Nick froze, his arms still encircling his mate.

The terrible sound issued from Tesla’s enclosure again.

Raina pulled back and held the pod out between them.

The light in the amber fluid was going dim.

Inside, the baby thrashed his chubby limbs. His home was cooling, the comforting warm light receding. He was unhappy.

“The backup battery must have been no good,” Raina said. “What do we do?”

“Where are your tools?” Nick asked.

She handed him the pod.

It was so unexpectedly heavy he nearly dropped it. He had forgotten that gravity had surged back to normal. Maybe his muscles had weakened in the days of low gravity.

“Gravity is double normal,” Raina said, as if reading his thoughts. “I was trying to adjust it when I first met you, and I got distracted.”

Nick tucked that information away, hoping to tease her with it if they ever got out of this mess.

“Easy, son,” he crooned to the grimacing baby in the pod.

Raina ran the edge of a screwdriver against the seam of the pod.

“Looks like we’re supposed to push on the top and then twist,” she said. “Like a childproof container.”

“Like what?” Nick asked.

“Never mind,” she said. “Just go ahead and push.”

He pushed with all his might, but it wouldn’t budge.

“The composite must have broken down over time, stasis pods are not designed to be in use for centuries,” Raina mused.

“We have to get him out,” Nick demanded, not caring about the desperate fury in his voice.

“I wonder,” Raina said thoughtfully, but did not say what she wondered.

She dug around in her holster and pulled out a metal tool with a slide button.

When she slid the button a cruel-looking blade was exposed on the end.

“Raina, what is that?” Nick asked.

“Hold him still,” she commanded.

He obeyed, eyes locked on the glittering blade.

She applied it to the seam where the glass viewing area of the pod met the composite frame.

Nick fought the urge to scream.

She could hurt herself. She could hurt the baby…

But he did not really believe that his mate would hurt the baby. The serious set of her mouth told him she would obliterate planets to save him if need be.

Inside the pod, Tesla’s agitated movements were slowing.

Fear gripped Nick’s throat like a murderer’s hand. His child was losing the will to survive. He was running out of oxygen.

Raina calmly slid the tool in an arc from one side of the glass down to the bottom and back up the other side.

The glass squealed under the blade.

She repeated the motion.

This time the blade found friction on the once-scratched surface.

She traced the line again and again.

“When this comes loose, we’re going to want to get him out of there as quickly as possible,” she said calmly. “The fluid is going to leak out, but we want him out before it’s empty.”

“We’ll get him out,” Nick said over the lump in his throat.

Tesla had gone still and pale inside the pod. His tiny fists had relaxed, and his rose bud lips were slightly open.

Raina drew the half circle one last time.

“Now,” she said.

Liquid spilled over the edges of the cut.

The alert sound ceased.

Nick squeezed the pod as Raina grabbed the exposed glass and popped it out of place.

Before he had time to question what he was doing, Nick scooped Tesla up from the pod and pulled him close to his chest.

The baby was frighteningly cold to the touch. But after a moment Nick could feel him warming against his bare chest. The sensation of the baby’s soft skin against his was extremely gratifying, even as he fretted about his safety.

Instinct brought Nick’s big hand up to rub circles between the tiny shoulder blades.

Tesla twitched slightly and then coughed against Nick’s shoulder.

“Tesla,” Raina moaned in relief.

Nick gazed down at the little fellow.

His eyes were blue, like Nick’s.

He looked over at his new mother and yawned luxuriantly, as if his close call with death had been a day at the beach.

Raina smiled at him through her tears.

“Are you ready to see your mom?” Nick asked the boy.

Raina held out her arms and Nick handed Tesla to her gently.

“You’re amazing,” she told the baby. “We love you so much. We will never let you go.”

Despite the enhanced gravity, Nick felt as if a physical weight had been lifted from him.

“The gravity,” Raina said, looking up at him in alarm.

Or maybe that feeling wasn’t just relief after all.

The gravity on the ship must have gone back to normal.

Which could only mean one thing.

“Someone else is on this ship,” she whispered, echoing his own thoughts, terror in her eyes as she instinctively held the baby closer.

Suddenly he heard footsteps in the hallway, coming closer.

The DNA lock beeped, and the door swung open with a hiss.

Nick moved to shield his family. He didn’t know how much fight he had left in him, but he was willing to do whatever he could to keep them safe.