Page 35
Her gut tightened, and a breath shot out of her. “They were taking me off the ship?”
“Cleo fought them on it, but they wouldn’t listen. Apparently, they’re jumpy since the crew of the Rampage went rogue.”
Her head jerked back. “I don’t get it. The Rampage had their heads turned by a huge payoff. All I got was jabbed in the neck with some weird alien tech.”
“Yeah, we all know that, but High Command wasn’t listening. So, I decided to do things my way.” He glanced at her. “Our way. You’re not angry?”
“Angry! Rexx, this is perfect. I’d planned to get off the Apocalypse. I wanted out of there. And there’s no way in hell High Command will use me as a lab rat. Who knows what they’d do? Probably pull me apart to see what the Gente did.”
A loud, off-key screeching meow had her turning. Asshole wandered into the cockpit. Daisy’s three kittens were hanging off his long ginger tail, using it like a chew toy.
Asshole flipped his tail, and the kittens scattered. They crouched, their eyes bright as they prepared for another assault.
“Hey, leave him alone, you lot. He’s not your plaything.” Daisy scooped the kittens into her arms and kissed them. “I see Asshole decided not to kill my fluff balls.”
Rexx grunted. “It was touch and go. He stamped his authority on them a few times, so they know he’s alpha cat.”
Asshole gave another loud tomcat screech. He jumped onto Rexx’s lap and butted him hard under the chin.
“Hey, buddy.” Rexx chucked his head with a finger.
The kittens squirmed until Daisy let them go. They bounded over to Rexx and leaped all over him and Asshole. It was the cutest thing she’d ever seen. It helped to take away some of the shock at this messed up situation.
“So, what’s the plan?” she asked.
“I’m no fan of leaving the crew behind, but you’re my priority. I wasn’t letting High Command take you. I’ve left a time delayed message with Cleo. She’ll know what’s going on soon enough.”
“You haven’t told her where we’re going?” Daisy grabbed Darwin before he stamped all over the controls with his fluffy paws.
“Only I know that. But we’re going somewhere safe. We’ll lie low until we figure this out.”
Daisy swiped a hand across her sweaty forehead as she snuggled Darwin close. “I’m glad to be out of there, but I’m not going to lie, I feel gross. Worse than I’ve done in a while.”
Rexx shot her a glance. “You’re in control, though? You’re not thinking of racing off or pulling your bitch moves on me?”
“Bitch moves?”
“Like on Asiram. One minute, you wanted to kill me, and the next...”
“Uh, yeah, I remember what I did.” Her face grew even hotter. “I’m shaking, and I’m a gross, sweaty mess, but I’m still here.”
“You’re not gross.”
“Only to you. Everyone else would ask me to move to another room.”
He shrugged. “Never gross. I’ve got more bad news. It’s probably the reason you’re not feeling so great. Whatever is inside you, it’s spreading. It’s slow, but it’s trickling through you.”
Daisy lurched forward in her seat. The pulse in her throat tripled in speed, and her tongue went dry. “What is this thing? It sounds like it’s alive.”
“We still don’t know.” Rexx reached out a hand. “And there’s more.”
“What? Don’t baby me. Tell me what Angel found.”
He sighed and dropped his hand back to the controls. “It’s manipulating your DNA.”
“My DNA. That sounds... terminal.” What worried her almost as much as that terrible news was the haunted look in Rexx’s eyes. She’d never seen that expression before. It was chilling. “Will this thing kill me?”
“No. I won’t let you die.”
