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Fig knew the moment Anna drifted to sleep. Her breathing slowed, and she stopped moving her hand. He did love it when she petted him. The promise he’d made had been sincere, but he didn’t have to like it. Anna made some good points, but he hated the idea of taking her into danger.
He couldn’t break his promise, though. She might never forgive him if he left her behind. She said marriage was a partnership, and he agreed. That meant they should do things together.
He stroked the soft skin of her back near her spine. Even dangerous things. It might just be the cost of having her in my life. Marisol wouldn’t have been able to find us if I hadn’t saved Anna from permanent death.
He forced all thought from his head, knowing that he needed to get some sleep. There would be little of it in the following days until he could safely bring his Anna back home.
“Computer,” he softly called out. “Set an alarm to wake us in four hours.”
There was a soft chime to let him know it had taken his command. He decided to leave the lights on low in case Anna woke from needing to use the bathroom. It would take her time to learn about their new home and the layout.
He just hoped they would have the long future together he couldn’t stop thinking about.
Chapter Ten
Anna sat in the secondary seat on Fig’s shuttle. She knew it had been difficult for him to allow her to stay at his side when they might face flying into a trap. It’s why she kept telling him how much she appreciated that he hadn’t broken his word.
Fig looked much more worried than she felt. She turned her head, seeing the huge shuttle flying next to them. Blade kept pace with them in the much larger vessel. They weren’t out there alone to face whatever waited. She felt confident they’d be okay. There was no other option. She’d finally found happiness. Nothing was going to take that away from her.
The comms dinged. Fig immediately answered.
“We should be seeing something on our long-range sensors soon,” Blade stated. “Should we risk attempting to raise Free?”
Fig seemed to consider it. “No. The only reason I feel confident speaking with you is because we’re transmitting extremely weak signals that no one else will be able to pick up. I don’t want to give away our location or the fact that two of us are approaching the destination.”
“Agreed. They’ll pick us up on their sensors soon as well, but with us traveling so closely together, they should have mistaken us for one vessel instead of two. They won’t realize the truth until we’re in visual range.”
“That was a good plan.”
Blade chuckled. “I have my moments. Being forced to work with pirates taught me some tricks.”
Fig glanced at Anna before he winked. “Was your Hailey upset that you left her at home?”
“A little,” Blade admitted. “Her parents were on my side, though. They are very protective of her. Both promised to keep her busy so she doesn’t worry too much.”
Anna shot him a smile, knowing he was teasing her by asking that question. He’d gotten a little grief from Big when he’d realized Anna was tagging along. Fig had taken it good-natured, though, explaining he would never tell his wife what to do.
The past few days traveling had seemed to make him feel better about bringing her along. They’d made love more often at first, depending on Blade to keep an eye out for danger. Fig had even felt safe enough to give him remote control of the autopilot while they’d spent time in the cabin. The bed was more comfortable than the pilot’s seat for frisky times.
“I have something.” Blade’s voice deepened. “Shit. Are you seeing this?”
Fig leaned forward, his hands flying over the controls. Anna wasn’t sure what he was reading on the console, but whatever it was, his jaw clenched, and his body got ramrod stiff.
“What is it?” She couldn’t contain her curiosity for more than a few seconds.
“Long-range sensors are picking up three shuttles. Not one or two.”
“What does that mean?” Anna leaned forward in her seat, trying to glimpse what was holding Fig’s full attention.
He glanced at her and pointed to the red dots showing on the console in front of him. “This is nearest to my retreat. I believe it’s the shuttle we encountered.” He moved his hand over to two other red dots. “These seem to be heading toward the first one.”
“A fourth just showed, but I believe that one must be Free,” Blade cut in. “It’s coming from the direction of the Balarian system.”
“So it must be a trap.” Fig ground out a muttered curse.
“No. I think it’s two pirate teams going after the shuttle we planned to meet with.” Blade cleared his throat. “Those two advancing shuttles aren’t flying closely together, but they are coming from the direction of a known hub.”
“What’s a hub?” Anna had never heard of that term before. Everything out in outer space was different from Earth.
