Page 12 of Wrapped in Their Arms

And then everything went sideways.

7

BRIGHT

The moment they exited theFold,Brightknew something was wrong.

There was no sense of release…no smooth slide from the compressed stillness of theFoldinto normal space…no gentle drift into open sky.

Instead, the ship jolted, the forward momentum stalling like a bird hitting an invisible wall.

The lights on the console flickered, the engines groaned, and the shuttle hung in space like a fly caught in a web.

“What the fuck?”Burnmuttered beside him, already adjusting the controls.

Noelle made a soft sound—half gasp, half question—butBrightcouldn’t look at her yet.Hiseyes were locked on the front viewscreen, where something impossible was wrapped across the viewscreen.

Thin glowing lines—blue-white and sharp as lightning—crisscrossed the display in a tight lattice.Theypulsed faintly, alive with electrical current.Thepattern shifted and shivered as the ship strained against it, trying and failing to break free.

Bright stared, his stomach sinking.

“What in theSevenHellsis that?”he asked, pointing at the shimmering net.

Burn’s face was grim, his jaw tight as he shoved the throttle forward.

“That’s part of aSkowlianenergy net,” he said.“We’vegot to break free of it or we’re all dead.”

He did something to the console—somethingBrightdidn’t understand—and then pushed the steering yoke forward.

The engines screamed in protest and the shuttle surged forward—but only slightly.Thefront end pitched, then slammed back as though yanked by a leash.Allthree of them were thrown forward in their seats, though the harnesses kept them from slamming into the viewscreen or the control console.Alarmsbegan to blare in sync with the rising whine of straining power cores.

But no matter whatBurndid, the net held firm.

“What are theSkowdoing here?”Brightdemanded.“Ithought they worked theOuterFringeof theGordriansystem.Whatare they doing in theTherimcorridor?”

“Pirating,”Burngrowled.“Thisisn’t a random net—we were targeted.Someonefucking knew we’d be coming through thisFoldpoint.”

Bright’s gut went cold.CouldtheDarkTwinbe right?Buthow could theSkow—who were notorious pirates and slave traffickers—have known their location?

“Are…are we going to be all right?”Noelle’svoice was thin and frightened, barely audible over the whine of the engines.Shewas still strapped in between them, small and tense, her hands gripping the arms of her seat hard enough to turn her knuckles white.

She’s human,Brightthought.Tinyand breakable compared to us.Wehave to protect her.Wehave to?—

A sudden, sharp jerk rocked the shuttle.

Bright reached out instinctively, bracing a hand acrossNoelle’schest to steady her.Shegasped and looked at him, eyes wide with fear.

“It’s all right,” he told her quickly.“We’llget out of it.Juststay calm.”

But the truth was, he wasn’t sure.

He knew some about theSkowweapons—enough to avoid them.Thesenets were designed to trap small-to-medium class vessels.Oncecaught, the energy wrapped tighter and tighter, draining power from the engines while disabling weapons, shielding, and navigation.Withinminutes, a ship would be dead in the water—completely at the mercy of whoever cast the net.

And there wasalwayssomeone waiting on the other end…usually theSkow.

“Can we break through it?”BrightaskedBurn, trying to keep his tone steady.

“Not unless you’ve got a wormhole generator hidden in your boot,”Burnsnapped.“Thenet’s siphoning all our power.Ifwe don’t either break free soon, we’ll be dead in the water.”