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Ash growled at Hunter. “Another second, and we’d have been dead.”

“You’re welcome,” Hunter said. “Always happy to deal with space scum.”

Georgia grabbed Ash’s hand, not caring who saw they were together. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

***

Five hours later, theywere back on the Apocalypse, clean, their injuries healed, and the white tails were about to be unloaded.

“You need to rest.” Ash wrapped his arms around Georgia’s waist and pulled her close. He couldn’t stop touching her, checking to make sure this was real and she was finally with him.

“I’ll rest soon. I just want to make sure the white tails get offloaded safely.” Georgia’s gaze was fixed on the ship. Although she looked tired, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

“We did a good job,” he said.

“We did an amazing job. We stopped the Siblet, we got the animals back, and we’ve got proof this wasn’t an isolated group of Siblet at work. No one will trust them after this. It’s a victory for all of us.”

Ash grinned. He didn’t disagree, but the biggest victory for him was being with Georgia. She loved him and was no longer hiding their relationship from anyone.

Cleo entered the docking bay with Hunter beside her. She walked over, a smile on her face. “It’s great to have you all back on board. It sounds like you ran into trouble down there.”

“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” Ash said.

Hunter grinned at him, his gaze running over Georgia. “I see there’s a lot you’ll be handling from now on. I love the purple eyes, Georgia.”

She grinned at him. “Me, too. It’s a look I intend to keep.”

Georgia moved out of Ash’s arms and headed to the ship as the white tails were brought out.

He followed her, along with Cleo and Hunter.

“They already look better,” Georgia said. “We got them back here in time.”

“It looks like it,” Ash said. “But just like us, they need plenty of rest.”

“Before you get that rest, I need ten minutes of your time,” Cleo said. “Everyone’s meeting in the briefing room.”

“Sure. We’ll be right there.” Ash exchanged a glance with Georgia. The data they’d collected from the caves had been poured over for hours. Could they have found something useful?

Ten minutes later, the whole crew was assembled in the briefing room.

Cleo looked over at Ash. “We’ve got plenty of information to look through over the next few weeks. The Apexians are already putting together a team to deal with the rest of the Siblet and make sure their leaders don’t get away with this travesty. And the site found wasn’t operating in isolation.”

“You’ve got information on more bases out there?” Ash said.

“Three. And there are sure to be more.”

“Our guys will deal with them,” Ash said. “The Siblet are cowards. Once they know we’re onto them, they’ll run and hide.”

“Which will only make them look guiltier,” Hunter said.

“Not possible,” Sloane said. “They’re toast. No one will work with them or trade with them after this.”

“Maybe not. But we need to be on our guard until every base has been destroyed, along with the poison they’ve been manufacturing,” Cleo said. “We know how lethal it is, so we can’t risk any of the crew being infected. Human or Apexian.”

“Was that what this was all about?” Georgia said. “They’re creating a weapon to use against the Apexians?”

“They hate us enough to do that,” Hunter said. “We have a long and ugly history with the Siblet.”