Page 70 of On a Rogue Planet
Finally, they were heading to Technis.
Finally, he was going to get the Antikythera back.
He listened as Zayn finished communication with Galaxy’s Edge Docking Control. Behind them, he heard Malin and Dathan talking at the holo-table, discussing and studying what they could find about Forge and his base on Technis.
He wanted this over with. The mechanism back in his hands.
He wanted his control back. He’d been ready to murder a woman—maybe she wasn’t an innocent woman, but she’d never done anything to him. His hands curled, his knuckles tight.
If this is what emotion did to him, he wasn’t sure he wanted it. He looked over at Malin. She was smiling at Dathan, and it lit up her sweet face. She had hot, potent emotion bursting through all of Xander’s emotion filters like they were paper.
But without emotion, he couldn’t have Malin. And that seemed just as untenable.
Needing something else to focus on, he glanced at the brooding Niklas beside him. The man sat touching the bite mark on his neck.
Since they’d returned to the ship, Niklas had refused to talk about what had happened with Darc. Xander didn’t care, they had the invite, but he knew it worried Malin, so that in turn worried him. He wanted her happy.
“How long until we reach the bridge portal?” Xander asked.
Zayn was tapping the control screen, his gaze flicking between the screen and the windows out front. Ahead, a huge starfreighter was moving past them, heading into dock at the station. “Not long. Couple of hours.” He glanced at Xander. “Ever taken a bridge before?”
Xander shook his head.
“It’s a pretty cool experience. Downsides are once you’re in, there’s no coming out until you reach the other end. Once you’re committed, you’re committed.”
“And it’ll take us four days to reach the end instead of two months.”
“Right.” Zayn touched a button. “BEll, let everyone know we’re about to hit interstellar speed.”
“You got it, Zayn,” the computer answered. Then her voice came over the loud speaker. “Sixty seconds to interstellar speed. Please strap in for transition.”
Seconds later, Malin and Dathan slipped into the chairs behind the pilot’s seat. “Hey.” Malin shot Xander a smile.
“Malin.” He wanted to touch her.
Her gaze moved to Niklas and her face turned troubled. “You okay, Nik?”
“You’ve asked me that ten times.”
“Actually, she’s asked you twelve times,” Xander said.
“And you haven’t given me an answer once.” She sniffed. “You keep answering with some prevarication.”
Nik let out a deep sigh. “I’m not. But I will be.”
“Interstellar speed now,” Zayn said.
In the windows, the pinprick stars turned into a stream.
Dathan crossed one leg, resting his ankle on his knee. “Best you steer well clear of Darc from now on, big bro.”
Nik made a sound, which Xander guessed could be agreement or not. He also suspected it was another prevarication. Xander hadn’t mentioned to anyone that he’d detected elevated levels of testosterone and vasopressin in the oldest Phoenix brother back in the club, both indicative of sexual arousal. Whether he wanted to be or not, Niklas was extremely attracted to Nera Darc.
“How well do you know Darc?” Xander asked.
It was Dathan who answered. “She appeared on the treasure hunting scene about seven years ago. Out of nowhere. At first, we didn’t pay her much attention. Wanna-be treasure hunters come and go.”
“But she didn’t go.”
