by E. R. Paskey
Lobai and his driver finally made it up the ramp and into the relative safety of the cargo hold. Viktor swiftly hit the button to close the ramp and for a second, they all stared at each other.
Anna recovered long enough to wave a hand to Lobai. “Ladies and gentlemen, Lobai.” Her eyes flicked to his driver. “And his bodyguard. Sorry, never did catch your name.”
“Norin,” the man said gruffly, his eyes darting around the cargo hold, assessing them.
“Captain Drayek, Captain Indinara.” Lobai inclined his head toward the two men. “Thank you for taking me aboard.”
“This had better be good,” Viktor warned.
“Oh, I assure you, it is.” Lobai paused, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t see Captain Dupree.”
Anna could have kissed him. That same question burned on her tongue.
Viktor had the grace to look abashed. “Locked in a cabin.”
Chapter 37
ANNA’S JAW DROPPED. SHE TOOK a step forward, her free hand unconsciously balling into a fist. “Why?”
“He’s still wanted for murder,” Indinara said dryly. “We didn’t want to run the risk of someone seeing him.”
Anna narrowed her eyes at her brother. “Where?”
“It’s good to see you too, sis.” Viktor gave her a wry look. “Especially after you got kidnapped right from under our noses.”
“Thabati betrayed us.”
“Yeah, we got that part from Dupree.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Mind telling us what happened after that?”
Anna flapped a hand at him. “Sure. As soon as I see Colin.”
“Anna — ”
“Oh, no.” She silenced her brother with a look. “Last I saw of him, he was unconscious in an escape pod Thabati made me shoot into space.”
“According to him, that’s because of you.”
Anna spared Indinara a glance; she’d have thought he’d have the sense to stay out of a spat between siblings. “Only because the alternative was Thabati killing him.” She grimaced at the memory. “Once he had Bear, he didn’t need Colin anymore.”
“But he needed you?”
Anna sighed. “Look, it’s a long story. Why don’t you talk to him — ” she nodded toward Lobai, “ — and I’ll fill you in the rest in a little while.” She posted her free hand on her hip. “Now where is he?”
After a brief staring contest, Indinara rattled off the cabin number, location, and unlocking key. Anna felt something constricting inside her ease just a little. “Thank you.” She glanced once at Lobai, to see if he intended to say anything about the bomb she was still carrying, but his wrinkled face only looked aloofly amused. All right, then, we’ll deal with that later too.
She forced herself to move at a normal pace as she left the cargo hold. Once she was beyond prying eyes, she itched to break into a run, but she had no idea what being jolted would do to the bomb. And I don’t particularly want to find out.
Not before she saw Colin, at any rate.
It felt like it took an eternity to actually reach the cabin in which they had imprisoned him, but once she stood in front of the door, Anna’s courage abruptly evaporated. She raised a hand to key in the code that would open the door, but her fingers froze above the touchpad. She didn’t know what to expect … except anger. And disappointment.
Her heart began to thud in her chest.
You can do this, Anna.
She had to see him.
A sudden ray of hope spiked in her chest. They had to lock him up. Why would they have to do that if he didn’t intend to be in the cargo hold with the others?
Taking a deep breath, she keyed in the code.
The door slid aside with a whisper of sound—a stray corner of her mind noted that Indinara took better care of a few things than they did—and her eyes fell on Colin as he whirled to face her.
His bearded face was tense and unhappy, but as they locked gazes, his blue eyes widened with shock.
“Hi,” Anna mustered. Even to her own ears, it sounded faint and breathy, but she couldn’t get any other words out.
Something indecipherable changed in Colin’s expression … and then she barely had time to breathe before he crossed the cabin to her in a flash and swept her into a bone-crunching hug.
For a second, Anna was completely frozen in shock. She hadn’t expected this, hadn’t dared to hope that he might have missed her as badly as she’d missed him. His body was warm against hers—welcome heat; she hadn’t realized she’d been so cold until now.
“You’re alive. You’re alive,” Colin murmured into her hair, relief drenching every syllable. “Galaxies, lass, I was afraid he’d — ” He cut himself off, his grip tightening on her even further.
Anna’s eyes filled with tears. He was worried about me. She sagged against him, her own arms sliding under his arms to hug him back.
Colin sensed the instant she relaxed into his embrace; some of the tension seemed to drain from his frame. After a moment, he pulled back and freed a hand, keeping his other arm wrapped around her. Anna looked up at him, her mouth opening to say something—what, she wasn’t sure exactly—but he tilted her chin up with his hand and kissed her.
Kissed her like he was drowning and she was the air he needed to breathe.
Kissed her like she’d never been kissed in her entire life.
Taken by surprise, Anna froze. Then her eyes fluttered shut and she melted into the kiss. She had just started to respond when Colin broke the kiss and pulled back. She forced her eyes open in time to see him swallow, his eyes wide and dilated—but hesitant.
“I — ” he began, “I didn’t — ”
Before he could panic and tell her that he hadn’t meant to do it—or worse, didn’t really mean it—Anna tangled her fingers in the hair at the back of his neck and raised herself up onto her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. This was her moment. She had to show him she understood, make him understand that his touch wasn’t unwelcome.
To her immense relief, Colin responded almost instantly. His mouth slanted over hers again as he took control of the kiss, coaxing a sigh out of her. Their arms tightened around each other, to the point where Anna would have been hard-pressed to tell where she ended and he began.
When they finally broke apart, breathing heavily, Colin dropped a kiss on the end of her nose and then buried his face in the crook of her neck again. “Wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again,” he mumbled against her skin.
Tears burned her eyes again. Anna swallowed a lump in her throat and rubbed soothing circles on his back. Her legs were still shaky; it was a good thing he was bearing the bulk of her weight. If he let go, she was pretty sure she’d fall right to the deck in a puddle of goo.
It took her two tries to find her voice. “Aren’t you—aren’t you mad at me? For drugging you?”
Colin pulled back long enough to look her full in the face. His eyes, she was startled to see, were wet too. “Yes. Furious, actually, Anna, but at the moment I’m too relieved you’re not a depressurized corpse floating through space to think about it.”
Her breath caught in her throat; that was the same vision she’d had of him. The grim cast to his bearded face behind his visible relief was her undoing. Her fingers tightened their grip on him. “He was going to kill you.”
Once she started, the words continued to tumble from her lips. “He didn’t need both of us, he said so. He only needed you to get to Bear. Once he had him — ” She choked back a sob, her dark eyes pleading with him to understand. “It was the only way I could think of to keep you alive.”
Colin raised a hand to her face and gently brushed a tear away with the pad of his thumb. “The thought did cross my mind after I woke up.” One corner of his mouth kicked up in a rueful smile. “Once I was finished ranting and raving about how you’d stabbed me in the back and left me.”
Anna dropped her eyes to the hollow of his throat. “I knew Viktor would f
ind you.”
“And so he did.” Colin paused. “Has he said anything about that?”
“No.” She shook her head, still focused on the little tuft of chest hair curling out of the collar of his shirt. “I introduced Lobai and came right here.” She hesitated, then plunged ahead. “You weren’t there and I had to see you.”
His arm tightened around her. “I wanted to be there. Indinara and your brother wouldn’t let me.”
“That’s what they said.” Anna bit the inside of her cheek. Ostensibly, it was because he was still wanted for murder, but after the way he’d kissed her just now…part of her couldn’t help but hope there was more to it than that. Her heart stuttered in her chest; surely there was no way in space she’d misinterpreted this.
Colin registered the sudden tension coiling her muscles. “Look at me,” he said softly. When she did not immediately comply, he cupped the side of her face again. “Anna, please.”
It was her name that did it. Throughout the course of the time they had known each other, she could count only a handful of times he’d actually used her name. Slowly, she dragged her eyes up to his.
Colin looked sober, but he did not relax his grip on her. “I have to tell you something.” He wet his lips, his eyes alternating between hopeful and uncertain. “Been thinking it for a while, actually, but didn’t think I should say anything.” He swallowed, his eyes darkening. “But after the way you just kissed me — ”
Anna could only stare at him, her heart thudding frantically against her ribcage. Hope swelled in her, almost to the point where she thought her chest might actually burst, but she held herself back. She could still feel that knife-edge of doubt, of wary uncertainty, dangling over their heads.
“I’m in love with you,” Colin said simply. He tucked a stray lock of dark hair that had escaped her braid back behind her ear. “I know we haven’t known each other long, in the grand scheme of the universe, but we’ve spent more time together than most people do in six months, and I wanted to die when I woke up on that escape pod alone.”
Anna opened her mouth to say something—what, she wasn’t sure—but Colin shook his head. His chest heaved once and then again as he struggled to contain himself. “At first I couldn’t believe you’d done that to me, and then all I could think about was you alone on Thabati’s ship. Heading to Ydris, alone.” His blue eyes bored into her face. “By the time your brother found me, I’d almost convinced myself you were already dead.”
Anna scrunched her fingers in the fabric of his shirt in mute apology.
He rested his forehead against hers, exhaling shakily. “I realized then that I loved you—and the last thing I want to do is lose — ” he stopped, but then continued bravely, “ — lose another woman I love.”
Fresh tears welled up in her eyes; Anna pressed her lips together and tried not to give in to the sobs rising in her throat. Until he had spoken the words, she had not realized how badly she needed to hear them. Everything that had happened in the past few weeks whirled through her mind, events slotting themselves neatly into place to form an overarching picture. He loves me.
She almost couldn’t believe it.
“Anna? Lass?” Colin gave her shoulders a tiny shake. “Don’t tell me I short-circuited your brain.” He smiled, but it did not dispel the nervousness and uncertainty clouding his eyes. “I know we’re supposed to head back to Plimus after all this and file for an annulment, and then you’ll go sailing off into the galaxy with your brother, but … ” he shook his head, never taking his eyes off hers. “I don’t want you to leave. I never want you to leave. I don’t have much to offer, besides myself and a ship and a reputation I’ve got to piece back together, but … ” he paused to draw a breath, “what I have is yours. You’re part of my crew, part of my life now, and if you go, you’ll be taking my heart along with you.”
Anna took a shallow breath. “You want me to stay aboard the Galaxy’s Way?”
“I want you to stay with me,” he corrected. “I hope to keep the Galaxy’s Way for a good long while, but ships come and go.” He brushed her jaw with his thumb. “Never could have imagined we’d meet the way we did, but I want you to be my wife because you choose to be, not because we ran afoul of some backworld law.”
Anna could only stare at him. No one had ever looked at her the way he was looking at her right now, with such affection…and love. A warm glow started in the pit of her stomach, spreading upward through her chest. “Colin, I — ”
Somebody banged heavily on the door, and then they heard Viktor’s muffled voice. “I’m coming in. You’d better be decent.”
Anna’s eyes darted involuntarily in the direction of the door, but she turned back to Colin in time to see him shutter his earnest, hopeful expression. The dimming of that hope wrenched at her heart just as much as the way he dropped his hands and stepped back, letting her go.
Viktor has the worst timing! she thought mutinously. Colin had just bared his heart to her after they’d been through hell and now they were being interrupted.
Part of her couldn’t help but be grateful for the interruption, however; it gave her brain a few precious seconds to process everything. But as the door slid open, she turned to face it on still-wobbly legs, propping her hands on her hips. Viktor’s face appeared; she fixed him with a glare.
Her brother darted a blink-and-you’ll miss it look at Colin beside her before nodding to the corridor. “We need to talk to you.”
Anna continued to glare at him. “I’ll be there in a minute. We’re not finished.”
Viktor set his jaw—Colin, taking them both in, could clearly see the family resemblance. “It’s important, Anna.”
“So is this,” she snapped.
“We’ve got a problem.” Viktor stepped fully into the compartment. In the harsh light from the glowpanel, his face was tight and creased with concern. “Turns out Lobai didn’t actually bring the device with him.”
Oh, for the love of… Anna exhaled heavily, then turned an apologetic look on Colin, willing him to understand this wasn’t a rejection, but a delay. Her hand went to the satchel, which she had forgotten she was still wearing. “Yes, he did. He gave it to me.”
Chapter 38
BEFORE ANNA QUITE KNEW HOW it happened, Colin had taken her by the elbow and ushered her out into the corridor. Viktor followed close behind.
“We’re in the main living compartment,” he said tersely, before shaking his head. “Galaxies, Anna, what were you thinking?”
“Aye.” Colin’s blue eyes were dark with concern as he looked down at her. “What were you thinking, lass?”
Anna scowled up at him, but did not pull away as his hand settled against the small of her back. “I was thinking I didn’t have much of a choice and the idea made sense.”
“Made sense?” Viktor sputtered behind them. “Anna! How in the galaxy — ”
“Think,” she hissed, stopping short in the middle of the corridor and rounding on her brother, nearly colliding with Colin. “It’s safer to give it to me because they’re expecting Lobai to be carrying it.”
Viktor narrowed his eyes at her. “This’d be where we need you to explain things, Anna, because Lobai won’t say a word.”
“Of course he wouldn’t,” Anna muttered, rubbing her forehead.
Colin darted a glance down at her satchel, his jaw tightening, but he said nothing further. His hand, however, returned to the small of her back, as though to physically reassure himself that she was intact after having carted an incendiary device capable of destroying half a planet around with her.
“Ah, there you are, dearie,” Lobai said as the three of them entered the main living compartment a few minutes later. His voice was pleasant, but Anna fancied she could hear the strain beneath it.
Indinara directed a stern look at the old man. “Now will you tell us where the device is?”
Anna darted a glance at Lobai, seeking permission, but she shouldn’t have b
othered.
“He gave it to my sister,” Viktor announced in a voice like thunder.
Every eye turned to Anna—including Lobai’s driver, Norin.
Indinara looked gobsmacked. “He gave it to you?”
“Yeah.” Anna unslung the satchel around her neck and crossed to the table. Carefully, she undid the front flap and slid the device out for them to see. “He thought it’d be safer this way.”
Everyone turned to stare at Lobai, who gave a careless shrug. “Knowing my reputation, I was certain no one would suspect.”
“You’ve got that right.” Viktor leaned a hip against the table, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’d better start at the beginning, old man, if you expect us to help you get out of here.”
Annoyed frustration deepened the wrinkles in Lobai’s face. “We haven’t the time for that now,” he said curtly, thumping his cane on the deck. “I will be more than happy to explain everything once we’re off this accursed planet.”
Colin, Viktor, Indinara, and the others traded glances. “Not good enough,” Viktor said. “You betrayed all of us and you set him up for a murder he didn’t commit.” He jerked his head toward Colin.
“I wasn’t responsible for Scarlet and Lacy’s deaths,” Lobai said quietly.
Colin stirred. “But you did screw us all over.”
Anna felt the onset of a migraine pulse behind her right eye. Raising a hand, she rubbed her forehead. “He did it to save his wife,” she said loudly, cutting through the growing murmurs rippling through the compartment. “Somebody at the DOJ has his wife and they forced him to build the device.”
Complete and utter silence fell over the compartment as every one turned to gape at her. The migraine pulsed again. Oh, galaxies. Anna felt the weight of their astonishment, but she refused to let it intimidate her. Straightening her spine, she sent a sharp look around. “Here’s the deal.”
“Be quick about it, dearie,” Lobai advised. “I’m afraid we haven’t got all day.”