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“You’re really that one-dimensional? All you care about is having a good time? You never think about the future?”

He forced a smile. “Why bother? We have no control over our futures. For all we know, there could be more Gente ships heading this way. They could blast us off these rocks, and that would be it.”

She turned away and swiped a hand across her face.

Striker straightened, his stomach plummeting. Was she... crying?

“If you don’t make plans, how can you have a purpose? What gets you up every morning?” she said.

“Usually the sight of the gorgeous naked female lying next to me.”

She slid him a glare. The coldness in her eyes lodged an ache in his stomach.

“Sure it does. We’ve got work to do. Let’s see how many creatures made it through the crash then get them back into the cages once I’ve fixed them up.”

“Hey, no way. You’re using me and walking away?” He splayed his hands. She had to see this was just fun. No one needed to get hurt.

“I’ll go hunt out some tools. You keep an eye out for any of the creatures.” Wren strode away without a backward glance.

Ah, shit! Striker whacked his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. He was an idiot. He could still taste Wren’s sweetness in his mouth, and the memory of her warmth pressed up against him was like a ghost. Having her in his arms was better than any fantasy he’d conjured. And he’d just lobbed a cyclone grenade in the middle of their relationship and blown it all to hell.

The sound of things being thrown around had him wincing. It was better to crush things now. It was for the best. Wren shouldn’t get involved with him. He couldn’t offer her anything. He didn’t have plans for the future. They only got wiped out if you made them.

Besides, she couldn’t want a fuck up like him. She was just lonely and scared that they were trapped on this rock. Wren had a moment of weakness when he’d made his move.

He pushed away from the wall and looked at the damaged cages. Focus on work. Not Wren’s sweet curves and the way her bottom lip jutted out when she thought about something hard.

His mouth twisted to the side. Several creatures hadn’t made it through the crash and were still in the cages. He extracted them and wrapped them in blankets. Wren didn’t need to deal with them. She got all weepy when something died.

He discovered the cino under one cage, scooped it up, and placed it in a small cage with a locking door.

“I’ll handle the cages. You go look for the animals.” Wren stood in the doorway, a small toolbox in her hand.

“I don’t mind helping. I’m good at fixing things,” he said.

“So am I.” She shoved past him. “Go on a creature hunt. The sooner they’re all back where they belong, the better.”

He walked to the door but stopped.

Wren was bent over, inspecting several of the cages. She glanced at him. “You’re still here?”

He opened his mouth. He owed her an explanation. He didn’t want her to think he’d been using her. They were work partners, but it could never be anything more. No matter how much he teased her about it.

Wren turned away and hammered a cage door back into shape.

Striker walked out of the room, dejection and resignation slamming into him like a jagged hunk of rock.

She’d figure out soon enough that he was doing the right thing. Even if he had to put up with her cold shoulder while they sorted out this mess, this was how it had to be.

The next five hours were spent working on the ship, getting the essential systems back online, and finding and securing the remaining animals.

Striker carried a dazed, flat-eared lob into the room Wren was working in. “I found this one in a filtration duct. Where do you want it?”

She pointed at one of the few remaining empty cages. “It can go in there. Is that the last of them?”

“It’s all I can find. The ship’s system is still registering one free roaming critter. I can’t find it, though.”

Wren walked over and ran a medical scanner over the lob. “He’s dehydrated. Make sure there are plenty of fluids in the cage. There’s no inventory to go along with these creatures, so we’ve no way of finding out what’s still on the loose.”