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Finn headed to the shuttle bay with Liev. The habitat’s recycled air was stale in his nostrils. He couldn’t wait to get out of this hellhole and breathe fresh air soon enough.

They arrived at the shuttle entrance, which now gaped open. Gouges scarred the frame where someone had leveraged the doors apart with a crossbar.

“I see you got the door open,” Finn said, running his fingers over the gashes.

“Luca wasn’t for messing around,” Liev said with a half smile that suggested he approved of the direct approach.

Finn stepped into the cramped space of the docking bay, ducking his head under a low-hanging conduit. The confined quarters pressed in around him, reminding him uncomfortably of how far they were from the surface. From safety. From getting Rose out of here.

He blew out a breath. “What’s the damage?”

Liev motioned him over to the exposed engine housing. “It’s been sabotaged, but it was done in a hurry.”

“We can make it good but it’s going to take some time.” Finn skimmed his fingertips over the vandalized engine components. “Why the hell would anyone want to stop people from escaping from the nanobots?” The question had been eating at him since they’d found the nanobots in Thea’s lab.

Liev shook his head, his expression grim. “Doesn’t bear thinking about, but my bet’s on the sister.”

“Yeah. Well. She’s a piece of work, that’s for sure.” Finn’s jaw clenched, remembering the cold way Thea dismissed Rose. The pain in Rose’s eyes. His hand tightened on a wrench. He glanced out into the hall, scanning for any shimmer of nanobots. Nothing. For now. “We should crack on.”

They worked in companionable silence for a while, passing tools back and forth as they repaired the delicate components. The familiar routine of mechanical work should have been calming, yet his thoughts kept drifting to Rose. She was safe with Luca. He might be a mouthy bastard but he was as protective and lethal as any of the Wolves. Still, Finn couldn't quiet the urge to drop everything and check on her.

“So,” Liev said casually, not looking up from the wiring he was splicing. “Rose seems to be handling all this well. Smart woman.”

Finn’s hands stilled for a fraction of a second before he resumed working. “She is.” He kept his voice neutral, even as his heart rate kicked up a notch. Rose was more than smart—she was brilliant, determined, brave. Everything he’d tried to convince himself he didn’t want. Didn’t deserve.

The image of a strand of hair falling across her cheek flashed through his mind. He’d wanted to brush it back, to feel the softness of her skin. The intensity of that desire had shocked him then. Still did.

“Reminds me a bit of Eva, actually. Same sharp mind.” Liev’s voice softened. “Sometimes the right person comes along when you least expect it. Makes you realize what you’ve been missing.”

Finn focused on reconnecting the fuel line, trying to ignore how accurately Liev’s words hit home. He hadn’t expected Rose—hadn’t expected to feel this desperate need to protect her, to keep her safe. Hadn’t expected how much it would matter.

“Eva saved me, you know,” Liev continued. “After Sanderson, I wrapped myself in work and isolation because it was easier than letting anyone else in. But that’s no way to live.”

“Hmm.” Finn wasn’t sure he wanted to be drawn into this conversation. Liev was too insightful for his own good.

“I see how you watch her. Like you’re afraid she’ll disappear if you look away.”

Finn tossed him the side-eye. “It’s not that simple.”

“Never is,” Liev admitted. “But whatever’s holding you back—she deserves to know.”

Finn picked up a laser screwdriver, testing its weight in his hand. He wanted to focus on the engine, on the mechanical simplicity of what needed fixing. Not the mess in his head. “Five years in military prison isn’t exactly first date conversation material.”

“No,” Liev agreed. “But it’s part of who you are.”

“Who I am?” Finn’s laugh held no humor. “I almost killed a man, Liev. Would have, if they hadn’t pulled me off him.” His hands stilled on the engine. “And I’d do the same again in the same situation. Prison didn’t change that. Every time I look at Rose, I think about telling her. About explaining why I did it. But how do you tell someone that you’re capable of that kind of violence?”

“You tell her the truth. That you found a rapist and did what any decent man would’ve done.” Liev’s voice hardened. “That you protected someone who couldn’t protect herself.”

“And if she sees me differently? If she—” Finn cursed as the screwdriver slipped, gouging skin from his knuckles. Blood welled.

“If she what? Sees that you have a moral code? That you’d do anything to protect the people you care about?” Liev tapped the shuttle hull. “That’s not the liability you think it is.”

“It’s not just the prison time.” Finn sucked blood from his knuckles. “It’s what it did to me. The anger. The isolation afterwards. It’s easier to keep people at arm’s length than risk?—”

“Risk letting someone in?” There was a grim twist to Liev’s mouth. “I did the same after Sanderson. Thought I was damaged goods. Then Eva came along and showed me what bullshit that was.” He paused. “Rose isn’t some fragile thing that needs sheltering from the truth. She’s stronger than that.”

“I know she is,” Finn said softly. “That’s what scares me.”

“Good,” Liev wagged a finger at him, his teeth white against an oily smear on his jaw. “Means you’re ready to care about losing something again.”

They worked in silence for a moment, the only sound the clicking of tools against metal.

“Tell her,” Liev said finally. “Not because you have to, but because she deserves the choice. And so do you.”

Finn sighed, wiping grease from his hands as he stood back to survey his work. “Maybe you’re right?—”

An alarm shrieked to life, its piercing wail drowning out his words.

What now?

Finn dropped his tools and seized his pulse rifle .

He sprinted with Liev back out into the corridor where emergency lights pulsed an angry red, turning the metallic walls to blood. They raced around the curve, stumbling to an almost instant halt.

Rose and Luca were at the far end of the corridor backing away slowly. Between them, massing in the corridor, a silvery cloud writhed and twisted, catching the strobing light like mercury.

“Rose!”

Her eyes locked with his across the distance. In that moment, all his fears about telling her the truth seemed absurd compared to the terror of losing her.

The swarm surged.