It was a good thing they were only going to be trapped here for about twenty-four hours. He imagined they might end up killing each other if the trip to the central planet of this system took any longer than that.
Through the wide-open cockpit windows—something that rarely happened on Annie with Rain’s space phobia—he caught a glimpse of the tiny spaceport and for a split second his gaze landed on the Crux Ansata. He’d never seen her from the outside this way, from inside another ship. He looked away, pushing down the feeling of dread. It was no good to him now. This job had been fucked up from the get-go and the mission it’d turned into was just as screwed.
Once they’d cleared the atmosphere, Dagan glanced back over his shoulder. “I need you to do something.”
Jeret’s cock responded to that and he sighed in annoyance. Stupid body. “If that’s your way of propositioning me, you need to work on your technique.” Jeret imagined he’d be a dead man if Dagan got any better at being drop-dead sexy, actually. So not telling him that.
Dagan ignored the jab. “I need you to alter the ship ID. We can’t exactly zip up to planetary security and announce who we are and why we’re here.”
“You think of this now? When we’re on our way already? What if I couldn’t do it?”
“But you can.”
Jeret rolled his eyes. “So not the point. Alright, so what should we be instead? I mean, a ship like this, there’s limited options. Some kind of diplomatic transport?”
Dagan swept his fingers along the controls. “That’d work. Once we’re through security and on-planet, I can make us and the ship disappear, don’t worry about that.”
Jeret heaved a sigh and unbuckled. “Move. Let me in there.”
Dagan hesitated, obviously not liking the tone Jeret used, but in the end he just clenched his jaw and got out of the way to let Jeret do his thing. A handful of minutes later they were no longer the freelance transport ship Little Bird, but instead a diplomatic transport with C.O.P. credentials. Just because he could, Jeret renamed the ship Honor.
Pushing away from the console, Jeret stood and went to grab his bag. “Which cabin is mine?”
“Uh...well, now this is where there’s a slight problem.”
Jeret turned to face him, eyes narrowed. “What kind of a problem?”
Dagan’s lips twitched. “There’s only one cabin. Mine.”
Jeret spent the next ten seconds or so imagining how satisfying it would be to punch him again. Then he took a deep breath and slung his bag over his shoulder. “Then I hope you enjoy sleeping in that chair.”
Dagan laughed, leaning back, long legs stretched out in front of him. Jeret tried very hard not to recall how it felt to be settled astride those strong thighs. “You think I’m giving up my bed for you, Highness?”
“I think you are, yeah. Like hell I’m sleeping on the floor or in a chair. Don’t make me have to pull the prince card that you’re so fond of using on me.”
Dagan looked pleased with himself. That didn’t bode well. “No need. I said there wasn’t another cabin, not that there wasn’t another bed. You can sleep in the prisoner cell.”
Jeret just about choked on his laughter. “Excuse me?”
“Well what do you expect? I’m not usually picking up royalty, Jadi, I’m usually hauling criminals. The cell has a cot.”
“And bars, no doubt. Forget it. You can sleep there.”
“And end up locked in when you get bent out of shape again? Not happening.” Dagan pushed to his feet, his grin slow and suggestive. “You’re welcome to share my bed, Highness. I warn you now that I sleep in the nude.”
Jeret wrinkled his nose, even though his stomach fluttered like a fucking schoolgirl at the image his words invoked. “You’re disgusting.”
“You didn’t think so last night.”
“Yes, I did. You’re just too stupid to realize when you’re being played. If I’d wanted you, I’d have had you. I’m not some pristine fucking virgin prince who’s been sitting around waiting for you to show up and deign to give me the time of day, you know.”
“Oh really? So now you’ve not only been running around the In-Between playing at being a criminal, you’ve got a favorite cock in every port too?”
“Oh, that’s rich, coming from the guy who sure didn’t seem to have a problem with my experience yesterday when you had me halfway to riding your cock all the way back to Hadrian.” Jeret shook his head. “Whatever. Have your bed, I’ll sleep in the engine room. I do it all the time on Annie anyway.”
Dagan shrugged as Jeret headed in that direction. “Suit yourself. If you change your mind...”
“Not likely,” Jeret shot over his shoulder.
Dagan just laughed. “If you say so.”
Jeret bit his tongue on the retort that wanted out. It wouldn’t help. Dagan was one of those men who just had to have the last word. Let him. Ignoring his asshole behavior would drive him mad. Jeret knew the type and in this case silence was far more injurious than arguing back. Dagan seemed to find arguing some sort of foreplay almost. He got this suggestive look in his eye when they snapped at each other, like he was enjoying it on a whole other level.
Jeret tossed his bag into a corner of the pristine engine room, dropping down onto the bench against the wall. This would have to do. Jesus, even the engine room was strictly up to code. A code Dagan didn’t have to live by anymore but appeared to do so anyway by choice. Or habit, maybe. Either way, Jeret missed Annie even more, looking around at the room with not a smudge of grease or spare parts or anything.
This was going to be the mission from hell. And it had barely begun. Jeret scowled, kicking the wall. He could hear Dagan moving around out there, probably laughing, congratulating himself for being so freaking clever. It made Jeret want to go kick him, not the poor wall.
Rather than sit there contemplating that, he shoved to his feet and yanked the cover off the engine core. Looking in on all the wires and connections and bits that made this Bird fly immediately soothed him. With nothing else to occupy his mind, Jeret reached in and began rerouting things and bypassing useless hardware, letting himself get lost in the seduction of learning the quirks and foibles of a new engine. He’d always said it was a little like getting under a lady’s skirt for the first time. Seducing the ship was a far better use of his time than letting Dagan seduce him.
* * *
“Come eat.”
Jeret slid out from underneath the engine core, using the back of his hand to shove his hair out of his eyes. “Is that an order? Because if so, fuck off.”
Dagan sighed. “Look, we’re stuck with each other for the time being. The least we can do is attempt to be civil. What happens after we get to the bottom of this mess is one thing, but until then I don’t think being at each other’s throats is going to help.” A tic in his jaw flexed briefly before he met Jeret’s eyes. “You don’t have to like me, Jadi, but you do have to eat, so what’s wrong with eating together?”
He made it sound so appealing, like eating lunch with Jeret was akin to sharing his table with someone carrying Cassian flesh rot. But at least Dagan was trying, in his own way. Jeret supposed he could meet him halfway. He climbed to his feet, wiping his hands on his pants.
“Alright.”
Dagan looked like he hadn’t expected Jeret to say yes, but he recovered quickly and jerked his head toward the hall. “Come on, then.”
Jeret followed him, raking his hair into a tie at the back of his head. Dagan cut him a glance over his shoulder and smiled a little. “Always with the unruly curls.”
“I look stupid with shorter hair.”
Dagan sighed at the defensive tone. “I wasn’t making fun. I like...never mind.” He gestured to the stools attached to the floor in front of the one counter in the galley. “Sit down.”
Jeret l
et out a breath as he sat. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just expecting you to be a jerk.”
Dagan grinned, shrugging. “Well, it’s not like it’s an unfounded assumption, let’s be honest.”
“True.” A smile played at the edges of Jeret’s mouth and he looked down before Dagan saw it and thought he was going soft or something. “Did you cook?”
“That’s a stretch of the definition, really. I heated things up, let’s put it that way.” He turned back to the counter with a small pot and scooped out what might have been pasta of some kind into the two bowls already set out, followed by a watery-looking red sauce.
“Man, I miss Cookie.”
Dagan frowned as he sat, handing Jeret a fork. “Is that why you called him that? Killian did the cooking?”
“Yep. He could make even prepackaged crap like this taste like...I don’t know, like it got made right in someone’s kitchen on the farm where all the stuff came from. Out of the ground or something. I dunno how he did it.”
What would Cookie think about this situation? He would probably be on this ship with them, on the way to Hadrian. He’d have insisted that Torin and Rain could take care of themselves and would have joined them, so Jeret wasn’t left alone to face the man who had every reason to betray him and just hand him over to his father the second they hit Hadrian airspace.
Well, every reason except one. His overblown sense of duty.
“So you guys were friends?”
The implication in Dagan’s tone was clear. “Just friends. I’m sure that’s hard for you to imagine, being someone’s friend without any ulterior motives.”
Dagan cut him a sharp glance. “That’s not fair. We were friends before this, Jadi.”
Jeret didn’t even bother trying to correct him on the name thing. It was a waste of breath. “And? You had ulterior motives then too.”
“I what?”
Jeret shrugged. “Well, I’m sure it looked good to your superiors, how you managed to rein in the wayward prince. You played on our friendship.” He hadn’t wanted to see it at the time, but looking back he couldn’t even count the number of times Dagan had talked him out of doing something on the premise that it was too dangerous or would disappoint his father or went against some goddamn duty that Jeret had never agreed to in the first place.
Dagan actually looked stung and Jeret blinked, wondering if he’d been mistaken. “I never did. And it had nothing to do with looking good to my superiors. I protected you because I gave a shit. Jesus. And since when did I rein you in? I might as well try to hitch a ride on the next passing meteor.”
Jeret’s mouth dropped open. “I cannot even believe you’re going to play innocent right now. I was there, you know. I remember.” He rolled his eyes. “Oh, don’t do that, Jadi, you’ll get caught. Don’t do this, Jadi, it’s too dangerous! You knew how I felt and you pretended it was all in my best interest instead of you using my feelings to further your interests.”
Dagan stared at him for a moment, then pushed to his feet. “You know, for a man who lives on the ragged edge of the damn universe, you are still every bit the spoiled, self-centered brat you always were.” He tossed his fork down. “I didn’t know, Jadikira. I didn’t know you were...I don’t know, in love or in crush or whatever. Not until the day before you walked right out of my life. Whatever I did, I did to protect you. Maybe I fucked it up even then, but I damn well tried. More than I can say for you.”
Jeret squirmed a little, staring down at his bowl of food as Dagan strode silently back to his quarters, the door shutting with a hiss that might as well have been a slam. He hated feeling guilty. And why he felt guilty was beyond him, because Dagan was the enemy, working with his father to force a life on him he didn’t want. Sure, Dagan had said he didn’t care if Jeret left again once they exposed the traitor. But if he got his life back the way he wanted, he’d be a member of the royal guard again and all it’d take was another royal edict to send Dagan after him, this time willing to throw him in chains in order to give Hadrian their fucking crown prince back.
In the end, Jeret needed to remember that they might be working together temporarily, but when it came down to it he was on his own.
Chapter Six
“Are they following?” Jeret glanced over Dagan’s shoulder, watching as the checkpoint for planetary entry disappeared behind them on the console screen.
Dagan didn’t glance up, focusing on the controls as they approached the planet. “Did you fuck up the fake ID?”
Jeret rolled his eyes at the mere suggestion that he’d make such a noob mistake. “Duh.”
“Exactly. Sit down, Jadi, we’ll be planetside in ten minutes and no one will even know this ship is here, let alone who’s aboard.”
Normally he’d bristle at being given orders like that from anyone, especially Dagan after the last twenty-four hours of constant sniping, but he was worried about this part most of all and couldn’t bring himself to fight with the only person who could maybe get him through it safely. Of course, there was also the option that Dagan’s so-called friend—who was supposed to provide a hideaway for them and the ship—wasn’t even real. When the ship doors opened there might be royal guards come to hand Jeret on a silver platter to his father while handing Dagan’s life back to him on a matching platter.
So fighting was the last thing on his mind as Hadrian approached through the viewport. He’d been a lot of places in the time he’d been gone. Almost six years of traveling from one end of the In-Between to the other and Jeret had never seen another planet as beautiful. The predominant color was green, from the deeper greens of the forested areas to the jade green of the oceans. Contrasted with the jewel-toned yellows and reds of the deserts, the silvery gleams of the cities and man-made lakes, it made Hadrian appear like some kind of artist’s palette, all the vibrant colors swirling and blending.
He’d never thought he’d see it again. Hell, five years ago, he hadn’t ever wanted to see it again. Now he was a little more self-aware, he hoped, and knew those had been the thoughts and angers of a teenager, not a rational decision made by a man. When he left this time, the decision would be a grown-up one.
“Sit down, Highness, this might get a little rough.”
Jeret frowned as he went to sit and buckle in. “What do you mean by rough?”
Dagan’s fingers flew over the controls, reminding Jeret of the times he’d sit and talk with Rain in the middle of the night. Jeret could fly, but he didn’t feel the ship the way Rain did, or the way Dagan apparently did. Annie talked to him with her engine. She talked to Rain in a whole other language Jeret didn’t speak.
“Rough as in it’s going to be a tight fit, that’s all.”
Jeret wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know what a ‘tight fit’ meant. They were headed on a direct course for Nashua, the capital. Dagan had refused to give any details about the location his contact was providing them, only that it was secure and would give them the access they needed. Jeret knew that was important, but damn he wished it wasn’t so close to home. Literally, home. As they got closer, the palace sitting atop a hill overlooking the city became visible and it made his stomach churn.
The air traffic was heavy here and Dagan flawlessly maneuvered the small ship through it over the city. He sat up a bit straighter as it became clear that Dagan was heading for the lower-class segment of the city. It was patrolled less, making it easier to disappear there and remain unseen.
It was a minute or two later, when they really got into the heart of the lower west of the city’s center, that Jeret became concerned. There weren’t any spaceports near here. What did he plan to do, park the thing in the middle of an abandoned field outside city limits? It’d be stripped to a shell within minutes of them leaving it there.
Then, just as he was about to start demanding answers—even though Dagan had refused to give the
m the entire time—the ship suddenly dropped. Jeret’s stomach stayed behind a few hundred yards above them and he let out a wimpy-sounding yelp.
“Christ, you could wa—” His reprimand was cut off by yet another yelp as this time the ship dropped even farther and even faster. Before Jeret could find his voice enough to bite the jackass’s head off, there was one final drop and a rough, thudding landing before the engines shut off abruptly and they were cloaked in pitch-black.
Jeret blinked, heart pounding as he yanked the straps off his shoulders and from across his lap, surging up out of the seat. “Are you out of your mind? Where are we?”
Dagan spun around in his chair. “I told you, a friend is providing us a base camp. This is it.”
Jeret peered out the cockpit windows but it was black as night. “Are we inside?” How else could it be so dark when seconds ago they’d been zipping through the sunshine?
Dagan pushed to his feet. “Yes. Grab your bag. There should be enough supplies for a week at least, but you’ll want your stuff.”
Curious, Jeret didn’t even think to argue with him, just did as he was told, running to the engine room to grab his bag. He paused to shut the door behind him as he left though. He was pretty sure Dagan would lose his temper if he saw the mess Jeret had made of the room and the engine. He wouldn’t trust that Jeret could make stuff better by taking it apart. Better safe than sorry. He’d clean it up before this was all done and Dagan wouldn’t even know why his ship suddenly ran so much smoother or used half the amount of fuel as before.
By the time he made it back to the main area of the ship, the bay door was wide open and Dagan was nowhere to be seen. Jeret stilled, staring at the door warily. What was on the other side of it? Had Dagan betrayed him, after all? Or was he actually telling the truth?
After a moment he told himself that Dagan might be a lot of things, but Jeret had never known him to be a liar. Plus he could hardly stay on the ship the whole time and avoid what might be coming next anyway. Might as well face it head-on, so he hefted his bag over his shoulder and stepped out.
Sky Hunter Page 6