I could barely make out Alrik's face in the dark as we both were frozen in shock. His hand was still pressed against my bare skin, and the weight of his body on mine was holding me down.

The rising bulge in his pants throbbed against my thigh, and I inhaled sharply, "Alrik, get off."

His eyebrows knitted together, "Get off?"

The double meaning of my command flashed in my head, and I groaned in embarrassment, "Not that get off. The get-your-ass-up get off."

All the blood in his head had clearly flowed down south because he appeared to still be stuck in his lusty world. Nonetheless, he lifted himself off my body and kneeled beside me as I sat up and tried looking around the pitch dark bridge.

"Why did the power go out? Are we under attack?" Alrik asked lowly as he stood up. I whipped my wand out of my pocket and muttered a spell under my breath to create a ball of light at the tip of my wand.

Just as I stood up and directed the light to the engine, the door slammed open and four balls of light floated around, illuminating the faces of the rest of the crew.

"What happened?" Miles asked, walking over and gripping my hand, "Are you alright?"

Alrik placed a hand on my bare back where my shirt had risen, and I stiffened, "I'm fine, Miles. Just caught off guard by the engine busting." And caught off guard by Alrik's random possessive nature.

How Miles did not notice Alrik's hand was beyond me, but he nodded and let me go thankfully. That was when I finally snapped into captain mode and realized I had to put out inspections across the ship.

"Miles, Darlene, Allen, you three check the crankcase. Kevin, Sawyer, check the bedplate. Alrik, you and I will check the tanks and alarm system because an alarm should have gone off if something went wrong with the engines."

As part of the group left to do the inspections, I turned my head so I could see Alrik out of the corner of my eye, "Shall we?"

He cocked an eyebrow and nodded, "After you."

***

Ten minutes into checking the alarms and Alrik's erection brushing against my ass more times that I would have liked, I flipped around to glare at him. His arms were on either side of my head as he leaned over to check the parts above my head that I couldn't reach.

"Why are you still hard?"

He seemed taken aback by my question but there was a flash of amusement in his eyes, "Why am I still hard? I never had a woman ask me that before." 

"Yeah? They probably ask why you're so hard-headed, not hard."

He rolled his eyes and looked back up at the alarms, "Believe it or not, I cannot control my dick. It's not something I can command like a dog."

"I never said control it. I'm just curious as to why you're still hard when the moment is over and done with."

"The moment is over and done with, huh?" He mocked, dropping his head so I could see his darkening gray depths.

I swallowed hard, trying to pretend I was not aware of how close our bodies were and of the desire that was burning in the pit of my stomach. I could blame the mate bond for how horny we were, but I could also blame it on the fact that neither of us had any action in decades.

"Let me tell you something," his voice dropped an octave, "You may think the moment's over and done with, but being squeezed into this tiny space where I can feel every one of your soft curves grinding against mine and smell the heady fragrance of your arousal has me aching to shove you against the wall of this ship and satisfy you in ways your pretty little head couldn't imagine possible."

He was not the only one visibly aroused now. My cheeks were burning, and I was positive they were bright pink. Not to mention, the hard tips begging for his attention through my thin shirt. I had no doubt he could feel them from the growing smirk on his face.

His arms were still above my head as he leaned in even closer and placed his lips against my ear, "Are we feeling frustrated, Ms. Beaumont?"

I let out an unexpected whimper as he nipped my earlobe and moved down to the crook of my neck to breathe in my scent.

"You are lethal to any warm-blooded male," he whispered with a hint of a raspy undertone, "A firecracker personality with a body carved to perfection by the Moon Goddess herself."

My heart was sprinting in my chest. Alrik thought I was intoxicating, but he didn't know how bewitching he was when he wasn't being an asshole. No other man I had met set my lungs on fire like he did. He made me breathless to the point that my heart would almost come to a complete stop.

But as much as I wanted to indulge in whatever scenarios were running through his head, I knew I had to stop this before it got any further. We were in an emergency situation.

"Alrik," I mumbled, trailing off as he practically purred against my skin, "Alrik, we need to finish the inspections of the ship."

"I would much rather do a thorough inspection of something else," he grunted, his hands falling to my shoulders and trailing a burning path over my breasts to the curve of my waist and hips and back to my ass that he gripped roughly.

I was completely torn between shoving him off and raking my hands through his hair that was tickling my cheek. 

"Am I interrupting?"

Alrik immediately lifted his head so we both could stare at Miles, who was eyeing Alrik's hands on my ass, "The group has finished checking the engine. Everything seems to be in order."

I gently shoved Alrik away and breathed deeply to clear my mind of the euphoric haze the two of us were in. 

"Thank you, Miles. We'll join you in the bridge momentarily to discuss the plan," I said, subtly telling him to leave.

He nodded reluctantly and disappeared behind the door once again. 

I sighed silently and directed my attention to Alrik, who was pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, "We need to get a grip on our hormones."

"I know," he muttered, "But you just keep messing with my mind. I'm not one to usually neglect my duty, but having you nearby is turning me into a dog in the heat."

His words sparked another thought in my head, "Do I go through the heat cycle even if I'm not a werewolf?"

He cocked his head down at me, "I believe so. Regardless of your species, you're still supernatural. But you'll only experience it after I mark you."

That should be fun. I always wanted to be inexplicably hormonal. 

"We should go," he said, nodding to the door, "Before Mills comes back."

"Miles," I corrected amusedly, "You may not like him but don't stoop to that level."

"The only level I'm at is in Tartarus. There isn't anything lower. So I can call him whatever I want to call him."

"Alrik!"

He shrugged nonchalantly and started walking to the door. I rolled my eyes and followed him back to the bridge where the group was whispering among themselves.

"So we didn't find any issues anywhere which is very odd," I started, watching all their concerned faces turn to me, "But until we figure out what happened, we're going to be stuck here and we don't have a lot of time. I'm going to have to take the lifeboat to the island."

"Isn't that far though?" Darlene furrowed her eyebrows, "Where is the island?"

"I would four to five nautical miles away. It would take me a few hours to get there but it's quicker than waiting for the ship to be fixed."

"I'll go with you," Miles stepped forward, "It's too dangerous for you to go by yourself."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Alrik stiffen and knew that whatever happened, I could not let Miles and Alrik stay in the same spot. They would end up killing each other one day or another.

"Miles," I smiled gently, "I truly appreciate the offer but you're the best ship engineer. It would make more sense if you stayed behind and helped the others figure out what went wrong."

"Right. Of course," he cleared his throat and stepped back awkwardly.

Alrik turned to me, "I'll go with you. We have to discuss a few things in private anyway."

 I nodded although curiosity was crawling through my mind, 

"Very well then."