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His sidekick’s brow furrowed. “What happened?”

“She... did something to me.” He backed up two steps, shaking his hand. “It felt like a neural discharge. And my hand’s fucking numb!”

I had no idea what I’d done, but I knew what had happened. The Hollow Chorus had found me. Rennick had found me. And the bond, whatever it was, had announced itself. It was terrifying, but also beautiful. I wasn’t alone. Backup was coming. And backup was a crew of rage-filled women and an equally pissed-off Kelvane and his beautiful ship.

The tablet on the floor chimed, and the tall Kelvane grabbed it just as the screen flashed red.

“The accounts are frozen! This bitch played us.” He dropped the tablet and pulled back a fist. “I’m done playing nice.”

I went for the closest Kelvane’s sidearm, yanked it free, aimed, and fired. He smashed it away half a second too soon, and the shot went wide. The weapon skidded across the concrete toward the door.

I hit the wall as a fist slammed into my jaw and slid down as the room spun. I got up. My hamstring buckled, but I stayed up. On the floor, I’d be dead in seconds.

The broader Kelvane swung. I ducked under his punch and drove my forehead into his sternum. It wasn’t enough force to drop him, but enough to make him stagger back and buy me room. I grabbed the data tablet and smashed it across the bridge of his nose. The screen shattered. He bellowed as blood sheeted down his face.

The taller Kelvane grabbed his weapon and leveled it at my chest.

I threw the broken tablet at him and dove for his knees. We hit the concrete, and I clawed, bit, raked my nails across his throat, and drove my thumb into the soft tissue under his jaw, determined to cause maximum pain.

He got his arm around my neck and squeezed. My airway closed and pressure built behind my eyes until the flickering strip light doubled and the room contracted to a tunnel of white noise. This was it. These bastards would kill me. But at least they wouldn’t frame me and fuck up my reputation.

The Hollow Chorus slammed through my nervous system like a door blown off its hinges by a slab demolition charge, and underneath it, tangled into the ship’s architecture like he’d wired himself in, was Rennick.

His fury was a living thing, cold and precise and so controlled it terrified me. Underneath that control was something I’d never expected to find. Rennick wanted me. He wanted me the way the ship yearned for its captain. Completely and without reservation. With a ferocity that had nothing to do with reason and everything to do with a need that rewrites a person from the inside out.

What the fuck? Had we... bonded?

The shock cracked through me like voltage. My skin flushed hot. My hands shook. Rennick was searching for me, and he was close. He was also terrified that he wouldn’t find me in time. He searched for me in a way you’d search for a vital part of yourself. Losing it was a death sentence, and you needed it to survive.

And I wanted him, too. No, I needed him. The wanting was so sudden and total that it carved through the pain and the oxygen deprivation, replacing it all with one screaming desire.

Get to him. Be with him. Only him. Forever and always. Do whatever it takes. Do not die.

I bit the arm around my throat until the Kelvane released me with a roar, and I dropped to my knees, gasping, vision flooding back in patches. The warmth of the bond still poured through me like a river that wouldn’t stop.

The broader Kelvane’s boot caught me in the ribs, and something cracked. I hit the floor, rolled, and came up swinging.

“Kill her!” his bleeding fuckhead of a companion yelled.

“Stop!” The younger Kelvane by the door had his sidearm in both hands. “This isn’t what I signed on for.”

The taller one barely glanced at him. “Put that down before you blow off your foot.”

“She’s a civilian contractor!” His voice cracked, but he didn’t lower the weapon. “This is a murder order. I’m not part of this.”

“You’re already part of this, numbnuts. You knew what you were getting yourself into when you took a security job with the Nogea Corp.”

The younger Kelvane backed out of the door, weapon still raised, then he turned and ran.

The bond burned through my chest like a second heart, and Rennick was so close, I could taste the connection.

I’m here! I’m still here. Come get me. Find me.

The taller Kelvane stood over me, his weapon in his hand. “Dumb bitch. You should never have gotten involved in a system you’re too primitive to understand.”

I bared my teeth. Fuck him. “And you should have brought more help because you’re about to be royally fucked.”

Chapter 20