I rushed to Loree’s room. When I had checked on her after the mission, she'd sworn she was fine, just wanted to rest after talking for so long.

I shouldn't have believed her. She lay propped up in bed, leaning against Xander slightly. Her face was pale, waxy, and she hadn't bothered to tie her hair back.

He scowled at me as I approached the bed.

“She needs another injection, something to fix her back up. Why aren’t you doing anything?" he demanded.

Oh. This was a conversation I wasn't looking forward to. I looked at Loree again, at his arm curled protectively over her shoulders.

And maybe I wasn't the one to have it.

“You promised,” I chided as I pulled the vials we’d kept in reserve off the shelf. I grabbed the injector, put it all into the bag I still wore.

She shrugged. Not much of one, just a millimeter of movement from her shoulders, but it was clear.

"Figured it could wait till after the mission. Wanted to do that at least." Ronan stood at the door looking between the two of us, face grave.

I stopped at Loree’s bedside, held her hand. I didn't check her pulse, look for vitals. We’d passed that point. “I'll meet you down there.” Squeezed her fingers. “And you need to have a talk with someone.”

I left the stateroom, wrapping myself in ice and steel, convinced I would shatter with every step.

Ronan followed me without asking. And I was grateful. He couldn't help. Not now. But afterwards I’d need him, need his strength. I wanted to sleep, to cry or scream. But none of those was an option.

When we reached the compartment that held the status chambers his brothers had been trapped in, I went straight to the last one in the line.

By that point, I'd figured the operations pretty well. At least some of it. Hopefully enough.

I hit the buttons to start filling it up.

"Nadira, what are you doing?"

My eyes fell closed as I leaned against the machine. I still didn’t know everything about how it worked. This could go horribly wrong. Loree and I had discussed it. She’d been the one to bring it up, to insist, regardless of the risks.

Even a small chance of survival was better than none. And that’s what she had. At this point, she’d gone without treatment for so long, even discovering a hidden cache of her medicine wouldn’t save her.

“Once upon a time, years ago, hours ago, I promised you we’d find a way to take these with us when we escaped. I need the same promise from you now.”

Ronan slipped his arms around me, pulled me back into the comfort of his chest.

“She’s dying. And I can’t do anything. Certainly not here, maybe not anywhere.”

The beep of the chamber recalled my attention. I checked it over. It looked right. Maybe. “I’m buying her time.”

“Whatever you need. Whatever she needs. You’re a part of the Pack now, both of you.”

Xander strode in, Loree, wrapped in blankets from the bed, cradled in his arms.

“She insisted we come down, but you’re not putting her in that thing.”

“Do you want her to die?” I snapped.

“How do you know you’re not killing her?”

“Stop it.” The frailty in her voice shattered me. I’d have let her hit me with a damn rock, if I thought she still had the strength to throw it.

“Xander, it’s my choice.”

“But you could die in there.” Pain braided with rage in his words.

“That’s possible.” Tears welled in her eyes. “But it’s certain that I’m dying out here.”

“That’s it. You’re upsetting my patient.”

I forced myself to reach for her. He stepped away, until her voice cut through the air.

“This isn’t your choice, Xander. It’s mine.”

“This is what you want?”

“No, but it’s what has to be done.”

A shudder ran across his shoulders and his jaw tightened. “You don’t know what it’s like…”

She put her hand over his mouth.

“Don’t tell me. I don’t need to be scared any more than I already am. I need to live.”

“I would do anything for you.”

“I know. And I’m asking you to let me rest.”

He walked to the side of the tank, and I helped unwind the blankets from her legs.

“Hold her while I put her under.”

He nodded, staring at her head tucked into his chest.

“The system is automatic, but you’ll have to breathe the gel. It’s not going to be pleasant.” I warned her.

“What else is new?”

I hit her with a round of muscle relaxants, pain-killers, and anything else I thought would make the transition easier.

Soon I was sure the drugs had reached their peak. “Ready?”

She nodded limply.

Xander gently lowered her until she floated on top of the blue gel. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

She cracked her eyelids open, gave him the last of her smiles. “Is that a promise or a threat?”

“Do it, alpha bitch. Don’t let those guys bully you, okay?”

My throat stuck, and I had to force the words out. “Not a chance. See you in a bit.”

One button to close the lid on her.

One button to continue filling the tank.

And nothing to stop my tears as I watched.

Her body fought to breathe, struggled and convulsed as the gel filled her throat, her lungs.

“Let her out!” Xander demanded. “It’s not working!”

He dodged for the control panel, but Ronan held him fast from behind. “Don’t be an idiot.”

You wouldn’t have known Xander was aware of anyone in the room other than Loree, and, as her struggles subsided, he stopped fighting Ronan, defeated.

“I’m done. Let me go.”

I moved to the other side of the tank, one eye on the two of them, while I used the handheld monitor from medbay to check her vitals.

My breath caught as I couldn’t get a reading at all. Slowly, I adjusted for the gel, for the housing of the tank.

“She’s stable.”

“Get out,” Xander growled.

Ronan snarled, ready to defend me, his authority, something.

It didn’t matter.

“We will.” I took Ronan’s hand, more than ready to go. “But we’ll be back for her when it’s time to get off this damn ship. And, someday, when we’ve found someone who can cure her, I’ll wake her up. So try not to hate me too much, okay?”

The trip to the secure area took a lifetime.

“He didn’t mean it,” Ronan said, after we finally got back to our quarters. “He’s just upset.”

“He did. I don’t blame him. Right now, I hate me a little, too.”

* * *

Ronan let me wallow in my misery for a day, but, when Quinn requested another all-hands briefing, he dragged me out to the makeshift conference room.

The single chair placed by me, alone with the brothers, was another stabbing reminder that Loree was gone.

For now, I told myself. Just for now.

“What’s going on? Do you have navigational control of the ship restored?” Ronan asked.

Quinn looked exhausted. “That’s the thing. Even with the blocker in place and the tentacles cut, the destination is locked into the ship’s system. The blocker keeps any new commands from coming in, but I can’t get to the navigation system itself.”

He leaned his head back against the wall, and I had the urge to offer him my chair.

“Maybe Loree could do it, but right now, the only way to override the programmed destination is from the bridge.”

The words were a kick in the gut. “After all of that… It was for nothing?”

“Not at all.” A decisive shake of the head. “It’s a step forward. If we’d managed to get into the bridge before, it wouldn’t have mattered if we hadn’t taken out the aux control. And being sure that whoever is calling the shots from the compound can’t change the rules as we go is a nice step.”

“But we still can’t change where we’re going,” Aeden commented.

“Not yet. We’ve got two options. Wait to see if anyone responds to the distress call, or find their Darts. The Hunters brought us, brought those people on board in something. It’s got to still be here.”

“Sure you’d trust flying in one of their ships?” Ronan rumbled.

“With the code Loree left,” Quinn took a look at Xander’s stormy expression, then hurried on, “I think I can make sure if any of the systems are clean.”

Ronan scrubbed his beard. “Alright. Split up. Paired teams. We’ve got a lot to do. Geir, Xander, look for any shuttles, Darts. Whatever is here, find it. Scour this ship. Aeden, Hakon, work on the door to the bridge. Find tools, cut through if you can.”

He stopped, considered. “Quinn, Lorcan, monitor the comms records - see if there’s any further transmissions, clues to what the hell happened on this thing. We’re still too much in the dark.”

The pairs filtered out, and he called after them. “Stay in your teams. Assume we’re still infested with Hunters.”

“But, surely their heat signs would show on the monitor?” I protested, thoroughly sick of being trapped in the secure area.

“Loree thought they would. They did in their charging room, that’s for sure. But we can’t know that. We’re not making mistakes.”

No one had gotten far when Quinn called everyone back.

"Time for plan C, or D, hell, I don’t know. We just got hailed by a ship.”

“Play it,” Ronan ordered.

“Pyrian Star, this is the Norvier. We’re responding to your distress call. Please prepare the women and children for evacuation.”

“No,” Geir snapped.

“Well, considering we don’t have any children, and we’re not separating from either of our women, it’s not an option,” Ronan answered him. “But it sounds like you’ve got a more specific reason in mind.”

“Doc sent me on a retrieval mission a few years back.” His hands reached for the weapons at his hip, then stopped suddenly, as if they’d moved before he realized it. “If we don’t answer, they’ll claim the ship as derelict, force an airlock, and try to take it.”

“They’re slavers.”