by Presley Hall
She’s the bravest woman I’ve ever met.
“This isn’t it,” I say finally, frustration coloring my tone. “Let’s keep going.”
The next catwalk is narrow and high, the space beneath us a deep black void, and I carefully lower myself down and crawl after Harper as we make our way inch by inch across it.
As we near the platform at the end of the catwalk, Harper begins to stand.
But her foot catches on the fabric of her pants as she begins to rise. A startled noise escapes her throat as she loses her balance, and horror fills me.
Before I can catch her, faster than my reflexes, she tumbles over the edge, screaming as she grabs at the side of the catwalk. Her fingers lock into the grating, but it will only a matter of seconds before she loses her grip.
And a fall will certainly kill her.
“Harper!” I shout as I lunge toward her, grabbing for her wrists as I see her eyes go wide, her feet kicking for purchase that doesn’t exist as she stares wildly up at me.
“I’ve got you,” I tell her in a rush, grabbing on to her arms hard.
She nods, her voice faint. “Okay.”
Her fingers relax as she holds my gaze, and she lets me pull her back up onto the catwalk.
Her whole body is shaking as I pull her into my arms. My heart thunders in my chest, and all I can think about is how close I just came to losing her forever. It feels as if I almost died. The rush of panic turns into relief, flooding my entire body as I clutch her against me, trying to calm both her and—if I’m being honest—myself.
She tilts her chin up to look at me, and I bend my head and kiss her swiftly, my fingers tangling in her hair as I kiss her again and again. I can’t get enough of her. The realization of how close I came to never being able to touch or kiss her again nearly overwhelms me.
It tells me something else, too—that I can’t bear to lose her. That somehow, when this is all over, I have to find a way to keep her by my side.
But she has to want it too.
She kisses me back, her lips soft against mine, her hand curling around the back of my head as she leans into my touch. Her body is warm under my hands, melting against me.
I could stay like this forever, arms wrapped around her, embracing in the depths of the ship. But she breaks the kiss after a long moment, looking up at me.
“Lower me back down under the catwalk,” she says.
My head jerks back. Has she lost her mind?
“You want me to do what? Absolutely not.”
She laughs, moving out of the circle of my arms. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on dying today. There’s something under the catwalk that I want to look at. I’ll be careful, I promise.”
I can’t help but think she’s insane. But the look on her face is determined, and we’re running out of time. We can’t afford to leave any stone unturned.
So I look at her, my jaw tight, and nod.
“All right,” I tell her. “Let’s try.”
17
Harper
Malav clearly thinks I’m crazy… and I’m not entirely sure he’s wrong.
But we have to be thorough, and I’m pretty sure I saw a console beneath the catwalk that could be our ticket to shutting down the AI.
He reaches for my waist, gently setting me on the edge, and then he lowers me down inch by inch to the small ledge beneath the catwalk that I point out to him. His grasp on my forearms is tight as I search for the small ledge with my feet. I’ve never been so grateful for his strength in my life—there’s no way I’ll fall with him holding me.
It hits me suddenly that I’m willing to give my complete trust to a man I’ve only known for a short time, one I actively distrusted and almost hated a few weeks ago.
To trust him with my life.
It’s incredible how much has changed in such a short time.
I shake my head, focusing on what’s in front of me. There’s a bank of knobs and switches, and when I begin to read the labels, I can see that several are marked M0-LLV. I’m pretty sure that’s the name of the AI system that runs the ship. I remember seeing the same designation written on the console in the command deck.
My heart leaps into my throat. I can’t believe we might have actually found what we’ve been searching for. The AI’s controls.
“Malav,” I say quickly, not daring to glance up at him for fear that it might throw me off balance. “I found it. The AI’s name is on these switches.” I hesitate, anxiety rising up to meet the excitement pounding in my chest. “What do I do?”
“Flip them to off,” Malav says definitively. “We need to disable it before it glitches again.”
I don’t wait a second longer. I begin to flip the switches, one after another—every one labeled with the AI’s name. But with every single one I flip, an alarm begins to blare. And then, just as quickly as the lights above the switches go red, they turn back to green, and the alarms fade.
Dammit. The AI is turning itself back on as quickly as I can try to shut it off.
“It’s completely malfunctioned,” Malav says, his voice darker than I’ve ever heard it. “Harper, come on, it’s no use. I need to get you back up here—”
Before he can finish speaking, the ship begins to pitch sharply from side to side, almost as if it’s trying to shake me off the ledge.
“Shit!”
I grab onto the console, gripping it for dear life as I hear Malav scramble above me, trying to reach me and pull me back up. But if I shift so that he can grab my arms again, I’ll fall. There’s no question about it. The ship is rocking like a dog shaking off water, pitching wildly, and I know I can’t hang on for long.
I feel Malav’s hand grab mine, broad and warm, at the same moment that my feet lose their purchase on the ledge and slip off, dangling into thin air.
My heart lurches into my throat, cutting off my breath.
I’m hanging over the blackness beneath me, unable to see what’s underneath us—not that I want to. I close my eyes, praying that Malav can pull me back up.
“I’ve got you.” I can hear the fear in his voice, as sharp as my own. “I’ve got you, Harper. I—”
But then the ship jolts again, rocking harder than ever, and even Malav’s strength is no match for it. My grip slips from his, my fingers sliding out of his hand as I scream.
And then there’s nothing.
Nothing for me to grab onto, nothing to save me.
I’m falling through open air, and I can hear Malav’s shouts above me, but there’s nothing I can do.
When I land, the impact takes every bit of breath from my body, the pain sudden and immediate.
Everything goes black.
18
Malav
Two days later, I find myself in the med bay, standing over a healing pod.
Harper lies inside, her eyes closed and her face smooth and peaceful, nothing like the way it looked when I managed to get her out of the depths of the ship.
I can hear the clicks and whirrs of the small medical robots moving around the room, but I ignore them. My entire world has narrowed down to her, and her motionless form in the antiseptic white pod. The wires and IVs have been removed from her body, and it’s only her now, beneath the cool white sheet that the robots pulled over her.
I can’t remember the last time I cried—perhaps as a small boy—but I can feel emotion welling up in my throat, threatening to choke me.
How can Harper have come to mean so much to me in so short a time?
How could I possibly live without her?
And then, as I stand there watching her, I see her eyelids flutter. She blinks once, her eyes slowly opening and fixing immediately on mine.
I feel a relief like nothing I’ve ever experienced wash over me, all of my breath escaping in a gasp as I bend down. The hard knot in my chest unfurls as I kiss her gently on the lips.
She blinks again, unsteadily putting a hand to her forehead.
“What happened?” she asks, her voice
hoarse. “I remember being on the ledge with the controls… and then nothing.”
I sit slowly in the chair next to the pod, unable to tear my gaze away from her. “You nearly managed to turn the AI off,” I explain. “But it malfunctioned again, and you fell. Afterward, I turned the controls entirely back on. The med bay wouldn’t have functioned properly without it. The AI controls all the robots on this ship. I needed it working in order to heal you.” My throat tightens. “You were very badly injured.”
I see her face pale a little at that, and I realize that she has no idea how very close she came to dying. I don’t want to think about it—if I never relive the horror of picking her broken body up off that floor again, it will be not a minute too soon.
“So do we try again?” she asks, her voice still slightly rough. She coughs, licking her dry lips. “To turn off the AI?”
I shake my head. “It’s too risky. I don’t think it’s a good idea to try it again. The AI changed our course after the last glitch—we’re now headed to Macru Elnax. It’s a planet populated by insectoid aliens, and they’re known for being rather… aggressive. I’ve never personally gone there, but I’ve heard stories about it. With our current flight estimation, there’s a good chance that we’ll make it there before the AI glitches again.”
“And you think that’s a good idea?” She frowns, her expression worried. “What do we do once it lands?”
“I’d rather face a horde of angry insects on Macru Elnax than keep battling this AI system,” I tell her honestly. “Once we land, we’ll try to find a new ship to take us back to Monri.”
I know in the deepest part of myself that this is a long shot—that it’s very improbable we’ll find a new ship on Macru Elnax.
There’s no telling where we will land. It could be far from any civilization or city that would have a docking port. And then we would have to make it to a ship without being attacked or harmed by the native species of the planet… and successfully steal said ship.
There are far too many things that can go wrong between our landing and the point at which we would acquire a new transport, and I know from experience that when there are that many variables, things rarely end well.
But I don’t tell Harper this, because it’s our only hope. My jaw tightens as I think of it. I won’t let her risk her life like that again. And I’d die to protect my Irisa.
Whatever happens, I’ll face it. But I won’t let any harm come to her, not ever again.
Her eyes search mine, and I can see her recognize the emotions passing over my face. She starts to push herself up, and I reach out to tell her no, to gently urge her to lie down again. But before I can, she’s crawling out of the healing pod, the sheet falling away.
She’s completely naked, every bit of her perfect, beautiful body bare to me, and I can’t help it. My cock hardens immediately, the loincloth helpless to disguise my arousal as I take in every inch of her body, devouring her with my gaze.
My reaction is instantaneous—and the force of it shocks me. No one has ever affected me the way she does.
“Harper, you have to rest,” I tell her firmly, trying to keep the desire out of my voice. “You need more sleep. The healing bots estimate…”
She climbs into my lap, her legs draping over the sides of mine as she reaches up to place a hand on either side of my face, drawing my mouth down to hers.
That’s all it takes.
I’m helpless against her touch. My entire world narrows down to the soft press of her lips against mine, her ass squirming against my hard cock, and the scent of her that infuses my nostrils.
My arm encircles her waist, my other hand sliding up the inside of her thigh. I should tell her no, should insist that she rests, but I can’t seem to form the words. Desire is racing through my veins, my heart pounding in my chest, and my soul crying out for hers.
We both need this.
From the way she’s moving against me, I can tell her body is aching for me in the same way that mine is for her.
My hand slides between her thighs, my fingers teasing her softly as she moans and whimpers against my lips, and when my thumb slides over her clit, her lips part as she gasps.
I slide my tongue into her mouth, brushing it against hers as she kisses me harder, her ass grinding against me now. I groan, almost desperate to be inside of her, to feel her wet, tight heat enveloping me. But I hold off, wanting to hear her moans of pleasure first. I love feeling her come, love bringing her to that edge and then taking her over it, love the sounds that she makes, the expression on her face, and the way her body moves.
I love her.
The thought shocks me, but I can’t ignore it.
It echoes through my mind, precise and clear, and I can’t shake it as I touch and caress her, her small noises vibrating against my lips when I slide two fingers inside of her. She’s soaked with desire, her thighs damp with it, and it only serves to make my cock harder than ever. It throbs against her ass as she writhes and moans, pushing her hips upward and grinding herself against my hand.
The sound of her pleasure nearly undoes me, but I keep going, moving my lips to her neck as I feel her tighten around my fingers, her ragged gasps telling me that she’s close.
I suck softly at the delicate skin on her neck, suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to mark her, to claim her as my own. My tongue drags along the soft flesh, and I feel her shudder underneath me, her whimpers turning to a desperate cry as my lips fasten on her throat.
Following a primal instinct, I suck hard, my fingers driving into her as my thumb rolls over her clit again and again, until at last I feel her body convulse, her back arching hard as she bucks against my hand. Her wild movements drag her core over my shaft until I think I might go mad from need.
“Fuck, Malav,” she breathes as another small tremor shakes her body. “How do you make me feel so good?”
Her lips curve in a sated smile as they find mine again, and I sip on her pleasure like it’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted. I waste no time lifting her gently, but instead of bringing her directly down on my thick length, I turning her in my lap so that her back is against my chest, her legs splayed open.
My cock is slick already from her rubbing against it, and the thought of the evidence of her desire already on me is enough to make it throb harder, aching for more.
I grasp my shaft and guide it into her, a hiss escaping my clenched teeth at the sensation of the sensitive, swollen tip sliding into her. The pleasure is almost overwhelming, almost too much, and my hips jerk upward of their own volition, sliding a few more inches of my length into her in one swift motion.
She gasps and cries out. “Malav! God, yes.”
Her head falls back against my shoulder, and the feel of her soft hair brushing over my chest sends another shiver of pleasure through me. I reach for her breast, cupping it in one hand as I move my hips again, arching them so that the rest of my cock slides into her. My full length is buried inside of her body when I reach between her legs and begin to gently toy with her clit.
The fingers of my other hand caress her stiff, hardened nipple, and her reaction is immediate. She grinds against me, her hips moving against my hand as she moans helplessly. Her back arches, driving her down onto my cock as I move my hips. I’m utterly engulfed by her. The position feels incredible, the access to her amazing, but I want something more.
I won’t stop until I’ve made her come, though.
My fingers move faster, sliding over her wet, swollen, heated flesh as she moans and gasps breathlessly. I thrust up into her again and again, my hands relentless on her body. Then I bend my head and slide my tongue over the shell of her ear, delighting in the quiver that passes through her.
When she comes, her entire body convulses, and I feel all of it—her back arching and pushing her perfect, soft breast into my hand, her hips bucking as my fingers fly over her clit, her head on my shoulder as she moans and gasps.
Her wet, velvet heat grasps my cock, clenc
hing me inside of her with a force that nearly makes me come on the spot.
But I want this to last. I still want more.
The moment I feel the orgasm pass, I grasp her waist again, lifting her off my cock and turning her around.
She whimpers the second she feels me leave her body, and I groan too. The self-control it takes to unsheathe myself from her is almost more than I possess. My cock, red and angry, throbs as I turn her in my lap and have her straddle me, my hands hard on her hips as I lower her onto me again.
Her eyes go wide as I slide into her, and I can feel her trembling from the sensation. I grip her ass as she settles onto my lap once, reveling in the feel of the perfect roundness in my hands.
But carnal pleasure isn’t all that I’m after.
I want her.
Body, mind, and soul.
The knowledge of my love for her is as overwhelming as the intense pleasure I feel with every shift of my body inside of hers, and I wrap my arms around her, bringing her close to me as I kiss her.
My lips brush softly against hers as I begin to rock gently.
This time, the climb to the top is slow and gradual. I slide my hands over her back and waist, then up to the curve of her breasts, taking time to savor every inch of her. Running my fingers through her silky hair, I kiss her again and again.
Pleasure is building inside me, unstoppable this time, but I hold off for as long as I can.
I want her to come again, to hurtle over that cliff with me.
I want to feel her shudder against me as we fall apart together.
Her eyes open briefly as she pulls away from the kiss, and her gaze locks with mine as I shift within her and she gasps softly. She might not be ready to say it—but I can see it reflected there, the same emotion that’s coursing through me.
I’ve never felt so connected to anyone; the intimacy of our joined bodies is almost overwhelming as she rocks against me.