"Don't panic," Devyn said, leading her off to the side of the bay. But it was too late. Urbanites seemed to materialize out of the very walls.
Her vision dimmed. Her body trembled violently. She thought she would pass out.
"Wait!" Irn screamed. "You can't see what you're shooting at. Wait until you see them."
Devyn slid to a stop so fast she collided into his back.
"There is a God and he's definitely on our side."
Had he lost his mind? She stared at him in disbelief, then saw over his shoulder what had made him so happy. The Prixie and her companion ship stood docked just outside the bay.
But would it do them any good? "They'll have people on board."
"Let me worry about that. C'mon."
Let him worry about it? How could he be so careless with both their lives? Another blaster shot sizzled past. Okay, she was willing to trust him.
Rushing inside, Devyn sprinted up the ramp of the companion ship and she followed. He pulled another herotosh off and held it over his head. Three men looked up from their controls, their faces horrified.
"Get back, get off, or die," Devyn snarled. "You have two seconds to choose."
Two of them ran for the door.
The third man laughed. "That won't kill anyone." He shook his head and flipped the switch to seal the door. "But you've got guts and I admire that in a captain. So what coordinates do I punch in?"
Disbelief cut through Devyn. Why would this guy help them? A loud thud sounded on the door. He turned, half expecting the door to open.
The man cursed. "They're attacking. You two had better get strapped in."
As the ship started to tilt away from the bay, Devyn pushed Alix into the nearest chair.
"Don't worry," the stranger said. "I'd much rather kill that sonovabitch than either of you. Since I can't get to him, I think stealing the three things he wants most is vengeance enough."
Devyn had no idea what the man was talking about, but he was taking them off the planet, and until he determined exactly what was going on, he wasn't about to start complaining.
Once they'd cleared orbit, the man turned around and faced them. "Now where do you two want to go?"
"Paradise City," Devyn said.
He nodded, turned around, programmed the coordinates, then said, "You don't remember me, do you?"
Devyn exchanged a shocked glance with Alix. "Who are you talking to?"
"You, Devyn. Or should I say 'little toggle'?"
Heat suffused his cheeks at the old nickname. "I'm afraid I don't remember you, but you have to know my uncle to know that stupid nickname."
He held his hand out to him. "Werren Nemus. I used to run watch for Calix. Last time I saw you, you were about six years old."
Devyn smiled. "Oh, yeah. I do remember you. You're the one who gave me that huge piece of gleryl that I laid on my mom's new sofa."
Werren laughed. "I bet you hate me. Malena Laing's wrath is not something I welcome."
Devyn scratched his chin and watched Werren run over his gauges. "Is that why you're helping us?"
"Well, let's see," he said with a smile, lifting up his fingers to count off his reasons. "I fear your mother's abilities, I owe your uncle my life, and I hate Irn with a particular ardor. So given all that, helping you seemed like the right thing to do."
Alix leaned her head in her hands and drew a pain-filled breath that cut through Devyn. "Why does Irn want me so badly?" she asked, her voice cracking.
Devyn took her hand, trying to reassure her. She looked up at him and he wanted to soothe the agony that burned in her eyes, tell her that he would never allow Irn to harm her. And he wouldn't. Irn would have to kill him first.
"Honey, you're just the sweetmeat. It's Devyn he wants as main course."
"What?" they asked simultaneously.
Werren turned around and looked back and forth between them. "You mean you didn't know?"
Devyn clenched his armrest. "Know what?"
Werren shook his head and sighed. "He really is a slanted scab," he said under his breath. He stared at Devyn. "He wants to tear you apart and mail your body parts home to your mother."
Incredulity washed over him. "I don't even know the guy. Why would—"
"Your mom sent him to prison."
Devyn scoffed. "My mom sent a lot of people to prison, including my father."
"Yeah, but Irn's brother was torn apart during a riot. He blames your mother for it and he wants to do to you what was done to his brother."
Devyn just stared into space, thoughts whirling. "And all this time I blamed Alix for his pursuit."
Fury ripped through him and he wanted to beat Irn. "You mean that sonovabitch killed my best friend trying to get to me?"
Werren nodded.
A tic started in Devyn's jaw. "I'm going to rip his heart out and feed it to him."
"Looks like you're going to get the chance," Werren said, flipping switches. "Irn's headed in at three o'clock."
Devyn snapped to his feet. "Where's the gunner's chair?"
"End of the corridor."
"Devyn," Alix said, rising, "be careful."
He kissed her, then ran to his station.
Alix moved to the nav center and helped keep track of Irn. "It's just one ship," she said, unable to believe no other ships were flying after them.
"I guess the Placidians didn't want to get involved with transplenum business." Werren laughed. "Although I bet you two had a time. Chaldese . . ."
His laughter continued until Alix wanted to shoot him herself.
He sobered and punched in coordinates. "I think Devyn must have inherited his family's bad luck. Only a Laing could have that kind of fiasco."
A shot hit the ship and rocked it sideways.
"I'm getting sick of this," Alix muttered, straightening herself.
She heard Devyn fire several rounds.
"Hey, I think he got them. They're listing off and slowing down." Werren opened the link. "Toggle, stay in your seat. I'm about to enter a wormhole."
Alix strapped herself in.
After the initial entry, the ride smoothed out. She closed her eyes, grateful they'd all made it in one piece.
Devyn returned to the control room and touched her cheek. "How are you holding up?"
She shook her head and tried to ignore the heat that suffused her body. "All right, I guess. How about you?"
"Honestly, I think I should have blasted Irn out of the sky. I can't believe I only nicked him."
Werren snorted. "Well, you got him off our tail. That's the most important thing."
"For now." Devyn sighed. "He'll be back."
"Yep," Werren said. "You can count on it."
"What are we going to do?" Alix asked.
Devyn shook his head, wishing he knew. "Let's hope Taryn hasn't left Paradise City.
If—"
"Taryn Kyrelle?"
"Yeah, you know him?"
Werren turned several shades paler. "Know of him. He's a real mean sonovabitch."
Devyn smiled. "He can be."
"Well, if you don't mind, I'll drop you two off and head out immediately."
Alix swallowed the lump of fear in her throat. "What about Irn?"
Werren smiled. "If you've got Taryn Kyrelle and Devyn on your side, I figure you can tear Irn apart. No point in my sticking around. Besides, all I wanted was my ship back, which you've now given me. No offense, but I'm not sticking my neck any further out."
Devyn pulled Alix into his embrace and rubbed the chill bumps on her arms in an effort to calm her. "We appreciate your help."
"No problem. Just make sure if you don't kill Irn, you let me know so I can prepare myself for his attack."
"Deal."
Werren sighed and turned back to his console. "We should be in Paradise City in about twelve hours. You two make yourselves comfortable and take whatever you want."
Devyn rubbed his chin against Alix's hair and inhaled the fresh floral scent. "Do you
have a rec area?"
"Yeah, it's four doors down on the left," Werren answered without looking up.
Alix went after Devyn, who led her by the hand. The rec room wasn't very big or impressive, but at least it was clean. A large game table was set up with some type of card game. She took a seat in the chair next to a relaxation terminal.
Devyn stood next to her, looking down with a frown. "What's wrong?"
She stared at Devyn in shock. How he could tell something troubled her? "I was just wondering how all this would end. Here we've thought all this time Irn was after me, and now we find out you're more important to him. Me he wants to torture; you he wants dead."
She closed her eyes, a knot forming in her stomach. "What are we going to do?"
Devyn sighed and raked his hands through his hair. "I think you had the best advice on Placidity. Let's wait and see what happens. For now we're safe enough and Irn doesn't frighten me. When he shows up in PC, I'll take care of him."
Fear closed her throat. She couldn't stand the thought of Devyn facing Irn and what Irn might do to him. "How? You won't even use a blaster."
He smiled, but not even that could alleviate the anxiety gnawing at her. "Don't let that worry you. I will take care of him."
But she did worry. She had a bad feeling about this. Something deep inside her warned her that all this would explode in their faces.
She knew first-hand how Irn was. Devyn didn't understand how slanted the man was. "Devyn, Irn's not normal."
He laughed. "I think I've figured that out on my own."
He knelt on the floor by her side and took her hand, his gaze warm, reassuring. "I'm not going to let him hurt you."
Tears welled in her eyes. "It's you I'm afraid for."
One corner of his mouth twitched up into a precious smile that eased some of her pain, and he ran a finger down her cheek. "He's not going to hurt me either. I know you think I'm a pacifist, but I've lost Sway, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you. The only way I can make sure you stay safe is if I stay alive."
She smiled, taking his hand from her cheek and kissing his palm. "You've got to look after yourself."
"I swear it," he whispered, his voice hoarse.
He brought her hand to his lips and nibbled her fingertips.
Ecstasy broke through her melancholy and stole her breath. Nothing would happen to Devyn; she'd make sure of it. Somehow, she would keep him safe.
"Here," he said, breaking into her thoughts as he pulled a wipe out of his pack. He glided the tissue over her face and removed the camouflage.
She smiled. Even covered with silly makeup, he was gorgeous. Indeed, it only served to make him look like a wild, untamable beast, and she knew if she held out her hand, he would feast from her palm. She closed her eyes against the joy that knowledge brought.
But what of tomorrow? Would he grow to hate her as her father had her mother?
Her mother used to tell her stories about how gallant her father had been when he'd saved her mother from her former abusive owner. The first years he'd owned her mother had been like a dream, or so her mother had said. It wasn't until after her mother had children and her looks began to fade that her father began cursing her.
Well at least she knew Devyn wasn't playing the gallant because of her looks.
"Why do you want me?" she whispered, needing desperately to hear his answer.
He paused over her cheek and stared, aghast. "Don't you know?"
She shook her head.
A smile curved his lips, one that lifted her spirits. He was so handsome, so strong.
He returned to wiping her face. "I love the way you laugh, the way you look at things, the way you always know how to make me feel better, or even like a heel."
He pulled back and stared deeply into her eyes. "Mostly, I just love the way you make me feel when you walk into a room."
Tears fell down her cheeks. "Now look what you've done," she snapped, wiping at them as a wave of anger tore through her. "You've made me a ninny!"
He laughed and wiped them away. "And you've made me a hero. You've made me strong again."
She took the tissue from him and wiped at his camouflage, uncovering with each stroke a little more of the man she loved. "But what of tomorrow? What if my presence in a room starts to annoy you?"
He frowned at her, his eyes troubled. "Why would you think that?"
She wiped the tissue over his nose and steeled herself against the pain and fear inside her. "My mother used to say love comes quickly to men's hormones, but seldom to their hearts. As long as you give a man your body, you have a piece of his heart, but once he tires of you and starts looking for another body, you become useless and forgotten."
He cupped her face in his hands. "I could never forget you," he whispered.
But could she believe that? Could love really work?
"Love me, Devyn," she breathed, needing physical reassurance more than empty words.
His lips covered hers. Alix pulled him into her arms and ran her hands down his spine.
Please don't forget me, her soul cried, and she ached to say the words aloud, but no amount of forcing could bring them to her lips.
Devyn laid her down on the floor, wishing he had a more comfortable place for her. She looked so vulnerable, so afraid, and he wished he knew what it would take to make her believe in him.
Her hands clutched at him, her desperation cutting to the core of his soul. She'd been alone so long that now even when he offered her all he could, she still couldn't accept it, or him. His heart pounded in agony.
He touched her cheek, delighting in the way she closed her eyes and sighed like a contented verrago. "Don't leave me," he whispered.
She held his hand against her cheek. "I won't."
Devyn smiled and dipped his head to taste the luscious silk of her throat.
He unbuttoned her shirt and slid the thick material slowly off. When he bent to remove her pants, she rolled to her side and he saw her mark. His heart lurched at the sight of the three intertwining circles and he ran his fingertips over the smooth area. He would give anything to wipe the mark away as easily as he had done her camouflage.
"Don't," she said, her voice trembling as she grabbed his hands. "It's repulsive."
He leaned down and kissed the mark, then looked up into her troubled eyes. "Nothing about you could ever repulse me," he said, and once more tears shone in her eyes.
She pulled him to her lips and he gladly went, holding her close against him, afraid to let go. Afraid that if he did, she would leave him. Without her, he would have nothing. He would be nothing. No one had ever made him feel as she did.
She unbuttoned his clothes and he laid his head back, reveling in the sensation of her warm hands running over his body, bringing chills and fire everywhere they touched. He allowed her to explore him until he thought her touch would drive him slanted.
Unable to take any more, he rolled over and pinned her beneath him, her body molding to his. He tasted her skin, running his tongue over her throat, her breasts. Her hands danced along his spine and he sucked his breath in, fire burning through him.
He would never be happy until she bound herself to him as his wife, until she stood by his side as an equal and proclaimed to the universe that she had chosen him and that she would remain by his side for all eternity.
She lifted her hips to him and he took her hint. Separating her legs, he slid into her, gasping at the warm feel of her body welcoming him. He made love to her slowly and savored each beat of her heart against his chest.
"Don't ever leave me, Alix," he whispered in her ear as she convulsed with her release.
The hours went by far too quickly and with each one, Alix's worries tripled.
A buzz rent the air. "I just wanted to let you two know that we're coming up on Jarun. I did a preliminary news scan and it sounds as though they've surrendered to HAWC troops. Good thing we're not smuggling anything. The HAWC's under orders to blast any supply ship o
ut of the sky. Anyway, it's about dinnertime in Paradise City and I've gone ahead and checked the two of you into the Murid Hotel, if that's okay."
"Sure," Devyn said, pulling away from her. "Just buzz when we land and we'll be out of your way."
Pulling on her clothes, Alix watched Devyn as if this were the last time she'd ever see him. Why did she have such an awful feeling? Why couldn't she banish it?
The League 3: Paradise City Page 25