Free Solar Storm by Mina Carter Page A

hardened. There would be no mercy for these pirates or their client. Once he was done here, he would drop Rhys off someplace safe—the cloud hotel on Uvarian Four perhaps, for a taste of the luxury missing from her life—and head out to track the client down. He was a threat to the woman Kel loved, which meant that whoever he was, wherever he was, he’d just signed his own death warrant.
    A small tap on his arm got his attention. Rhys signaled to the second of two doors as they approached. Relief rolled through him. The other door led to the service corridor at the back of her bedroom. He didn’t want her to see the mess he’d made of Bob back there.  
    He nodded and covered the door. His movements were precise and practiced as they reached it, and then the pair of them were through with a minimum of fuss. He hated entry points—they created a natural bottleneck any soldier worth his salt would avoid. Plus, those Alkarian bastards had loved to hide above doors and drop on the unwary with claws and teeth like some kind of gory practical joke. At least the pirates were human and subject to the same laws of gravity he and Rhys were. Still, it didn’t stop the instinctive check of the darkness above as they passed through the doorway.
    A door slammed up ahead, hidden around the next corner. Kel froze, his hand snapping up into a fist at shoulder level before he remembered Rhys wouldn’t have a clue the field signal meant stop.
    She froze anyway, so close he could feel the heat of her body against the bare skin of his arm. Her breathing was irregular, the slight hitch betraying how scared she really was. A rush of tenderness pierced him, the emotion sharp and new.  
    He motioned her toward a doorway—the slight alcove meager cover—as the sounds of a room being searched filtered down the corridor. It wasn’t much, but it would provide a little protection—enough for her to get a few shots off if he fell. He didn’t plan on falling.  
    He stabbed a finger at her and pointed at the floor to tell her to stay put, then indicated himself with a thumb and made walking motions. Her eyes glittered in the darkness, her lips flattening into a stubborn line.  
    Please sweet…not now, he begged silently and reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Using two fingers to point at her eyes, he motioned the way they’d come. Her gaze flicked from him to the door. Finally, she nodded and turned, covering their rear.  
    He paused for a second just to look at her. The dim light in the corridor caressed the curve of her cheek, the gold hue of her skin shimmering. What would she look like in the full glory of sunlight? Heat gripped his body, his cock hard in an instant as he imagined her spread on silk sheets. When they got out of this, when he’d found the mysterious ‘client’ and dealt with him, Kel was going to book the penthouse suite in the cloud hotel—the one with the view of the system’s triple suns—and make love to her under permanent sunlight.
    When he didn’t move, she flicked him a curious glance. Shaking himself out of the daydream, he put all thoughts of pleasure from his mind and headed down the corridor. With each step he took toward the corner, his senses expanded. His hearing sharpened, the hiss of steam from the pipes overhead almost deafening. His nostrils flared, filled with the scent of grease, old air and his own body.  
    A bead of sweat detached from his skin and rolled down the hollow of his spine. Without the air-cyclers of the upper decks, the place was nearing sauna heat. He tried to ignore it, reaching the corner and pausing to listen. No footsteps, but there was muttering coming from farther down the corridor. Sounded like the guy had decided on a little bit of pillaging while he looked for Rhys.  
    Kelwin moved around the corner smoothly, looking through his sights, finger on the trigger all the way. He hadn’t survived the war just to get sloppy now and buy the farm at the