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The body was skeletal-light, stripped for velocity, not comfort.

A two-seat cockpit nestled inside a crystalline carbon shell, weapons tucked beneath retractable panels, like claws waiting to strike.

Savvine’s breath caught in her throat. ‘Hello, beautiful.’

She slid into the swivel crash couch, which auto-wrapped a semi-adaptive harness over her limbs.

Her neural node was linked to the helm with a soft chime, and the controls flowed into her HUD, an intuitive second brain.

Virtual toggles shimmered along the curved interface: propulsion, weapon spread, auto-drift aligners, stealth buttons, pulse dampeners. Her fingers flew over them with instinctive ease, heart swelling at the raw, perfect feel of her.

‘I’m in,’ she whispered. ‘She’s to die for.’

Xander’s voice grumbled back, amused and a little lewd. ‘Try not to make love to her in front of everyone,mi cielo. You’re still on comms.’

Savvine chuckled darkly. ‘Then close your ears, Commander.’

The deck doors peeled open like the petals of a flower, and she launched.

ThePeñascreamed into the black, a streak of furious light and thunder, tearing toward the fray with grace and fire as Savvine’s every synapse lit up with combat lust.

Tonight, she would burn the stars and whoever dared stand up to her in this ever-unfolding battle.

19

Howling With The Wolves

SAVVINE

ThePeñahowled through the stars, her ion thrusters flaring blue-gold as Savvine pushed her to the edge, then beyond it.

She sat locked in the tight, contoured pilot seat, the neural interface humming against her temple, her whole body a weapon.

Sweat beaded at her brow, her breaths controlled.

Beside her in the dark, Xander’s Corvette flew in perfect synchronicity, her man’s silhouette hunched over the helm.

They cut through enemy fire like wraiths, maneuvering in tandem, reading each other without words.

Pulsed weapons were laced between them in staccato bursts, their weapons hot, disruptor mines, spread lasers, and fire-lure beacons.

Shields hummed under pressure. Armor sparked.

Their neural nodes stayed linked, and their breaths synced.

Combat music played beneath it all, a heavy-bassed atmospheric funk that throbbed through Savvine’s bones.

Xander’s voice was a growl across their private channel.

‘You’re dancing like hell out here,mi cielo.’

Savvine grinned, eyes razor-sharp on the cluster of enemy ships ahead.

‘Try to keep up, Xander.’

She dove, skimming the curved hull of a destroyed Signet vessel, flipped under a debris wing, and came up shooting.

A Lombardi flanker exploded in her wake, flames curling in zero-G like a dying flower.