Out of my seat, I knelt next to Abby and assisted her with the last two buckles. Pulling her to her feet, I hit the comm button that would send a distress code to my brother. I didn’t have time to wait for him to answer. I yelled into the air as I ran, pulling Abby behind me.

“Styx, this is Cormac. The device activated when the ship stopped. I am taking my mate to an escape pod. Find us!”

“Escape pod?” Abby’s much shorter legs could not produce the speed required to get us off this ship alive. Turning, I picked her up and ran.

The ship had two pods, each capable of holding up to five people, nestled beneath the main body of the ship. When we reached the activation switch, I set Abby on her feet and placed my hand over the scanner. The hatch opened. I ignored the ladder and jumped down into the pod. Turning around, I held out my arms to my mate. “Jump!”

“That’s like ten feet.”

“Jump, female. Now!”

“Shit.” Abby stepped off the edge above, and I caught her. Before she could ask any more questions, I set her on her feet and closed the hatch. The inside of the pod was hexagonal, with reinforced beams on either side of each personal protection bay. Under our feet was a small storage area with at least a week’s worth of rations, environmental suits and some basic equipment.

I picked her up and placed her inside one. By my calculations, we had less than a minute to get the fuck off this ship.

Abby watched me as I buckled her into the harness. When I was done, I stepped into the pod opposite her and repeated the process on myself, thankful for the drills I’d had to complete during pilot training.

Half strapped, I gave the verbal command for the pod to launch.

Abby screamed as the pod was forcefully ejected from the ship.

“Are you unharmed?”

Abby looked at me, the pulse at the base of her neck pounding. “Yes. What now?”

“Now we—”

The loud roar of an explosion came through the escape pod’s comm system. Abby jumped. I winced. Styx was going to be really fucking angry that someone had blown up his favorite ship.

“Was that?”

“Yes.”

“God, that was close. We barely made it.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. For carrying me. I was trying to keep up, but—”

“Mate, I will always protect you. You are mine.”

Abby’s eyes glittered, and I realized the effect was caused by gathering tears. She blinked, and two drops slid down her perfect cheeks. “Okay. As long as you’re mine, too.”

I held her gaze so she would know I meant what I said. “I am yours.”

“Okay. Good.” She wiped the tears from her face and took a deep breath. “What’s going to happen to us now?”