by Tana Stone
I reached to disengage my thrusters, but a blast from behind sent my ship careening forward, red warning lights flashing. I craned my neck behind me and saw a fleet of Kronock fighters gaining on us, laser fire erupting from them.
“They’re not asleep!” Jax yelled, rotating his ship so he could fire back.
The smell of burning metal filled the cockpit as I tried to regain control of my ship. Where had I been hit? The acrid smoke stung my eyes and made it hard to make out the readings, but I could tell by the feel of the yoke that my steering was damaged.
I glanced out the side of my cockpit. Jax was firing at the Kronock fleet and appeared not to be hit. But where was the rift, and how much longer did we have? I attempted to pivot my ship around so I could join Jax in the battle, straining against the intransigent control stick.
“I’ve lost control of my fighter,” I told him. “Go without me.”
“Inferno Force doesn’t leave brothers behind,” he reminded me, as laser fire exploded around both of our ships.
I gritted my teeth, resigned to my fate. “You have to get the data back to the station. Go!”
“The rift is closing!” Jax screamed, his face turning to watch me pass as my ship continued to fly out of control.
When my fighter finally rotated to face the approaching enemy fleet—through no action of my own—I shifted my hand to start shooting. Then my eyes caught an incoming torpedo, and I sucked in a breath. I knew it would be seconds before it reached me, and I had no way to avoid it, I closed my eyes for a beat. I wanted Zoey’s face to be the last thing I saw before I died.
Then the exploding laser fire ceased. I opened my eyes and gasped. I was back in front of the Island. Somehow, I’d made it through the rift before it closed. I let out a whoop before glancing around to celebrate with Jax, but his ship wasn’t there.
I swiveled fully in the cockpit searching for him, but his fighter was no longer by my side. I’d made it back, but he hadn’t.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Zoey
“Are you sure about this, sweetie?” Serge asked me.
We were still on the bridge, but the chaos of the Drexian crew trying to determine where Kalex and Jax had gone and how to get them back made it so they weren’t paying attention to us.
I glanced down at Serge’s device. He’d just deactivated the comms link with Dryx, but not before I’d begged the Inferno Force warrior—the one I was supposed to be on a vid date with—to help us find the captain. “Even if I’m not sure, it’s too late now.”
Reina wrung her hands. “Oh, dear. Do you think we should tell someone?”
“That a bunch of Inferno Force ships might be joining us?” I watched Vekron leaning over a console with a worried expression on his face.
Serge loosed a weary sigh. “That you requested assistance for a mission without authorization.”
“You should just be glad the captain isn’t here,” Nina said. “He’d be livid.” My friend realized what she’d said a moment after she’d said it, slapping a hand over her mouth and looking stricken. “I didn’t mean…”
“I know.” I waved away her concern even though the thought of Kalex’s stormy face sent a sharp stab of longing through me. “You’re right. He would be calling me insubordinate and accuse me of ignoring the chain of command.”
Reina emitted a nervous giggle. “I’m sure he meant those things with love.”
“I’m sure he didn’t,” I said. “We might have been hiding the fact that we’d gotten together, but trust me when I tell you that our annoyance with each other was real.”
Now that he was missing, I couldn’t remember any of the ways Kalex had made me crazy. My only thought was that I had to see him again. I couldn’t let his last memory of me be me turning and running away. I gulped down a hard ball of regret, wishing I hadn’t run. Now I’d give anything to be in the doorway of the captain’s quarters with him standing hopefully inside.
“I’m part of the reason he went on this mission and is now missing,” I said, pushing aside my regret and squaring my shoulders. “It’s my responsibility to help get him back.”
“I don’t see how you could be responsible,” Reina said.
“And I still don’t understand how any of this happened.” Serge sent me a dark look. “If you’d wanted to be matched to the captain, all you had to do was ask, sweetie. It would have taken me much less effort than sourcing a warrior from an Inferno Force ship far away.”
How could I explain to Serge that I hadn’t wanted to be matched to the captain, that it been a bit of fun for both of us? Especially now that it felt like much more than that.
“A ship is back,” a Drexian officer cried, drawing all our attention to the view screen.
I quickly locked onto the single Drexian fighter that had seemingly appeared from thin air. Two ships had vanished, but only one had returned. My heart thumped in my chest, part of me not wanting to know who was in the ship so I could allow myself a few more moments of thinking Kalex was back safely.
“Life signs?” Vekron barked over the din of excited rumbling on the command deck.
“One, sir.” A Drexian with close-cropped hair spun around from his console behind us. “Drexian. The ship is hailing us.”
“On screen.” Vekron swiveled to face the screen as the blackness of space disappeared and Kalex’s face took its place.
My breath caught in my throat when I saw him, and I had to choke back an unexpected sob.
“Kalex, what happened?” Vekron asked, stepping closer to the view screen.
“Where’s Jax?” Kalex asked, ignoring Vekron’s question. “Did he make it back?”
Vekron exchanged a glance with a nearby officer, who stole a glance at his console and shook his head. “There’s no trace of Jax.”
Kalex set his jaw. “Grek. Then I have to go back.”
“Captain,” Vekron said, putting heavy emphasis on the word. “What happened?”
Kalex rubbed a hand over his wrinkled forehead. “The energy rift is some sort of wormhole that took us deep into Kronock space. Too far for one of our fighters to jump away and get back here.”
“Did you encounter Kronock forces?”
Kalex nodded. “We were pulled right on top of an enemy battleship. We managed to evade notice at first but when we tried to get back through the opening energy rift, they sent their fighters out to intercept.”
Vekron glanced back at the closest Drexian warrior. “Any signs of the energy rift?”
The warrior tapped his fingers quickly across the screen. “It’s gone, sir.”
Kalex shook his head, his dark hair swinging around his face. “I can’t leave Jax there. I have to go back for him.”
Vekron blew out a breath. “I get it, but we need an organized rescue plan, not a one-warrior suicide mission.”
“Inferno Force doesn’t leave warriors behind,” Kalex growled.
Before Vekron could respond, consoles began beeping.
“Six ships have just jumped in, sir,” an officer yelled over the noise of the consoles.
“Split screen,” Vekron bellowed, even as Kalex’s face twisted in confusion.
The image of Kalex shifted to one side and was joined by a view of half a dozen black ships surrounding Kalex’s fighter. It only took a moment for me to determine that the vessels weren’t enemy ships—they were Drexian ships that looked just like the one Kalex was in, aside from one larger vessel.
“We’re being hailed by an Inferno Force ship,” a comms officer said.
Vekron’s brows lifted yet another image appeared on the wide view screen. “Dryx?”
The Drexian warrior I’d been talking to via vid link grinned out at us. “Vekron! I heard you were keeping a Kronock battle to yourself.”
Vekron glanced back at us, his raised eyebrow going even higher. “How’d you hear that?”
I stepped forward, willing to take the heat if calling in the cavalry was going to be a problem. “I asked Dryx to
come.”
“You called in Inferno Force?” Kalex’s gaze shifted to me, sharpening as he suddenly seemed to realize that I was on the bridge.
His usual brisk tone made my hackles rise, and I put my hands on my hips. “I was trying to save your ass. You can thank me later.”
His narrowed eyes relaxed, lowering for a moment before meeting mine. “I didn’t think you’d want to save my ass.”
Despite the bride being packed with Drexian warriors, Dryx being on the comms link, and my friends standing next to me, I shrugged. “Your ass is one of my favorite parts of you.”
Several of the bridge officers swung their heads to me and then to the view screen as Reina giggled nervously behind me. Dryx’s face broke into a wide grin as Kalex’s mouth dangled open.
I drew in a long breath as if gathering my courage. “I’m sorry I freaked and ran out on you. When I thought I’d lost you…”My words trailed off as my throat tightened.
“Zoey—” Kalex attempted to interrupt me, but I waved him off.
“No, I need to say this.” I swallowed hard, cutting my eyes to the bridge crew. “I thought I could keep myself from getting hurt by keeping you at a distance, but it didn’t work. You managed to worm your way into my heart, you obnoxious ass, and now I can’t imagine life without you.”
Serge murmured something about giving me pointers in romantic banter, but I ignored him.
Kalex blinked at me then shook his head. “How did I fall in love with such a stubborn, insubordinate female?”
Reina let out a high-pitched squeak while Nina sighed.
My heart skipped a beat, and my mouth went dry. “You love me?”
Kalex’s gaze seared into me, the heat in his eyes making my knees weak. “So much that it hurts.”
I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle a sob. Hearing his love declared over a comms channel wasn’t exactly the most romantic thing in the world, but after thinking I would never see him again, I’d take it. More shocking than his confession was realizing that I loved him too. It made absolutely no sense, but my heart swelled with affection as I stared at him on the screen. “I love you too, Captain.”
“Call me Kalex.”
I laughed, the sound burbling from me in an uncontrollable burst.
Dryx cleared his throat. “Now that we’ve got that settled, what are we going to do about the Kronock?”
Kalex slid his gaze from me and locked onto Vekron. “Grek the Kronock. We have to save Jax.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Kalex
I popped open the cockpit and climbed from the fighter, my gaze scouring the hangar bay for Zoey. I might have told her how I felt about her over the comms, but I was desperate to see her and prove to myself that what she’d said was real.
“Good to have you back, Captain.”
I landed on the floor of the hangar bay, turning toward Vekron as he approached. Even though he wasn’t Zoey—and she wasn’t with him—I was glad to see my friend. “Good to be back.”
We both pivoted as another Drexian fighter roared into the hangar bay and came to an abrupt stop.
“Dryx still does combat landings every chance he gets,” Vekron said with a sigh as our Inferno Force brother popped from the cockpit of his fighter before the engines had even powered down. Two more fighters flew in and landed beside him.
“Looks like we’ve got some extra muscle,” I said, grateful that we now had Inferno Force backup for the station and for the rescue mission to get Jax.
“You can thank Zoey for that,” Vekron said, then held up his hands. “And no, I don’t know where she is. She and her friends all left the bridge after you went off comms.”
I brushed this aside. As much as I wished she’d been there to meet me when I got back, dramatic displays of emotion weren’t exactly her style—as I’d discovered all too well. Besides, this gave me the chance to focus on my job as captain and on the imminent task of retrieving Jax.
Dryx and the other Inferno Force warriors walked purposefully toward us, the flame insignias on their dark uniforms marking them as the toughest warriors in the Drexian empire.
“I still can’t get used to seeing you in a captain’s uniform,” Dryx said after thumping his fist over his heart in salute.
“You’re not the only one,” Vekron said.
I ignored my friend’s comment as I eyed the Inferno Force warrior who’d been summoned by Zoey. “I hear you’ve gotten to know our astro-architect.”
Dryx’s eyes danced, and his brows lifted. “Hardly. She tossed me aside before I’d even had a chance to turn on my charm. I can’t imagine what you’ve got on the poor female that would make her choose you over me, but I salute you for it, brother.”
I tried to scowl at him, but I grinned despite my best efforts. “You remain a grekking ass, Dryx. I like to think that Zoey is merely discerning, unlike the scores of females you bed.”
Dryx threw back his head as he laughed, thumping me on the shoulder. “Same old Kalex.”
I grunted, pleased with the old banter that reminded me of serving on my old Inferno Force ship. “I thought you were here to fight Kronock.”
He nodded solemnly, his smile disappearing. “First we rescue Jax. Then we take out the Kronock.”
“Agreed,” I said, pivoting to face Vekron. “I downloaded the data about the energy rift and the location of the Kronock on the other end. Once we study that, we should have a better idea of how to get back there and find Jax.”
Vekron wasted no time in climbing up to my cockpit. “On it.”
“We’ll need to put together an attack team for once we have a target,” I said, glancing at Dryx. “Can I task you with coordinating with the rest of the Inferno Force ships? We’ll need our best fliers and fighters.”
He jerked a thumb toward the open mouth of the hangar bay. “Captain Brok is awaiting our instructions. Just point me toward the bridge.”
Vekron jumped down from the cockpit of my fighter, holding a tablet out in front of him. “I’ve got the data.” His gaze flicked to Dryx and the other two Inferno Force warriors. “You’re with me.”
I was anxious to launch the rescue mission, but I was still wearing a flight suit with no shirt on underneath. “I’ll get back into uniform and join you.”
We walked briskly from the hangar bay, heading in opposite directions once we’d cleared the wide double doors. My heart raced as I stepped into an inclinator car and thought about the battle that I’d escaped. Even though I hadn’t meant to leave my friend, Jax was alone in Kronock territory. Guilt gnawed at me while the pink lights pulsed around me, and strange Earth music played in the background.
When the doors glided open, I stomped out, my long steps eating up the corridor as I headed for my quarters. I wouldn’t rest until I got Jax back, and if the Kronock had blown up his fighter, I’d make them pay.
I swiped my hand over the door panel, barreling in as it opened. Then I stopped short.
The candles I’d extinguished had been lit again, the flickering light illuminating my suite and Zoey standing in the middle of it.
“What…?” I started to ask.
She shifted from one foot to the other, her bright smile dimming somewhat at my sharp tone. “I wanted to get a do-over, but if now isn’t—”
I didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence. Instead, I crossed the room and swept her up into my arms, crushing my lips to hers. Her tense body relaxed almost instantly as she sank into the kiss with a soft moan. I slid my hands down from her waist until I cupped her ass, lifting her so that her legs circled me.
When I tore my lips from hers, she was breathing hard.
Zoey put her hands on both sides of my face, locking her eyes with mine. “When I thought you were gone, and I might not see you again…”
I brushed away a tear from her cheek. “I know. All I could think about when I was in Kronock territory was getting back to you.”
She bit her bottom lip. “But what about not wanting to
get involved in something serious?”
“I was wrong.”
She cocked her head at me. “The captain is admitting he’s wrong? Did we enter an alternate universe when I wasn’t looking?”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “All I know is that I was wrong to think I’d be able to keep myself from falling in love with you.”
Her gaze softened. “You are absolutely the last person I wanted to fall for, but now I know that there isn’t anyone else who could make me as crazy and as happy as you do.” Then her expression turned serious. “I was engaged back on Earth. His name was Theo, and he was killed in action.”
“I know,” I admitted. When her mouth opened in surprise, I added, “It was in your file, which I studied.”
“You studied my file?”
I shrugged one shoulder, shifting her in my arms. “I was always intrigued by you, even when you were making me grekking crazy.” I held her gaze. “I’m sorry you lost him, and that you were afraid you’d lose me.”
“I’m sorry that I tried to keep you at arm’s length because I was afraid of losing someone again.”
“I’m still a Drexian warrior,” I told her. “And I’m still in Inferno Force. That won’t change.”
She nodded. “I’ve realized that I’d rather love you and risk being hurt than harden my heart and lose you.”
“You won’t lose me,” I said, feeling the desire to seek out risk evaporating inside me as if it were smoke. I kissed her again, savoring the softness of her lips. “Don’t think this means I’m going to go easy on you when it comes to the station, though.”
“Does that mean you’re not counting down the days until you leave?”
Suddenly, I wasn’t in such a rush to return to combat with Inferno Force. “It means I’m not going anywhere without you.”
She gave me a wicked smile. “Good, and I’d be disappointed if you went easy on me. You know that’s not how I like it.”
My cock swelled, as I murmured low, “And how do you like it, Zoey?”
