by Layla Nash
She got two steps closer to the door before a warm hand slid around her bicep and pulled her up short. Her eyes burned with unshed tears. Those bastards thought of Milo as some convenient prop in their big game to avoid being held accountable for however they’d screwed over the Tyboli. They didn’t view her or her ship or poor Milo as anything but pawns in a big game. She was nothing more than a convenient piece of window dressing to be used and tossed aside. Gemma stared at the door and refused to acknowledge that the big Xaravian still held her arm.
There was no telling what the others were thinking or if they were even paying attention. Gemma refused to look. If that son of a bitch captain was laughing at her or mocking Milo’s memory, she’d lose whatever control remained and try to kill him. Which meant Violet would probably kill her first, if the two Xaravians didn’t manage it instead. She clenched her jaw and figured she might at least make a good showing with her metal arm.
Wyzak lowered his voice. “It is not meant disrespectfully.”
She made a disbelieving sound. “Then I’d hate to hear what he sounds like when he means to be disrespectful.”
“It is much worse.”
Gemma glared over her shoulder at Wyzak. “I worked my ass off to get that ship, and Milo is—was—a good partner. We worked together for years, and you just…killed him. Not even a day ago. He’s gone and I’m alone and it’s all your fault, and you’re going to stand here and tell me you want to use that—use his death—to protect yourselves from the bullshit you started. That’s your plan? You want me to help with that?”
Her voice broke somewhere in the middle of the rant, about the time that Wyzak blinked in surprise and leaned back, like he expected her to just take a swing at him. She was tempted, particularly as her left hand clenched and she calculated the damage the arm could do even against the tough Xaravian scales.
She felt her control slipping. She couldn’t even blame it on the liquor or lack of sleep. It was just grief and fear. She wanted to sit down somewhere and cry about the unfairness of it all.
Wyzak’s expression remained hard and unyielding. “Yes.”
“This is your opportunity for freedom,” the pirate captain said, though he sounded bored. “Cooperate with us in this and I will overlook that you attacked my second-in-command and attempted to sell him to the Tyboli. I could be convinced to release you somewhere of your choosing, provided you swear never to cross our path again.”
It wasn’t the worst deal she’d ever been offered, though Wyzak’s grip tightened on her arm as the captain mentioned letting her go. Gemma didn’t know where to look or what to think. Maybe the male she’d kidnapped wasn’t inclined to release her, regardless of what the captain promised. She swallowed down the grief and struggled to sound neutral. “And if I refuse to help you?”
“You will still be made an example of,” Faros said. “And punished for your transgressions. I haven’t decided how. But it will be unpleasant.”
Gemma swallowed the knot in her throat. She was many things, but the most important one was a survivor. She survived many things and kept putting one foot in front of the other. She could find a way through this, too. She’d lost everything, but there was still an opportunity to be found. The sun would rise again, as her mother had said. Gemma just wished she knew which sun to look for.
She steeled herself for a great deal of gloating from the Xaravians and pulled free of Wyzak’s hold on her arm. “I’ll consider it. But I want to know what the plan is before I agree. I’m not signing up for some ridiculous bullshit sight unseen. And what I’ve seen of your crew...” She shook her head, though she wanted to list all the mistakes they’d made when they docked at the spaceport where she captured Wyzak.
Faros’s eyes narrowed and he toyed with a knife left on the table next to the empty plates. “You’re not in a position to make demands, girl.”
“Neither are you,” Gemma said. She folded her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows. “Not with a price like that on your head.”
His expression darkened more but he didn’t argue. Violet smiled faintly and patted her mate’s arm. “Let’s all behave ourselves, hmm? We will need your help planning the demonstration, Gemma, as we need to make sure the message is one that the other bounty hunters find compelling and believable.”
Gemma wanted to hide away somewhere to mourn her career and freedom, but instead allowed Wyzak to nudge her back into the dining room and toward the chair she’d abandoned. The scarred Xaravian remained close by her side, a rather comforting bulk and source of heat in the cool room, though Gemma did her best to ignore him. The last thing she needed was a distraction, and it was already a problem that the friction of his palm on her skin warmed her blood and ignited an ache low in her stomach.
She concentrated on the food that remained in front of her, enticed by the flaking crust and well-seasoned filling. She didn’t know what it was exactly, but she’d long since stopped caring about things like that. As long as the food tasted good, she could accept wherever it came from. “So what’s your plan, then?”
Wyzak grumbled and put more food on her plate, though he chose the spicy meat that made her eyes water. “We destroy your ship where bounty hunters can see it, and make it clear that any who come after us will suffer the same fate.”
Gemma sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “That won’t work.”
“Why not?”
“Because bounty hunters don’t all hang out in the same place all the time, and we don’t gossip together about what we’ve seen. Some messages get around, but only in certain circumstances.”
“What kind of circumstances?” Violet asked.
Gemma almost expected her to pull out a tablet and start taking notes. She took another deep breath and dared to try some of the meat Wyzak had dumped on her plate. It burned her mouth and nose and eyes, but gave her time to consider her response. How much did she want to share with the pirates about how the loose federation of bounty hunters functioned? They weren’t her secrets to give away, not really, but if it meant her freedom and saving her life from the pirates... Maybe she could give away some of the secrets. Just a few.
She braced her hands on the table and lifted her gaze to meet Violet’s. If she was going to participate in their plot, Gemma needed to fully commit. There was no more half-assing things like she’d been doing for far too long. “Okay. I’ll tell you. Some things. Not everything.”
“The right things,” Violet said.
Gemma nodded and nibbled on more of the spicy food. “The right things.”
Wyzak leaned on the table and fixed her with an intense gaze. Gemma felt the rest of the room melt away, lost in his silver eyes, and figured maybe it wouldn’t be such a hardship to work with them after all.
Chapter 20
Wyzak
Wyzak kept a close eye on Harzt as the other Xaravian argued with Gemma over the details she shared about one of the spaceports where the Sraibur could potentially dock in order to send a message to the bounty hunters. He didn’t like the security officer engaging too much with the Earther, particularly when they were in an enclosed room and Harzt could smell Gemma, could maybe offer her food. Wyzak barely swallowed a growl every time Harzt made eye contact with her.
For the first time since Violet joined the ship, Wyzak started to understand why Faros turned into an asshole anytime his mate was in a room with other males.
And the idea stopped him short. Mate? Wyzak struggled for long moments with himself over having even thought the word in relation to Gemma, and missed a great deal of the argument that went on about whether bounty hunters could even be convinced to forego such a hefty bounty. He still had a score to settle with her over the drugging and kidnapping, regardless of whether she’d looked sad and adrift when he found her in the brig.
Wyzak scowled as he dragged his attention back to the planning session. He needed to deal with the conflicting feelings before everyone got comfortable with having Gemma around or decided
she should be left behind. He didn’t like the uncertainty, and he hated feelings. Hated them. He much preferred the clear-cut nature of battle: good and bad, friend and foe. He didn’t know where Gemma fit.
Faros yawned as he leaned back in his chair. “We can tow your busted ship to the port, or at least close enough that you can pilot it into the port and start shopping for someone to repair it. Then you’ll have time to spread a story about how we destroyed the ship.”
Gemma massaged her temples. “Except you left me alive to tell the tale, which means there’s still some mercy in you. That’s not enough to dissuade them. A threat of death or violence can be overcome if the payout is enough. It’ll just encourage them to put together a bigger team to go after you, with the assumption that they can eventually overpower the crew and someone from the team will get the payout.”
“So then how are we supposed to convince them to give up?” Faros demanded, his silver eyes narrowing.
Wyzak bristled, sitting forward, and kept his attention on the captain just in case he got too aggressive toward Gemma. And then Wyzak tried to get ahold of himself. He damn well wasn’t going to fight his captain over how Faros spoke to a female.
Gemma ignored him, even though she tensed slightly and leaned away from him, and fixed Faros with a dark look. “This is your stupid plan. Am I supposed to come up with everything?”
“If you want it to work, yes,” Violet said calmly. “You’re the insider and understand what will actually dissuade the bounty hunters. We can only guess. So if you want your fresh start in neutral space, you’ll do as much of the planning as possible.”
The Earthers looked at each other for a long time, and Wyzak wondered what they were thinking. There wasn’t any way to tell without their skin turning colors. Blasted unreadable Earthers.
The silence stretched until Faros got up to retrieve another bottle of liquor, smiling evilly as he poured full glasses for everyone. “When in need of good ideas, I find a little booze helps get the engines firing.”
He fixed Gemma with a challenging look and drained his glass; without looking away from the captain, Gemma did the same, then held her glass out for more. “Great idea. Might be the only way I won’t be tasting your awful food for the next twelve hours.”
Faros obligingly refilled the glass, though Wyzak took it away before she could sling back another couple of shots. He frowned at her when she started to object. “You still need to think, not slide under the table in a puddle.”
Wyzak drank from her glass until only a few sips remained, then handed it back to her. He ignored the way Faros and Harzt studied him, knowing he’d signaled ownership and protection of the Earther, and tried to bury the consequences of his actions for later. At least Gemma didn’t understand what he’d done.
She still looked about as prickly as a sandsnake in a sandstorm. “The best way to do it is to convince the bounty hunters that the Tyboli won’t pay the bounty. Which apparently they won’t.” And she scowled into her nearly empty glass.
Faros grinned as he held up his drink. “That’s an interesting angle. I would enjoy having everyone terrified of running afoul of the Sraibur, but convincing bounty hunters that Tyboli don’t pay their debts is almost as good. How do you propose we do that?”
“Might need more inspiration,” Gemma said, and held her glass out.
The captain picked up the bottle and looked at Wyzak. Faros waited until Wyzak shook his head in the negative, then set the bottle down once more. “Perhaps not.”
Gemma immediately clenched her hand around the glass, and Wyzak had a moment to be grateful it was her Earther right hand holding the glass instead of the mech hand, otherwise they all would have been dodging glass shards. “He doesn’t make decisions for me. I’d like more to drink.”
The captain shook his head. “Too late.”
“Too late?” Gemma glared at Wyzak, then back at the captain. “Maybe I’ll lose my inspiration, then.”
Wyzak put his arm along the back of her chair, since it was the closest he could get to putting her in a headlock without actually doing it. Against his better judgment, he tipped some of the liquor from his glass into hers. “Better to keep a clear head. That’s all you’re getting for now.”
When she would have argued more, turning in her chair to confront him, Wyzak gave her a hard look. “That’s it. We can discuss more later after we have a plan for dealing with the bounty hunters.”
Her face flushed slowly until her cheeks turned a brilliant red.
Violet huffed a laugh and studied them both. “That kind of posturing is typically the fastest way to having an Earther female try to kill you, Wyzak. Although I’m sure you realize that now.”
He didn’t look away from Gemma, since it had occurred to him that Gemma’s metal arm could rip out his scales and break the spikes right off his shoulders. “If there’s an issue, we will work it out later. After the plan is solidified.”
“If there’s an issue?” Violet smiled and fiddled with one of the panels on the table until the auto-server materialized one of the desserts she’d programmed in shortly after arriving on the ship. “Bless your heart, Wyzak. Gemma, if you don’t mind waiting until after we’ve got the broad strokes of the plan worked out, you can take him into the gym and beat on him until you feel better.”
The other Earther didn’t look moved by Violet’s logic. When she spoke, she forced the words out from between clenched jaws. “The best way to put bounty hunters off going after a mark is if they suspect—or know—that the bounty won’t be paid. There won’t be any reason to risk coming after the Sraibur if it’s well-publicized that the Tyboli are going to double-cross and not pay up.”
“Which is reasonably close to what actually happened,” Faros said. “If we hadn’t shown up, the Tyboli likely would have taken you and the ship as a prize and disappeared into ungoverned space to get rid of the evidence.”
She glared at him. “We still had a few tricks up our sleeves.”
The captain looked pointedly at her metal arm. “Clearly.”
Gemma reddened once more, but it wasn’t the same as before. Wyzak sensed it wasn’t anger but something else—embarrassment? Irritation? He didn’t like it and fixed Faros with a warning look. “Not relevant. The Earthers might have fought off the Tyboli.”
The captain grinned, pleased he’d needled both the Earther and Wyzak, and swirled the liquor in his glass as he studied them. “Perhaps. Either way, we need to send the message to the rest of the bounty hunters that the Tyboli won’t pay out. Simply having you return to a bar and publicize your experience won’t be enough. Why would they believe you?”
“As difficult as it might be for you to believe,” Gemma said, her voice dripping with scorn, “I have a good reputation in the community. If I say we were double-crossed—and show up without Milo and with a busted-up ship—they will believe me.”
“But is that enough to convince everyone to avoid the Tyboli bounties?” Violet asked. “Believing you is one thing, but you were just two Earthers and a small ship. What about the larger crews?”
“There aren’t many,” Gemma said. “Means splitting the bounties too many ways. Most crews stay at less than a handful of members to keep overhead low.”
Wyzak made a thoughtful noise, since that was good data to know. If they didn’t have to plan for a full battleship coming after the Sraibur, how much did they need to worry about the bounty hunters at all? He traded looks with Faros, both of them calculating the potential of abandoning the plan altogether. What was the real risk if all they had to worry about were a few bounty hunters at a time?
Violet leaned her elbows on the table and fixed Gemma with an intense look. “A handful on each crew? That’s it?”
Gemma made an unimpressed noise, finishing her paltry drink. “Don’t underestimate a small crew. That’s usually the first mistake a target makes. Like this guy.” And she jerked her thumb in Wyzak’s direction. “He was ridiculously easy to distract on his ow
n, and all it took was slipping something into his drink when he was too busy staring at my tits to pay attention to his surroundings. A hover dolly did most of the work for us.”
Wyzak’s scales rattled at the Earther’s casual assessment of his mistakes. He disliked her easy dismissal, as if she could have defeated him in a fair contest or without trickery and drugs. He clenched his jaw against an immediate demand to face off again, so he could teach her a lesson, and instead waited for the Earthers to finish their conversation. Wyzak ignored Harzt’s widening grin and reached for more liquor to deaden the rage that burned in his chest. He hated being mocked. Hated it.
Even more so when the mockery occurred in front of his fellow warriors.
“True enough,” Violet said, not bothering to look at the pirates around the table. “But in the future, they will all be more careful. And hopefully less distracted by tits.”
“All it takes is time,” Gemma said.
Wyzak seethed. She didn’t even look at him, instead commenting on his weakness for her feminine assets as if he didn’t exist.
When Violet only raised her eyebrows in question, Gemma sighed. She reached for his glass instead of her empty one, and the brush of her fingers sent sparks cascading all the way up his arm. He should have ripped the glass from her reach, but instead let her take it and sip some of the strong liquor. He ignored Faros’s slowly-spreading smile. Giving the female sustenance was one thing, but letting her freely take from his… Wyzak gritted his teeth. It didn’t really mean anything.
Gemma’s expression grew pensive and she studied the wall beyond Violet, as if searching for something. “People forget to be on their guard. It just takes time—even the hardest-learned lesson fades away until we repeat the mistakes we swore we never would. Regardless of how much you Xaravians guard against getting distracted on hostile ports, eventually you’ll be distracted. Eventually a crewmember will be caught alone and taken, and then it’s just a matter of time until the bounty hunters get enough information out of him to figure out how to take down the rest of the ship.”