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"We need to hyper-jump," Navik's beast growls through gritted teeth.
"Hyper-what?" I'd been a prisoner on another world for years and had learned much from keeping my mouth shut and my ears open, but that was from inside the warden's bedroom not on a spaceship. I knew of all sorts of weird alien species brought to the prison to fight to the death in the arena but nothing of the technology.
"Hyper-jump," Navik's beast repeats and pulls a large, bulging sack out of his too-tight pant's pocket. "It is a way to travel through space faster than light. I need to add tellic chips to the transflux compositor before we can do it."
Panic grips me when he unasses the driver's seat and sprints to the back, pops open a hatch in the floor, and drops inside. We're still moving. The ship seems to be flying itself.
I yelp when we take another bone-jarring hit. My body is slung to the side like a rag doll, my breath leaving my lungs in a hard whoosh. If it weren't for the strap holding me in the seat, I would have fallen to the floor.
"Navik!" I go pale. The blood drains from my face at the sight of a small, sleek craft coming around and flying backward to face off with us. "Navik!" Each wingtip glows hot. The red pinpoints of light growing brighter, increasing in size as if it's revving up to fire. "Navik's beast!"
I tug at the strap holding me in place, ready to try my hand at flying. If I can reach the controls, maybe I can move us out of the line of fire.
Navik's beast comes barreling back to the console, stuffs himself into the driver's seat, and straps himself in. His hands fly across the console, expertly steering the ship and easily evading the Yulineon patroller's laser fire.
Suddenly, the weight of tremendous speed presses me back into the seat as the stars outside blur together then stretch out like ribbons of light. The force of the acceleration is like nothing I've ever felt before. As if shot out of a cannon, we are flung into darkness, racing toward an unknown destination, leaving the patroller and Onis far behind.
We slow until the blurred streaks of light become an endless expanse of stars stretching out before me. They twinkle and sparkle against the void of space like diamonds scattered across an infinite blanket of black velvet.
The stars soon give way to distant galaxies dotting the backdrop in a variety of swirling colors and shapes in a mesmerizing display of beauty.
Navik's beast lets out a triumphant roar, and I can't help but laugh in relief and exhilaration. I turn to him, ready to thank him for saving us, but my words die in my throat as I take in his appearance. His face is contorted in pain, sweat beads on his forehead, and his breathing is ragged. I reach out to touch his arm, but he flinches away from me, his eyes shut tight.
"Navik, what's wrong?"
He doesn't answer. His body shrinking then swelling as if in a struggle for control.
"Time to go, sivot," Navik snarls.
"She still needs protecting," Navik's beast argues in his guttural baritone.
"I'll take it from here," Navik grunts.
My eyes widen in shock as Navik's beast begins to shrink back into Navik. Claws recede, his wild hair pulls back into his scalp, shortening to its original length and smoothing against his head. His fangs retract and his face returns to that of the space pirate—strong, angular, and harshly humanoid with a square-cut jaw.
I would call him classically handsome if it weren't for the scathing expression he turns on me. "Stay in your seat and do as I say."
My initial fear of his beast evaporates in the haughtiness of his tone. The terror of being blasted into a million pieces, over.
"Bring back the beast." I cross my arms in defiance. "I like him better."
"As if I care what you want,human," Navik sneers and dismisses me with a flick of his hand then focuses on manipulating the controls under his fingertips. "Now shut up while I find a place to land."
"Is rudeness a hobby or does it simply come natural?"
Navik barks out an abrupt laugh. "Tell me something, little slave," Navik turns his head and narrows his gaze on the collar still locked securely around my throat. "Did Warden Hyt keep you muzzled, or did he get off on your sharp tongue as well as your human cunt?"
"Fuck you, scab!" I tuck the two halves of my robe under my chin, hiding the width of leather that's been circling my throat ever since the warden clapped eyes on me all those years ago.
"Perhaps later." I barely hold back a shudder when his bright blue gaze rakes over me with possessive heat.
"Definitely never."
"You don't have to be willing," he smirks and my blood runs cold. "I like a fight."
"Probably the only way you can get laid with a face like yours," I blurt.
Fear is a fickle thing, emboldening me when it shouldn't. The brutal stare he pins me with gives me pause but still not enough to keep my mouth from flapping.
