by Sophie Stern
He had promised he wouldn’t take her back to Mars.
Now he had no choice.
They were being flanked by two Mars ships and escorted back to the planet. He had to take Willow back, had to return her, by order of the Fifth Council. If he didn’t, they would board the ship and take her anyway, then kill him and Les both. He didn’t care about his own life, but he wouldn’t sacrifice his only friend.
And now he had to tell her.
He could wait. He could wait until they were close, until they were about to land to tell her. It would take at least two days to get to Mars. He could spend those two days just loving on her, touching her, playing with her.
Only it would be just that: playing.
And when he finally told her what happened, what he had to do, she would be devastated, crushed.
He had stolen her heart and her virginity, and lying to her would steal her trust in people, too.
Could he really do that?
Could he really be that much of a beast?
With a heavy heart, Luke went back to his room. He stopped outside the door for a moment. Everything had changed today. No, everything had changed the moment he stepped foot on Dreagle. If he hadn’t tried to save those children, there never would have been a war. He never would have been there when Ship 449302 crashed. He never would have been part of the rescue operation. He never would have met Willow.
She was more perfect than she could ever know and he hated the idea that he would have to part ways with her. Luke didn’t want to leave her on Mars. He didn’t want to say goodbye to her.
There had to be a way.
He pressed his hand to the sensor to open the door, and when it slid open, a smile lit Willow’s face. She was lounging on the cushion wearing nothing but a smile.
“Hey, stranger,” she whispered.
“You’re beautiful.”
“I could say the same thing to you.”
“I’m no beauty.”
“You are to me.”
He went to her and sat next to Willow on the cushion. She instantly sat upright and drew her legs to her chest.
“What is it?”
“What makes you ask that?”
“Something’s wrong. I can tell. Is it the ship? Are we going to crash?”
“We aren’t going to crash.”
“Is Les all right?”
“He’s fine.”
“Ashley? Did you get word that Ashley…did something happen to her?”
“No, she’s fine.”
“Is-”
“Listen, you need to calm down.” He took her tiny hands in his own and held them for a brief moment. Willow’s eyes searched his and Luke swallowed hard.
He thought of his mother in that moment. He thought of the way she would tell him hard truths when he didn’t want to hear them. He thought of the way she was always honest with him and would tell him everything he needed to know. Even when it was hard, even when it was difficult to hear, she would tell him.
“We have to go back to Mars,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”
Luke thought Willow might cry or protest. He thought she might scream at him or yell. He’d been around enough angry people in his life to know that usually, when you gave someone bad news, they got louder and louder until they exploded.
Willow didn’t do that.
She didn’t do anything he expected.
She didn’t cry. She didn’t yell. She didn’t scream. She just looked at him for a moment, then placed her hand on his cheek.
“What happened?” She asked. Luke thought Willow’s eyes held a world of hurt. Did she feel betrayed? Let down? Disappointed?
Did his sweet Willow feel tricked?
In the end, it didn’t really matter because there was nothing he could do about it. They had to go back. This wasn’t a matter of outsmarting the guardian ships who were making sure they followed orders. This wasn’t a movie. The ships outgunned his and even if he managed to get away, they would have even more ships coming after him in no time.
Luke was no hero.
He had to return her to Mars.
“The Fifth Council has ordered your return to Mars. The rest of the survivors from your wreck have already been returned.”
“And they know I’m alive?”
“Apparently, your friend Ashley made it well known you were kidnapped.”
“Best friends, am I right?” She smirked, but her eyes looked sad. Luke reached for her, and she threw herself into his arms. “I should have known you were too good to be true.”
“I shouldn’t have stolen you away.”
“I wanted you to steal me. Wait,” she looked up at him. “What about the spoils of war? I thought you were allowed to take whatever you wanted from Dreagle?”
“You know I was full of shit, right? I mean, that’s a real proclamation, but you weren’t a spoil of war. The war ended before your ship even crashed. We killed the general and the fighting stopped. End of story.”
“So all that bullshit about you taking me because you were owed?”
“I just couldn’t stand not being with you.”
“Creepy, but I like it.”
“I’ll take what I can get.”
They held each other for a long time. Luke didn’t return to the operations room that night. He let Les do all the flying and he just stayed with Willow. He couldn’t bear the thought of not being around her, couldn’t stand the idea that he might have to leave her side, even for a second. He made love to her all night, then when she finally fell asleep, he left the room.
Chapter 16
Colony 12 looked exactly the same as it had when Willow left.
She looked out the front view panel when they landed. Les patted her shoulder before heading outside to start checking the ship for damage incurred during landing. There wouldn’t be any, she knew. Willow had quickly learned that Les and Luke were both insanely good pilots.
She thought about hiding in the ship, about sneaking back on when no one was looking and stowing away. She wondered if she could pull it off. Surely, she would have to be able to.
“It’s time,” Luke said, distracting her from her thoughts. She frowned, but followed him out of the ship and down to the waiting crowd. Her parents were there. She spotted them immediately. Ashley was there, too, and she ran up and hugged her.
“I’m so glad you’re okay!” She screeched. She tightened her grip on Willow and leaned in to whisper to her. “Eric has gone crazy. He’s escaped and Willow, you aren’t safe. He’s leading the resistance against the government. Warn Luke.” When she pulled away, she had a fake grin plastered on her face and she smiled at Willow. “I knew you weren’t safe with this big brute.”
She gave Luke a wary glance, but Willow could see Ashley’s eyes. Ashley wasn’t happy. She was scared, and now Willow was, too.
The resistance was real?
She had wondered many times about her ship’s crash on Dreagle. It had seemed strange and much too sudden. It had seemed forced somehow. Why would a ship with such an experienced pilot fail so suddenly unless there was help from the inside? Unless someone wanted the ship to crash?
Willow looked at Luke, but his face was downcast now. A group had gathered around and was talking. A government official was saying Luke was going to be facing charges of kidnapping and would be held in the prison on Mars. Willow couldn’t have that. That just couldn’t happen. She knew exactly what being in prison would entail and there was no way Luke would survive. He might be a beast, but that didn’t mean he’d be safe with the monsters.
Willow didn’t know Eric that well growing up. He had always been a bit off, a bit strange. If he was the one leading the resistance, no matter how small that group of freaks might be, he was going to go after Luke and have him killed. Willow, too.0
There was only one reason they would want her back on Mars, and it wasn’t because she had been kidnapped. He didn’t want to keep her safe. He hadn’t manipulated their return to the plane
t because it was the right or noble thing to do.
No, Eric would want Willow on Mars so he could dispose of the risk. Ashley knew about her brother’s activities. She knew what he had done on Dreagle. She knew all the details of his crimes.
And she had survived.
She had survived the ship’s crash on Dreagle.
Ashley wasn’t supposed to survive the crash, Willow realized suddenly. Neither of them were. Willow was her best friend and they both should have died.
Ashley hadn’t told Willow very much about Eric. She hadn’t told her he was part of the resistance or that he was politically active at all. No, Ashley had come to Willow as a friend, and she had confided in her that she was hurt and felt betrayed.
She hadn’t revealed any family secrets, but Eric didn’t know that.
What if he thought Willow knew something she wasn’t supposed to? What if he thought Willow knew who he was or what his next move was going to be? She didn’t know what the resistance wanted or why they were crashing cruisers unless they were angling for war with another planet.
Or they wanted unity with another planet.
Maybe they wanted unity with a planet like Dreagle.
Wouldn’t that just be lovely?
She had to warn Les, had to tell him what Ashley said. The only thing Willow knew was that she had to get to Les and maybe he could stop this. Luke was already surrounded. There was no way she’d be able to make her way over to him.
There was no way she’d be able to tell him this was some sort of trap.
A wave of nausea washed over her as she turned to try to get back to Les. The crowd surrounded her. Her mother was there, and her father. Even fucking Anthony Weathermore had come to show some sort of false concern over Willow’s safe return to Mars.
He didn’t love her or care about her. He couldn’t. He didn’t even know anything about her. Not the way Luke cared. Not the way Luke could see right through her.
Willow looked around for Les, but the crowd seemed to be closing in on her. She heard people talking to her, about her, near her, but she couldn’t see Les. He had wanted to check on the ship, right? So where was he?
She scoured the crowd, but it was futile. There were too many people. There had been some sort of barrier to hold people back, but as soon as she had stepped off the ship, everyone had rushed forward. Now Willow could barely turn around without bumping into people.
She stood on her tip-toes and peeked, trying to catch a glimpse of her man and his friend.
Her man.
She really thought of Luke as hers.
Wasn’t that stupid? After such a short amount of time, she really thought of him as hers. He wasn’t. He never had been. Luke was his own man and his heart belonged to the stars: not to some silly human with big dreams.
Willow spotted Les. He was walking back around the ship. Their eyes locked and she wished she could convey the message to him.
“They’re coming for us,” she whispered, tried to mouth. Could he understand her from this far away? She wished she had thought to take Luke’s Talk Goo with her. Things would be a lot more convenient, but she hadn’t. She’d been too busy playing with his body, too busy having unbeatable orgasms beneath his touch.
And now it was over.
“We’re already here,” a voice said from beside Willow. She whirled around, but it was too late. She was always one second too slow, always one minute behind. That had always been her problem. While the rest of the world rushed on around her, Willow hesitated, and that hesitation had cost her.
Eric’s hand gripped her arm and he sneered at her.
“What-” She started to ask what he was doing. She started to ask why he had come for her. She started to ask how he could do this to his own people, but Eric pressed his mouth to hers as an explosion sounded around them.
This had been planned, orchestrated by the resistance. Willow had heard rumors for years about an uprising of sorts, but she never thought she’d live to see it for real. The force of the explosion pushed her deeper into Eric’s arms, which she hated. He disgusted her.
All she could think about was the poor girls he’d hurt on Dreagle. All she could think about was how he wasn’t Luke.
Smoke filled the air. She wasn’t sure where the source of the explosion was.
“Time to go, little one,” he sneered.
Then, in the midst of the chaos and smoke, Eric led her away from Les and Luke. He led her away from her freedom. He led her away from the only place she had ever felt at home.
Chapter 17
The first thing Luke did when the explosion sounded was to ditch the guards who’d been watching him. He could smell a trap when he saw one, and this was a setup of epic proportions.
He’d thought it strange they’d been summoned back to Mars so quickly, but Les had been certain. Leave it to his kind-hearted friend to try to do the right thing.
Only now, Willow was gone and the entire landing site was in chaos. Luke wanted to run back to his ship, wanted to load up on weapons before he went to get Willow, but there wasn’t a clear path back. Smoke filled the air and the crowd had been thrust into chaos. There were civilians everywhere. Besides, the ship wasn’t safe. That was the first place everyone would look for him: the authorities and the resistance members.
He moved swiftly, quietly through the crowd. He knew the general location where Les was. They’d get together and figure out where to move. Maybe Les had a weapon on him or maybe they could swipe some. Either way, they needed to find out where Willow was and fast.
He’d been watching her the whole time. He might be under arrest for kidnapping, but there was no way Luke was going to let her out of his sight. Fuck that noise. Willow was his. He loved her, would always love her. He needed her. Without her, his life was fucking worthless and he didn’t want to go back to worthless. He needed her.
He pushed his way through the crowd and moved away from the ship, but it looked like Les had the same idea. As Luke made his way out of the smoke and chaos, he spotted his friend.
Les looked cool and calm as always. Lukanterao didn’t know how he was always able to make stressful situations look easy. Even on Dreagle when he’d wanted to leave, Les had simply told him, “No.” He’d kept his head. He hadn’t gone crazy, hadn’t lost his temper. Fuck, Les hadn’t even raised his damn voice.
He needed that in a partner though.
He was lucky to have it in Les.
“Where’s the girl?” Les asked.
“The asshole took her.”
“What asshole?”
“That would be my friend’s big brother. He really is kind of an asshole,” a familiar voice said from beside them.
They turned, and that’s when they saw her. Willow was standing before them, but she didn’t look scared or surprised or shocked. She didn’t look like she’d just escaped a couple of kidnappers, and her clothes were different. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and her black pants, black boots, and black vest said she was ready for combat.
“Wilma,” Luke said, suddenly realizing they were in the presence of her sister.
“Which one of you is fucking my sister?” She glared at them both. Les looked at Luke.
“Um, that would be me,” Luke said.
“Good,” she tossed him a gun and smiled. “That girl needs more cock in her life. Let’s go get her back, shall we?”
Wilma started walking and Les and Luke followed behind her.
“Care to tell us what’s going on?” Luke said. “Since you seem to know so fucking much.”
“Watch the potty mouth, big boy.” Wilma shot a glare over her shoulder, but kept walking. “There’s no need for that.”
“Why would they take Willow?” Les asked. “What use is she to…whoever took her?”
“Eric is the prodigal son of a well-to-do family on Mars. His sister knows about many of his crimes on Dreagle: crimes he was supposed to be punished for. He escaped from prison and no one knew where h
e disappeared to.”
“She was on the ship with Willow,” Luke said. “After the crash, Willow asked about Ashley.”
“They were pretty close, especially after my parents maneuvered our lives to keep us apart. They were both supposed to die in that crash. When Ashley returned to Mars and told everyone Willow had been kidnapped, our parents honestly didn’t seem too fucking concerned. Then Eric and his little resistance group got word, and wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am, the whole world is moving to get her back.”
“They threatened to shoot us down if we didn’t return her,” Les said.
Wilma just shrugged and kept moving.
“I doubt Willow knows anything of value,” she said. “But we need to get to her quickly because Eric’s only going to keep her alive until he figures that out.”
Wilma turned back to Les and Luke. The little woman didn’t seem to mind that they both towered over her. She didn’t seem to mind they were Reslenaouans. She didn’t seem to mind a fucking thing except that they weren’t moving fast enough for her.
“Let’s go save my sister, gentlemen,” she said.
That sounded like a fine fucking plan to Luke.
Chapter 18
“Why am I here?” Willow asked. She was groggy and her body didn’t feel right. She didn’t feel in control of herself. She had passed out at one point. Now she was in a dimly lit room. Her arms were stretched over her head. A chain ran from her wrists to the ceiling. She couldn’t be sure how long she’d been there, but she already hurt. She was already sore. She was already ready to just tell them what they wanted to hear so they would let her go.
Wasn’t that stupid?
Eric was never going to let her go.
She knew it from the moment he’d kissed her. She knew he was going to treat her like one of his little toys on Dreagle. She knew. No one knew he had taken her and no one knew where. She didn’t even know if Luke and Les knew Eric existed, much less that he wanted her dead.