A blush warmed my cheeks. When we were alone, Wyck never held back on his displays of affection. He’d quickly grown comfortable with having Vrateus and Svetlana around, too, hugging and kissing me in their presence whenever he felt like it. Not that I fought him on that. The closer to him I was, the happier I felt.
Svetlana threw the locks open. I slid the heavy door aside, eager to see his handsome face again.
A muscular arm with the familiar bony gray ridge along it quickly reached in from the corridor. It hooked around Svetlana’s neck and roughly yanked her out.
“Wyck?” I frowned, leaning out of the door. “What are you d—"
The question stuck in my throat as I came face to face with Nocc. He was wearing Wyck’s leather holster and was holding Wyck’s gun as he dragged Svetlana out and into the corridor.
She managed to twist out of his grip, and he lunged for her. She gritted her teeth, reaching for the gun at her hip. “Run, Nadia!”
“Get that one, Krakhil,” Nocc barked out the order, tipping his head my way.
A huge dimo stomped around them, heading in my direction.
I leaped back into the ship with a squeak of terror and quickly rolled the door shut. With trembling fingers, I threw a lock on before my legs gave out and I slid down to the floor. My knees shook, and my heart beat so hard, I felt it all the way up in my throat.
The old, sickening fear washed over me, making it hard to breathe or think. Panic urged me to run and hide, like I had done all this time. Hiding and waiting it out had always been the wisest choice for me. The safest one.
Except that Svetlana was getting murdered out there while I sat in here.
Not even trying to get up, I scurried on all fours to the holster with the gun that Vrateus had brought specifically for me. He’d showed me how to use it, and it’d been hanging on the back of my chair at our dining table, ever since. I hadn’t used it, not even once. Until now, I’d been relying on everyone else to keep me safe.
Now, it was my turn to help someone. Svetlana needed me. And Wyck...
I tried not to think about what could’ve happened to him and how Nocc had come into the possession of Wyck’s things. Grabbing my gun, I finally scrambled to my feet.
There were two choices before me now—to stay here and hide or to open that door. And there was only one choice I could live with without being ashamed of myself for the rest of my life.
Heaving a bracing breath, I opened the door.
Nocc and Krakhil had been joined by at least two dozen more of the crew members, now. Even more of them were rushing down the corridor, like a rolling wave of menace.
To my surprise and relief, Svetlana was far from defeated.
Her back to the wall, she fired her gun at whoever came the closest, a pile of dead bodies forming on the floor around her. In the space constraints of the corridor, only a few of the males could advance on her at once. It limited the number of her immediate attackers, allowing her to singlehandedly hold defence.
Holding Wyck’s gun in his hand, Nocc stood back. Hiding behind the others from Svetlana’s fire, he wouldn’t shoot at her, possibly hoping to capture her alive or maybe having difficulty getting a clear shot in the scuffle.
“You! Get here!” Enkail, another dimo, launched for me, shoving others out of his way. His elbow knocked the gun out of Nocc’s hand, but the dimo didn’t seem to notice it.
Raising my gun in my shaking hand, I pressed the rounded trigger in the handle, just like Vrateus had showed me. A blast of blueish light shot out, scorching a black line across Enkail’s armoured shoulder.
“You...” he gritted through his teeth, stomping inside the ship after me.
The laser ray hadn’t caused him much harm.
“Press and hold, Nadia!” Svetlana’s voice rang high from the corridor. “Press and hold to burn through his armor!”
“Good advice,” Enkail smirked, stalking my way. “Not that it’ll help you.”
I shot again, aiming at his face.
He charged me, moving faster than could’ve been expected from someone that large with limbs enclosed into hard shell.
I jumped back, out of his reach, but tripped over my own feet in fear and panic and fell backwards. Landing on