A Star Pilot's Hero (All the Stars in the Sky Book 2) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Book 1 Recap

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Free bonus chapter

  If you liked A Star Pilot’s Hero, you might enjoy Vivi Clarke’s other books:

  Acknowledgments

  Review

  About the authors

  Copyright

  A Star Pilot’s Hero: A Reverse Harem Romance

  All the Stars in the Sky Book 2

  Eva Delaney

  Vivi Clarke

  Copyright 2019

  Book 1 Recap

  Calpurnia Bellatrix (aka Cal) was the best pilot and smuggler in The Uprising—a military organization determined to stop the cruel Supremacy. She worked alone because she had been burned before. Her parents abandoned her, her sister died in Supremacy mines, and her boyfriend, Orion, ghosted her.

  For a deadly mission to rescue Agent Winters, a spy with intel that could bring down the Supremacy, Cal was assigned a new crew. They all caused her trouble in different ways:

  Orion: The ex-boyfriend was trying to win her heart as though he hadn’t left her.

  Polaris: The nerdy best friend who was in love with her.

  Hamal: The sweet doctor and Orion’s best friend who Cal couldn’t help but be attracted to.

  Antares: A Supremacy bounty hunter who switched sides to help find Winters. Cal wasn’t certain she could trust him, no matter how hot and charming he was or how cute his pug, Mr. Pancake, was.

  Rux: The gruff soldier who mistrusted Cal and believed she was working with Antares to doom the mission.

  Cal decided to lead her crew to Vinera space port so she could ditch them and continue the mission alone. On the way, she started to develop feelings for the men. Finally, Orion admitted why he had left her three years ago: Someone in The Uprising had framed her and was going to throw her in jail. Orion took the fall and went to prison so Cal could remain free.

  Cal was conflicted: Orion should have told her the truth when it happened. But when he vanished, she assumed he didn’t love her and decided not to look for him. If she had investigated his disappearance, she could have saved him from prison. Moreover, the organization she devoted her life to had betrayed her and Orion.

  At Vinera, they ran into Prince Castor of the Supremacy, the only fighter pilot who ever bested Calpurnia. She sacrificed herself so her crew could escape and continue with the mission.

  In Castor’s claws, Calpurnia learned that he decided not to kill her when he had the chance years ago—and the Supremacy looked down on him for it. But he wasn’t all good. He used her captured ship to trick The Uprising into thinking Cal and her crew betrayed Agent Winters. Unless they found the spy, they could never prove their innocence and return home.

  Cal tried to escape at the same time her crew arrived to rescue her. Together, they fled Castor, stole his ship, and escaped Vinera.

  Orion and Cal decided to get back together just as the stolen ship broke down in the middle of nowhere.

  Chapter 1

  “Fucking fuck fuckity fuck,” I said.

  My heart thundered in my head as I stared at the darkness and the faraway pinpricks of silver stars.

  We had just dropped out of hyperspace light-years from our destination and with no planets in sight. The Supremacy and Prince Castor were surely on our tails. Plus, we had to find Agent Winters, who possessed intel that would save the galaxy. Any delays could mean her trail going cold. We couldn’t afford to be stranded.

  I pushed the accelerator of the Invictus, the ship we had stolen from Prince Castor, but nothing happened. I cursed and shook the controls, but the fucking ship wouldn’t move.

  “Piece of shit,” I shouted at it, slamming the controls and willing the ship to move by sheer rage.

  I did not survive this long to be captured or to die from lack of air or starvation in a busted ship in the middle of fuck-all nowhere.

  “The engines aren’t responding,” Orion said from the co-pilot’s seat.

  “No shit,” I said.

  He reached over and placed a reassuring hand on my wrist while his other hand flew across the controls. I pulled my arm away from his touch to free up his hand for work. This wasn’t the time for reassurance and comfort. This was time to save our asses.

  Sweat beaded on his temple despite his calm voice. “Even the debugger won’t answer. Only the generator is still running.”

  “If anyone thinks the prince isn’t on the way here, you’re delusional. I’ll be at the guns,” Rux said. “You might want to surrender again, Trix, but I’m going down fighting.”

  I whirled my chair to face him, clenching my jaw in fury. The anger was made stronger by the fact that he was partly right. I had lost my ship, and that was why The Uprising, our own people, thought we were traitors.

  Rux glared back, challenging me to stop him. Despite the cold rage in his eyes, they were the color of violets in blue twilight, so out of place with his anger. His hair fell in perfect blond waves that framed his chiseled face. He might be handsome if he smiled—or stopped scowling all the time. A strand of that hair fell over his downturned eyebrows like a ray of sunshine. I wanted to yank it off his head.

  I had gotten us into trouble, but I had also gotten us out of it. “Sit down and shut up while I save your ass again.”

  At the same time, Orion said, “Cali is the commander, you don’t question her.”

  “I don’t need you to give orders for me,” I said to Orion under my breath.

  “I’m helping. You shouldn’t have to fight that asshole,” he whispered back. But in the small space of the cockpit, everyone heard everything.

  Rux snorted in derision. Great. Now I looked like even more of a weak-willed idiot in his eyes.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll shoot Castor down before you can play kissy face again,” Rux said.

  “I did no such thing.”

  “The dress, the wine—”

  “I tried to stab Castor with a fork.”

  “That’s a date,” Rux said.

  I gaped at him.

  “What kind of dates have you been on?” Orion said.

  “Do women—or men—try to stab you often?” I added.

  “I bet men do,” Antares said with a grin that was half-flirty and half-malicious. It was a little lopsided, showing more teeth on the right side than the left. It crinkled his
obsidian eyes in a way that made them glint like a cat’s. His long, auburn hair was the only flash of color on him where it trailed silky smooth over the back of the chair.

  Rux actually blushed. Antares seemed to be the only one who could get under the soldier’s skin. It was a plus for Antares in my book. One of the few.

  “How else do you test your mate’s ability to fight and protect you and your future offspring?” Rux said.

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Orion grinned sidelong at me and wrapped a protective arm over my shoulders. I shrugged him off. Now wasn’t the time for cuddles. We had a disaster to handle.

  “Any other way, Rux,” Hamal said from the passenger seat. His usually kind voice was edged with disbelief. His warm copper eyes narrowed for the first time ever.

  “Pffft,” Rux said, as though we were the crazy ones.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose and turned back to the controls. Rux was nothing but a distraction from saving my crew, Agent Winters, and the galaxy.

  My hands flew across the controls. I knew how to fix ships and keep damaged ones flying, but nothing I did made the Invictus respond.

  I had to figure this out—and soon—before my crew listened to Rux and turned on me.

  “It must be a systems lock,” Polaris said, his deep soft voice wavering.

  I turned to face him. He stood in the cockpit doorway, twisting his hands together in front of him. His large blue-black eyes held a faraway look, as though he were thinking.

  “It shuts down the ship if a code or key isn’t entered at regular intervals. It’s common on Supremacy ships.”

  “Why didn’t you mention this earlier?” Orion snapped. “Cali could end up in a cage or dead—”

  Polaris’s twilight eyes went wide.

  “Enough,” I said to Orion. “We’re all in danger and yelling doesn’t help anyone. Po?” I said to encourage the quiet man to explain the situation.

  “My first job in The Uprising was breaking locks on re-claimed Supremacy ships,” he said in his soft, deep voice. “I…I…didn’t think a prince’s ship would have the same lock. Sorry.”

  “Why?” I said. “Wouldn’t they want to keep this ship safe?”

  “The Supremacy uses engine locks to prevent conscripted pilots from defecting,” Polaris said. “They strand ships that go too far from their fleet.”

  I blinked and looked to Antares—who knew Prince Castor, though he wouldn’t explain how or why. He might know why the Supremacy wanted to prevent Castor from running.

  Antares lounged in the navigator’s chair with one leg over the arm. Mr. Pancake, the pug, lay on his chest as though nothing terrible was happening. As usual, Antares didn’t offer an explanation.

  “They don’t kick in right away so that pilots can fly their missions,” Po explained. “The mother ship or mission control transmits a new code at set intervals. If the ship is out of range and doesn’t receive the signal, it locks down. All the fighter ships have them, but I didn’t know that royal ships would. I’ve never worked on one before. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault, Po,” I said.

  “Can you fix it?” Orion asked.

  “I think so.”

  “Get to it,” Orion said at the same moment I said, “What do you need to fix it?”

  I shot Orion an annoyed look and grabbed his arm to drag him from the controls to give Polaris room to work.

  Po dropped to his knees, pulled his toolkit from his belt, and pried off the dashboard’s front panel.

  “If the systems aren’t answering, it’s a hardware lock,” he explained. “Physical device, not code.”

  “Good, do it,” Orion said. “In the meantime, everyone is going to share what they know about Supremacy ships.” He glared at Antares who yawned and scratched Mr. Pancake’s neck.

  “Orion, enough,” I snapped under my breath. “I got this.”

  He leaned in close to my ear and dropped his voice to a whisper. “But this is how we always did things. You plan and lead in battle. I keep them in line. I’ve always been your enforcer.”

  “That’s not how I do things now,” I said, uncomfortably aware of the rest of the crew watching us.

  “But it’s easier for you if I take some of the burden,” Orion said. “You don’t have to lead alone.”

  “Help when I ask for it. I want to be in control.”

  Behind Orion, a smile flashed across Antares’s usually grim face, his dark eyes sparkling at me.

  “You always have been,” Orion said. “I help make your job easier.”

  That was the problem. He wasn’t making my job any easier. Instead of leading the crew and finding a way to Winters, I had to get him to stop talking over me.

  “You always said I helped take the pressure off,” he added.

  “That was three years ago,” I said. “When I was inexperienced and young.”

  “Commander Cal?” Polaris said from the dashboard. “I need…ah, small fingers to reach something.”

  He was lying. Polaris was never a good liar, but he must need something if he called.

  I crouched next to Polaris. There wasn’t much room between the dashboard and the chairs, so I had to squeeze in against him. His body was warm, and the flex of hidden arm muscles moved against my side. What did he hide under that loose hoodie?

  “Right in there,” he said, leaning forward to point into the dashboard. I crouched deeper to see and reached an arm forward. Huddled over the machinery, we were cheek to cheek.

  I glanced at him sidelong. He stared back with his twilight eyes.

  “What’s going on?” I whispered.

  “Remember at Star Keeper, I’d always tell you to take the safe path through the asteroids?” Polaris said. His voice was so low, I barely heard it. But I felt it, his warm breath brushing my cheek.

  “Yeah…”

  “You never listened.” His full mouth quirked into a smile. “Because you didn’t need to—and I knew it. I only said otherwise because it was my job. You don’t need safe paths because your instincts are right. They got us out of Vinera and they’ll get us out of this.”

  My heart was doing back flips in my chest. That couldn’t be healthy. It made it difficult to think or talk. For once, I was the silent one when talking to Polaris.

  “You got this,” he said. I felt his smile against my cheek.

  I smiled back, a warmth spreading through my chest and stomach. Someone saw that I had succeeded and thought I knew what I was doing. It meant the world.

  “Thanks, Po. Kick ass on that Supremacy lock.”

  “As you command, Cal.” His expression turned serious as he returned to work.

  Damn; his words, his serious thoughtful look, his fingers picking up tools, all sent warmth between my legs. I hadn’t expected Polaris to be tempting, but somehow, he was.

  Chapter 2

  I ordered everyone out of the cockpit to give Po room to work. I knew he disliked crowds, especially when he was trying to think.

  “Show that ship who’s boss, Po,” Antares said as he left the cockpit.

  “Only Cal—I mean, Captain—I mean, Commander Calpurnia can call me that,” Polaris said. His voice was soft, and his head and shoulders were deep inside in the console. He was so cute when he stammered.

  Antares smiled, a fleeting bit of warmth on his dour face.

  “If you need anything at all, Po, I’ll be in the lounge,” I said.

  “I can always find you,” he said from inside the console.

  I grinned at the cute man before joining the others in the ship’s small lounge. This crew was going to shut up and listen if I had to grab their balls to do it.

  Rux wasn’t here; he was probably at the guns like he promised. If someone showed up and he opened fire, he would get us killed. That asshole didn’t realize that sometimes you needed to surrender or play nice to survive.

  Antares was already sprawled on one of the couches that lined the wall while Hamal jogged in place. Orion watched m
e, his jade eyes searching, probing as though worried.

  “If Polaris asks for anything while repairing the ship, you do it,” I ordered. “In the meantime, we’re going to search every inch for this ship for traps, recording devices, bombs, and other engine locks. Anything that Castor could have installed to fuck with thieves…or kill us.”

  “Or this Supremacy scum could just tell us what’s going on,” Orion said, glaring at Antares.

  “You wouldn’t believe him even if he did,” I said. “He might not know anything, and we’re not wasting time arguing with him. So, we’re going to search. We’ll start with this room. Get to it.”

  Hamal saluted and started digging through the couch cushions. Antares unfolded himself and riffled through the storage drawers tucked into the wall.

  “Find some tools,” I told Orion. “We might have to check inside the bulkheads too.”

  He glared at Antares but nodded and rushed down the corridor to the storage room. I eyed him as he went; he wasn’t limping anymore, so the medical nanos and false skin must have healed his wound already.

  “Po!” I called to the cockpit. “Do you need anything?”

  “I’m good, Commander. Thank you…unless you have nothing to do and want to join me…” he said.

  “He’s in love with you, Firebrand,” Antares said.

  I startled as though struck.

  Fuck, were poor Po’s feelings that obvious? I didn’t want him hurt or humiliated any more than he had been when I had rejected him. Whatever he felt, it could never be. Not when I was with Orion.

  “Polaris and I have been friends for years,” I said as lightly as I could manage. “That’s all.” He was the only friend I had after Orion had vanished. The only person who knew me when I was broken.

  “I recognize his awkwardness,” Antares said. “I was like that before I realized how hot I am.”

  Po had a kind of innocent charm to him, and I liked him for it. While Antares was a shit disturber who was calm and unfazed by everything. That made him easy to trust—because he never panicked—and difficult to trust—because he hid so much.

  “I don’t think Polaris is awkward. You are,” I said.

  Antares didn’t bother to argue with me. Instead, he pulled a deck of cards from a drawer and circled a single finger on its top. I remembered our time in the cockpit in the dark, exchanging messages by writing on each other’s palms. By the glint in Antares’s eyes, he knew what I was thinking.