Page 45 of Dragon Me Through Space

I arched a brow. “Traitor? How am I a traitor?” Last I had seen him, he was fleeing from me.

“You killed the Underlord. He knew it was a possibility, so he sent me payment in the event it did happen so I could have my revenge.”

“You hated him,” I gaped.

“He was my brother!” he shouted.

Oh. Oh!

“I didn’t know that,” I admitted.

“Doesn’t matter,” he snarled and pulled back the hammer on his pistol. “You still need to die.”

“To be fair, I didn’t kill him,” I admitted.

He scowled. “What?”

“I did,” Zeke said, suddenly appearing behind Targus.

Targus’s head snapped around, while his gun remained trained on me.

Gage dashed forward, knocking his arm up so he couldn’t shoot me, at the same time that Zeke headbutted him.

Targus fell to the ground, unconscious, but still alive.

“Hello, Giant!” I greeted with a warm wave.

“This is a nice town. How did you still manage to find trouble?” He huffed out a breath and shook his head. “I anticipated this, but still.”

Putting my hands on my hips, I reminded him, “He was trying to kill me for what you did.”

“I did that to keep you safe,” he countered.

“Come on, time to return to the ship,” Gage said and linked our hands together again.

Zeke scowled down at our joined hands, but stayed silent as he followed behind us.

“Thank you, for our date today. I had fun,” I said to Gage with a warm, authentic smile as we boarded the ship.

Zeke ignored us as he continued deeper into the ship, but the scowl on his face remained.

“After we leave Exostalon, would you consider a second date on a different planet or on the ship with me?” he asked. He looked incredibly vulnerable and I wanted to hug him to make him feel better, but held back.

“Yes, definitely. Certainly. Please.”

He smiled and kissed my cheek. “It’s a date, then. Have a good night, Diamond.”

CHAPTER TEN

“Don’t wander too far,” Zeke ordered me as I walked down the ramp to the dock.

I mimicked him silently while I raised my hand to acknowledge that I’d heard him.

He growled, but didn’t say anything else.

“Use the ear comms if you need us,” Wayne called out.

Spinning around, I smiled at him and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Take care of refueling and restocking.”