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Her expression tightened. “You may want to go down in a blaze of glory, but I’ve still got things to do. The project has only been running six months. We have thousands of creatures to protect. I can’t do that crash landed on who knows where.”

“I know where we are. Signus X.”

“You’re missing the point. We’ve crash landed. We can’t get help. We only have enough life support for a certain amount of time, and we’ve got a cargo full of injured animals who need our help. We—”

“Then we deal with this one step at a time and move forward.”

“I just want one mission to go right. I want—”

Striker pulled her close and pressed his mouth against hers. He needed her calm. He had to get her mind off this mess.

She pulled back. “What are you doing?”

“Making you see sense.” He took her mouth again, curling his arms around her.

The cino squeaked and leaped out of the way.

Wren’s resistance faded as he swept his tongue across her lips, needing access to her sweet taste. He pressed her close as her mouth opened and their tongues met.

The kiss sparked lust through his gut and tweaked his cock into action, but he held back from crushing her to him. She was injured. Instead, he teased her with a long, deep head rush of a kiss. He stroked her back, feeling her shiver beneath his touch.

She leaned into him, and her hands ran up his thighs.

Striker held her in his arms as he tipped her back, lost in her taste and the feel of her soft curves. She was magnificent.

When a small moan of pleasure slipped from her lips and she slid closer, he felt like he’d won the top prize. She wanted him.

Her hand went to his chest, and she pulled away. “Wait. This is wrong.”

He exhaled slowly, disappointment punching him in the gut. “Wrong? No one’s ever told me I’ve done that wrong before.”

“No, I didn’t mean the kiss. That was...” Her hand went to her swollen lips. “We’re partners.”

“Isn’t this what partners do to each other? And a lot more.” He lowered his face to hers, but she pushed him back.

“I’m serious. We can’t get distracted.”

“It’s exactly what you need. You were spiraling.”

“So, you thought us making out would fix everything?”

“I don’t know about you, but it’s making me feel amazing.” Striker settled on his heels. He wanted so badly to kiss her again, but the pained indecision in her eyes made him hesitate. He never expected their first kiss to be like that. He didn’t want it to end. Wren clearly didn’t feel the same.

She rubbed her forehead, her gaze skittering around the room. “There’s so much we need to think about. So much to do. Let’s focus on the ship. And we need to get back to the Apocalypse.”

He turned away, his head bent. For a second, it seemed like Wren wanted him. But of course, she was in shock. He was the biggest jerk in the universe, taking advantage of an injured woman.

Her hand clutching his arm had him turning back to her.

A half-grin crossed his face. “Have you changed your mind?”

Wren’s eyes were huge and fixed over his shoulder. “We’ve got company.”

Striker turned slowly, danger spiking up his spine in tiny jagged, painful barbs, his hand traveling to his gun.

In the corridor was the sharp-toothed, salivating pantha.

Chapter 7