Chapter 8
Captain Jennifer Brooklyn hadn’t known what to expect from her rescue mission to an alien world. One thing she hadn’t counted on was being locked in the engine room of her ship with a bossy, albeit handsome, extraterrestrial while the rest of her crew was at the mercy of a six-foot tall block of jelly.
Some days in outer space were better than others.
“We need to see if we can override the lockout.” This coming from her companion; a tall, well-built alien with midnight black eyes, dark tendrils for hair, and the ability to shoot electricity from his hands.
He also had the ability to change color faster than she could change clothes, and currently he was hovering somewhere between yellow and mint green.
Only an hour ago she and her crew had been headed toward the planet classified as JL-398, on a mission to locate the missing scientist Dr. Sylvia Cohen. Dr. Cohen had come to the planet due to a NASA probe revealing that signs of life did, in fact, exist.
She hadn't been heard from since her ship entered JL-398's atmosphere.
Brook's mission was to locate Dr. Cohen, or her remains.
Before theEarhartcould reach the planet, they'd encountered a massive alien ship and had been forcibly boarded by Major Ontarii and his two goons. Ontarii had revealed a plot by the Zantharian's enemy, the shapeshifter race known as the Hareema, to infiltrate Earth and JL-398, the homeworld that the alien called Zanthar.
While searching the ship for missing crewmembers, she and the Zantharian major had been locked in the engine room. This was after they'd watched theEarhart's security specialist be blown away by a sentient rectangle of jelly.
Nothing made sense at present.
“The controls are behind this panel here,” Brook said, kneeling on the hard metal grating and removing the panel underneath the button that controlled the door. “We might be able to open the door with the manual override.”
The Zantharian, Major Ontarii, stood close behind her, bending over to watch as she removed the panel and peered inside. She could feel his warmth at her back, which only seemed to distract her. He had a scent that reminded her of playing in the ocean as a child. It was a comforting scent, but the major was turning out to be anything but comforting.
Brook couldn't describe the feeling the alien major inspired in her. Like her, he was powerful and no stranger to authority. He was capable, smart, and in control. She glanced back at him and scowled, hoping to hide the hint of lust that rushed through her.
Good thing he was turning out to be a complete ass. Otherwise, she might consider taking a detour from the drama and entangling herself with him for a less than appropriate encounter.
“Can you override it?” he asked, his impatience palpable.
“Give me a minute,” she said, turning back to the contraption and blowing her bangs out of her face. “I’m not an engineer, you know.”
She fumbled with the mass of wires and connectors, looking for the small lever that activated the manual override. In the event of a system-wide failure, manual fail-safes were built in so that the crew could open doors without power.
“Every moment we waste here is another moment the Hareema could be taking over your vessel.”
“You think I don’t know that?” she snapped.
Ontarii might be handsome in an exotic-ET-kind-of-way, but he could annoy her faster than an itch she couldn’t scratch when she was wearing an EV suit.
Her fingers fumbled over the lever and she let out the breath she’d been holding. “Found it,” she said, pulling back on the lever.
Nothing happened.
“Well?” he asked, watching the door.
“See if you can pull it open now.” She motioned toward the still-closed door.
There was nowhere to grip the door so Ontarii put his hands flat against its surface and pushed. She could tell he was putting all his strength into it by the way his muscles twitched under his glossy yellow skin.
He may be the most well-built male specimen I’ve ever seen.
His uniform didn’t leave much to the imagination and she watched as his chest and abdomen muscles flexed. He had to have a mate. Surely someone as strong, healthy and good-looking as him did.
“It won’t budge,” he groaned after pushing against it for a minute more.
“Dammit.” She poked through the door’s wiring with more force as anxiety crept into her chest.
