My body flopped helplessly. Splices of pain shocked my senses and stung at my skin. Our ship flipped and skidded over the ground, tumbling end over end until—
CRACK!
We smashed into something else. The case I’d been gripping tore out of my grasp as my head banged off the window right beside me. Or maybe it was the windshield? I couldn’t tell. Everything was a smear of spinning color.
My vision went dark for a second, maybe two. When it came back, everything skewed in and out of focus. My ears rang with a high-pitched squeal. Pain from that spot on the back of my head where my ling-con had been implanted seared through my skull. Every breath ached like someone was sitting on my chest. My brain fogged, my thoughts blurring together.
The ringing in my ears grew louder. My vision went dim, threatening to go dark again. I blinked hard. No! I had to focus! Awake! I had to stay awake! If I passed out, something else might happen. I wouldn’t see it coming.
Across the cockpit, I caught fleeting glimpses of my companion’s bulky frame slumped over in his seat. He … He wasn’t moving. His expression was blank and his eyes were shut.
Was he … ?
Was I going to … ?
No. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want either of us to die. Not like this.
My head pounded and my arms shook as I tried pushing away from my seat. The harness still held me firmly in place. That must have been why my chest hurt so bad. But it was probably the only reason I was even alive and not in a million scattered, smoldering pieces somewhere in the alien desert.
Something warm and wet dripped down the side of my face. Blood?
I blinked a few more times, trying to clear my head. The ringing in my ears faded and gradually fell silent. That was when I realized I was dangling sideways from my seat. It wasn’t just me, though. The whole ship was lying sideways with my half up in the air. And my alien co-pilot was …
“H-Hey.” I gasped, still blinking away the fog in my brain. I squinted down at the seat across the cockpit from mine.
Drooping against the smashed remains of the other side of our ship, he lay perfectly still. I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.
“Hey! Wake up! Can you hear me?” I tried, wheezing louder, but my voice was barely more than a hoarse squeak.
Down. I had to get down and help him now.
Reaching for the buckle on my harness, I set my jaw and pressed the release lever. Nothing happened. I pressed it again. Nothing. The front of it was banged up from the crash.
“Oh, god. Oh, shit. No, no, no, no—NO!” I pitched wildly, trying to wrench myself free of the straps.
“Wake up! You have to wake up! Please! Hello?” My voice cracked and broke, my throat burning as I managed one desperate scream. “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”
My alien companion’s strange feline eyes flew open.
His whole body jerked, his hands snapping into fists as though by primal instinct. He stared around, slowly panning his gaze across our demolished would-be runner craft until, at last, he looked up at where I was dangling from my seat like a kid in a car seat. Not dignified at all, but it wasn’t like I could help it.
I let out a gasping sob of relief. “Y-You’re alive!”
He blinked at me a few times before he seemed to remember who I was. “W-What the hell happened?” He groaned as he reached down and unfastened his own harness. Great. Well, at least his still worked.
“We … We crashed,” I panted and wiped at the blood that still dribbled down the side of my face, trying to pull myself together. Tracing my fingertips along my face, I could feel the raised line of a cut that scored my cheekbone all the way to my ear.
“More like we got crashed into.” He grumbled as he stood. Er, well, crouched. He was too big to stand in the cockpit, especially when everything was sideways. “You okay? Anything broken?”
Um, what? Did he actually care?
“F-Fine, I think. Just really looking forward to getting down.” I made a diligent effort not to look him in the eye as he moved in close, examining my damaged harness and buckle.
“You’re bleeding,” he pointed out.
“I know. It’s just a cut, I think. It stings a little, but—”
He grabbed my chin in his big fingers suddenly, turning my face to get a better look.
My heart hit the back of my throat, choking out anything else I’d wanted to say. From that close, I could see every detail of the strange, blurry markings that contoured his face. And those eyes. Just the sight of his oddly colored, too-big irises made my stomach swim. Those gleaming hues surrounding his small pupils made a gradient of green to blue with a coppery, almost golden ring around the outside. Weird. But insanely beautiful.
Ugh. No, Brinna. Get it together. I could not be thinking things like that about this guy.
“Meh, it’s just a superficial wound.” He let my chin go and looked away.
“Told you,” I murmured, forcing a sullen frown. “My harness buckle is smashed, though. I can’t get down.”
“Okay, hang tight.” One corner of his mouth twitched at a smirk.
I narrowed my eyes dangerously. “Is that supposed to be funny?”
He didn’t reply.
Cramped in that tiny, sideways place, there was barely room for a guy his size to move, let alone look around at how my harness was configured. And every time he did, his hair brushed my face or he got so close, I could practically feel the intense heat radiating off his body. It made my throat clamp shut. I had to close my eyes and turn my face away. It didn’t help much. From that close, that
