, Blaze roared his rage, but he was too far away. He wouldn’t get there in time.

Eden squinted, her chest throbbing from where she’d been punched. It looked like Blaze had just thrown something at the ship. Was he trying to blow it up?

Something small and dark soared through the air and headed straight for her. It didn’t look like a grenade. It had wings.

Eden scrambled on her knees toward the ramp, but the Pecket curled his fingers in her hair and yanked her back.

“There’s no getting away now. This is your new home. Enjoy it while you can. If you live, we’ll find someone to take you off our hands.”

Eden didn’t care about his threats. She’d fight him until the last breath left her body.

She stared at the approaching black shape that was gliding on the air currents, getting closer to the ship as the ramp continued to rise.

Her gaze flicked to Blaze, just as the docking ramp concealed him from view. The world blotted black for a second as she pushed to her feet, her chest sore and her arm throbbing. This might be the last time she ever saw him.

Eden’s heart sank into her boots. She never got to tell him how much he meant to her. She’d been too scared to face the strength of her feelings. Too fearful of what would happen if she opened herself to that. And now that chance was gone.

A dizzy swirl of misery hit her so hard that she gasped.

Whatever the Pecket did to her, it wouldn’t hurt as much as losing Blaze.

***

Fuck! No! Eden wasgone. He was too late.

Blaze’s pulse raced as Nipper soared over the lip of the docking ramp a second before it sealed shut.

That was good. Eden would have Nipper with her. He wouldn’t leave her side.

A few seconds later, the ship’s engine roared to life. Blaze skidded to a halt, watching with wide eyes, his heart clenching as it took off.

He turned and raced back to the sanctuary. “Jendar, are you online?”

There was no response. It seemed that all the comm links in the sanctuary were down.

He threw himself through the main sanctuary door. “Leandra, you in here?”

There was a groan from the back, and he raced over.

Leandra was face down, but she was moving.

“Are you okay?” Blaze carefully rolled her over. She had a large cut on her forehead and bruising on her face.

“Those jerks. They took the animals. I tried to stop them, but there were too many.”

“I know. They also took Eden.”