Anguissa moved, glad that someone was thinking clearly when the Seed was jumbling her own thoughts. She couldn’t tell whether the corridor inclined downward or the ship’s shifting gravity just made it seem that way, but it didn’t matter. She hurried along its length, grabbing hand rungs as necessary to haul herself along it.

When she realized Ryke wasn’t right behind her, she looked back in time to see him fry the security panel of the door they’d just passed through.

An alarm went off.

“Now, who’s not planning ahead?” she muttered under her breath.

“They know where we are anyway,” Ryke replied, vaulting past her. Their bodies collided for a moment that sent fire through Anguissa’s veins, then he was hurrying ahead. “The best I can do is defend our head start, Snake-Eyes.”

Anguissa hoped it would be long enough.

He leaped into the darkness ahead, showing a familiarity in his surroundings that Anguissa didn’t share. When she heard him collide with some surface, she guessed they were near the end of the corridor.

Probably another air lock.

She was right. Ryke tried to unlock the next portal but his code was declined. He muttered a curse, then fired at the control panel, roasting it. He tried to kick open the door, but this one was an air lock and of heavier gauge.

“Stand back,” Anguissa said. She shifted shape and breathed fire, even as the sounds of pursuit became louder. The metal melted and fused so that Ryke backed away from the heat. She kicked it out with one foot, then shifted shape again to fit through it.

“One less air lock,” Ryke muttered.

“Too bad for whoever needs to breathe,” Anguissa agreed.

She didn’t imagine that he ran faster then. At the end of this shorter corridor, there were space suits secured to the wall.

They had to be moving into a zone that granted access to the small Starpods moored to the outside of the freighter.

She reached for one of the suits, but Ryke waved her onward. “No time!” he said as there was a crash from far behind them.

She eyed him, knowing that they’d be even more vulnerable. “Don’t screw up.”

The flash of his irreverent grin both surprised and encouraged her. The sight made the call of the Seed even more imperative. She told herself she should count herself lucky that Ryke’s smile was gone all too soon. “I thought adventure was the spice of life, Snake-Eyes,” he murmured, eyes glinting. “Don’t you like adventures?”

“I don’t like screw-ups.”

“And ripping out the nav console doesn’t count?” Ryke didn’t wait for an answer, which was good because there wasn’t time to explain to him about the Seed. Even as she ran for her life, Anguissa wanted to pull him to a stop and touch him. The Seed was dangerous. He swung open the hatch and they slipped through it, then he closed and locked it behind them.

“Keep going!” he said, still tapping into the console.

Anguissa did as he instructed.

“They didn’t find that one,” he muttered with satisfaction as he caught up to her.

There was no time to ask. Judging by the sounds behind them, they needed every advantage they could get.

A pair of hatches faced each other at the end of this passageway. Both were sealed, but only the left one had a ship docked at its other end. Ryke opened that hatch as lights flashed, illuminating the passageway with red.

Anguissa leaped down the shaft, hoping she wasn’t insane to be trusting an umbro

She slid down the flume toward what had to be a small Starpod and looked back to see Ryke tapping at the console again.

Then he was spiraling toward her. They tumbled into the Starpod, one after the other. The temperature was even colder and Anguissa knew without looking at a display that the cold infinity of space was all around them. The Starpod would be attached to the underside of the larger freighter, tucked into a docking dimple, kept close for short forays.

She hoped there was a refuge close enough. Starpods didn’t have much range.

Ryke locked the hatch behind them. The vessel was much larger than the Starpods Anguissa had used in the past and she was surprised by the amount of space. Ryke tapped the control console to life and entered a series of coordinates. A horn was blaring on the Armada Seven, its sound and vibration inescapable.

“They’ll lock the mooring mechanism and secure us here,” she noted, wondering how Ryke had overlooked that detail.

“They already have.” Ryke sat back, the image of composure, and held up his hand, fingers splayed.

Five.

“Counting down. Strap in, Princess. It’s going to be a bit rough.”

Something flashed on the console, but Anguissa didn’t recognize the language used on the instruments. She took the co-pilot seat, disliking that she was subordinate to anyone else—even the Carrier of the Seed.

Four. The scent of the Seed filled her senses, promising a satisfaction and pleasure beyond anything she’d ever known. Surely it would be worth it?

Why exactly had Ryke saved her? It was hard to believe he had any weaknesses at all. He was an umbro, after all. Had he chosen her as his next victim?

If so, what could she do to foil him? There wasn’t enough room in the Starpod for her to shift shape.

Three. How long had he been preparing this escape?

Where would it end?

Would it even work?

Two. “I want the Archangel and I want it now!” Hellemut roared, her voice coming through the comm.

Anguissa gasped. “She’s dead!”

“Not nearly,” Ryke said grimly.

One. There was a blast from the Armada Seven. The Starpod was released from its mooring in the same moment, and so vehemently that it was flung away from the larger ship. It fell freely for long moments, then the engines fired and the Starpod accelerated away from the Armada Seven, its trajectory and speed apparently preprogrammed by Ryke.

There was another explosion, one that only hurried them on their path. Anguissa surveyed the display and tapped at the instruments, guessing how to get a view of the freighter behind them. It only took her a moment, leading her to the conclusion that the controls were similar to what she knew, despite the unfamiliar language. She stared at the display as the hold of the Armada Seven exploded into shards. The ruined remainder of the ship began to fold in on itself, and many of its lights went dark.

She shivered, not wanting to imagine the deaths of those on board.

At least those who weren’t cyborgs.

She thought of Ryke tapping at consoles as they fled. He must have planted explosives in advance.

Which meant he’d been planning this escape for a while.

“I think they’ll be too busy to follow us anytime soon,” Ryke said with a satisfied smile.

“You’ve been planning this.”

“No one escapes the Gloria Furore by accident. It’s something I wanted to get right the first time.” His manner was grim, his gaze evasive. Anguissa had the definite sense he was hiding something from her.

More than his predatory nature?

Could she claim the Seed, even if he wasn’t her HeartKeeper?

“How could that have been Hellemut?”

“She has doppelgangers and they’re better copies all the time.”

“How many?”

“I don’t know.” Ryke considered this and Anguissa trusted his reaction. “I’m thinking that you took out one, but a pretty good one. The distinctions are becoming increasingly small.”

“She won’t be able to follow us.”

“Your trashing of the deck does have some upside, Snake-Eyes.” Ryke frowned at the console. “Ready to jump?”

“A Starpod can’t jump,” she said impatiently. “The fuselage isn’t sufficiently strong and the engine...”

Anguissa fell silent because Ryke gave her a look. His eyes were twinkling and Anguissa was certain she’d never met a more alluring man. When she let the Seed guide her thinking, she couldn’t find a thing wrong with him. When she used her intelligence, she knew she should be afraid of what he could do to her.

Danger was the spice of life, though. Anguissa leaned closer and inhaled the scent of the Seed, wanting...

“You’re not the only one who doesn’t follow the rules, Fire Breath,” he said, recalling her to their conversation.

“Whose Starpod did we steal?”

“Captain Hellemut’s personal vessel, which has had a number of very useful augmentations.”

“You planned for everything.”

“Not you, Snake-Eyes. I didn’t plan for you.”

Anguissa couldn’t read his tone, which only increased her fascination with her unexpected companion. “And yet, here I am. I don’t believe in coincidence, Ryke.”

“Me neither.” Their gazes met and held for a potent moment and Anguissa couldn’t wait to get him to herself.

Naked.

“I’ve never had an umbro before,” she breathed.

“And I’ve never had a dragon shifter.”

“Why do you think our kinds find each other repellant?”

His eyes glimmered with a heat that echoed Anguissa’s own. “I have no idea.”

“How long is this jump?”

“Other commitments?”

Anguissa smiled. “Just paying for my passage in pleasure.” She ran a fingertip up his arm and felt her toes curl with desire. Her voice turned husky. “Which can’t start soon enough, to my thinking.”

Ryke inhaled sharply and tore his gaze from hers. The coordinates were programmed and unfamiliar. Anguissa felt unfamiliar trepidation, but there was no time to protest.

“Prepare to jump,” he said under his breath and tapped the console to commence the jump.

Anguissa’s last coherent thought was a troubling one. Was it possible to fake the scent of the Seed?

Ryke dreamed.

It was the thing he hated most about jumping. He revisited all the nightmares of his past, which meant he always came out of a jump exhausted and dispirited.

This jump was no different.

He was in the small Starpod with Ryko Primus and Bakiel again. He had the warning of the freighter coming out of a jump in an unauthorized position. That wormhole had been sealed for as long as he remembered, deemed unsafe thanks to a sudden influx of astral dust. The freighter came out of the jump at alarming proximity and Ryke recharted his course so he wouldn’t collide with it.

The freighter apparently recharted its course, because collision was still imminent.

“It’s fine,” he told his son, hoping to reassure his fears. Ryko Primus gave him a pitying glance, old enough to not be easily pacified.

“I don’t think so.”

The console was flashing, a warning was sounding, and Ryke was recalculating trajectories as quickly as he could. It didn’t matter what he did. No matter how he changed course, the freighter loomed larger and larger on his display.

When he saw its hold open, gaping wide in the freighter’s side, he knew who he confronted.

The Gloria Furore was on another slave raid.

And by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he’d become their target.

There were no other vessels in the vicinity. There was no one to come to his aid. He was at exactly the worst point in his journey for trouble, equidistant from departing point and destination. He tried to out-distance the freighter, but knew he’d eventually lose.

The Starpod was running out of fuel. Because of the embargo, he’d been allotted enough for his planned journey and only five per cent more. It wasn’t enough. The engine fell silent and Ryke’s heart rose to his throat. He stared unblinking as the view of the freighter filled his display, the gaping maw of its hold obliterating everything else.

There was darkness inside the hold.

And danger.

He knew he would have the choice of whether to willingly dock his vessel inside the hold or remain unmoored. It was one of the notorious space pirates’ favorite games. He could wait for the oxygen supply in his Starpod to run out and die in his vessel in their hold, or he could moor, breathe, and potentially regret every moment of his life that followed. They didn’t really care. They’d sell whatever was left, either way.

“Dad?” Ryko Primus whispered, his voice rising in fear so that he sounded much younger.

“It’s the Gloria Furore,” Ryke supplied, his heart heavy. His son nodded even as he stared at the display in horror. “Don’t worry. Your grandfather will pay your ransom. It should be quick.” He nodded at Bakiel. “And your ransom will be paid, as well. Custos are always defended.” He didn’t note that this was because they were of use only to umbros.

“But what about you?” his son asked.

“I’ll be fine, too,” Ryke said, but there was no conviction in his words. He’d been publically disgraced. He’d lost all his honors. He’d abducted his son. No one paid the ransom for an outlaw.

He avoided Bakiel’s gaze, knowing that his custo had guessed the truth as well. Ryke was going to die, slowly and painfully.

As the hold closed around the Starpod and a chill filled the small cabin, Ryke hoped he could ensure the survival of his son and custo first.

Anguissa opened her eyes slowly, recalling all too well that galactic workplace standards advised against jumping more than once a month in any organism’s familiar time frame. She sometimes thought she had no familiar time frame anymore, not after so many years of space travel, but after three jumps in comparatively rapid succession, she knew otherwise.

She’d jumped home to Incendium. She’d left Incendium with Thalina and her robot and jumped back to the quadrant with the Armada Seven. And now she’d jumped from the vicinity of the Armada Seven to someplace else.

She hurt in places she’d forgotten she had.

She supposed it was better than the death that would have befallen her if Hellemut had caught her again, but she wasn’t entirely sure.

Anguissa found water in the console and drank, knowing it was the only cure for her woes. Ryke was still apparently unconscious, though Anguissa didn’t know whether to believe in appearances. Maybe he was just pretending. He certainly didn’t look vulnerable.

Why had he saved her? She didn’t know nearly enough about umbros and what she did know wasn’t good. She stroked the film computer attached to her inner arm, but it was unresponsive. Those energy beams had probably affected its power supply, which meant that she had no ability to research or translate until it was repaired.

It was a kind of isolation that Anguissa didn’t like.

She took a deep breath and found the scent of the Seed invigorating. Could she just seduce Ryke and abandon him?

It was a tempting possibility, although she thought she might always wonder about his mysteries. Anguissa frowned. He was the Carrier of the Seed, no more and no less. She needed to seduce him. There was no promise of a love affair or a permanent relationship. She didn’t need a HeartKeeper. She just needed to satisfy her destiny and claim the Seed.

They had no fondness for each other’s kinds, which probably made the whole transaction simpler. She could claim the Seed and they could part ways forever.

Where were they, anyway?

With one or two false starts, Anguissa opened the display to survey their vicinity. The Starpod was on a trajectory toward a small planet that glowed yellow in the light of its system’s sun. That star had to be behind them, given the light and shadow. The planet appeared to have many, many small moons. Too many. Moons that shone in the light of the sun.

They even seemed to glitter.

Anguissa magnified the display and leaned closer, surprised to discover that they weren’t moons at all.

They were ships.

Star vessels of all shapes and sizes orbited the planet. Were they occupied? Why were they here?

“Storage,” Ryke said, his voice sounding as rough as she felt. Anguissa was surprised that he seemed to guess her thoughts. She glanced over to see him rub his face, then shove a hand through his hair before reaching for the controls. He had a deft touch, even though he had to be at less than his best. She found herself watching his hands and imagining them on her skin. She licked her lips, simmering, then shook her head.

The Seed was too distracting.

The sooner she had him, the better.

“The Gloria Furore keep part of their inventory of pirated vessels here,” he said. “It’s a great place to shop.”

“Shop?”

Again, she caught a flash of a smile, and one more time, she thought it was too brief a glimpse.

“Borrow,” he ceded. “Seems only fair since they took my Starpod.”

“Is it here?”

“No. Too small for their purposes. They sold it.”

He was impassive and she wondered if he really felt so little, or if he felt so much that he was hiding his reaction. He had to have learned to disguise his feelings in the service of Captain Hellemut.

Assuming that he wasn’t still in her service.

“You’re going to steal from the Gloria Furore.” Anguissa let her skepticism of that plan show in her voice.

“We already have, Snake-Eyes.”

Anguissa gave him a look. “You should call me Captain Anguissa.”

“You might not have noticed, but you aren’t in command of a ship anymore.”

“Princess Anguissa then.”

“No princesses for me.”

“Then call me Anguissa.”

Ryke shook his head. “No way. Too personal.”

That was an interesting and unexpected admission. Anguissa decided to think about that before she pursued it. “I’m sure their inventory isn’t undefended...” She had time to say before the first satellites blossomed like silver sunflowers. They began to pivot toward the Starpod, so clearly targeting the vessel that Anguissa sat up a little straighter.

“We’re a small target,” Ryke said, as if to reassure her.

Anguissa knew better. “It’s a big Starpod. Quite a nice target, really.”

“One tiny fraction of misalignment and, given the distance, the laser will miss.”

“I find it hard to believe that the defense satellites of the Gloria Furore make even tiny fractional misalignments.”

“Probably not. But that just means I have to be faster,” Ryke mused. His fingers were dancing over the console as he programmed the nav system.

“Faster than a defense satellite programmed by the Gloria Furore? They aren’t known for their poor response times.”

He grinned. “Neither am I.”

“It must be terrible for you to go through life with such a lack of confidence.”

Ryke actually chuckled. He nodded to the far right. “We’re going over there, to that freighter...”

“No,” Anguissa protested. “Take the Mongossian Star Fighter. It’s an older model but still has good performance...”

“But the freighter will remember me.”

“Remember you?”

He slanted her a quick look, his eyes gleaming. “Nobody forgets me, Snake-Eyes.”

Anguissa snorted. “In my experience, males of all species believe that and the vast majority of them are wrong.”

“Not me, though. You’ll see.”

“Do you leave anyone alive to remember you?” Anguissa had to ask. “Umbros aren’t known for letting hosts survive, much less with leaving them happy memories of shared time together.” She couldn’t hide her disgust of his predatory nature.

Ryke appeared to be amused. “Are you afraid of me?”

“No, but I’m wondering if I should be.”

“The feeling, I assure you, is mutual.” It was a strange thing to have in common, and stranger still that Anguissa found even that to be reassuring.

He gave her a sharp look, one that made her wonder whether she’d even know if he slipped into her mind.

Had he done it already?

Anguissa recoiled as he held up a finger. One of the satellites flashed red in its middle and Ryke immediately launched the nav system.

The Starpod shot fast to the right, then up, down and to the left. It spun, it zigged, it jigged and it jagged, it wobbled and it skipped until Anguissa was sure she’d lose whatever was left in her stomach. She saw the red flash of the lasers, then the Starpod ducked behind the Mongossian Star Fighter and stopped there.

“Oh no,” she whispered, because she had a fondness for the vessels. Light flashed and the Star Fighter imploded. The Starpod zipped toward the freighter Ryke had pointed out and he opened the hailing frequency.

“Surely, there’s no one aboard,” she said beneath her breath, thinking of his comment that the ship would remember him.

A heartbeat later, a window opened on their display, showing the deck of an old freighter. A vintage android was in the captain’s post, two burning red lights where a human would have eyes. “Who hails the Magnetawan?” it asked in a mechanical voice, using the universal language.

I hate robots, she mouthed, thinking it more prudent than saying the words aloud.

Ryke lifted a brow but otherwise ignored her.

So did the robot.

“Lieutenant Ryke of the Gloria Furore,” Ryke said.

Anguissa blinked. Ryke had said he wasn’t one of the Gloria Furore. He’d said he was slave labor. Had he lied to her, or was he lying to the robot?

She knew which answer she liked better.

“Welcome, Lieutenant,” the android replied. “All is in readiness for your return. Please use bay 7C, as planned.”

“I will, Piper Twelve. Please prepare to jump after we board.”

“Of course, Lieutenant,” the android Piper Twelve replied. “We merely await your arrival on deck.”

The hold of the Magnetawan opened slowly as the Starpod rounded the enormous vessel. Ryke accelerated so that the Starpod just zipped inside as a blaze of laser shot past them. He really was an exceptional pilot. The hold doors closed behind them, the Starpod already locked on a tractor beam to the mooring gate. There were no other vessels in the hold, which was smaller than Anguissa might have expected.

“What exactly did you do on Centurios?”

“We’re all warriors.”

“But you have specialties, I’m sure.”

“Code,” Ryke admitted easily. “My area of expertise was viruses that infect the host without leaving any sign of their presence.”

Anguissa’s heart chilled at this confession. Was he the one who had brought her back to the Armada Seven? If so, there could be more danger to her than she’d realized.

He spared her a wry smile that made her heart leap. “Strangely enough, I forgot to mention that to the Gloria Furore.”

“When they captured you.”

“Just another recruitment raid,” he admitted, the corners of his mouth turning down.

“How long ago?”

“I count six years, but I’m not sure I remember all of it. It might have been longer.” Ryke lifted his gaze to hers for a fleeting instant and Anguissa guessed it hadn’t been an easy captivity.

“At least they didn’t sell you,” she said, wanting to see that rakish smile again.

“It might have been kinder if they had,” he muttered. “But then, there aren’t many buyers for my kind.”

“Umbros?”

“Outlaws.” He winked, probably knowing he looked disreputable, dangerous and unreliable. Her heart skipped, even as she wondered whether he was teasing her or if it was true.

“What does the Magnetawan carry?”

“Contraband, usually, but it’s empty now,” he said, clearly having no issues with its former trade. “It’s a good thing they cleaned it out, because it’ll jump farther that way. We need all the distance we can get.”

It seemed unlikely to Anguissa that they’d get much distance at all with such a monstrous ship. A lot of the wormholes wouldn’t have the capacity for it, and judging by its outward appearance, the stress of the jump might make some of it collapse. Ryke was out of his seat before the docking was completed, waiting at the door for the locks to engage. His confidence was unnerving.

At least he was going first.

If the reception was hostile, he’d be the one to take the hit.

One less umbro would make the universe a better place.

Her only regret was that she hadn’t already claimed the Seed.

“Why did you save me?” she asked as the lock was engaging.

He glanced back at her. “Who says I did?”

“Not me,” she admitted.

He glanced down, surprised, then leaned on the frame. “Then why did you run with me?”

“Going with you seemed like a better bet than staying on the Armada Seven. I could be completely wrong, though.”

“Inclined to make mistakes, Snake-Eyes?”

“Not me. I never make mistakes.”

He leaned closer, his eyes gleaming. “Nav system incinerated,” he reminded her. “Which left you with no escape.”

“Maybe I was counting on you.”

“Bad idea. We’re not known for being merciful.”

“Soul-snatchers,” she said.

“You should be so lucky if that’s all you lose to an umbro.”

“Why didn’t you take one of them?”

His lips tightened to a grim line. “Because they wanted me to. They wanted to use me as a weapon and I refused to be used. I pretended I couldn’t slip at all.”

“And now?”

He smiled, looking wicked, unpredictable and delicious. “Now I have nothing left to lose. Sure you don’t make mistakes?”

The Seed might have landed her in serious trouble, but she still couldn’t silence its call. She reached out and touched his shoulder, feeling his strength, and nearly purred with desire.

There wasn’t time for that, so Anguissa changed the subject. “How did the Magnetawan remember you?”

“I parked it here. And before I returned to the Armada Seven, I slipped a little worm into its master system, something no one would detect until I needed it.”

“Just like the worm slipped into the nav system of the Archangel, the one no one detected until it brought me back to the Armada Seven.”

Ryke’s vivid green gaze locked with hers. “Just like.”

“Did you create it?”

He grimaced. “I told you. I never admitted my skills with code to the Gloria Furore. They trusted me only as a pilot.”

“Did you install the worm in the Archangel?”

“No.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Because it’s true.” The door slid open, revealing a small chamber with an airlock on the other side.

“And where are we going, Ryke?”

“Home. Of course.” He shrugged. “At least I am. I don’t know where you’re going.”

“For the moment, I’m going with you,” she said, following him out of the Starpod.

He gave her a cocky grin. “Because you want to repay me for helping you escape?”

“Because you have something I want and once I have it, we can go our separate ways.” The more she learned, the more Anguissa was determined to keep her relationship with Ryke as short as possible.

“And what would that be?” he asked as they stepped through the airlock into the next sealed chamber. “Information? Directions? Fabulous sex?” It was clear he said the last as a joke, but Anguissa smiled at him.

“Lots of sex.” She backed him into the wall and caught his face in her hands, staring into his eyes. “You could consider it your reward. I know I will.” She didn’t give him a chance to answer, but kissed him fiercely to silence.

It took less than a nanosecond for Ryke to wrap his arms around her and draw her tightly against him, then angle his head and deepen their kiss.

The scent of the Seed surged to new power and Anguissa considered the merit of having him right then and there.

Anguissa’s first kiss had been only a taste of her fire. This second one made Ryke sizzle right to his toes. He’d been celibate too long by any accounting, but Anguissa’s kiss more than made up for whatever he’d been missing. The strange thing was that he liked that she wasn’t shy and that she demanded exactly what she wanted. He liked that she seized him and kissed him and slid her tongue between his teeth. He preferred passive and compliant women—that’s what he knew best—but there was something electric about Anguissa’s bold demands. Those fabulous breasts were crushed against him and he grabbed her perfect butt, lifting her against him.

He wanted more.

He wanted all she had to give.

He’d never wanted a woman the way he wanted Anguissa. Right here and right now. Fast and hard. And then again. It had to be the novelty or sheer desperation, but for the moment, Ryke didn’t care. He wanted to strip her out of her suit and claim her over and over and over again, to frack with the Gloria Furore and Captain Hellemut and anyone else stupid enough to get in the way.

But he hadn’t come this far to get captured again before his escape was complete.

In fact, her effect upon him was proof that all the old stories were true. An abomination like a dragon shifter could mess up his priorities, change his thinking, persuade him to make a foolish choice.

If he stayed with Anguissa, he could be a dead man.

Strange how being with her made him feel so alive, as if he’d awakened for the first time. Was that part of her power?

He broke their kiss with an effort, liking the heat in her eyes. Those flames were back, the ones that reminded him of her truth, and he found it exciting that she was so dangerous. Her hair looked like snakes again and he smiled that they were writhing.

Just the way he felt like writhing with her.

Once couldn’t hurt.

And then he’d know what it was like.

“Resistance is futile, Ryke,” she purred, her passion making him want to forget the Gloria Furore even more than he did.

“Let’s get out of here first,” he said, then led her to the next airlock. He was almost running in his haste to get to the deck, but it was a desire to get the jump behind them so he could seduce Anguissa that was making him run, not the need to escape.

They reached the deck and strapped down simultaneously. She took a long swig of water as Piper Twelve presented the nav system to Ryke for him to approve the coordinates of their pre-set destination. It was three short jumps home, and he took the opportunity to pre-program the intermediary cruises in case he felt too lousy to fly. He started the rejuvenation for Bakiel, who was in stasis in the hold.

By the time they got to Centurios, he’d feel like something that should be scraped off the bottom of his boot. Anguissa would probably feel worse, given that she’d done at least another jump before him.

But it was the only way out.

At least Bakiel would be awake.

A laser collided with the hull and shook the freighter, as if to remind him to hurry. Ryke looked at Anguissa, she nodded, and they jumped.

Resistance is futile.

Anguissa’s words summoned Ryke’s nightmare. He dreamed of his days and nights on the moon of Formican, where he had been tested by the Gloria Furore for his endurance. He’d been right about the ransom—no one on Centurios had paid for him—and the pirates hadn’t managed to sell a reputed umbro to anyone else without proof of his abilities. He refused to slip and show his skills, because of that old vow to be different. Instead, they chose to use him as a test, to discover the limits of his endurance to refine their torture protocol.

It was supposed to break him.

Instead, the torture hardened everything within Ryke, forging his anger into a determination to survive that would never abandon him. The legacy of Formican’s moon was Ryke’s resolve to never surrender, to never yield, and to never ever reveal his depth of his hatred for his captors. Everything became black and white to him, simple and linear, with the need to survive trumping every other objective.

It had only taken three baths in fire ants to convince him to pretend to crumble. He’d never forget the pain of millions of pincers biting and gnawing through his flesh. He’d never forget the weeks of agony as the wounds healed. He’d certainly never forget the unguents that were applied to his skin to make the torment last longer.

It had been the worst period of his life.

It had taught him to lie, to hate, and to plan for vengeance. It had forged him into a different man, one fueled by fury.

He’d had to convince the interrogator to believe him, but do it without slipping. It hadn’t been easy, but Ryke had succeeded.

In his nightmare, though, he relived the failure, not the triumph. He was immersed to the neck in fire ants one more time. They were biting and chewing at his flesh, thousands and thousands of them. Every increment of his body hurt or burned or was in anguish. He struggled, unable to break away from them. Of course not. The baths were vats filled with fire ants, vats into which prisoners like Ryke were lowered slowly, left, then raised to relief.

And lowered again.

It was as excruciating as he remembered but he was surprised to realize this time that his hands weren’t bound. He swatted at his shoulder when he was bitten, and his hand was immediately bitten, too.

It wasn’t a dream.

The bite was too big.

Ryke opened his eyes to find the jump completed, the freighter drifting close to a red sun, and the snakes of Anguissa’s hair snapping at him. She was still unconscious from the jump, but her snakes were wide awake. They twisted in agitation, their eyes shining bright yellow, and he assumed he had been wrong about them revealing her innermost thoughts.

He felt rather than heard someone step onto the deck. Everything within him quickened with the certainty that they were in peril.

Who else was on board?

Ryke reached for the weapon he’d taken from Anguissa on the Armada Seven and spun to his feet, firing at the portal. Anguissa had already leaped into action. Apparently, she hadn’t been asleep. She vaulted over the deck, shifting to her dragon form in the blink of an eye, and fried the android at the portal.

There was no sign of Piper Twelve.

Ryke struggled to follow her, shaking off the shards of his nightmare. Anguissa seemed to show no ill effects from the jump. She reached one claw through the doorway. She hauled half a dozen struggling androids back through the opening and crushed them between her talons. There was weapon fire on the other side of the door and she glanced to Ryke.

She had to shift to go through the door or risk destroying the air lock.

He nodded, moving to cover her. She flung the shattered androids through the door and Ryke stepped forward to fire, intending to create chaos on the other side.

“Thirty,” he muttered, glad it wasn’t more but wishing there might have been fewer of them. Anguissa darted through the door and shifted to her dragon form on the other side. He wondered if there were any limitations to how often she could do that. The android soldiers fired their weapons and charged, even as Anguissa loosed a stream of dragon fire on them.

Ryke could feel the heat of their metal shells and smelled circuits burning. They continued, though, unable to stop themselves from following the command, and he fired into their midst. He blinded some and shot off the limbs of others. Anguissa shredded the ones foolish enough to get close to her and smashed others against the walls. She crushed them underfoot, casting Ryke weapons as she destroyed the androids carrying them.

The battle was over with ridiculous speed. Ryke sighed and pushed a hand through his hair as he surveyed the smoking debris.

“Don’t tell me,” he said. “You hate robots.”

Instead of answering him, Anguissa’s eyes flashed with fire. She leaped toward him and smashed an android into the wall behind him. Ryke hadn’t even heard that one approaching.

It slid down the wall, not quite finished, and appealed to him for mercy with one outstretched mechanical hand. The gesture reminded him too clearly of Hellemut’s last appeal. He raised his weapon and fired into its eyes, extinguishing one after the other.

Anguissa would have ripped out its circuitry, but he held up a hand to stop her. She waited, watching as Ryke typed a message into the console on the android’s chest.

“Mission accomplished,” it said in a broken voice, then Ryke nodded.

Anguissa shredded the android, smashing its remains on the floor. He admired her thoroughness and her strength.

She shifted shape and stood beside him, her breath coming quickly. “Mission accomplished?” she echoed, and glanced up at him.

“Someone gave the command to attack. It stood to reason that it might still be in contact with that someone.”

“It would have been if you had programmed it.”

“Exactly. It was important they didn’t have time to ask whose mission was accomplished.”

Her smile was fleeting. “I hope there’s a crusher on the trash disposal,” she said, surveying the damage. “And a means of jettisoning it all. I’m not sleeping with any of these bits still on the ship.”

What had happened to give her such a distrust of robots?

“When did you start planning to sleep?” he asked and she laughed.

“Afterward, you’ll need to.”

Ryke thought they both would. He intended to make sure of it.

“There’s a crusher right down here,” he said and began to sweep the chunks toward the disposal.

Anguissa helped. “How much do you know about this ship anyway?”

“I thought as much as I needed to.”

“Which means you didn’t know about them.”

“They weren’t here the last time I was.”

“Sounds like you really might be unforgettable, Ryke, and that you pissed someone off.” Anguissa almost smiled. “Does this count as a mistake?”

Ryke grinned despite himself. “Maybe we’re even, Snake-Eyes.”

“What happens next?”

“Half a day cruise until the next jump.”

Anguissa groaned. “How many more?”

“Just two more short ones until home. Look on the bright side. We can scatter this debris in the wormhole and make it tougher for anyone following us.”

“That is a bright side.” She swept with greater purpose, clearly unafraid of hard work. He stole glances at her as they worked together, admiring more than her inviting curves. She was practical and tough, as well as sexy.

He wished she could have simply been a woman, instead of a dragon shifter. If women had been like this on Centurios, Ryke wouldn’t have been so determined to remain unattached.

But Anguissa was a dragon shifter, and he needed to keep that in mind. Even though he had a feeling Anguissa was trouble and then some, he was looking forward to her making it worth his while to rescue her. What would she be like as a lover? He couldn’t imagine her surrendering to anyone over anything, but he’d never been with a demanding lover either.

The women of Centurios, including the mother of his son, simply let intimacy happen to them. They didn’t participate. They didn’t reciprocate. The princesses of Centurios were the highest caste of passive women, kept and pampered so they could service the most powerful men in the realm—or the sons of those men. They knew their place. They were ornamental. Useful for the procreation of children. Interchangeable and forgettable. Mostly silent.

Ryke couldn’t remember a woman who made choices, let alone demands. He didn’t know any who had opinions or spoke up, or explained what they wanted. He’d never known one who could have fired a weapon or fought, much less won a battle or defended his back.

Ryke had a feeling sex was going to be really different with Anguissa.

Maybe he was going to have to tame her.

He couldn’t wait to find out.