Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
The thought of sharing curled low in his belly, hot and hungry.
He let himself imagine it — just for a moment.
Noelle in that big bed at the back of the shuttle, lying on her back, her dark hair spread over the pillows like spilled ink… Her legs spread open for them, wide and welcoming…
Bright would take one side, kissing her throat, whispering sweet, dirty things in her ear. Burn would take the other side — or maybe he’d kneel between her thighs, gripping them tightly as he lowered his mouth to her pussy.
He imagined her taste—sweet, hot, and intoxicating…imagined her fingers gripping his hair, pulling him closer as he sucked her clit and slid his tongue inside her, devouring her like she was his last meal.
Bright would be kissing her breasts at the same time, taking one nipple in his mouth and rolling the other between his fingers until she was gasping and arching, calling their names and begging for more.
Burn’s cock throbbed at the thought.
Then Bright would pull back, lick his lips, and grin at him — and they’d switch. Burn would take her nipple between his teeth, sucking gently, groaning at the feel of her body trembling under him, while Bright slid down and tasted her next — burying his tongue in her, making her moan for both of them.
He imagined the two of them taking turns…tasting her…teasing her, dragging out her pleasure until she was begging them to take her. Begging to feel both of them inside her at once.
Fuck, yes, he thought. Gods, I want that. I want her—want to share her with Bright!
She would come hard — he could tell by the way she’d come for them when they were just kissing her cheeks under the mistletoe. She came like lightning— fast and blinding. And Burn bet he and Bright could coax multiple orgasms from her sweet, curvy body. Imagine how hard she’d come for them when they really put their mouths and hands on her…how she would feel gripping their shafts with her soft little pussy and ass…
He was so deep in the fantasy he barely noticed the subtle shift in the shuttle’s vibration—barely noticed the hum of the engines change pitch.
But he noticed when the red light outside the cockpit window flickered… then flickered again… then abruptly snapped back into normal black space and starlight.
Burn jerked upright as time slammed back into place.
“What the fuck?” he muttered.
They had exited the Fold but the space in front of them wasn’t the peaceful starfield of Therim Five’s sector.
Warning lights flashed…alarms began to blare.
Bright stiffened in his seat and Noelle gasped, her eyes going wide.
Burn’s heart dropped into his gut as the shuttle lurched violently to the left.
Something was wrong. Very, very fucking wrong.
He tightened his grip on the steering yoke just as a massive shadow loomed ahead of them…and the shuttle was caught in a crackling net of bright blue energy.
“What the fuck?” he growled again.
And then everything went sideways.
7
BRIGHT
The moment they exited the Fold, Bright knew something was wrong.
There was no sense of release…no smooth slide from the compressed stillness of the Fold into normal space…no gentle drift into open sky.
Instead, the ship jolted, the forward momentum stalling like a bird hitting an invisible wall.
The lights on the console flickered, the engines groaned, and the shuttle hung in space like a fly caught in a web.
“What the fuck?” Burn muttered beside him, already adjusting the controls.
Noelle made a soft sound—half gasp, half question—but Bright couldn’t look at her yet. His eyes were locked on the front viewscreen, where something impossible was wrapped across the viewscreen.
Thin glowing lines—blue-white and sharp as lightning—crisscrossed the display in a tight lattice. They pulsed faintly, alive with electrical current. The pattern shifted and shivered as the ship strained against it, trying and failing to break free.
Bright stared, his stomach sinking.
“What in the Seven Hells is that?” he asked, pointing at the shimmering net.
Burn’s face was grim, his jaw tight as he shoved the throttle forward.
“That’s part of a Skowlian energy net,” he said. “We’ve got to break free of it or we’re all dead.”
He did something to the console—something Bright didn’t understand—and then pushed the steering yoke forward.
The engines screamed in protest and the shuttle surged forward—but only slightly. The front end pitched, then slammed back as though yanked by a leash. All three of them were thrown forward in their seats, though the harnesses kept them from slamming into the viewscreen or the control console. Alarms began to blare in sync with the rising whine of straining power cores.
But no matter what Burn did, the net held firm.
“What are the Skow doing here?” Bright demanded. “I thought they worked the Outer Fringe of the Gordrian system. What are they doing in the Therim corridor?”
“Pirating,” Burn growled. “This isn’t a random net—we were targeted. Someone fucking knew we’d be coming through this Fold point.”