Heather limped as she struggled to keep up with the group of fleeing women. When the cyborg’s fist had made contact with her thigh, she’d barely noticed it, she’d been so pumped up on adrenaline. Now that had gone, the throbbing ache was so bad she could barely walk. Her leg was numb and heavy as she hobbled along.

Ivy remained by her side, despite the fact they were being left behind by the others. “Put your arm around my shoulder. You don’t need to play the hero with me.”

Heather willingly wrapped an arm around Ivy and let her take some of her weight. “Thanks for helping me. It’s nice of you.”

“If you ever tell me I’m nice again, I’ll make you disappear.”

Heather chuckled. “It will be our secret.” Ivy had surprised her by sticking by her side. Maybe she wasn’t as poisonous as everyone made her out to be.

“Can you keep walking?”

“I’ll hop if I have to, but I’m not giving up. I need to find Loka.” She looked over her shoulder. “We should return to the cells. He might be in one.”

“If he’s there, he won’t want you risking yourself by breaking him out.”

“He was hurt. I need to make sure he’s okay.”

“He’s a big, bad alien with horns and claws. He’ll know how to take care of himself.”

Heather reluctantly agreed.

“We need to get you fixed up first,” Ivy said. “You need to look your best for the next time you see him. After all, aren’t you going to tell him how badly you want to jump his alien bones? Or should I say boner? I must have missed the study session on Picar anatomy. Is he packing fun down below?”

Heather felt lightheaded as they hurried along. She needed Loka to know she wanted to be with him. But she had little experience declaring her love to anyone. She’d only ever told Ernie she loved him.

What she felt for Loka was real, serious, and scary. If he rejected her, she wasn’t sure what she’d do.

“Everything okay in there?” Ivy tapped the side of Heather’s head. “Don’t flake out on me, nerd girl.”

“I won’t. And I’m not a nerd.”

“You like the A-Team.”

“How do you know that?”

“You’re always talking about them. Score one for being a nerd.”

“It’s classic, retro TV. I bet you secretly love the A-Team.”

“Nope.”

“Air Wolf?”

“No idea what that is.”

“Street Hawk?”

“Now you’re making up dumb sounding programs.”

“All real and not geeky. Maybe you can watch the re-runs some time.”

“Nope.”

Heather shook her head. Ivy was too cool for her. “I was thinking about what to say to Loka. How can I convince him to be with me?”

“He won’t need any convincing. He’ll drop to his knees and thank the stars you finally noticed him.”

“I notice him.”

“In the way he wants you to. That alien is so lovesick it’s pathetic.”

“Why hasn’t he done anything about it if he’s so into me?”

“He has. I’ve kicked several bits of coal when I’ve been to the office. I’ve got a mark on my favorite designer boots from a piece of Loka’s stupid coal.”

“It’s friendship coal.”

“Wow! Dumb and nerdy. How do the guys resist you?”

Heather glared at Ivy. “I’m not dumb. I’ve been busy with work. Loka is a distraction.”

“That’s a pathetic excuse. It’s only taken a near death experience and an invasion by an alien race to make you realize what you could miss out on.” Ivy stopped by Heather’s quarters. “For a little thing, you weigh a ton. Let’s hole up in here. I can’t keep up with the group, and we need to sort out your leg.”

Heather nodded. As the door slid open, she saw the mess she’d left behind when fighting the cyborgs alongside Loka.

Ivy looked around. “Maid’s year off?”

“No. Just a little encounter with our unfriendly cyborgs.” Heather let out a relieved sigh as she sank down on the couch, her throbbing leg feeling like it was on fire.

“Where do you keep your medical kit?”

“In the bathroom. The cabinet under the sink.”

“Back in a minute.” Ivy hurried out of the room, pushing aside damaged furniture as she did so.

Heather closed her eyes for a second. This was all such a mess. Right now, the space station didn’t seem so important. Finding Loka did. Her eyes opened, and she looked at the picture of her dream space pad sitting next to the couch. If she wanted Loka, she needed to let that go. It had been a lovely dream, the thought of owning her own home in space. If she focused on that, it would mean excluding Loka from her life.

The thought made her heart ache worse than her thigh. She couldn’t lose him. No matter what it took, she’d persuade him they needed to be together. His work was important to him, but Heather wouldn’t stop him from doing that. Even if they had to wait a few years, she was willing to do that.

For so long, all Heather had wanted was her dream home. Now, all she could think about was Loka and his cute gifts of coal and those amazing horns that jutted proudly from his head. She loved the way he would stroke them when he was puzzling through something. And his rough awkwardness, and how he got tongue-tied when she got too close to him.

Heather loved everything about Loka. She loved the fact he wasn’t a smooth-talking, laser-blasting warrior. But he was her warrior. He was passionate and smart and stunning. She could think of nothing else she wanted more.

Heather had just struggled back to her feet, intent on finding Loka, when Ivy returned.

“Hold it right there.” She pushed Heather back onto the couch. “You’re going nowhere.”

“I need to find Loka.”

“You’ll be able to find him with both legs working. Pants off. Let’s see the damage.”

Gritting her teeth, Heather unzipped her jumpsuit and slid her pant leg down. A fist-shaped mark glowed on her flesh.

“That’s got to smart.” Ivy’s bottom lip jutted out. “It whacked you good.”

“I know that now. I didn’t realize how hard the cyborg had hit me.”

“You’re lucky he didn’t break a bone.” Ivy peeled open numbing gel and wiped it over the inflamed flesh.

It took a few seconds to activate, but suddenly, Heather’s leg went cold before the throbbing eased. “That feels better.”

“It’s a temporary fix,” Ivy said. “You need to rest.”

“I can’t rest.”

Ivy shook her head. “I know. You have a gorgeous alien to go and claim.”

Heather let out a long, slow breath. She needed to be rational. As much as she wanted to find Loka, there was a huge problem she’d ignored. “I do. But I’ll be able to do that better by fixing the station. Without comms, we’re isolated.”

“What’s the plan?”

“We need to dig out the alien code that’s messing with the station. Until we do that, everything else will be just like my numb thigh, a temporary fix.”

“That does sound like a plan,” Ivy said. “I’m worried. You said the word we. You want me involved?”

“I need all the help I can get.”

“Can you handle this code?”

Heather wasn’t sure, but she was willing to give it a go. “If we delete the code, it might be enough to stop the attack.”

“There you go. Score two for being a nerd. Only nerds love to code.”

“Fine. I’m a nerd. I’m sure it’s intelligent coding.” Heather sat up in her seat. “It mutates just like a virus.”

“Score three for nerd alert.”

“Ivy!”

Ivy raised her hands. “I’m proving a point. How do you get rid of intelligent coding?”

“We feed it something it doesn’t like. Something that harms it. If it works like a virus, that could be the answer.”

“We slam the code with antibiotics?”

“Now who’s being a nerd?” Heather nodded. “That could work.”

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go deal with this alien scum sucking code and get our space station back.”