Salvaging Abby (Marks Mercenaries Book 4)

by N. J. Walters

  It seemed to take hours, but in reality, it was seconds.

  The ship crashed into the wall. Abby jerked forward. Vaden caught her in midair and jerked her back, knocking the breath from her body. Metal crunched; sparks flew. Fire suppressant foam rained down.

  Stunned, all she could do was sit there and gasp for air. Finally, reality settled in. “We’re alive.” She knew she sounded surprised. Actually, she was downright shocked. “We’re alive,” she repeated. She turned in Vaden’s arms and began to laugh. “We’re alive.”

  He buried his face in the curve of her neck and squeezed her tight.

  “Hey, I’m okay.” She patted his back and arms.

  He suddenly shoved her back, almost toppling her from his lap. He released his harness and stood, scooping her into his arms. “We need to move.”

  Right, because there was no way of knowing if there would be a secondary explosion. Not to mention their life support was currently nonexistent. Already the air was getting thin. Abby coughed.

  Vaden glared at her and stomped toward the door, or what was left of it. The hallway was eerily dark as he moved toward the hatch area. She was gasping now, because what air was left was filled with smoke.

  He set her down by the door and hit the control. Nothing happened. Of course it didn’t. It couldn’t be that easy. “No power,” she managed to get out.

  He opened another panel and pulled a lever. A manual control.

  Again nothing.

  They were not going to die after coming this far. Hand over her mouth, she motioned to the door. “Blast it.”

  Vaden pulled his weapon. He reached out with his free hand and pushed her behind him. Only then did he raise his arm and shoot. The blast made the door buckled but not open. He shot again and again. Breathing was almost impossible now. The rest of the ship had been without life support for a longer time, the air thinner to begin with. She had no idea how he was still standing and fighting for their survival.

  She slid to her knees.

  Vaden glanced down, holstered his weapon, and threw his big body at the door. Metal groaned. He slammed against it again and again.

  The door suddenly popped open. Vaden fell through, landing hard against the metal deck. He was out. They were free.

  She heard yelling, but it seemed to come from far away. Her eyes were too heavy to keep open. All she wanted to do was rest for a bit.

  Was that Vaden roaring? Sounded like him. She’d check on that as soon as she could catch her breath.

  Chapter Eleven

  Vaden dragged himself back into the ship where Abby was lying lifeless. Fear unlike any he’d ever felt grabbed him by the throat and threatened to choke him. “Abby,” he roared, scrambling over the bent and twisted metal to reach her still body.

  He heard boots running toward them, but ignored them, knowing they were friendly.

  “Where the fuck is she?”

  Maybe not so friendly toward him, but they would protect Abby.

  He reached her before Flynn did. He pulled her into his arms and away from the wreckage. Amos was there spreading fire suppressant all over what remained of his ship. He managed to carry Abby several steps away before falling to his knees.

  “Give her to me?” Flynn ordered.

  Vaden raised his head and bared his teeth. “Mine.” He pushed back toward the wall, holding Abby with one hand, his raised blaster in the other.

  Flynn held his hands up in the air. “It’s me, damn it. Put down the fucking weapon.” His gaze snapped downward. “Is she alive?”

  She had to be. Vaden holstered his weapon and put two fingers against her throat. “She has a pulse. No air.” He coughed several times. “Had to divert power.”

  “Fuck. Let’s get you both to the medical bay.” Flynn must have noticed his surprise because he added, “Yeah, we have a medical bay. We spend a lot of time in space and in dangerous situations. We take care of our own.”

  Amos joined them, his eyes going straight to Abby. “She’s so grown up.” Sadness tinged his voice. Vaden understood this had to be difficult for both brothers. Flynn hid it under anger.

  “She is amazing.” Vaden stood with her still clasped tight in his arms. A renewed burst of energy flooded him. “Lead the way.”

  Both brothers looked at each other and then back at him.

  “Time is wasting,” he reminded them. “And what about Freeman?” As long as that bastard was out there, she wouldn’t be safe.

  “Let us worry about him,” Flynn informed him. “Follow me.”

  It went against every instinct he possessed to allow anyone at his back, but he trusted Amos wouldn’t harm him as long as he had Abby in his arms. It was a short trip to the medical bay. It was small, but at a glance, he could see it had all the basics. He laid her down on the one bed in the room. Amos was already moving to set up oxygen.

  “Are you sure that’s her only injury? You crashed hard,” Flynn reminded him.

  “Check her ribs. I had her in my arms. Might have held her too tight.” He took her hand in his and watched the slow rise and fall of her chest, which seemed to grow easier after the oxygen was attached.

  He knew the Marks brothers would want answers. They’d get them, but only after he knew Abby was safe.

  Time stretched. When the ship was rocked by an explosion, he widened his stance and placed a hand on her hip to keep her in place.

  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, her eyelids flickered. She bolted upright, yanking at the mask on her face. Vaden grabbed her wrist before she tore it away. “Stop. You need it.”

  She blinked, as if to bring him into focus, and then nodded.

  Flynn stepped up next to him. “Abigail, is it truly you?” His voice was rough, but his touch was gentle as he skimmed his fingers down his sister’s face. Vaden knew he should give the family a moment alone, but couldn’t bring himself to leave her side.

  “Flynn?” She looked to his eye and then to his hand.

  Her brother gave a stiff nod. “I know I must look different.”

  The tears filling her eyes were like a knife to Vaden’s gut. He didn’t know what to do to help her. On top of everything she’d already been through, now she had to deal with a family she no longer knew.

  “Flynn?” she repeated. Then she bolted upright and practically flew off the bed and into her brother’s arms, knocking the oxygen mask off in the process.

  Vaden released her and took a step back. Fear, a previously unknown emotion until he’d met Abby, roared through him. He could lose her. She had a family now, a band of badass brothers who would protect her with their lives.

  The muscles in his jaw worked as he clenched his teeth to keep from yelling his displeasure. His fingers became fists to keep from reaching for her. He wanted to rip her from Flynn’s grasp. She was his.

  But only if she wanted to be.

  The battle with Freeman might be over, for now, but his battle for Abby still raged.

  ****

  Abby couldn’t believe it. After all these solar years of believing her brothers were dead, she could barely comprehend the reality.

  “Yes, button, it’s me.” His grip almost hurt, he was holding her so close. The metal from his robotic hand dug into her back, but she didn’t care, even knowing she’d have bruises.

  “Button? Oh my stars, I’d forgotten you called me that.”

  He pulled back, and she got her first really good look at him. Flynn seemed even taller and broader than she remembered. With the patch covering his lost eye and his hair buzzed short, he looked infinitely dangerous. This was not the indulgent older brother she remembered.

  He was a stranger. They all were.

  She glanced to her right and found Vaden leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest like he didn’t have a concern in the world. She knew better. From the expression on his face and in his eyes, he was not happy. But why?

  Was he already distancing himself from her? So much for his promise of love. Mayb
e now that it looked as though they’d live, he was rethinking his earlier declaration.

  Her chest squeezed tight, and breathing became difficult. The monitor that someone had attached to her began to beep as her heartbeat increased. Vaden bolted to her side and put the mask back on her face. “Breathe,” he ordered. “Step back,” he ordered Flynn before turning back to her. “Calm yourself. You are safe.” His dark eyes no longer seemed so remote.

  She grabbed his hand and hung on as she got through her minor panic attack. This wasn’t good. She had to be able to stand on her own two feet. It had never been a problem in the past. She’d come to depend on Vaden to have her back, to be there for her when she needed him.

  “Abigail.” Another male voice, this one slightly less rough than Flynn’s. A man stood on the other side of the bed, his hair pulled back in a tail, but the familiar shock of white hair was visible.

  “Amos?” It was almost too much to take in. It was like having the ghosts that had haunted her for a decade suddenly come to life.

  “Yes, honey, it’s me.” He reached out as though to touch her and then dropped his hand down by his side, but not before she noticed that the pinky finger was missing. Her brothers might have survived the mining explosion, but none of them had come out unscathed.

  Feeling as though she could breathe once again, she pushed the mask aside. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

  Flynn’s already intimidating expression grew downright mean. “It’s not your fucking fault. It’s the fault of that fucking idiot who tried to kill you.”

  Abby couldn’t help it. She started to laugh.

  All three men simply stared at her, which only made her laugh even harder.

  “What’s the joke?” Amos finally asked.

  “Flynn.” She giggled again. “Your language hasn’t gotten any better.”

  Her oldest brother smiled. It was then she truly recognized him. She’d been the only person who’d been able to make him smile on a regular basis.

  “That’s never going to change,” he informed her. Then he reached into the pocket of his flightsuit and dew out a small, round disk.

  Her eyes widened as she reached for it. “It’s one of my buttons.”

  “I found as many as I could,” he told her. Her heart melted. Her big, strong brother had kept her childish treasure.

  “What is it?” Vaden asked. He was practically plastered to her right side where she was sitting up on the bed.

  “It’s a button.” She held it up so he could see the cheap gold disk.

  “It’s from an Alliance uniform.” Vaden frowned after guessing correctly.

  “Our mother was a seamstress. She fixed clothes and uniforms and such for the people at the colony as well as those who traveled to and from Quaros. As a child, I’d sometimes, ah, liberate some buttons.” She’d loved the shiny and colorful circles, often stringing them on thread as a necklace.

  She held it back out to Flynn. He took it and tucked it back in his pocket. That he’d kept it all these years touched her deeply.

  The communications panel beeped. “You better get up here. And bring Vaden with you.” She wasn’t sure whose voice it was, but thought it might be Kal. They’d been the closest in age, but he’d still been years older than she was.

  “Stay here,” Flynn told her.

  She shook her head and swung her legs around so they hung off the side of the bed. “Help me up.” She held out her hand to Vaden, knowing he’d assist her.

  “You need to stay in the fucking bed.”

  With Vaden’s hand supporting her, she faced Flynn. “I need to fucking see what’s happening. This is my life.”

  Flynn’s eyes widened, but Amos started to laugh. “She got you there, bro,” he said.

  “Fine,” Flynn grated out. Leaving them to follow, he stomped out of the medical bay with Amos right behind him.

  “I’ve got this,” she whispered under her breath, not so self-assured now that she was alone.

  “Yes, you do.” Not alone, she realized. Not with Vaden beside her. “I’m here.”

  That was all she needed to propel her forward into the unknown.

  “They love you.” Vaden kept his voice low as they walked toward the control room.

  “I know, but they’re strangers.” She would worry about that after they’d dealt with the threat, the one she’d brought down on all of them.

  There was no further time for discussion. Two men and three women swiveled around in their chairs to stare. Abby swallowed heavily. Vaden’s hand dropped onto her shoulder, grounding her.

  It was easy for her to recognize Kal and Garth. Neither had changed all that much except to age. Kal had a jagged scar that ran the length of the left side of his face from just below his eye, down the side of his nose and across his cheek to his ear. Likely due to the mining explosion. Guilt heaped on her shoulders. She might have turned tail and run if it weren’t for Vaden at her back.

  Garth was the only one without any visible sign of injury, but she didn’t take that to mean there wasn’t one hidden from view. The women were all beautiful, their hair color ranging from whitish blonde, to brown and red.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Flynn demanded. Amos slid into a seat next to the blonde woman.

  Kal gave her one last glance before turning to Flynn. “On screen.” When she looked another ship had joined them. This one was huge, at least four times the size of Jasper’s vessel. “They’re hailing us.”

  “Gravasian war ship,” Vaden told them. He put one hand on the small of her back and propelled her forward until she was beside Flynn’s chair. “Open communication.”

  Kal looked to Flynn, waiting for his nod before doing as Vaden had ordered. Vaden’s arm slipped around her waist, his fingers tightening against her side. Outwardly, he looked like the cool warrior she’d originally met.

  “Hailing Gravasian war ship,” Kal told them. An image immediately popped onto the screen. An older male with hair and a beard laced with gray looked straight at Vaden.

  “You have lost your vessel.” It sounded like an accusation to her ears. She stood straighter and glared at the Gravasian male.

  “I have.” Vaden offered no explanation, no excuse.

  The man’s gaze flicked to her before returning to Vaden. “Your last communication was detailed. Does it still stand?”

  “It does.”

  The older man nodded and then motioned to someone behind him. “Capture them in a tracking beam, and then send a boarding party to take control of the ship. Contact the Simplistics One. Tell them they are to accompany us back to Gravas. Failure to admit the boarding party will result in instant death.”

  “They’re not fucking around,” Flynn muttered.

  “We do not, as you say, fuck around,” the older man announced. “Requesting permission to come aboard.”

  Flynn’s gaze narrowed. “One small vessel. No more than three men.”

  The older man nodded. “Done.” The communication winked out.

  “What will happen?” Flynn demanded. “I don’t want Freeman to wiggle out of this.”

  “He won’t,” Vaden assured them. “He signed his death sentence when he fired on me, after being informed of who I was.”

  “The hell with them.” Kal was out of his seat and bolted toward her. He ripped her away from Vaden and hugged her. “I can’t believe we finally found you.”

  Her throat tightened as she hugged Kal back.

  Then Garth was there. Big, strong, Garth had tears in his eyes. “God, I missed you.” He wrapped her in his brawny arms and held on tight. “This is my Lacey.” He waved the brown-haired woman toward him. She was a tiny thing, but the look in her eyes when she glanced at Garth told Abby all she needed to know.

  Abby narrowed her gaze. “You look familiar.”

  Lacey nodded. “I was on Eden.” She smiled up at Garth, whose chest popped out. “He rescued me.”

  “The information Lacey gave us helped us track you.
Even without Vaden’s message, we would have found you. We were already tracking your ship.”

  It was mindboggling, to say the least. Then she met Kal’s woman, the red-haired Rory. The cool, ethereal blonde was Amos’s woman. Only Flynn was still on his own.

  “I hate to break up the reunion,” Kal told them, “but the Gravasian shuttle is approaching.”

  “Let’s go.” After giving the order, Flynn left the command center, assuming the rest of them would follow. And they would, but not before Garth stopped to retrieve a huge blaster.

  Abby was nervous. This was it. Vaden’s people were here to take him home, and she was with her family. Their time together was over. She wouldn’t hold him to words said in the heat of the moment. She didn’t expect him to marry her. After all, he was a prince and she was basically a space garbage collector. Or she had been. Now she was without a ship or a job.

  Time to dwell on that later. Right now, she’d count her blessings. They were all safe and she was reunited with her brothers.

  Vaden kept his hand locked around hers as they walked quickly through the corridors and back down to the cargo area. The stench of burnt wires and scorched metal permeated the air. The wreckage of their ship was off to one side.

  “Wow.” She hadn’t seen the aftermath, having passed out due to lack of oxygen. Vaden’s fingers squeezed hers. “Thank you for saving me.”

  “We saved each other.”

  She liked that he saw it that way, but she couldn’t seem to let go of the fact that he’d never have been in the dangerous situation if it hadn’t been for Jasper’s obsession with her.

  They remained in a protected area as the outer door opened to admit a small vessel. When the door closed and the room pressurized again, they stepped into the room with Flynn in the lead. As the side lowered in the Gravasian shuttle, Vaden stepped forward, pulling her with him.

  She wanted to throw herself into his arms and beg him not to leave her. They’d only known each other for a short time, but he owned her heart. Losing him would hurt her in ways she couldn’t begin to imagine. She at least wished she could kiss him one final time, but it was too late.