The shrill whistle signaled the end of shift sooner than expected.

“I don’t have enough.” Ava’s gaze was on the small pile at her feet.

“You’re right.” Valdus tried for teasing, hoping to ease her nerves. He couldn’t stop replaying how she’d linked her palm with his when he’d been taking on Draeke, her eyes full of understanding. As if she got what he was about, the weight of his burden, and respected him anyway.

It was a gift. One he never expected. One he hadn’t even realized he craved.

Now, all he wanted was to earn that look again.

Which was why the sudden tightening of her shoulders had his gut clenching. Didn’t she know he was teasing?

Sliding his hand beneath her chin, he lifted her gaze to his. “It’s fine. You did great. I’ll give you the rest of what you need when we get closer to the weigh station,” he explained. “No point in piling more on now for you to drag.”

A wealth of emotions played across her face. The clear relief pricked at him.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t make sure you had enough?” Dropping his hand from her soft skin, he lashed his makeshift rope of tattered old fabric through the sled, his voice gruffer than intended. “I told you I’d do whatever it takes. I meant it.”

“Thank you. I…I know it on some level, but…” Her gaze flickered across the corridor where Draeke stood, “nothing down here feels certain and…I’ve been on my own a long time.”

“Not anymore.”

The slight loosening of her shoulders pleased him.

“What about for the serum?” Accepting the makeshift rope from him, she did her best to lash it to the sled just as he had. “Do we have enough for that, too?”

“We’ll be fine.”

She laid her hand on top of his. “Thank you. Really.”

Raw lust and something far softer slammed through him without warning. He wondered if she even recognized that she no longer flinched from his touch or avoided his gaze.

And he wished with every fiber of his black heart that he could simply wade across the quarry to Draeke, bury his ax in the bastard’s chest, and take the soldier for her. Give her everything she wanted. Whisk her away from all this and forget everything but the pleasure that swirled between them when she was in his arms.

But reality was a different beast altogether.

So, instead, he covered her hand with his and savored the softness of her skin in the here and now. “You’re welcome.”

“You guys coming? Or just planning to stare into each other’s eyes until the others kill us?” Griffin’s green eyes flashed with amusement.

“Shut it, soldier.” He turned back to her. “Stay close. You’ve done good and we’re close now to seeing the plan through. We’ve got this.”

She drew a shaky breath. Forced a smile. “There’s no way you’re getting rid of me now.”

The way the stupid organ in his chest slammed against his ribs was almost embarrassing.

The trip to the measuring stations lasted forever, his certainty that neither Hollisworth nor his lackey Draeke had given up, growing with every step.

He ended up dragging her sled along with his own. Not that she didn’t try to stop him, but the tug-of-war didn’t last long. She was too slow to let her have even that small victory.

It was safest to move across the main space and away from Draeke as quickly as possible.

Just a few more rotations, intervals, metrals of luck… That was all he needed.

When things came unhinged, it happened fast.

One metral, he was standing there, ticking off the bodies in front of him and Ava at the weigh station, keeping any eye out for any potential ambushes, calculating just how much ore would have to be redistributed to ensure everyone met quota when another argument erupted a few rows down the line.

“Ryker. Griffin. Bain. Stay on the alert.” The timing couldn’t be worse. She was almost up. “Ava?”

Her head snapped up. “Yes?”

The return of fear in her eyes gutted him. “We’re next. Remember, you have to stand by the scale by yourself for the drone to read your tracker.”

“But if I can’t shield you, Hollisworth will activate your trackers.”

“There isn’t enough time. You’ll be done with the weigh-in and able to spring to our rescue before his trackers can do their worst.”

“Are you sure?”

No. He urged her forward. “There’s no other choice. Anyone standing in the vicinity of the ore when transferred will be lasered.”

“Wait.” She dug in her heels. Tilted her head upward toward the drones circling nearby. “Don’t think I won’t do it, husband,” she shouted. “Try to take them out while we’re apart and I’ll launch myself to wherever they are. Even if it means death. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

The blinking lights of the droid were her only answer.

But Valdus knew she’d been heard.

Her courage awed him all over again.

He could only pray Hollisworth wanted her alive to punish more than he wanted her dead. Otherwise, she was heading to her execution—and he, the man who’d vowed to be her protector, wouldn’t be able to do more than watch.

“Let’s get this over with.” He gestured toward the worn, packed clay where countless miners had stood before—many for the last time. “Stand here.”

Sliding the sleds forward, he lifted hers and dumped all the ore down the chute. Then, he took his load and added more. After two years, he knew exactly how much ore was needed to safely reach quota.

When he’d reached that point, he dumped a little more. Just to be sure.

He didn’t ask himself why. Or look back at Ryker. He knew he wouldn’t like the look on his second’s face.

“Is that it?” Her breathing sped up as the green light from the drone passed over the scale and then her body. “Because the burn is still there.”

Rage bubbled within. Not at her. But at this place. At his helplessness in the face of her fear and danger.

“It’s not over yet.” He shuffled back a few quick steps, motioning her back in place when she tried to follow. “Stay there.” He hadn’t gone far. Just two arm lengths. But it felt like too much. “The drone is recording your quota. You’ll know when it’s over, trust me.”

He knew he’d given her enough ore and still…when the beep sounded and the robotic voice confirmed she’d met quota, faster than he’d ever seen it work before, he almost sank to his knees.

She was safe.

The chute snapped shut, the roar of incineration turning the ore to liquid for transport.

“You’re good now.” He beckoned her forward, shouting to be heard.

The shrieks behind had become almost deafening, signaling another fight, but he hadn’t taken his eyes off her for an instant. He knew his teammates would take care of whatever was brewing. His sole focus needed to be on her.

And the way she hurried to his side without hesitation, her hand outstretched, made him feel twenty feet tall.

“Your turn.” Her gaze dropped to the pile of ore left on his sled. The majority of his men had already turned theirs in. “You have enough, right?” A worried V formed between her delicate eyebrows.

“I’ll be fine.” He pointed to the sled piled with the extra ore. “That’s what we need to worry about now. Keeping it safe.”

Only an arm’s length away, Ryker, Griffin, and Bain all stood at the ready around it, weapons out and up.

“I’ll be back in a heartbeat,” he continued. “Once I’ve satisfied quota and the tracker disengages, we’ll create a diversion and slip out with the extra ore before Hollisworth or the droids know what we’ve done. We’ve done it plenty before.”

“You don’t think he’ll try anything while you’re trapped by the light?”

“After the speech you gave?” He squelched any of his own lingering doubt. “No way. You’ve already proven you’re not afraid to call his bluff.”

Fiery emerald eyes met his. “I meant every word.”

Her determination bolstered his own. “Go to them.” He gestured to his men. “But if something happens, take the ore and get out. Don’t wait for me. Just run. Make the serum and give it to Ryker.”

Her lips flat-lined. “No, that’s—”

“The way it has to be. You can’t afford pity down here, remember?” He forced his feet forward.

Every nanosegment, every heartbeat, every breath under the green scan aging him twenty lunar rotations.

He kept his gaze locked with hers the whole time, his ax raised, and, fool or not, took some kind of crazy sick comfort from the way she watched him back. As if she cared.

Which was stupid. Because, of course, she cared. Without him, she was likely worried about what Ryker would do.

But that wasn’t the kind of caring he wanted from her.

And the more he realized exactly what he wanted from her, the more he understood how badly he’d screwed himself.

Mouth dry, nerves on edge, Ava shifted from foot to foot.

It was strange and terrible watching Valdus, the green light sweeping over his body, knowing she could do nothing—absolutely nothing—if it decided he hadn’t met quota.

He was so powerful, so strong and vibrant and vital, and yet in this moment, he was as helpless as the rest of them.

The only comforting thought was that Hollisworth was equally powerless, her threat to join her ex-captor should her husband try anything keeping him leashed.

“If you take my ore, they’ll kill me.” Shouting a few paces down the line drew her attention.

She turned in time to see a small man leap forward, arms raised to attack, only to be swatted back by another, larger man.

“You can die quick with incineration—or I can make it painful.” The sickening crack of bone echoed through the cavern.

Ryker shifted closer. Griffin and Bain, too.

She wrapped her palm tighter around the sled rope holding their extra ore.

Janus help her, there were inmates all around who could use what she’d mined to survive, but without it she, Valdus and his men, and even Pratt—if she could rescue him in time—would be doomed.

She pressed her hand to her stomach, bile rising.

“Hey, breeder.” A booming voice rang out from far too close. “Want to reconsider your earlier stance? Maybe save a man’s life? You come to me and I’ll give him the ore he needs to meet quota. Otherwise…”

Over Ryker’s wide shoulder she saw Draeke. Then, Pratt.

Her breathing hitched.

Her colleague was again on his knees beside the monster, a choking leash wrapped tight around his throat, his ragged Council uniform smeared with blood and dirt. But it was the vacant, broken look in his eyes that stabbed the deepest. He wasn’t even fighting the leash.

She knew that look. Knew that horror.

“Don’t even think it.” Ryker’s growl snapped across her skin like a lash. “You move and Valdus will leave the weigh-in to get to you and the tracker will kill him. You’ll kill him.”

“I know that,” she snarled back, her feet staying where they were. But inside, her soul screamed.

She couldn’t do nothing while her colleague died. But if she did as the monster wanted, not only Valdus but all his men would die.

She willed her colleague to look up at her. To give her some kind of guidance.

But his eyes remained glued to the ground, his shoulders slumped.

Her gaze flickered back to Valdus. He was staring at her. Hard. Pain, grief, and compassion in his gaze. Don’t look, he mouthed.

The green light had swept to his feet and was now moving back up. So close to setting him free.

There had to be a way to save them both.

“No?” Draeke’s taunt claimed her attention once more. “You think you’re too good to trade places with this man, breeder? I’ll break you of that notion within ten heartbeats.”

She raised her ax higher. Ignored his threat. Her fate the least of her worries right now. “Let…let me think.” She stalled for time, her mind scrambling.

Another swell in the nearby crowd pushed her and the other men farther from where they’d been. Farther from Valdus.

She wrapped her knuckles around the harness linked to the metal sled that held the extra ore and pulled it closer to her side.

Nothing was more important than keeping it safe.

“You’re delaying on purpose.” Draeke’s tone sharpened. “Plan B it is. One hundred kitloms to the one who brings me the woman unharmed.”

Chaos erupted.