Page 169

With pleasure.

XANDER

The moment Eugene floated toward Miral, all swagger and bravado, Xander and Kaal were already ghosts slipping from theunderbelly of theÚltima X.

Their holo-facsimiles remained on the bridge, meticulously mimicking their vitals, breath patterns, and occasional motion.

The ruse held.

The crat AI missed the signs when the pair launched in stealth pods, and flew in silence to his bloated monstrosity of a party boat.

They breached the underside of the ship like silent phantoms.

Kaal took point, turning off internal drones and rerouting surveillance with a few brutal key taps on his neural wrist pad.

Xander followed, pulse gun in one hand, rage in the other.

They moved fast.

The corridors were colder than a cryo-cell, sick with flickering gold filigree and absurd velvet carpeting.

Opulence overlaid madness.

Each step was another beat of Xander’s heartbeat roaring louder.

Then he caught sight of her.

She was strapped into a chromed thronal chair in a central chamber, body slack but eyes alert.

Her bottom lip appeared bloodied. Her hair, mussed and tangled, obscured her face, her skin pale against the thin fabric of her suit.

She was still defiant, head held high.

When she sensed movement, she jolted in the seat. ‘Xander?’

He surged forward, uncaring if they tripped all alarms on this floating hellhole. ‘Mi cielo,’ he growled, arms coming around her.

Kaal joined him in hacking into and slipping off her restraints.

‘You’re here, honey,’ she breathed, disbelief cracking her voice.

‘Of course I am. You think I’d let some chrome-plated freak keep you?’

Her cuffs fell away, and her hands, trembling, reached for him.

The moment she touched him, everything disappeared. The worry. The rage. The freakin’ universe.

He knelt beside her, hands cupping her face, checking every inch of her.

His heart sank, for despite a few facial wounds, it appeared Eugene had beaten her around her chest and middle. He saw evidence of large, dark bruises and shivered, fearing broken ribs and internal injuries.

‘You’re shaking,’ he whispered.

‘I thought you’d hate me,’ she murmured back. ‘I breached the perimeter in a mad frenzy, wanting to see my family. I’m so sorry, baby.’

‘Savvine,’ he said, eyes dark with emotion. ‘There’snadato forgive. Your need to see those you love is natural. You’re OK now, my love, and that’s all that matters.’

He bent over her and kissed her with a fierce relief and an intense need to never let her out of his sight again.