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“I see. You can’t. Because you don’t have her,” I say before taking aim through a hole in the door frame. I strike the one who’s still standing in the chest, and he dies instantly. His body falls conveniently on top of his companion, pinning the struggling male to the ground.
I enter the hallway, skirting the pool of blood.
Eyes wide, my next victim scrambles for his stinger. I step on the dead body, putting extra pressure on the weakened Plax.
“Tell me,” I say. “Did you touch her?”
“Kar’Kali, spare me! I swear you won’t see me again! Space me if you must!”
“I asked if you touched her,” I repeat slowly.
“No! I never saw the whore! Never touched her! The plan was just to make a quick sale, all right? Freth is the one who decided to lock himself in there with her—”
“Good,” I murmur, lifting my foot off the bodies.
“So you won’t kill me?”
“I won’t make you suffer,” I correct him, before blasting him between the eyes. Now I know that it is the other thief I must drain slowly. I can make it a very painful death if I see fit.
I bang on the door to the bridge. “You’re a dead male breathing right now,” I warn him. “Come out here and make your last stand in this universe, coward!”
No response.
“Accept your fate—”
I’m readying to shoot the control box open and pull on some wires when the doors reveal the small bridge area, a closet-sized pilot’s booth with only enough room for two seats at the helm. And there in the pilot’s seat is the last Plax thief, slumped with a hole through his temple. At first, I wonder whether he committed suicide, but then I notice the hole in the windshield.
I look out, and there on the deck is Reede, the Zaledian rogue that Rossa keeps around. He waves at me, grinning.
Rossa’s stomping over to the scene, shouting already.
“Can’t you find a better solution than shooting my own rutting glass out?” she shrieks, waving her fists at Reede. “I swear to the spirit I’ll cut off your remaining limbs for that! Do you know how much it costs to replace—”
“Perhaps you should upgrade to the blast-proof option,” Reede bravely jokes.
I turn away, not in the mood to laugh along with them. I must find my mate and ensure that she’s whole and safe. The mating beast inside is not yet satisfied. It wanted more blood than this. It wanted to tear someone apart.
I return to the door that Raina must be behind, the one from which Plax blood is pooling into the hallway. I tap gently.
“Give it up, fucker! I’m not opening the door.”
“Not even for a very handsome Kar’Kali with an irresistible personality?” I ask.
“Niko?” She cries.
“You should sound that thrilled more often,” I say. “So you agree that I’m handsome and irresistible?”
The doors swipe open. Raina stands before me, her bare feet in a pool of green blood. Her dress is stained with it and torn in places. She holds myikanitight with a trembling hand.
There’s a dead body between us.
“Are you okay?” She asks, her eyes darting all over me. “How did you get here?”
“How amI?” I demand. I step over the Plax and sweep her up in my arms. Once she’s bundled tightly in my grasp, I shove the dead male into the hallway. The doors shut behind us without needing a command.
“We’re on the ship,” I explain. “Gemstone is linked to theAvenger. The crew pulled her in.”
“What about Dash? And Honey?”
