by Anna Hackett
He nodded. “We’ll find them.”
A man stepped forward, bending down on one knee.
“Mina, my name’s Jaxer and I’m from the House of Rone.”
She eyed the cyborg and nodded.
“We’d already heard rumors that there were more human abductees,” Jaxer said.
She gasped.
“I’ve been given the job of finding your friends, and I assure you, I will not fail.” The man’s voice held a firm, unyielding promise.
Mina grabbed the cyborg’s arm. The man had an intricate tattoo of circuits and wires on his skin.
“I’d like to help,” she said.
Jaxer nodded, and then Mina sagged against Tannon.
“She needs to rest,” Tannon said.
“I trust you to take care of her, Tannon,” Rillian said.
Tannon rose with Mina in his arms. “That is something you never have to doubt.” He nodded to the gladiators and humans. They moved out of his way.
“We’ll see you soon, Mina,” Mia called out.
Tannon wasted no time returning to his suite. He set Mina down on his bed. He wanted to get her warm and comfortable.
“I’m human. I’m from Earth.” She turned dazed eyes his way. “I’m from Canada.” Her voice cracked. “I have a mother, a father, two younger brothers.”
Tannon stroked her cheek. “You can’t go back, but there is a home for you here.”
She frowned. “You mean Carthago?”
“No.”
“Kor Magna?”
“Keep going.”
A faint smile chased some of the sadness off her face. “At the Dark Nebula?”
“Partly.” He lifted her palm and pressed it to his chest. “You have a home here, Mina. With me.”
Her smile bloomed now. “I think you really like me.”
“I suspect that it’s a lot more than that. Apparently, I like troublemakers.” He softly touched his lips to hers.
“What are you saying, Tannon?”
“That I’m falling in love with you. I don’t care where you’re from, you’re mine.”
She bit her lip. “I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love with you, too.”
Emotion kicked in his chest. “Let me take care of you, Mina.”
“As long as I can take care of you right back.”
“Deal.” He kissed her. The rightness of their connection vibrated through him. He pulled her into the circle of his arms. “By the way, I believe your skills are wasted as a cocktail waitress.”
She tilted her head. “You offering me a better job?”
“Yes. With my security team.”
Her chest hitched. “Um, isn’t it a problem with you being the head of security? You’re essentially offering your girlfriend a job?”
“Girlfriend?”
Her nose wrinkled. “It does sound a bit high school. Um, partner? Woman?”
“Mine. I’ll just call you mine.”
“That works for me.” Her smile faded. “Tannon, my friends.”
“We’ll find them. Whatever it takes. With the combined power and resources of the House of Galen, the House of Rone, and the Dark Nebula Casino focused on finding them, it won’t take long.”
She nodded.
“Now, you need to rest and relax.” He started to unfasten her skirt.
She lay back on the covers and lifted her hips. “Don’t let me stop you.” Her words were a purr.
Tannon skimmed his hands up her slim legs. “You’re going to turn my world upside down, aren’t you?”
Her smile was wide. “Count on it.”
With a rough laugh, Tannon lowered his head and pressed his mouth to her smiling lips.
I hope you enjoyed Tannon and Mina’s story!
Not ready to say goodbye to Carthago? Then check out my series, Galactic Gladiators: House of Rone.
The gladiator cyborgs of the House of Rone are championing the search for the other human abductees being held captive in the dangerous desert sands of Carthago.
Stay tuned for Jaxer Rone’s story in Sentinel (House of Rone #1). Read on for a preview of his story.
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Preview: Sentinel
The cart jolted roughly beneath her, and Quinn Bennett shifted, trying to get comfortable. Her left butt cheek had gone numb several hours ago. The chain around her wrist clanked.
She lifted her head and scanned the desert sands around them. Hot sunlight poured down from not one, but two suns. She peered toward the distant horizon, the sky overhead a pale, faded blue, so different from Earth.
This desert planet was hot, harsh, and unforgiving. And Earth was a very long way away. So far away that there was no way to ever go home.
Quinn’s throat tightened, as she thought of her family and how much she missed them. One day, she’d been doing her job as security chief on a space exploration ship, exploring the solar system. The next, alien slavers had blown her ship apart, and abducted her and some of her crew.
She dragged in a breath, the echoes of that long-ago attack burning through her head. The Thraxian ship had appeared in front of them, huge and black and menacing. The aliens had been way more advanced, and had used a wormhole to reach Earth’s solar system, searching for fresh blood.
Quinn had fought. She’d even taken down a couple of the big assholes. She’d fought to protect the explorers and scientists on her ship. But the Thraxians were huge, with dark skin that looked like parched, cracked soil, and horns. They’d looked like demons from hell.
Guilt, slick and oily, worked through her veins, and she swallowed hard. Her ship had been overrun, most of the people cut down, and the few remaining survivors had been taken aboard a Thraxian scout ship. From her cell, she’d also watched the Thraxians’ larger slave ship attack the Fortuna Space Station orbiting Jupiter. She’d watched in helpless horror as the station had been torn apart.
Quinn dropped her head to her knees. So many must have died that long-ago day—both on her ship, the Helios, and on the space station. She was the security chief of the Helios, the one responsible for everyone’s safety, and she’d saved no one.
I’m so sorry. The words were carved in her damn soul.
And now here she was. A slave. The cart jerked again as it bumped over the sand. She was the prisoner of a desert junker named Sleeja. He was a scavenger who traversed the desert sands, helping himself to any metal he could scrounge, trade, or steal.
Sleeja, aka the asshole, sat on the bench seat at the front of the long cart that was loaded with boxes and scrap. He was wrapped in black robes, holding the reins of the tandu that pulled the cart. The beast was massive, round, and strong, with a fine layer of pale-beige fur. It reminded her of an elephant crossed with a camel. A small mask dangled around Sleeja’s neck. Every now and then, he’d pick the mask up with one of his four hands and take a deep breath. He was a mixture of alien species, but one of his parents had clearly been Edull. The Edull couldn’t breathe Carthago’s air.
Her lip curled. The Edull had purchased all the human survivors from the Helios. She hated them as much as she hated Sleeja.
Whatever it took, she’d rescue every single surviving member of the Helios crew, and she’d make the people who hurt them pay.
In the distance, Quinn watched another cart appear, being towed by four tarnids. Tarnids were smaller and swifter, with six legs and scaly hides. They made her think of reptilian horses.
Kids waved at them from the back of the other cart.
Sleeja didn’t wave back. If he was in the mood, he’d trade with the travelers. She’d be forced to cart hunks of metal around for him, and endure the pitying looks of the travelers.
Well, the lifting and carting wasn’t going to go on for much longer. She sure as hell wasn’t going to
be Sleeja’s slave forever. Quinn was biding her time, waiting for the moment when she could escape and get back to the Edull scrap city where the other people from her ship were being held prisoner.
First, she had to escape Sleeja.
Or rather, they had to escape.
She glanced at the young alien man huddled in the dirty robes beside her. Nebu was tall and slender, with pale-gray skin and a pretty face. His dark hair was tangled around his wan features. Sleeja had purchased them both at the same time, and Nebu wasn’t holding up well under Sleeja’s not-so-tender loving care.
Quinn knew she needed to get them free soon, or Nebu wouldn’t make it.
In her hand, she held a small strip of wire. She’d pilfered it from one of the crates. It was handy if she got the chance to stab Sleeja in the eye, but it was also for stress relief. She worked it through her fingers before she twisted it into shape, just like her father had taught her.
“Nebu.” She held it out to him.
The alien took the wire creation and a faint smile crossed his face. It was a tiny bird, flying with wings outstretched. Free.
“I’ll add it to my collection,” he said.
She made the little trinkets to keep his spirits up, and doing something she’d always done with her metal-artist father reminded her of who she was. It was also something she did just for herself, so she wouldn’t forget that she was Quinn Bennett—daughter, sister, friend, security chief.
A wild war cry pierced the air. She stiffened, recognizing the feral, undulating sounds.
Desert pirates.
Her gut went rock hard. A line of raggedly dressed people appeared on the crest of the large sand dune ahead. They were all clutching weapons.
She’d encountered pirates before—they were vicious and brutal.
Fuck. She yanked on the chain, but she knew from bitter experience that it would hold.
“Sleeja, let me loose!”
The junker ignored her, pulling the giant tandu beast to a halt. The cart rocked to a stop.
“Sleeja, you mangy fuck,” Quinn yelled. “Unchain me.”
The man rose, his robes flapping around him. Ahead, the pirates engulfed the other travelers. Screams filled the desert air.
She saw several of the travelers swinging swords, fighting the pirates. One man was cut down by an axe-wielding pirate.
Oh, God, there were kids over there. She gave another frustrated tug on the chain, helplessness rising to choke her. Just like it had when the Thraxians had attacked, just like when the Edull had thrown her in a cell.
Sleeja walked along the cart toward her. He stopped by a large, canvas-covered object. He whipped the cover off.
“Activate.” His voice was a breathy rasp.
There was a rumble and a clank.
Sleeja’s huge, cat-like robot rose up on its metal legs. It was constructed of silver metal and rusted junk, held together by strong magnets. The robotic cat leaped off the cart and landed on the sand.
Then it swiveled its large metal head, its eyes glowing a deep orange.
“Attack,” Sleeja barked.
The robo-cat’s gaze zeroed in on the pirates. Then it bounded toward the attackers.
Quinn hated the damn robot. Every time she’d managed to escape, the fucking thing had found her and dragged her back to Sleeja.
She watched the machine charge into the pirates, tearing at them with its strong jaws and sharp claws.
The travelers who were still standing kept fighting. Some of the pirates noticed Sleeja’s cart, and rushed toward them with wild cries.
Sleeja grunted, and lifted his mask with one hand to pull in a breath, while two of his other hands pulled out a large laser weapon. He started firing.
Quinn heard a whimper. Nebu was curled in a ball, shaking. The man hated any confrontation.
“It’ll be okay, Nebu.”
Suddenly, a pirate leaped onto the cart right in front of her.
Shit. She edged in front of Nebu. The pirate kicked a chunk of scrap metal off onto the sand, then he spotted her. The man shot her a gap-toothed grin.
He started toward her.
Quinn stilled and lifted her chin. Bring it, asshole.
The pirate lifted a jagged sword made of rusted metal. He swung at her, and she rolled to the side, her chain clanking.
The pirate lifted the weapon again, and Quinn quickly calculated in her head. She moved, tugging on her chain, her muscles bunching as she waited.
The sword came down. She rolled, pulling the chain tight. The blade hit the metal links, the sword flew out of the pirate’s hand, and the chain broke.
She leaped up and kicked the pirate.
He screamed, fighting to stop from toppling off the cart. He righted himself and charged at her.
Quinn dodged the man’s swinging arm, then aimed a hard side kick into his gut. This time he flew off the side of the cart and onto the sand.
Yes. She smiled. Sleeja was stingy with the food, so she’d lost weight and strength, but she could still take a filthy pirate any day.
A childish, high-pitched scream of terror rang out.
She looked over and saw a slip of a girl struggling on the shoulder of a pirate. The man was marching away from the carnage.
Quinn’s body locked. No way. She leaped onto the sand and snatched up the pirate’s rusty sword. She took off at a run.
The pirate had his back to her and never saw her coming. She swung the sword, raking it across his lower back. It cut through the patched leather of his tunic like butter.
With a shout, he fell onto his knees. He dropped the young girl, and Quinn swung again, hacking into his shoulder.
Blood splattered on the sand. The man curled into a ball and moaned.
The girl stood there, trembling.
Quinn went down on one knee. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” When she’d first arrived on Carthago, the Edull had implanted her with a translation device. She had no trouble understanding the various alien languages spoken on the planet.
Brown hair hung over the girl’s face and she nodded. Then her gaze went over Quinn’s shoulder, fear blooming in her eyes.
Quinn saw the large shadow on the sand. She spun on her knees and swung her sword up to meet the large axe coming at her.
The blow hit her sword and the strength of it rattled through her bones. She gritted her teeth, and let her training take over.
She surged up, whirling out of the path of the axe. The big pirate reeked of sweat and unwashed clothes. He swung again, and she ducked to avoid the huge axe. She changed her grip on her sword, then rammed it forward. It sliced into the pirate’s gut.
He made a gurgling sound and started to topple.
Turning, Quinn snatched up the child. Someone on the travelers’ cart had activated a small canon. They were firing on the pirates, forcing some to retreat.
Thank God.
“It’s okay.” She squeezed the girl tight. The child was sobbing quietly. “The pirates are leaving.” Quinn started back toward the travelers.
“My baby!” A woman hiding beneath the cart launched herself toward them. The woman’s gaze latched on to the girl.
Quinn set the girl down, and the child raced toward the woman.
“Mama!”
The girl clamped her arms around the woman’s waist and the woman hugged the child hard.
“Thank you.” The female traveler’s face was streaked with tears. “Thank you.”
A man arrived, his desert clothes soaked in sweat and his chest heaving. He wrapped an arm around the woman and child. Relief was etched on his tanned face.
He gave Quinn a nod. “Our thanks.”
Quinn felt a burst of warmth, watching the family. She’d almost forgotten that happiness still existed. She nodded back. She hadn’t saved her crew, but she’d saved this little girl at least.
Then, before she could do anything else, a vicious blow hit her on the back of the head.
Pain exploded through he
r and she fell to her knees on the sand. Her vision blurred.
A hand sank into her hair, painfully yanking her around. She looked up into Sleeja’s angry face. He had small, beady, black eyes, brown skin with a faint scale pattern, and a wide mouth with no lips.
Without a word, the scavenger dragged her back toward the cart.
“Leave her.”
Quinn realized it was the male traveler.
“Don’t interfere, desert scum,” Sleeja rasped.
Quinn lifted her head and saw the mother staring at her, clearly conflicted. The man took one step toward them.
Sighing, Quinn gave one small shake of her head. There was nothing these people could do. Sleeja would never let anyone best him. He haggled endlessly when he traded, and raved about never letting anyone get the better of him.
Even if she wasn’t worth it, he’d fight to keep her. He’d send his robo-cat to slaughter these people.
The traveler’s hands curled into fists, and his woman and child pressed into his side.
Sleeja threw her onto the cart. Her hip hit some scrap and pain rocketed through her. Asshole.
He lifted his mask and sucked in air. Any exertion left him out of breath. That’s why he liked to have slaves to do his heavy lifting.
Sleeja grabbed a new length of chain in one of his hands. He locked it around her wrist.
“You belong to me, slave. I own you.” He kicked her. Then he kicked her again.
She felt like her brain rattled in her head. She lifted her arm to protect herself, trying not to be sick.
“You’ll never be free,” Sleeja rasped.
A crying voice inside whispered that maybe he was right. It had been a long time since Quinn had been free. First, the Thraxians had kept her in a cell on their ship. She’d been so alone, and had never seen any of the other Helios captives. Then, they’d sold her to the Edull. Her skin crawled as she thought of the metal scavengers who lived in their scrap city deep in the desert.
She’d been determined to escape. Again and again, with the help of one of her other abductees—one of her security officers from the Helios—they’d made numerous escape attempts from the Edull’s dirty cells.