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Sloan examined her ne member, and he stared up at her with a look she knew all too well His eyes filled with tears, and she couldn’t handle being able to see so clearly into someone else’s soul She ducked her head down to his and whispered in his ear, “You’re free now We will get you back on your feet Don’t worry” She stood and addressed thefor? Get him well!”

TheSloan and Dev in the shuttle bay

“Ne member, huh?”

“Did you want me to leave him there?”

“It’s another mouth to feed, and you paid way over htly, which was the closest to a full-out grin he ever got

“Gah, you’re such an asshole sometimes Would you prefer if I had left you in the cell I found you in? I had to drive the price down, or none of us were getting out of there”

“Maybe I don’t like the idea of your newest fixer-upper replacing

“Don’t worry, Dev You’ll alw

ays have a special place incost otten how er I had to wait on those reactor repairs because of the way you stared at me with those sad violet eyes” Sloan threw her arive him a pat

“You’ll soon get over not being my latest crew acquisition I’ave hie before we end up having to unload the rest of our cargo”

Chapter 3

Xan stared up at the ceiling of thepain of his previous existence finally ebbing away after the doctor had administered medication They had put hiiven hi him there It was a rapid decontamination, but it still took time He drifted in and out of consciousness

His muscles relaxed, and his jaw unclenched as the reality and safety of his situation settled over hioing to take this tith

Is this all just a hallucination? Am I dead?