by Elle Thorne
Inten.
He was definitely history as soon as they were out of this mess.
By the fires of the volcanoes on Alvas, he might consider leaving Inten with the Z-Class crew to be picked up by the authorities. If any of them were left alive.
“Open the hatch,” Caayn ordered Mn’eth.
“S—s—sir?” Mn’eth stumbled. “Are you sure?”
“Now, Mn’eth, before they destroy the metal beyond repair.”
Mn’eth punched the code. The door rose swiftly, revealing a rag-tag bunch of fierce men bearing weapons and bad attitudes.
The fight began immediately with men grunting, shouting, stabbing, punching, and kicking.
Caayn raised his double-decker Pulser, specially designed for him, and took aim.
A booming voice interrupted him.
“Cursed ovaries of the goddess!”
Caayn knew that voice. Could it be? No. Maybe, though he didn’t think he had a Z-Class.
He looked past the faces in front of him toward the second row of his attackers.
“Hold your arms. Pull back,” said the voice he recognized.
“Cease attack,” Caayn instructed his men.
Chapter Twenty-One
A hand grabbed Smyrna’s shoulder. More like a claw, then that was followed by a screech.
“Oh my!” Emily’s voice was piercing in Smyrna’s ear. “Boron!”
At the same moment, ahead of her, she heard a whooping sound followed by a yelled, “Caayn, you scummy son of a ground marliple.”
Smyrna’s first thought: What’s a marliple?
Her second thought: How does the guy on the other side know Caayn’s name?
Third thought: Why did it sound jovial?
Then she processed Emily’s shout. She’d called out the name of her intended.
“Boron, you conniving bastard. Why are you trying to take down my ship?”
“If I’d known it was your ship, I wouldn’t have been cloaked. And I’d have reached out to you.”
“Why are you hunting us?”
“That’s my woman.” Boron pointed to Emily.
Emily scuffled her way around Smyrna and Katrina and ran toward the front of the corridor, her long flowery dress flaring out behind her.
The big guy, and he was big—larger than Caayn—wove his way around his men, and then around Caayn’s men—they all stepped out of his direction.
He scooped tiny Emily up into his arms. “You are more beautiful in person.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck.
Smyrna wasn’t typically one to yield to emotions, but this was a beautiful depiction of a successful mail order situation. Boron’s fierce craggy face, complete with a nose piercing looked down at Emily with tenderness, as though she was the most precious thing in all the star systems.
Smyrna looked down, overcome by the touching event.
That’s when she noticed her borrowed Pulser.
And that’s when it hit her.
The action was over. Caayn would want his weapon back.
Damn.
Not if she could do something about it. She casually slipped the Pulser off her hand, and with as much stealth as she could manage while everyone’s attention was on the couple’s meeting between them, she jockeyed behind Katrina so she’d be hidden and stuffed the weapon into her bra, as low as she could get it so that it wouldn’t be obvious.
Then she unfastened the charging unit and let it fall near her feet and shoved it to the side where it’d be found. She’d claim that she lost the entire unit while she was panicked about the attack.
Now, she had six shots to take out Baldwin Porter. She wondered if the shots would lose their charge over time, or if they were like bullets and could be kept until used.
Crap, wish I’d thought to ask that then.
They were all gathered in the cafeteria of the Javelin, a room that doubled for recreation when not being used for meals. Smyrna, Katrina, and Emily sat on one side of the table.
Caayn sat at the head, next to Smyrna, Boron sat across from him, next to Emily, whose hand he’d kept engulfed in his large paw. Rush and one of Caayn’s crewmen called Mn’eth sat across from the women.
Boron smiled tenderly at Emily. “We were at the station, when we heard Flax was stopping over with the ladies. We’d been providing a silent escort—unauthorized by the government, of course—but I wouldn’t let anyone convince me not to make sure that my future bride didn’t make it to Janus safely.”
Emily blushed.
Boron touched her cheek with the back of a thick finger.
Damn, that man’s fingers even have muscles stacked on top of muscles.
Caayn cleared his throat. “Why didn’t you contact us,” he asked Boron. “We could have avoided the drama.”
“I didn’t recognize your ship. New one?”
Caayn shrugged. “A couple of months.”
“AA-Class,” Boron commented. “Looks like you’ve made some modifications.”
Caayn’s face lit up like a little boy’s. Smyrna almost smiled at the excitement he clearly felt for his ship.
“A few,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye. “For speed, mostly, and carrying extra fuel.”
“Long distance, and fast.” Boron appraised Caayn. “And you take cargo, I’m guessing, still?”
“More or less.” Caayn’s answer was on the cagey side. “You have a different ship as well, since last I saw you.”
“Promised my bride-to-be she’d be traveling in the very best.
“Seems you secured that.”
“Perhaps when we are all on Janus, safely, you’d like to see the inside of a new Z-Class. But we should consider getting in motion. We’re sitting targets out here right now, even with my cloaking.”
“What’s the rush?” Katrina asked.
Boron glanced at her, then answered, “We thought that slavers had managed to take the women away from Frax. He’s squawking to officials, without masking his transmissions. Any privateer could have picked up his messages and tried to intercept you. You’re lucky it was us.” Nose piercing gleaming in the light, he squeezed Emily’s hand lightly, then raised it to his lips,.
“I’ll take Emily to Janus,” Boron announced, grabbing her chair and pulling it closer to his.
Smyrna frowned. This guy’s size was so intimidating, could he possibly push Emily into doing something she didn’t want? “Are you okay with this,” she asked Emily. “You only know each other from a few pieces of paper, after all.”
Emily’s head bobbed so quickly and her smile was so wide. “We snuck a few visits in on LensNet.” She blushed.
“You did? Even though it’s against the rules?”
“Well…” Emily looked down at her hand in Boron’s, then traced the ridges of his knuckles. “I wanted to be sure.”
Katrina laughed softly. “You do realize that you two appear so very mismatched.”
Smyrna’s thoughts precisely.
“Opposites attract.” Boron pushed his chair back, then reached for Emily’s. “I want you to see my new ship. I told you I’d have the very best for us.”
“Wait.” Katrina’s voice had a tinge of panic to it. “You’re taking her to Janus,” she asked Boron.
“I am,” he replied.
She turned to Caayn. “And you’re taking her to Janus.” She pointed to Smyrna.
“That’s right.”
Smyrna felt relief rush through her, glad that things hadn’t changed. That damned Pulser was pressing against her breasts, and she burned with a need to use it.
“Who am I supposed to go with?” she asked.
Smyrna found herself hoping she’d go with Emily, mostly so she could put her own plan into motion to find Porter and not be encumbered by Katrina following her around or asking her questions.
Emily moved the hand that was making patterns on Boron’s knuckles and took Katrina’s. “You’ll come with me, of course. We have a mate that’s waiting for you. We’l
l make sure you get to him, or to whomever will take you to him. Right, Boron?”
The giant nodded, putty in her hands. “Whatever you wish.”
Smyrna glanced at Rush just in time to see a look cross his face as he studied Katrina’s.
She glanced at Katrina and saw that her gaze was locked on Rush.
What was that about? She was promised to another man.
Just as quickly, Katrina’s expression turned to stone, then she looked at Emily and plastered a smile on her face. “I’d love to.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Smyrna was laying in Caayn’s bunk in his captain’s quarters, where she’d been the last few hours. She’d seen Katrina and Emily off, and she’d actually found herself sad to see the two women go. She hadn’t counted on becoming close to them. She also hadn’t counted on seeing a side of Emily that she hadn’t even begun to imagine existed.
Emily, The Giant Whisperer, she’d laughingly called her.
And Emily? Why she’d simply smiled her demure smile, and managed to look humble, though she had that big ol’ man eating out of the palm of her hand.
“Think you can convert him to your faith?” Smyrna asked her.
Emily shrugged. “I don’t know what the plan is for me. Maybe I’m supposed to find a different faith.”
Katrina tilted her head while a smile played on her lips.
Smyrna nudged her. “You’re not buying this, I take it.”
“And you are?”
Smyrna shrugged. “I think I’m a lot more open toward things than I ever have been. So, maybe?”
Emily stretched across and hugged her. “You’ll be happy. I can tell from the way Caayn looks at you. He’s so smitten.”
If you only knew.
He couldn’t wait to get rid of her. As far as he was concerned, she was going to be reunited with the father of her unborn child and that would leave him able to live his carefree bachelor life of carousing and raising hell across the universes. She hadn’t seen him in a day since she’d parted ways with the girls and they’d boarded Boron’s Z-Class.
Boron and Caayn had agreed to stay near each other for protection and backup, so she’d been able to see the sleek and sexy Z-Class vessel from the porthole in Caayn’s room.
But him, she hadn’t seen. She was convinced he must hate her for screwing up his life. Why else would he avoid her?
And she had his bed, so where was he sleeping? Was he even getting any sleep at all?
She’d felt a sense of elation that she’d be able to take Baldwin Porter off the face of the universe, and out of existence, and she knew she should be over the top excited, and yet…
Something bothered her. Something.
She sighed. It wasn’t rational that she be anything but thrilled at the way things were turning out. The Pulser was snug in the cleavage of her bra, and she would finally—finally!—reach her goal.
Caayn had asked her for the weapon after the melee, but she’d told him she’d dropped it and the charger. His crew had found the charger, and he’d assumed that she was telling the truth and let the matter drop. This was just one of her deceptions that Smyrna felt guilty about.
The knowledge that she’d be able to use the Pulser on Porter was the only thing that assuaged the guilt. Some.
She was almost at her goal. It was so close, she could taste it.
So why the hell am I not bouncing off the walls with euphoria?
A rattling sound interrupted her thoughts.
A soft knock heralded the door opening.
“Smyrna?”
Caayn’s voice.
She rolled over from facing the wall and glanced at him.
“Want to see Janus?”
“I thought I saw it the other day.”
“The other side of Janus.”
“Sure.” She shoved the covers off and rolled out of the bed, adjusting the shirt she’d borrowed from him. It was long, hanging halfway to her thighs.
He looked her up and down, taking in her appearance.
“I was hoping you didn’t mind, I borrowed it. I won’t keep it.” The shirt was more like a tunic, really, made of supple leather, and it smelled like him, something she’d noticed and not minded at all.
“We never took your bags off Frax’s ship when we…”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but she knew where he was going with it. “You didn’t kidnap us. Don’t say that anymore. It’s best to only say things we agreed on. You know, so that we don’t slip up, going forward. Even on your ship.”
He nodded and walked toward the porthole. She joined him, tried to pretend she couldn’t feel the heat emanating from his body, so close to hers.
“That’s Janus?” Smyrna frowned. “What happened to all that greenery? The mountains?”
“The other half of Janus is desert. When we get closer, if we time it right, you’ll be able to see the buildings that were in place to hold the criminals. The outcasts from our planet.”
“It’s so fascinating. I’d love to learn more about your planet, and Janus.” Especially since I might be on the run after I take Porter’s life.
“I can show you.” He stepped away, punched in a code and opened a locked half-door next to the bunk.
Smyrna had wondered what that was, when she’d been looking for a weapon, before he’d given her the Pulser.
He pulled out a box the size of a magazine, but with a glass surface and sat it on the bunk, then patted the spot next to him.
She joined him, trying to ignore that her leg touched his, though their flesh was separated by his pants.
Caayn pressed a button on the side of the box and the screen looked up. “It will be more realistic if you appear to know more about me, my life, and my family, when we arrive on Janus.”
“For appearance’s sake?”
“Exactly.”
He thumbed the glass and different images flickered, appeared, then vanished.
“Wait.” Smyrna put her hand over his. “Who was that little boy? With that woman?”
“Me. And my mother. That was before I met my father.”
Smyrna tipped her head. “What do you mean?”
He exhaled. “My father was a soldier. He was one of the Cardinal Few, also.”
“You’re going to have to back up and bring me up to speed, you know. I don’t even really understand how you—your people—exist. You look like us, you look like humans.”
“Long ago, our civilization was advanced. Supremely so. They sent out small parties to explore the universe. While all these explorers were gone, a cataclysmic war was waged on our planet. Technologies were destroyed, populations decimated. We essentially started from scratch. This was long before I was born, of course.”
“What happened to the explorers?”
“We lost touch. Your planet Earth was one of those places that was uninhabited that we lost touch with.”
“Are you saying that humans are descended from your people?”
He pursed his lips, deep in thought. “How do you explain your existence on Earth?”
“Oh, there are many different types of people that have various theories on the origin of mankind and our planet, and…” She shrugged. “It’s complicated.”
“And you? What theory do you subscribe to?”
“Interesting choice of words. I’ve subscribed to one or another at different points in my life.”
He nodded. “I suppose that is our nature, as sentient beings.”
“So, tell me about meeting your father.”
“I was ten. My mother was dying. She told me my father was Gorgus Cranif of the Cardinal Few. The Cardinal Few. You can only imagine at ten, how that impressed me. “
She nodded.
“These were the families that rebuilt after the war. The families that created governments and brought our people out of darkness. It seems Gorgus and my mother had a very short-lived relationship. I think it could be summed up as a weekend. “
She didn’t know wh
at to say, but she was glad they had those moments. Without them, Caayn wouldn’t exist.
“And then he was gone, back to his soldiering, and she had a son. It wasn’t until she knew that she’d be dying that she decided I should know and seek my father.”
He paused, traced the outline of the woman on the screen who held a little boy.
“She died a week later. I was swept into the care of the local government, and per the arrangements in her will, I was delivered to the doorstep of Gorgus Cranif, who had a wife and a little son already.”
Caayn flipped through the screen, then angled it so she could see it.
“Gorgus, his wife, and my younger half-brother, Tramark.”
Smyrna studied the austere man in the photo. Attractive. And the spitting image of the man sitting next to her. “Ouch. That must have been hard on you…” she paused. “It must have been hard on everyone involved.”
“There were doubts back then. Testing resolved all doubts, and I was brought into the home of now General Gorgus Cranif. His wife treated me fairly. Tramark was happy to have a built-in brother.”
She studied his face. No expression showed his emotions at all. “And you?”
“I survived. But I opted out of the opportunity to be in a military academy and chose to explore… other options.”
“You’re a corsair.”
He tilted his head, his gaze on her face before lowering to her lips. A surge of energy traveled through Smyrna. The urge to lick her lips was overpowering, but she managed to keep it under control.
Finally, he spoke. “What do you know of corsairs?”
She chewed on her lip. “They hire out.”
“Some corsairs are more moral than others.”
“And you?”
“Have you not been treated well? Were you accosted or in any way harmed?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Caayn studied the woman before him. She belonged to another man, he reminded himself. Over and over, he’d been reminding himself of this fact. And yet, for some cursed reason, he couldn’t quench the fierce desire he had to know her better. To get into her head. And even into her heart.