Page 6 of Thruster (Hunted Relics #9)

The tunnel exit is far, but I’m not running to it. I must save my energy for the sky. Thirty minutes later, I find the access.

A pair of blue eyes in the shadows stop me before I can rocket up the shaft into the daylight.

I ease back and tap a fist over my chest. I know who it is by the frequency in my scanners. “Commander.”

"Thruster." Savage doesn't come into the light. "I have just returned from the BlazeStar that Chaos and Fury found in the mountain. I am sending you coordinates for the proposed target. They have reinforced the shields and say it is ready for jailbreak."

My plans are changing fast. “Have you informed Holo?”

“A-firm. He’s ready.”

“Are the camps prepared to move?”

Savage steps forward into a sliver of sunlight. His body is covered in fresh claw marks like he’s been wrestling Welvirs.

“Sir?”

“I’m fine. But we must move whether we’re ready or not. Welvirs replicate fast. I have no doubt they will take over Ellipsis when we leave. But that should quickly rid the planet of Solcrue forces.”

He tilts and peers around me and down the tunnel.

“Commander Savage?”

I wheel to find Kelta jogging toward us with a mostly empty pack on her shoulders and a rifle in her hands. “What are you doing here? You should be resting after your surgery.”

She draws in a deep breath. Kelta still has a contusion and healing split on her forehead along with the burn marks of my engines on her chest.

Savage notices it in her shirt and then dissects me with his eyes.

ThrusterSavage: I didn’t do it on purpose. I was trying to save her.

SavageThruster: Your anger has made you reckless. A Cosmic Piercer would not be so careless.

ThrusterSavage: I am nothing but a Titan rocket now. I take out ships. I scan for targets. I do whatever it takes. I have no real weapon but my body. Her arrival from the sky was unexpected.

Savage turns to Kelta. “I do not advise that you leave the camp. We must move soon. Welvirs are in these tunnels.”

Kelta studies Savage's torn-up body with curiosity, making me feel like shrinking inside myself. The others take a beating, and females always pay more attention. With the exception of units like Drillbit and myself.

“Are you okay?” she asks him.

“Leah will care for me,” Savage says. “Please tell me your plan.”

“Recover what I can from my ship,” she says. “I have parts that might be helpful. I’ve been wanting to talk to you, sir. But I was told you were hunting.”

“You will need a guard,” Savage remarks.

“I don’t want to take your soldiers. I am comfortable on my own.” Kelta is daring for a human.

Savage sniffs the air, rumbles a low note, and then turns and growls behind him. "Tell me what you find after the operation is complete. You will stay with Thruster. Thruster, get her out of here. I'm closing the tunnel."

A snarl echoes down the passageway. Then another. It’s all the motivation I need. I pull Kelta against my chest, focus on just my boot thrusters, and launch us out of the shaft into the desert sun.

Dust puffs up in thick plumes from the hole concealed by a handful of twiggy bushes.

I frantically scan the sky and find we’re safe from Solcruean fighters for the moment. The ground rumbles. A plume of dust and sand puffs out of the sinking dirt. I land us away from the access.

ThrusterSavage: Confirm Status.

SavageThruster: Tunnel closed. Moving camp now. Proceed with Kelta’s mission. Meet up with Holo and begin Operation Tailchaser ASAP.

ThrusterSavage: Roger.

“What’s a Welvir?” Kelta squints in the sunlight and steadies the rifle in her hands.

"A rabid, mutated version of a wolf. At least I think that's what Celeste said. She's Chaos' mate. Now, stay close. I'll get you to your ship as fast as I can under the radar. You might have to dig or hope Drillbit gets my call."

“That’s fine.” She stays close as we hike through the hills toward her crash site. “So Poppy told me what she knows about you.”

I sigh and snake us through the short trees and down to a landing where her ship’s sinkhole sits out in the sand.

Kelta crouches beside me. “Says you watched an entire fleet of your Batch Brothers die.”

I study the desert landscape that slopes into the plains for traps, then decide the risk is lower here than in the tunnels with Welvirs. "Skysprinters are fast. They can be on our position before we reach your ship."

“Thruster.”

“We can talk about that later. Right now, we need to focus on surviving this situation.”

“Can you carry me there? That would be fast.”

“I don’t want to risk hurting you unless there’s a bigger threat to your life,” I admit.

“You got me out of the tunnel just fine.”

“Kelta.” I meet her gaze and am entranced by the way the daylight makes her bronze skin glow. Someone has given her an armored vest, likely Leah. But she’s still in danger. She’s not built to take bullets and bashing hits.

“I don’t want to die,” Kelta says. “And I recognize that I’m human and can’t do what you can. But let me decide what risks I’m willing to take.”

I rethink our plan as I search the desert for a path in. “Drillbit usually bores an access so he can make sure he’s drilling the correct ring around a ship.” I find a sunken area of sand. “That’s it. You’ll have to hold your breath until we’re below.”

“Copy.”

“Arms around my neck.”

Kelta swings her rifle to her back and loops her arms over my shoulders without hesitation. My cock stiffens as her body sidles up to mine.

My growing urges make engines spark all over my body, beneath their hatches. Kelta puts me at risk for detonation if I don't find release soon. "I'm going to need my arms and legs free to navigate us if anyone comes within range. So you have to hold on."

Kelta studies me closely, then smirks and jumps, wrapping her legs around my waist and hooking her ankles together behind me.

Heat flares through my core. Engines rumble as they start up. I open every hatch I can to vent the heat and let my engines switch on. Then, I brace her hips with my hands and stagger a step as her unexpected eagerness sends feverish hunger through my body.

Don’t… I close my eyes and focus the energy into engines pointing away from her. Breath comes rapidly as I try to steady myself with the feeling of her so tightly wrapped around me.

“Thruster…” she says calmly, confidently. “You’ve got this. If I can fly a ship at eight years old, you can fly us without hurting me. You have a lot more experience.”

I’m not so sure.

Kelta tucks her face against my neck. “Ready when you are.”

I feel like a hotskin again, fresh out of the plant, learning to fly, channeling my engines, picking the right ones to carry her without burning her to a crisp. My boots and lower legs ignite. I feel wobbly and unstable and brace Kelta against me. "I don't want to hurt you. Tell me the moment I start to."

Kelta adjusts her grip as we levitate. “I will. And I won’t let go.”

Her hips pressed to mine makes me wild with desires I’ve never had before.

“Didn’t know you carried such a big gun,” she says against my neck.

“I’m sorry. I’m trying really hard right now to focus on this maneuver.”

“Something is definitely hard.” Kelta laughs softly. “You’ve got this, Thruster. I trust you.”

She shouldn't. I want to tell her not to. I fear what another failure might do to me. She doesn't know that it wasn't just my batch Brothers that met their fate in a freak pulse wave from an erupting ship. It was a whole squadron of human StarJumpers. I wasn't fast enough to reach them and warn them that the new ship was a bomb in disguise, designed to kill all within range if it was breached. Solcrue are relentless and have no qualms with sacrificing themselves to win.

I will not let Kelta become another casualty. I can’t stand the thought. I dread having the responsibility for her life in my hands because of my past and my current mission, but I’m compelled as much as it’s programmed into me to do everything I can to keep her safe.

“Hang on.”