“Right next to you,” he answered. “I’m on my way over.”
“Don’t get eaten!”
He laughed. “Don’t worry, starshine. Nothing’s keeping me from you.” A soft click sounded, Shade disconnecting from the channel. Several devices clicked off in quick succession.
Giddy with relief, I turned off my com, my fingers shaking. I couldn’t wait to see Shade. Going off on my own had been lonely and horrible. We were a team now. I liked it that way.
Fiona stalked down the hallway, Bonk in her arms. She passed him off to me with a sour look even she couldn’t pull off. “He scratched me twice.”
I gathered Bonk in my arms, a ridiculous smile on my face. Bonk crawled up my chest and put his paws around my neck. Holy shit, my cat can hug! I snuggled against him. He purred in my ear, his stiff whiskers tickling my cheek.
“He doesn’t like to be startled.” I stroked his back. Little shoulder blades and a spine bumped against my hand. Bonk’s purring revved up, his chest vibrating against mine. He wasn’t expressing his ire this time, but I hadn’t been gone that long. And all the jolts and noises had frightened him. Tiny claws dug into my skin, but I ignored the sting in favor of kitty love.
“Then he needs to get used to it,” Fiona muttered, brushing gray and white fur from her shirt. “He’s a rebel space cat. Explosions will happen.”
I grinned. How could I not?
“Tess!” Shade’s bellow came from the direction of the starboard door.
I took a few steps toward the sound of his voice but then he was there, barreling down the corridor. He abruptly slowed, readjusting his approach. The embrace that would have been fierce and perfect ended up being gentle and even more perfect as Shade took care not to crush Bonk. It was awkward, both of us bent around the cat between us. It also felt like a family of three.
Shade gripped my face and kissed me. It was fast, but the quick contact breathed new life into me.
“That was fucking terrifying,” he whispered against my lips. “How do you do this all the time?”
I understood what scared Shade, because they were the same things that petrified me. Someone I loved getting hurt. Things spiraling out of my control. Being taken out of the game before we finally swept the Overseer and his minions from the board.
I kissed him this time, lifting up to press my lips to his. “It’s not all the time.”
“Thank the Powers for that.” Heartfelt conviction punctuated his words as he scratched behind Bonk’s ears. Bonk tilted his head back, still hugging me but leaning toward Shade.
Shade and I looked at each other over Bonk’s head, and something passed between us when our eyes met. A silent communication. A promise to reach that life at the orphanage we’d talked about.
I nodded. He nodded back.
“We’ve got a man with a working wand in his hands on the Unholy Stench,” Shade suddenly said.
I looked at him, taking a second to work that out. “There’s so much wrong with that sentence, I don’t even know where to start.”
He grinned. “How ’bout we start by getting that bullet out of your ass before the giant carnivorous spiders find us?”
I laughed, even though the pulsing pain in my rear end was no joke. “I’m not looking forward to either, to be honest. At least once I’m healed, I can run away from them.” Although flying away was the better option. “How fast can we get off this rock?” I asked, worried about the damage to both ships.
“The Stench can fly,” Shade said. “Asher said the hits were…well placed. She’s good to go as long as we ditch the cargo attachment. No point dragging around extra weight.”
“They can make repairs on Mooncamp 1, which is where I think we should bring everyone. Merrick?” I asked. “How’s the Endeavor?”
“Same,” he answered. “Two holes, but in rooms that were sealed off. Nothing that’ll ground us. We’ll move all these people into the main cargo hold and ditch the attachment.”
I nodded. I had no problem abandoning the big cargo holds on Nickleback to become spider houses. “The people on the Stench stay there, and these people here—unless Frank doesn’t have enough room for them.” I was pretty sure he had more people than I did, but we were both empty after unloading at the DT Mooncamps.
Jax walked up behind Shade, giving me a thorough once-over that was strictly about assessing my continued ability to walk. His scowl said a lot about how worried he’d been. A lump rose in my throat.
I lifted Bonk from around my neck and passed him over to Jax. Jax wouldn’t take the affection Fiona wanted to offer if only he’d open himself up, but there was no way he would reject snuggles from the cat. Or me. I leaned into him, briefly laying my head on his shoulder.
“I’m fine,” I quietly reassured him. Mostly. Whatever. I could stand up, so there was that.
He held Bonk in the crook of one burly arm, his other hand lifting to scratch the white fluff under the tabby’s chin. Fiona caught his eye, and their gazes locked. She smiled. Jax looked away first.
Sighing, I realized nothing had changed. I just hoped Jax would break this barrier before it was too late and Fiona moved on without him.
I took a deep breath to brace myself. Time for surgery. “Let’s do this,” I told Shade, moving to his side again. “Can you get the doc and his wand and bring him to our room?”
“Damn, baby. There’s so much I can do with that.” Innuendo lit his brown eyes, and I laughed.
“This poor doctor. He’s going to be terrified of us,” I said.
“Nah.” Shade smiled. “He’s made of sturdy stuff.”
“Is that another joke?” I rolled my lips in, picturing things that were totally inappropriate.
“Maybe a little.” The warmth in Shade’s eyes spread through my whole body. “But it’s also the truth.”
Smiling, I looked around at the people who had slowly spread out into the main cargo hold of the Endeavor. The worst heist ever had turned out pretty well in the end. We had the Overseer’s new supply of A1 blood. We still had time to stop the GIN Project. No one had died, although I was fairly certain I couldn’t stand up much longer and could really use a nap—preferably with a cat taking up half the pillow.
My gaze landed on Gabe. He stared at me like I was a stranger, and a sharp, unpleasant twist screwed up my stomach. The universe had played a cruel trick on us. Seven years of waiting and then a month too late. Regret didn’t grow inside me, though. Not like it used to, and had for so long.
“Can you help get them settled?” I asked Gabe, nodding toward the refugees. “See what they need?” Food, for one thing. Raz was going to have to resupply us after this.