Stolen - Nhys Glover Page 0,65

area of expertise. It might be a loose cable or connection, or a major malfunction for all I knew.

“Engineer. Even a maintenance team. It’s beyond us,” I had to admit, though I hated doing so.

Why hadn’t I insisted on us having a complete overhaul after the asteroids pounded on us? I’d been as keen to get home as Lain was, and I’d ignored my gut. Stupid, dangerous move.

“Why didn’t Rhain tell us about this?” I snarled, looking over at the Theran, who was sitting in his seat a blank look on his pretty face.

I knew that look. Rhain got it a lot. He was off spirit-walking. That meant we couldn’t even talk to Rian.

“Do you have the ability to maneuver well enough to land on Varga? The platform requires precision,” Lain asked.

Meida was shaking his head as he shifted his body from side to side in overly exaggerated movements. Still the ship barely changed direction at all. We were almost completely without the ability to navigate. And Varga was coming up fast.

“Crash land in a field nearby? We’re small enough that we’d cause limited damage to unpopulated areas,” Lain suggested, his voice a growl.

“I don’t even think we have that much control. We’re going to enter the gravitational field of the planet and then it’ll be anyone’s guess what happens to us,” I said, panic making my voice higher than normal.

“Will the hull handle a full-on crash?” Meida gasped out, obviously exhausted from trying to move the sluggish ship around.

“Probably. If the asteroids didn’t weaken it. There were no breaches, but beyond that… We should have taken the time for a maintenance overhaul,” I couldn’t help adding, though it did no good.

Lain growled again, knowing it was his fault we were in this predicament.

Rian suddenly jumped out of his seat and headed down the corridor. I knew he was getting Jenna. Couldn’t he have just used Mind Speak to bring her in here? But no, she’d refused to talk to any of them in her head, or in person, since yesterday.

While we brainstormed ideas that got us nowhere, we all waited for Jenna to appear. We had let her down. This fresh danger was the direct result of our inexperience. We should have had the damage checked out.

When she dashed onto the deck, her face flushed, her hair in delightful disarray, I felt my cock jerk to life. It did that every time I saw her.

“What now?” she demanded.

“We need to try for a crash landing. Strap in. This is going to get bumpy!” Lain told her through gritted teeth.

Terror flared brighter inside her, leaching the color from her cheeks. Even though I didn’t share Mind Speak with her, I felt the intensity of her emotions. The constant danger was eating away her nerves, bit by bit. No one should have to experience the danger and pain she had lived through in the past few months.

Rian guided her to her seat and buckled her in. Glancing across at Jenna, I saw her smile bravely up at him. Were they talking privately again? Jealousy pushed at my own control.

That was my podmate with the Theran. All I wanted to do was tear his hands off her. Yet it was probably Rian helping her, not Charsus. I had to get a grip!

Over the next hour we labored to regain some control over our vessel. At times, it felt like we might just be able to do it, as we successfully brought the ship around so it was flying at a safe angle for atmospheric reentry. Then we’d lose it again and have to wrestle to keep the angle we’d achieved.

Finally, as the surface of the planet came into full view, I felt my heart give out. We were going to come down in Vargeez territory. I could see the two continents, north and south, quite clearly now on the viewing screen. I could see the ocean dividing them and the isthmuses of land that intermittently linked the continents. If I concentrated, I could even see the wide swath of damage cause by the rogue storm across the width of the northern hemisphere. It looked as devastating from space as it did from the ground.

I looked over at Jenna. How could I not, when everything we were doing was to save her? My gaze was drawn to her like iron filings drawn to a magnet.

She looked utterly transfixed by what she saw in front of us. Yet there was a certain emotional distance