Page 134 of I'm Not Your Pet

Grimm shoved the gas masks he’d found covered in dust in the back of one of Ushuu’s cupboards onto our heads. They had an infrared feature—or what Iassumedto be an infrared feature, seeing as I’d never used one before—so it was easy to spot both the glowing masses that were Grimm and Briar beside me.

According to Grimm, the pirates would be traveling in groups of three. He had been stalking them for weeks in his own spacecraft, and had hijacked their communications system, so he was privy to all their plans—even if it hadn’t been “common sense” as he’d put it.

They were going to work their way down to the lowest levels of the ship to the cargo hold first. As soon as that was secured, they planned to use explosives to begin searching the rooms for the humans.

I was even more glad, then, that we’d decided to act.

Ushuu, who had at some point snapped out of the fog he’d fallen into, was in the lab refilling flasks while we waited in the hallway for our first target.

The Dreamer’s emergency protocols were still in place, so we didn’t have to worry about accidentally hurting an innocent—which was…relieving to say the least. The last thing I wanted was to hurt one of the crew members who had been so sweet to me over the last few months—or god forbid, Roark.

Unfortunately, because the humans were living in an empty cargo bay there were no doors to protect them from the pirates—and they’d be heading directly for them, even if they didn’t know that yet.

Which meant we needed to work quickly and efficiently.

Ruthlessly.

Luck had not been something I’d carried with me for most of my life. It was nice that today of all days, I seemed to have some.

Our plan was to incapacitate the pirates in their clusters. If we were fast enough, they wouldn’t even have time to raise the alarm. And we would work systematically through the hallways so that the others wouldn’t have a chance to discover the bodies along the way.

Grimm had bullets in his gun, but he’d informed us that it was a last resort—as the sound would attract the exact kind of attention we did not want.

It was a good plan.

Grimm had looked impressed when I’d suggested it.

Truthfully, my thoughts were nothing but selfish. I wanted thisdone. I wanted these fucking assholes somewhere they couldn’t hurt the people I loved.

Roark was waiting for me.

Roark was terrified.

His nightmares were coming true.

And I needed to comfort him more than I needed my next breath.

Thud, thud, thud.Just like Grimm had said they would, footsteps approached. I tapped my goggles, making sure everything was in place. My pulse was thrumming far faster than the approaching footsteps.Thud, thud, thud.Closer they came. Just as Grimm had predicted, there were three sets of footsteps, all with varying gaits.

I tightened my grip on the vial I held.

You can do this.

You can do this, Hugo.

It’s like a chess game. You just need to plan ahead.

I’d never been athletic. Never been sporty or physically talented. But when those three pirates rounded the corner I forgot all of that. I forgot my past and the walls I’d erected. I forgot my weaknesses. All of Roark’s training kicked in, and I became a man on a mission.

If I hit their abdomen it would incapacitate them long enough Grimm could tie them up. If I went straight for the head, it’d mean death pretty instantly.

My entire body screeched with effort as I launched myself at the smallest of the three glowing blobs and without remorse or hesitation, smashed the jar of fuel right into his face.

He made a gurgling noise as he hit the floor, the hissing sound of rotting flesh filling the air. I was more than a little glad I couldn’t smell it—and for a moment, worried that the next pirates would be able to.

Two more thuds sounded from behind me.

My chest was heaving, sticky blood on my gloved hands. I rose from the felled body of the alien I’d just killed and watched as the light he emitted began to dull. What was bright faded with every second that passed.

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