18. Sylas

EIGHTEEN

"Well, that was…"I surveyed the damage, wincing at the state of the small ship. We'd pulled on the helmets to keep us safe outside, especially since I didn't trust the air here yet. Something still felt strange about this place.

Luckily, the engine was still intact, and though it was pretty crunched up, the damage to the transport vehicle was mostly cosmetic. At least from what I could see. She was the one with the engineering background, not me. There were a few places where the rocks had punctured the outer hull of the ship, but it could have been much worse.

"If you'd let me have the team check this place out first, none of this would have happened. We wouldn't be stranded here until we figured out a way back." I wrung my hands, staring out at the unfamiliar landscape.

"Or they would have had the same thing happen, and they wouldn"t have been able to re-maneuver the ship."

I gave a sigh of exasperation, pacing away from the ship a few paces while Aurelia tinkered with her technology.

The planet's surface wasexceptionally rocky, covered in dark black stones that looked like lava rocks. Had there once been active volcanoes on the surface? I could only wonder about the environmental development of it. Until our researchers were down here, wondering was all I could do.

What would we need to survive on this planet? I'd need to grab some equipment from the ship before we set out in search of whatever Aurelia thought was down here. Making a mental list in my mind, I turned around to find Aurelia with her helmet off, ponytail whipping around her. She must have redone her hair while I was surveying the land, because it was up in a bun before.

"Air's breathable. I checked with the machine." She used her thumb to point behind us. "It's not quite the makeup of oxygen on earth, but the levels are compatible with human life."

Oh. So that's what she'd been doing. "Great." I took my helmet off, holding it in the crook of my arm. "This place isn't what I expected." I'd been on plenty of other planets before—Mars, for starters, visiting the colony there—but each had their own unique set of challenges.

This unnamed planet in the hardly traversed edge of the universe was completely unlike those. And that didn't even include the thermal signatures we'd captured from the ship.

She winced, rubbing at her neck as she looked at the ship, then to the sky. "So much for getting back easily."

Understatement of the century. I kicked a piece of metal that had fallen off the ship.

"Fuck, Aurelia. This was so reckless. Do you even realize how dangerous this was?"

She whirled on me, her eyebrows narrowing on me. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Wait for me!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air. "We were supposed to be working on this together. How can we be a team if you're just doing stuff on your own, not consulting me?"

"It's my dad!" Aurelia yelled back. "I had to do something. I couldn't just sit there and wait. Not when this was my only opportunity."

I couldn't dispute that. However… "You should have let me fly it."

Aurelia stepped up to meet me, toe to toe, even though she had to crane her neck up for her gaze to meet mine. "I'm the pilot. This is my responsibility."

"And I'm your Captain. You're my responsibility. So is making sure you don't get hurt."

She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "So I am your duty."

"That is not what I said." I growled out the words. Dammit, how did she not know this by now? I didn't think of her like that. In fact, I thought of her in ways I shouldn't. Highly inappropriate. Forbidden. She was off-limits, but ever since that kiss, it was all I could think about.

"Aurelia—" My voice was rough.

She frowned, staring down at the communication device in her hand. "I can't get a message out to the ship. Shit. Our comms are down."

"Great." I rubbed at my forehead, muttering under my breath. "This was a terrible idea." I should have shut the whole thing down the moment I realized what she was doing.

Instead, one look at her, and I caved. Ever since I first set eyes on her, it had been like this. Something about those eyes, and that I couldn't stand seeing her upset.

Which was why we were here now.

She ignored my comment, looking up at me with those big, captivating eyes. It was like all the fight had melted out of her. "How long do you think it will take them to realize we're missing?"

"Considering it's the middle of the night on the ship, and we're supposed to be in our quarters, sleeping, it'll be a few hours until anyone even realizes we're gone." No one would report to the bridge until 0600, and by the time they discovered the shuttle was missing, they'd have to turn around and come back. "Hopefully, the whole damn tracking system isn't messed up."

She gnawed on her lower lip, not saying anything. "I'm going to go check on our supplies. Maybe there's something we're missing," Aurelia mused. "Should we explore?"

I frowned. "Maybe it would be safer in the morning. It's going to get dark soon."

She waved me off. "It'll be fine. Besides, we can just come back to the ship when it is, right?" Aurelia fidgeted with her hands, rocking on the balls of her feet. "I'm too antsy to stay put."

"Fine." I couldn't hold back my chuckle. "Okay. Hand me your communicator."

"What?" She glanced back at me, clutching it to her chest like it was her lifeline.

"I'll lead," I explained. "That way, if there's anything dangerous on this planet, I'll spot it first." Her brows furrowed. Did she really think I didn't trust her? A sigh left my lips. "I trust you. I just want to make sure that you're safe. Can you believe that?"

Aurelia gnawed at her lip, appearing to deliberate my words. "Yes," she finally admitted, dropping the device into my hand. "But you know how much this means to me."

"I do." Tapping on the screen, I looked at the approximate location of the ping before turning back at her. "And I promise you, Aurelia. I'm not going to give up on this." On you.

"Okay." She sighed, her posture relaxing. "I believe you."

Good. I hefted the pack onto my shoulders.

Then we headed out into the unknown.

It feltlike we'd been walking for hours. But maybe that was because the surface of this planet all looked the same. Black rocks, as far as the eye could see. Large formations existed at random intervals, the only sign that we weren't just going in an endless circle.

I couldn't see our ship behind us anymore, and the sky was growing darker. If we weren't careful, we'd be out here at nightfall. I thought about the thermal sensor readings she'd found. Maybe we didn't want to be caught out here unaware at night.

"We should hurry," I muttered. Who knew what sort of beasts were lurking under the surface?

"How far are we from the tracker?" Aurelia asked, reaching over and grabbing it from me.

She walked ahead of me, her eyes glued to the communicator device. She was barely paying attention to the ground.

"Be careful—" I said as her foot connected with a rock, and she went down. I caught her by the arm, my other hand sliding around her waist, and we froze like that.

"Captain," she whispered. Still keeping that barrier between us. I slowly returned her to her feet.

"Are we ever going to talk about it?" I muttered, my hands still on her body.

She swallowed roughly, and her eyes darted to my lips. "About what?"

"The kiss, Aurelia."

She looked away, and I let her slip out of my arms.

Guess that was a no. I didn't know why that stung so much.

"Watch where you're walking," I said instead, snapping at her. I knew I was harsher than I should have been, but I was too frustrated to care.

"I know," she muttered back.

If I'd been in front of her, I would have bet every credit to my name that she'd rolled her eyes.

I smirked at the thought. She was a giant ray of sunshine, but with me, she was stubborn as all hell. A brat. Was it bad that I liked how she pushed back against me? Few people had the balls to stand up to me, but this five foot seven spitfire did.

The largest formation of rocks I'd seen on this entire godforsaken place appeared in front of us, almost like a mountain. Huh.

"What do you think?" She asked, turning around. "I think we should go in."

"In?" I leaned down to look at the screen.

"Look. There's a cave." Aurelia pointed at the space in between two of the shiny black rocks.

Well, fuck me. She was right. There was an opening there.

"Maybe we should come back. Explore in the daytime. We could spend the night on the ship."

She turned to look at me, a frown painted over her beautiful face. "We can't give up now. We're so close." Aurelia gave me puppy dog eyes, and something clenched in my chest.

"It could be dangerous?—"

She fluttered her eyes. "That's why I have you to protect me, Captain."

Pinching the skin between my eyebrows, I gave an exasperated huff. "You're unbelievable."

"And you're impossible."

"Ask me why, Aurelia."

She jutted out her chin, arms crossed over her chest. "No."

I grit my teeth. "Ask. Me. Why."

Why I'd been in knots when she'd left my room. Why I'd thrown on this flight suit and followed her down here. Why I couldn't let her do this alone.

Why I was still thinking about that damn kiss.

Yes, she was unbelievable. But not in the way that she thought I meant.

"I. Don't. Want. To." Aurelia's eyes narrowed.

Fuck, why did she look so hot like that? Her hands propped on her hips, staring me down like she was the one with an extra seven inches of height and an additional hundred pounds of muscle, instead of me.

"Stubborn brat." I flicked my tongue across my lower lip.

"And what does that make you?" She poked at my chest. "A grumpy, domineering asshole? It's no wonder you're alone."

I was too stunned to say anything.

What sort of weird, fucked up foreplay did I think that was where it felt like we were flirting? But she didn't turn around.

Aurelia stormed off into the cave opening, and I let her go, her words hitting a wound in my chest I hadn't even realized were still there.