Chapter 8

Dante’s whole body and mind were still thrumming with the bliss of having been with Tinsley. He didn’t know how this had happened, but it really appeared that fate had brought them together. How else could he explain the chemistry between them? It went so far beyond attraction, and mere “chemistry” didn’t do it justice.

He turned to see Tinsley still lying next to him, her dark brown skin dewy with sweat and flushed with pleasure. She smiled, and Dante felt his heart expand at the sight of it. She was so beautiful. After sharing such intimacy with her, he was convinced she was his true mate. He wished he could tell her that, but he knew he’d risk scaring her off.

Instead, he reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear, kissing her again as he did. It felt like heaven.

“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but the ship is now number two in the launch queue,” came Jeeves’s voice over the intercom.

Dante pulled away, and within moments, he and Tinsley were both back to business, pulling on their clothes and rushing out to the bridge.

“Does that mean Jeeves was aware of what was happening?” Dante asked, his cheeks turning hot.

“Nah. I have a lasciviousness block for my own privacy. He’s set to interpret it as a workout.”

Luckily a few of Dante’s crew were already prepping the ship for launch. Even luckier still, no one asked where they’d been, though Dante got the distinct impression that was more out of respect than ignorance. For now, though, it didn’t matter which. They had a pirate ship to chase down.

“Do you want to take this one?” Tinsley asked, gesturing to the pilot’s seat.

Dante was touched. If they’d had more time, he would have conveyed his deep appreciation. He wasn’t used to deference, given his family history. Instead, he nodded gratefully and took his place at the helm. He’d make it up to her later.

“Engines are ready, sir,” came the report from his crew.

“I’m pleased to say we’ve been cleared for launch,” Jeeves added.

Dante only hoped he wouldn’t embarrass himself as he maneuvered out of the docking bay. Thankfully, he knew the model well and managed to leave without a hitch.

“Not bad,” Tinsley teased him, grinning at him from the copilot’s seat.

“I guess I’m good for something,” he quipped back, grinning.

“That much has been established,” Tinsley replied with a wink. Dante felt himself craving her all over again.

They didn’t have time, though. If the mission weren’t so dire, he would have set it to autopilot or deputized one of his crew so he could focus on what would have otherwise been the most important matter—exploring each other’s bodies and bringing each other pleasure. He shot her a smile before concentrating on the task at hand.

“Could you punch in their ship code?” Dante asked, referring to the pirate ship they chased.

Tinsley knew exactly what he meant and did as asked, letting the system run a check on any known whereabouts of the spacecraft while Dante wove through the maintenance hubs orbiting Midpoint.

“Dru!” he called out behind him. “You got anything on the tracker feed?”

The answer came immediately. “Picking up something in Quadrant L59.6—not far from Shorfu.”

Dante grinned. He gave Tinsley a look that said something like I told you he was the best. She grinned back in acknowledgment as Dante finally made his way away from the station into open space.

“Prepare for hyperdrive!” he announced before kicking the ship into gear.

It shot suddenly through space, causing the stars to blur around them and the space station to disappear in an instant until they were flying toward the small planet of Shorfu. They looked at each other knowingly as they bonded over their shared love of the peace they experienced in hyperdrive. Neither spoke, and they didn’t have to.

As they got closer, Dru called out. “Halt hyperdrive here! Brakes.”

Dante took the ship out of hyperdrive, and soon the control panel lit up.

“There,” Tinsley confirmed, pointing to the foreign ship nearby that appeared on the radar display. “That has to be them.”

Dante nodded, and soon he could see the ship in the distance—a ramshackle Jorvlen vessel that could only be a pirate ship. It appeared the pirates had seen them too, though, because a warning shot fired over them as soon as they got within range of the vessel.

“Oh shit,” muttered Tinsley beside him. “What do we do?”

Dante furrowed his brow.

“Well, we can’t shoot,” he replied. “But we can’t just let them get away, either.”

As he was contemplating their next move, another shot was fired. This time it wasn’t a warning. A spray of blue light exploded from the ship’s hull, and within seconds, a third and fourth shot followed.

It was clear they could only do one thing—retreat.

“We need to turn this thing around!” yelled Tinsley. “It’s a transporter, not a warship!”

Dante nodded. By now shots were raining down on them in rapid-fire succession. The pirates had evidently not taken kindly to them hanging around and were sending that message loud and clear.

“Thruster B has taken critical damage,” came Jeeves’s polite voice from above. Red flashing lights suddenly kicked into gear in what would have been a comical contrast to Jeeves’s measured tones were the situation not so dire.

“Dammit,” Dante cursed as he tried to pull the ship away with only one working thruster.

It was a difficult task, one that caused the whole vessel to shudder and slightly curve, but slowly, he managed to put some space between them and the pirate ship. He cast one glance back at the ship, lamenting the lost opportunity to locate his sister, or at the very least eliminate the ship as a possibility, before gritting his teeth and forging ahead.

The quest to find Maraliza was delayed, not scuttled. He and his family wouldn’t give up until she was safe and sound. To carry out their mission, they needed a functioning ship. And the way theirs was moving, it seemed like they were in dire need of a maintenance bay.

Jeeves confirmed his suspicions. “Would you like a damage report by any chance? It contains some vital information.”

“Yes, Jeeves,” Tinsley said in an exasperated tone.

Dante was glad he wasn’t the only one annoyed with the AI.

“The section of the hull where the storage bays are located has taken severe damage, resulting in a thirty-six percent breach. The hyperdrive mechanism has sustained some damage, too, and it’s unsafe to use without repairs. And thruster B, as you know, is critically damaged.” The AI’s voice would have been better suited to dictating a cake recipe than reporting on grave damage to a ship.

“Where’s the closest maintenance station?” Dante demanded. He was beginning to panic that the ship might be dead in the water before they could get it serviced, in which case they’d be screwed for the time being.

“That would be Substation Aldorim, just a short distance from here,” Jeeves replied.

“Punch it in,” he told Tinsley.

Part of him wanted to ask Jeeves if they had enough power to get there. The other part of him was sick of interacting with the virtual butler. He much preferred the standard Iris model, but he wasn’t about to tell Tinsley that. Right now, his main focus was to keep everyone alive. If they ran out of gas, they’d run out of oxygen circulation, and if the hole in the hull didn’t get repaired quickly, entropy would rip it open even further.

With one hand controlling the remaining thruster and his other hand operating the ship’s rudder controls manually, he managed to slowly steer the ship toward the substation with only a minimal amount of shaking. Thankfully they made it, but it was a rough landing, and he got the feeling he may have caused even more damage as they docked.

“Oof,” Tinsley said, wincing as a loud crunch accompanied their landing.

Dante cringed, knowing this might come back to haunt him, but he’d be able to assess the damage once he exited, and he set off to disembark. Tinsley would hold down the fort on the ship.

“We should see what can be done about the ship as quickly as possible,” he told her, holding out a hand to help her out of her seat.

She took his hand and squeezed. It was a soothing balm in what was shaping up to be a rough journey.