Chapter 9

Ontarii was frantically trying to catch his breath without letting his companion know how shook up he was.

The female had almost fallen to her death, and if he hadn’t caught her, he’d be left alone in the cursed engine room with no idea how to get back to the bridge, let alone explain to her crew what had happened.

But worse than that, he would have had to watch the female be sliced apart by the wicked metal frames below them. Although she annoyed and frustrated him, and although they’d only known each other for less than an hour, the thought of watching the human female’s death was more unsettling than he could have predicted possible.

What was it about her that got under his skin? He wasn’t sure, but regardless, he wanted her alive and with him for the moment. He never would have thought that he would have found a human woman attractive, but something about Captain Brooklyn made his blood run hot. At first he’d thought it was anger. Now he wasn’t so sure.

“You’ve gone red.”

He blinked at her statement. “What?”

“Your skin.” She pointed to his arm. “It’s red.”

Ontarii looked down to where she was pointing. She was right. He’d turned a deep maroon color due to his anxiety.

“Never mind that right now. We need to get out of this chamber and back to the bridge.”

She nodded, then carefully turned herself and slid along the wall to the ventilation panel. Slowly removing the panel, she set it aside on the ledge and then climbed into the hole it revealed.

The opening was small, and Ontarii had to delicately maneuver himself into the gap. Once inside, there was very little room to move.

In front of him, the human captain was already crawling forward on her hands and knees. This afforded Ontarii with a prime view of her rounded bottom. He wasn’t expecting the reaction it invoked. A tendril of pleasure shot through his body and forced him to arousal.

You’re being ridiculous. This shit is dangerous and you’re a moment away from the chance of death, and all you can think about is the human female’s body. Focus!

He chalked his unexpected lust up to the adrenaline caused by her near-death experience. The major had seen many humans, in holographic form, and his body had never had a reaction like this one. He forced himself to shrug it off.

Ontarii started forward again, almost having to squeeze himself through the narrow confines of the ventilation shaft.

“It gets really tight at this juncture here,” she said, pushing around the corner.

Ontarii took a deep breath. He started bending, trying to shift his broad shoulders around the corner. It seemed to be working, or maybe not.

He was stuck, half his body around the curve, the other half trapped behind him.

“Wait,” he called to the captain who was already several feet down the shaft. “I’m stuck.”

She carefully maneuvered her body to turn around and headed back to him. She was very flexible, and the realization didn’t help the swelling that was currently taking place under his uniform.

“Can you move at all?” she asked, inspecting his position in the shaft.

Ontarii attempted to push himself forward, then backwards. Nothing happened. “No.”

“Well, I don’t have anything to grease you down with to make it easier,” she said, biting her lip as she studied the situation.

Her words, combined with the way she chewed her lip, made his heart beat harder in his chest. When she moved closer to try and tug on his left shoulder to free it, he had to force his breathing to settle.

Where she touched him, electric shivers pulsed through him at the contact.

“You’re wedged in there good,” she said, licking her lips in concentration.

“Stop licking your damn lips, female,” he growled and narrowed his eyes at her.

“What?” She locked onto his gaze with confusion in her eyes. “Stop bitching at me about my habits or get yourself unstuck.”

He ignored her and concentrated on not groaning at the sight of her pretty pink tongue. Why the hint of her little tongue seemed so erotic was beyond him, but the dull ache inside of him and the full erection between his thighs was proof of her power.

Get your head on straight.

He ignored the desire coursing through his veins and tried to hold his breath, pushing his shoulder a little here and there.

She moved closer and her scent rolled over him. It was fresh and clean, something he wasn’t quite familiar with, something entirely exotic and uniquely hers. Concentrate on freeing yourself and think inappropriate thoughts about the woman later!

There was a sudden banging noise, and the sound of an alarm echoed through the ventilation shaft.

“Oh no,” Captain Brooklyn said, her face turning white. “Oh no, no, no!”

“What is it?”

“That’s the propulsion alarm. Someone’s plotted a course and the engines are beginning to cycle. We have less than a minute to get out of this shaft or we’ll be burned faster than an ant under a magnifying glass.”

Ontarii wasn’t sure what an ant was, but he knew the chances of survival were terribly bad for them.

“We’ve got to get you out of here.” She pulled hard against his shoulder.

Ontarii pushed, trying to help her, but he didn’t move an inch.

“Leave me,” he said through gritted teeth. “Save yourself.”
“No one gets left behind on my crew,” she said, pulling with all of her might.

“I’m not a part of your crew. You owe me nothing. Now get out of here!”

The captain’s eyes narrowed and her face took on a stubborn cast.

“Think small thoughts and shift your hips to one side,” she told him, then proceeded to squeeze through the space between his legs and shoulder. Once behind him, she laid on the shaft floor and put her feet on his back.

“Okay, here we go.” She pushed with her legs. Her legs were apparently stronger than her arms, and when Ontarii added his force to hers, he finally popped free and slumped around the corner.

“Get moving,” she yelled from behind him, pressing against his backside to push him forward. He ignored the jolt of energy he felt at her touch and started crawling forward as fast as he could.

The alarm wailed behind them, setting his teeth on edge. He scrambled forward, moving as rapidly as he could, and yet it didn’t feel nearly fast enough.

“We’ve got twenty seconds at the most,” the human shouted from behind him.

“Almost there, I think,” he said, and reached the end of the shaft. There was a panel that resembled the one they’d taken off in the engine room and he immediately set about removing it.

Captain Brooklyn shuffled up beside him and helped. Her hands were shaking hard as she pushed against the corner of the panel. At last it popped free and the two of them jumped down from the shaft and into the cargo bay.

“We’ve got to get this panel back in place,” she said, holding it back into position and motioning him to help. “If the engine blasts off, the energy pulse will blow down the shaft and right out of this open panel. We’ll still be fried.”

They worked quickly, Ontarii making sure that the sections were back in place. The alarm cut off suddenly and there was a hard jolt against the ship.

“That’s the engine. Someone is trying to move the ship.”

Ontarii turned to face the captain.

Her expression was grim, her hands at her sides and curled into tight fists.

“Let’s go find out what’s happening.” He jerked his head to indicate that she should lead the way.

She began jogging across the cargo bay toward the exit, her long legs carrying her away from him quickly. The fact that she was in shape and able to keep up with him turned him on far more than he expected it to.

Ontarii followed, trying to keep a lid on his thoughts and failing miserably. He was furious that she’d risked her life to free him. She should have left him and taken care of herself.

But she’d stayed, and she’d saved his life. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

They rushed out of the cargo bay and into the adjoining corridor, Captain Brooklyn leading the way to the bridge. There was another loud sound, the screech of metal on metal, and then the feeling of movement.

“We’re heading somewhere.” She glanced back over her shoulder. “I wonder where.”

“We shouldn’t be heading anywhere,” he responded through clenched teeth. “There’s no way your ship could have broken the tractor lock by itself.”

Before she could answer they were through the door and into the corridor outside the bridge. It was empty and eerily quiet. The human captain ran to the bridge door and hit the button to open it.

Nothing happened.

She banged on the door with her fist. “Open up in there!”

Still nothing.

Turning back to him with wide eyes, she shook her head. “What the hell is going on?”

Ontarii frowned. I wish I knew.