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CHAPTER TWENTY

Dani

She was going to kill him for real this time.

Her thoughts were a whirlwind as she stirred the rice in her pot and set the lid atop. She’d been in a state of exhausted panic for nearly an hour now.

She’d tried calling him through the vent a few more times before she’d given up, locking up the vault and heading toward the upper decks. She’d wandered a few levels, checking her garometer while peering at vents as she went. Unfortunately, the energy levels never went past seven, and she worried she’d start looking too suspicious searching around, so she forced herself back to her unit. She found a message from Nadine when she pulled up her computer, telling her and the rest of the crew that they would schedule a meeting as soon as possible to address the events on X110 but had yet to give a time. Soon the city would be rubble, and they would be leaving X110’s orbit to move on to whatever destination was decided next, and Kryxis would be stuck here for good, until they could figure out how to help him.

But the longer he was stalking about, the more chances he might be seen, and the harder getting him out without trouble would be.

Where the hell could he have gone? And how could he be so damn careless?

She tried to understand, remembering that he was nearly feral and trying to make him stay put in a crate wasn’t ideal. But she wished he could have at least waited a little longer.

Spending hours trying to find him was pointless. He could be anywhere, and the ship was the size of a small city.

He wasn’t going to mess around and scare people again. He would come find her.

And yet, she couldn’t shake the anxiety as a less confident part of her told her otherwise.

He’s a vrisha, one of the most powerful races in the known systems. He has so much more to explore. Why would he waste his time hanging out with you?

Her heart sank at the thought. Crazy that she actually felt sad at the idea when less than a day ago, she wanted to get away from him.

Maybe it had been kind of fun when he had been…exploring her.

She wanted to laugh at that, until she realized she was serious. Being back in her unit, safe and sound, should have made her feel better. Instead, she felt an odd sense of loneliness, the space feeling emptier than ever, even with her cat Chowder purring at her feet.

Trying to keep her mind off the fact that there was a giant, terrifying alien sneaking around the ship and that she was missing him, she unlatched her belt, setting it on a chair. Taking out the tools and other accessories in her pockets, including the datachip which she set next to her computer, she yanked off her suit, kicking it over to the dirty clothes pile.

Stepping into the bathroom next, she started the shower. The water was a blessing, and she nearly let out a moan when it hit her aching back. Scrubbing the dust and grime off her was the best feeling she’d had in hours. When she’d washed it all down the drain, she remained standing in the shower, her mind drifting back again to Kryxis. The warmth surrounding her was kind of like...him.

She shut her eyes and hugged herself. She wasn’t a fool. Those times with Kryxis, those little moments when he touched her—he’d wanted more than a friend. She saw how he looked at her, the unmistakable hunger there in his searing red gaze.

She’d tried to ignore it. But in reality, she knew. All those times her pulse raced, or face flushed, or stomach was in knots, she’d called it fear. But that wasn’t all true.

She’d felt something she shouldn’t. And that feeling was slipping through the cracks of the imaginary wall she’d put up.

A vision of him in his battle attire swept over her. He’d been trying to impress her before they had gone into the tunnels. And he had. All of him. He had been terrifying and…

Stunning.

She licked the water from her lips. This wasn’t just her wanting intimacy for the sake of it. She’d gotten that easily with several men before. Hell, she could call up Garret right now if she wanted something superficial and shallow.

But she didn’t. She wanted…

Hissing through her teeth, she shut off the water and got out, smacking on the heater.

Damn him. He was frustrating, and horrifying, and crazy, and reckless, and…and…

She thought she heard something outside. Shutting the heat off, she listened and realized it was a knock at her door. Grabbing her robe, she shot out of the bathroom and flew to her unit door, letting it slide open.

“Hey.”

She tried hard not to look disappointed. “Garret…”

“Just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He smiled at her as he leaned against her door. “I picked this up for you.” He offered her a bag of candy and she took it reluctantly.

“Um, thanks.”

“No problem.” He stood there for a moment, and she worried he was expecting her to ask if he’d like to come in.

“Well, I’m tired so…”

“Right.” He unlatched from her door. “There is going to be a public viewing of the demolition on commons deck. If you wanted to see…”

“I’m good,” she said softly.

He nodded. “If you change your mind, I’ll be around. Otherwise, you can probably see some of it from your window.”

“Right.”

He looked like he wanted to say more but decided against it. “See you around.” He left, and she shut her door, letting out a slow breath. As she set the bag on the counter, she wondered if Kryxis would see the destruction of his home, and she felt a pang of guilt. Maybe she should go just in case he was there.

The commons deck was crowded. No surprise that people found it entertaining to watch buildings being turned into dust and fire storms the size of mountains consume everything in sight. One side of the deck was nothing but a thick pane of glass for everyone to watch from below. Monitors along the wall showed close ups. Dani wasn’t looking at the window or the monitors. Her eyes were drawn over to the vents, hoping she’d see a pair of red eyes looking back. She didn’t have the lights from her suit this time to look inside now that she wore only a simple gray shirt and black pants. All she could do was walk past, whispering for Kryxis and hoping he responded.

“Hey, Captain!” someone called to her as she peered inside another vent. She straightened and looked over to see Lex and Phen coming her way.

“Didn’t think we would see you here,” Lex said.

“I didn’t think I would come at first,” Dani said, brushing a lock of hair away from her face. “But I thought...maybe I should.”

“I think most of us just want to put X110 behind us and not think about it. So far, Phen was the only one who showed interest.”

“I want to see the big fire,” Phen stated. “And the burning.”

“And she dragged me along,” Lex added, glancing at her nervously. They leaned in closer. How’s our big red bully doing, by the way?” they whispered. “Holding up?”

Dani fidgeted. Telling them he was missing felt like a bad idea. She didn’t want to cause a panic in anyone else or for them to regret bringing him on board.

“He’s…fine.” That might not be a lie. He could be fine somewhere, right? “I’ve talked to Tom, and we are going to try to contact someone.”

“Oh, the alliance?” Phen asked.

“Hopefully.”

“Yeah, let’s hope someone takes him soon,” Lex said. “I don’t want to think about the chaos he’ll cause if he gets loose and bored. Management will go code red for the first time in years.”

The lights around them suddenly flickered then when out, along with the monitors, causing jeers and groans from the crowd as they looked around in confusion.

“What’s going on?” Dani asked, as the emergency lights turned on, washing the room in a soft yellow light.

“Looks like another blackout,” Lex answered as they tugged on Phen’s sleeve to stop her from staring into the emergency lights.

“Another?”

“Yeah, didn’t you get the email? They’ve been happening throughout the ship. Engineers have been working on it for the past hour.”

She had a sinking feeling in her gut. “Have you heard about anything else? Anything strange?”

Lex seemed to think it over. “Now that you mention it…we saw a group of engineers while passing one of their stations. One looked ashen, you know, like something really spooked him bad. And he was yelling that he refused to go down to the lower decks with the others. He was frantic, all panicky.”

Dani tried not to make a face, even as her blood heated. Dammit, Kryxis . She really was going to skin his hide for this.

Lex gave her a curious look. “You don’t think that it was…”

“I’ll check it out,” Dani remarked. “Just watch for anything else, okay?”

Lex nodded. “Sure thing.”

The lights flickered back on and there was a collective cheer from everyone. Dani went rigid as she glanced over and saw Garret nearby, talking with fellow security guards. “You guys go on. I’ll be around.”

Lex steered Phen toward the window. Dani stayed behind, wringing her hands as she observed the room. Garret and his team moved away as more people turned toward the windows. On the monitors was a countdown. Only ten minutes remained.

She looked down at her garometer.

Nothing.

Kryxis wasn’t here.

A group of blue suits from the science sector had found a place by the window, talking and laughing. She watched them, feeling oddly numb.

Nadine and the other heads might reject her promotion if she didn’t give the datachip up. But once the city was gone…the datachip would be all that was left as evidence.

If she gave it up, she couldn’t know for sure they would do the right thing.

And she realized she wanted that for Kryxis. He deserved justice. Even if it meant sacrificing her hard work.

She just wished he would come out and speak to her.

Moving away from the wall, she turned back for the elevators. She couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to see, didn’t want to think about Kryxis’s home turning to dust or think about the conservatory and all those beautiful plants withering to nothing in the fire. Even those poor creatures that had been tested against their will. They would be forgotten.

A tear slipped down her cheek as the elevator door slid closed. She brushed it away and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves.

As the elevator stopped on her level, she hesitated to step out. Her floor was dark, save for yellow lights along the floor. Emergency lights. The power had gone out here too.

Great.

Expecting it would come back soon, she went for her door several units down then paused, sniffing the air.

Was that...?

She lifted her head up to the vent just above her door and caught the scent again. The scent of coffee.

She peered down at her garometer, and her heart flipped.

“Kryxis!” she called up at the vent.

No response.

Confused, she looked back at her door. Quickly, she plugged in her code on the keypad then remembered the power was out so she would have to open it manually. She opened a box next to the keypad and pulled a latch down. The door popped to one side, allowing her to wrench it open with one hand.

The unit was dark just like she expected. She stepped inside then slid the door back behind her and stood on the threshold for moment, her heart pounding.

She called to him again. “Are you here?”

Something moved in the dark. Something big. Her breath caught in her lungs at the sight, making her stumble back into the door. Before she could utter another word or even let out a cry, the lights came back on.

Kryxis stood before her with a head engineer’s control pad in his hand. He grinned at her. “Hi, Dani.”