Page 28 of Zayrik

The cockpit door hissed open, and I released her. She stepped to one side.

I moved past Nyla, arm brushing against hers as I hit the console panel, pulling up the ship’s flight history. The movement put us closer, her back pressed against the wall, my body nearly flush with hers.

The display glitched. Damaged from earlier, but the logs were still there. Too clear. Too specific.

She saw it. And froze.

Long before I won this ship, it had been part of a supply chain. Not just any supply chain.

Ahighly controlled, highly monitoredone.

I tapped the screen. “You recognize this, don’t you?”

Her breath hitched.

Not much. Butenough.

Enough to tell me what I already suspected.

Nylaknewwhat this ship was. Knewwho it belonged to.

She didn’t answer.

Didn’t need to.

Isawit in the tension of her shoulders; in the way she pressed her lips together like she was swallowing something bitter.

Her eyes flicked to my mouth just for a second, and heat curled low in my chest, dangerous and stupid.

I ignored it. Mostly.

I tilted my head, dropping my voice. “Exactlyhowbad is the trouble you’ve just dropped me into?”

Her fingers curled against her sleeves.

Then finally, her eyes met mine.

And her next words?Didn’t make me feel any better.

“...Bad.”

A soft trill from inside her jacket reminded me of Zep’s watchful presence. The little creature poked his head out, eyeing me with suspicion.

“Define ‘bad,’” I pressed.

She was close enough for me to see the detailed emerald highlights in her green eyes and a subtle scar near her left cheekbone. Close enough that when she exhaled, I felt the warmth of her breath.

“The kind where people disappear,” she said quietly.

My gaze dropped to her rosy lips, lingered longer than I should have allowed. “And yet you’re in the middle of it.”

“Not by choice,” she murmured.

I raised my hand, intending to push a strand of hair from her face, then caught myself. The mating mark on my biceps pulsed, a steady, insistent warmth that seemed to intensify the closer we stood.

“Look,” she said suddenly, her voice stronger. She placed a palm against my chest, as if to push me away, but didn’t apply pressure. “You got caught in something that has nothing to do with you. I’m sorry about that. But trust me, the less you know, the safer you are.”

The contact of her hand sent a jolt through my system, intensifying the strange warmth spreading beneath my skin.

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