“Tess? Great Powers. Tess, is that you?”
I turned slowly.Impossible. But that voice… I’d know it anywhere.
I lost all sensation in my body as my blood crashed away, leaving me empty, numb, and shaking. It couldn’t be. But it was. That was Gabe—running straight at me. Gabe was dead. Wasn’t he?
He rushed in and hugged me so powerfully that my feet left the ground and my lungs felt crushed. He swung me around. I landed again, staring past the shell of an ear and longish brown hair that was darker than I remembered. He squeezed me hard, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t squeeze back. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t talk. My arms hung limp, and all I knew was shock. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.
“Tess. Tess. Thank the Sky Mother, you got away.” Gabe looked at me, a heart and a thousand kisses in his eyes. He gripped my face with shaky hands and covered my mouth with his. Soft. Hard. Urgent. Trembling. He kissed me like we were nineteen again, the center of each other’s universes, and looking for a rebel crew to join so we could kick some Dark Watch ass. The two of us. Together. Like we’d always planned.
Gabe flew away from me, a look of total surprise on his face. Shade shoved him another several feet back and stood in front of me.
“Get the hell off my…captain.” He glanced at me. His gaze dipped, making sure I was all right.
I touched an unsteady hand to my mouth. I blinked. Blinked again. My lips felt numb and my vision dark.
Gabe recovered his balance quickly. This was no beanstalk of a boy anymore. He rivaled Shade in height and strength. In fact, his new build reminded me more of Jax.
I’d only ever guessed at what happened to Gabe when I got caught and sent to jail. Now, the pieces slammed together like a cell door crashing closed. “You were on Hourglass Mile, weren’t you? You were in the mines?” We’d never seen each other. Never crossed paths. The whole place was segmented to reduce the risk of riots. The warden wouldn’t have partnered up two people who’d been caught in the same place at the same time, and I’d had no way of knowing who was in a different section of the huge prison, or if Gabe had ended up there at all.
I swallowed, but the tears still rose. He’d been right next to me for two years. He’d beenthatclose.
Gabe nodded. He didn’t move, wary of Shade now.
In a daze, I bypassed Shade and went to Gabe. I touched his arm. Warm. Solid.There. Gabriel was alive. He had been all these years. “I was there, too. From the day we got separated.”
“Me too.” His eyes searched mine, shining with moisture. Aglow with invitation. That life we’d talked about was still on offer. I saw it, right there for the taking.
My chest ached so deeply it felt as if someone had buried a hatchet in it. Gabe and I had lost so much. Freedom. Each other.Us. We were both out of prison, but we hadn’t found each other until now. In my heart, I knew that meant he’d been on the Mile this whole time, but I still needed to hear it from him. “I escaped five years ago. When did you get out?”
“Five years? Oh, the explosion. Good.” He looked relieved for me. “I just got out. Barely a snap ago.” His hazel eyes were just as I recalled, green and brown with flecks of gold. They looked into me and burned my soul. I’d left him. I’d left him there and gone on alone.
“How?” My eyes stung and watered. He blurred in front of me. This man I’d loved. My first friend on Starway 8. Gabe.
“They blamed me for a riot. A DW general picked me up to get me out of their hair while they brought things back under control on the Mile, but I was slated for a lethal injection. He was supposed to make a public spectacle of it from his big scary warship. Instead, the guy, Bridgebane, gave me a choice. The injection, or try my luck in a black hole.”
My jaw fell open as I stared at him. I knew this story. “He sent you after me.Iwent through the Black Widow, and Bridgebane wanted to know if I could have survived somehow.”
Surprise wiped all expression from Gabe’s face, and we were both pretty damn shocked to begin with. “You. I followed you?”
“Well, no.” I dropped my hand from his arm, realizing I was still gripping it so hard my fingers hurt. “I ended up in Sector 2, and you went to Sector 17.”
Gabe’s dark brows drew together under the shaggy fall of hair that tumbled over his forehead. “How do you know that?”
“Bridgebane told me.”
His frown deepened. “How did—”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. You’re alive. I can’t believe it. Have you told Mareeka and Surral yet? They’ve been so worried.”
“No.” He looked surprised. “I didn’t really think about it.”
A knife finally pierced my fog, the cold, sharp prick of a dagger. “Didn’tthinkabout it?” How was that possible?
“Yeah. I made it here. Figured I’d join the DT refugees and earn my keep until a crew had room to take me on with them.” He stood up straighter. “Did that guy say ‘captain’?”
I nodded, looking atthat guy. Shade. I touched my lips again, still feeling the press of Gabe’s mouth there.
“Fucking Captain Tess Bailey.” Gabe grinned at me. “You’re living the life we always wanted.”
