Certainly, Haze’s drink had been an adventure. But the re-hydrated sludge from the ship’s stores? Not all that much better, to be honest. After a couple bites, she gave up and heated some of Molly’s food. The girl really was a wonder.

Perhaps Vi would have to do some kitchen duty after all. Not because she was a woman, but because she was very, very, very grateful. No wonder they called Molly a vada… whatever… Chef… whatever.

Haze glanced over as she leaned back in her chair.

“Ready?” Haze asked her.

At her nod, Haze piled his plate onto hers and disappeared with them through the kitchen doors. He returned with a wolf-like grin on his face. “Follow me,” he said, cocking his finger at her.

She felt a tingle of nerves as they walked down the short set of stairs to the bottom of The Pit. An image of the man flying through the air flitted through her mind. What exactly was she getting into?

He handed her one of the smaller sticks in the set and walked her through the moves.

After a few minutes, Vi realized she was out of breath but feeling invigorated from the challenge.

Haze was an even better teacher at fighting than he was at cards. He seemed to enjoy sparring with her. He faked her out a few times – of course, very easily. She always ended up swooped around with a strong arm wrapped around her and his stick tapping her shoulder. She started to feel a zing each time it happened. Being pressed against his hard body was… She felt like she wanted to melt.

She fell hard against him to try and throw him off balance, somehow trick him. It was as he fell back in a far too-controlled movement – taking her with him – that she quickly realized she hadn’t tricked him at all. He was still just playing with her.

He rolled over quick on his side, putting one hand down by her head, so he hovered over her. Vi caught her breath.

“Well, you got me here,” Haze said. “Now what do you want to do with me?” His face hovered inches from her own.

A flash of lightning zipped through Vi’s belly.

His face started coming toward hers. She held her breath and closed her eyes. As his lips touched hers, she felt the softness press against her own lips, the tentative way he kissed her. She felt the hunger fill her and draw her deeper into his kiss. He touched her shoulder lightly and tenderly. He drew back to watch her. Vi reached up to touch his face. He moved his face so that he kissed her palm, his eyes never leaving her face.

Vi pulled him in to kiss her again, and his hand went around her head, lifting her toward him.

She pulled back, taking a deep, shuddering breath. “Something tells me you’ve done that before.”

“Not in a long time, and only just to play at it. There’s never been a girl I could get serious with, before you.”

That’s when Vi remembered the curse. Of course, he couldn’t have dated when he was younger, not really. Get hot and heavy some evening, take things too far, and his girlfriend’s dying because she wasn’t compatible with him. The Suhlik had screwed the Mahdfel royally.

“That must have been so hard, growing up like that.” She reached up, putting a hand on his chest, holding him away. “I can’t even imagine. How old are you now?”

“I am thirteen cycles. I’m not sure how old that is in your way of counting. Oz would know.”

“Well, you’re definitely not thirteen. I guess it doesn’t matter. I think you’re about my age, and I’m twenty-three.”

“Let us kiss again,” he requested with a smile. “Worry later.”

Haze bent down, and his lips danced over her mouth, warming her belly. Her thoughts flitted away as they kissed.

She pushed him away, giggling. “You’re trouble,” she said.

“Trouble?” he asked, confused, probably taking her words literally. “We are mates.”

“True. It makes no sense. You’re stuck with me. I can’t quite wrap my head around this whole thing.” She shook her head.

“I shall prove myself worthy to you. Let us return to your cabin. I will bring you much pleasure.” His voice dropped as he said it, and her stomach whooshed in anticipation.

Vi’s mouth dropped open, and she struggled to think of a response. She tapped him on the chest. “Oh, my. Up, Haze.”

He spun up in a graceful, agile movement and pulled her to stand beside him. His hand rested on the small of her back, holding her close. He was so masculine and solid. Warmth spun out through her body, making her dizzy.

“Okay, big boy. Let me go,” she managed.

He released her slowly and took a step back, and it made her feel like she could think again.

She’d jumped Rafe’s bones after twenty-four hours and a misadventure with a minibar his friends had stolen from a hotel. Those guys had not been big thinkers.

But she was going to be with this Haze guy for a lot longer. Did she really want another Rafe on her hands? How exactly did she date her own mate, anyway?

She gazed up at Haze and contemplated jumping into his arms anyway – to heck with all this stupid logic – when the ship shuddered and everything went dark. Red lights flashed, and a siren called out a warning.

Haze froze. “Something’s happened.” He clicked his wristband and spoke into it. “Everything okay up there?”

“Oz is headed to engineering. Looks like we got hit by something.”

“Something as in Suhlik or…?”

“We don’t think so.”

Vi felt her heart immediately unfreeze. It’d been her first thought too. The Suhlik were the ones who had enslaved the Mahdfel and altered them. They were the ones who had tried to enslave Earth, too, until the Mahdfel had come to rescue them. The thought of them being anywhere in the vicinity filled her with fear.

“I’ll head, Captain, unless—” Haze offered.

“Yes, go. See whether Oz needs anything.”

A moment later, the lights came back up.

As Haze slid down the ladder to the crew deck, headed to the back of the ship, and slid down the ladder to Engineering, Vi did her best to keep up.

She’d arrived through the portal in a small room off engineering, but she’d been too out of sorts to take much in before. There were machines everywhere; on one side, a floor-to-ceiling wall of them. Disconcertingly, there were a lot of red flashing lights going off everywhere.

Oz knelt by one of the machines, pulling off data. He was scrutinizing something. He glanced up. “Haze, it’s not good.” He shook his head. “The warp drive’s busted. I don’t see how we can fix it either, not with the parts I have on hand.”

“Parts?”

“Yes. An E3 Regulator, a Warynx Collector and a Farbide Husk. They’re completely fried. Even with those parts, we’ll be limping back to Barvah station until I can get the replacement Evan fuses that I have there.”

Haze grimaced. “How far’d we make it before we were hit?”

Oz returned to studying his data readings. “Pretty much there.”

“So-” Haze’s face lightened. “Latora - that’s what you’re saying. We’re in range?”

Oz shook his head. “Maybe. Maybe not.” He tapped his chin with a finger as he concentrated. “I can probably get you a boost on one shuttle by stealing parts from the other. It’ll get you there, but without a complete charge for the shuttle, you won’t be able to get back. I can manage to re-route things on Xeo, get us a slow limp to the settlement too, but it’ll take weeks. Maybe a month. We’ll survive, but…”

“Oh my god,” Vi broke in, her hand going to her mouth in shock. “Are you kidding?”

Oz glanced over and shook his head. “I know you only just got here.”

“Wait, why can’t you use the portal? It brought me here. Can’t you just portal to get the parts you need?”

“The warp core and the portal are linked together. They both use the E3 Regulator and Warynx Collector to traverse space in different ways, which allows both our warp drive and portal to work. Ordinarily, on a larger ship the systems would be separated, but in a ship our size, we have parts performing double duty.”

Haze nodded. “Okay, I’ll need to change. I’ll need one of you.” He glanced at Vi, as though taking stock. “Probably you. Molly won’t hold up down there. I think I can prep something in your size. Oz, you can take care of the shuttle prep?”

“Yes.” Oz stood up, grabbed a toolbox, and moved past the ladder and through some doors.

Haze searched Vi's face, seeming to size up her reaction. “Let’s go tell the captain the fun news.”