Dagger's Hope

by S. E. Smith

  Kelman walked forward and grabbed her by the arm. She stumbled when he pushed her forward, toward the gate. She couldn’t help, but glance over to where Dagger laid, leaning sideways on the ground.

  “I want him hungry, and willing,” Kelman chuckled. “If I put you in the center of the cage, he will fight anything I put in there.”

  “You know they have places for creatures like you,” Jordan retorted, hoping that someone would be out and about at this time of the night. “You are crazy.”

  Kelman jerked Jordan to a stop at the entrance to the gate and stared down at her through narrowed eyes. A slow smile curved his lips when he saw the fear she was trying to hide. Satisfied that she wouldn’t be any trouble, he turned back to the figure following a short distance behind them.

  “Shoot him in the legs,” Kelman ordered. “I don’t want him to follow us too soon.”

  “No!” Jordan cried, trying to turn back toward Dagger. “No!”

  Kelman grabbed her arm and slapped her across the face, before he pressed the end of the laser pistol against her shoulder. Jordan pulled in a shaky breath, but she didn’t fight him. She got the message. He would shoot her as well if she didn’t follow his instructions. All he needed was for her to be alive.

  “I hope he kills you,” she whispered in a trembling breath.

  “You and a million others out there,” Kelman chuckled, even as he roughly turned her around and pushed her through the gate. “I just make sure that I kill them first.”

  *.*.*

  Dagger fought against the drug coursing through his system. His partially numb fingers moved down to his waist and fumbled for the laser pistol he was wearing. He was lying on his side, tilted forward, so neither Kelman nor the assassin he had hired saw the movement of his hand under his jacket.

  Kelman had finally made a deadly mistake. Over the past two years, Dagger had been pumped full of the sedatives so many times, that his body had developed a resistance to it until it took a larger dose to knock him out. The small dose might have knocked him down, but it hadn’t totally incapacitated him.

  Dagger heard what Kelman planned to do. This time, he was going to finish the man. His fingers tightened around the grip of the laser pistol when he heard Kelman order the man to shoot him.

  Breathing deeply, he counted the number of steps as they approached, trying to judge the distance from the man. Cracking his eyelids, he waited until he saw the tips of the black boots before he rolled slightly and fired two shots into the male. He hit him once in the chest and the second time between the eyes.

  He forced his sluggish muscles to move as he pulled himself over to the assassin. One thing he had learned during his years at war, was if you were going to use a drug on someone, you’d better carry an antidote in case it got used on you. He rolled over onto his back, focusing on moving his right arm and hand.

  Patting the man’s jacket, he moved down to the weapons belt. His fingers slid over a small pouch. Sweat glistened on his forehead as he fumbled for what seemed like endless minutes, but in reality was probably only a few seconds, to open it. He slid his fingers in, and grabbed the small injector.

  Rolling onto his side, he pulled the injector toward his mouth and pulled the cap off of it. Forcing his hand down, he pressed it against his leg and depressed the trigger. Almost immediately, he could feel the paralysis holding his muscles in their greedy grasp release. It took almost a full minute before he felt like he was back in control of his body.

  Rolling stiffly to his feet, he strode over to the transport. He jerked the comlink that was lying in the center console out, and attached it to his ear at the same time as he reached for the black bag behind the seats. Ripping it open, he began pulling out the weapons he would need.

  “Speak,” a deep voice growled in his ear.

  “Kelman has Jordan,” Dagger replied.

  There was a fraction of silence before he heard Hunter’s voice again. “How? Where?”

  “My house. Now,” Dagger answered. “He has to have a ship waiting. Find it and take it out.”

  “Done,” Hunter replied. “I’m on my way.”

  “He was on foot,” Dagger warned him. “He must have a transport hidden.”

  “He’ll have to stay on the path,” Hunter answered him. “I’ll be there in less than ten.”

  Dagger shut off the comlink. He would know when Hunter arrived. Clipping the belt around his waist, he palmed the pistol in his hand and took off. The beast inside him had awoken. This time, there would be no denying him his kill.

  Chapter 20

  Jordan fought the urge to cry. The faint sounds of laser fire had echoed through the night. She couldn’t keep the choked sob from escaping at the knowledge of what had just happened to Dagger.

  “I hate you,” she hissed, stumbling along the dark path.

  Kelman released an irritated sigh. “I thought you might be a touch more original than the others,” he drawled impatiently, glancing behind him in frustration. The assassin should have caught up with them. “Move.”

  Jordan stumbled again on the uneven path when he shoved her between her shoulder blades. Fury built inside her, boiling over. Memories, both past and present, poured through her mind. Images flashed through her in vivid detail of all the years she, Jesse, and Taylor had spent running and the hiding. She remembered the day the Trivators came and her dad died. She remembered the years she and her sisters had spent fighting for a scrap of food or a decent night’s sleep or just trying to live.

  “No,” she hissed, slowly turning to face him.

  Kelman glared at her in surprise. “What did you just say?” He asked in disbelief.

  Jordan took a step toward him. Beside her, she heard the sound of a branch cracking. Déjà vu swept through her as she remembered the night just a few months ago when she was walking along a path similar to this one. Grim determination filled her as she stepped up to Kelman and pushed him – hard - in the chest.

  “I… said… No!” Jordan growled. “I won’t move. I won’t go with you. I won’t let you hurt Dagger any more than you already have. I… Won’t… Let… You!”

  Shock crossed Kelman’s face before it darkened with irritation. Jordan saw him raise his hand to strike her across the face again. This time, she was ready for it. Reaching up, she grabbed his arm and twisted around like her dad had taught her and let the forward momentum of his body carry him over her shoulder.

  She stood up, staring down at Kelman’s body in shock for a brief second before she realized that he had dropped the pistol he was holding. She moved quickly and kicked it off the path and into the grassy section on the other side of the soft, red lights. A low cry escaped her when Kelman rolled and grabbed her by the ankle.

  She fell and rolled, kicking at him when he tried to pull her toward him. Shuffling backwards, she rolled to her feet and tried to run. Kelman had risen as well and wrapped an arm around her waist. Jordan reacted violently, swinging around with her elbow into his cheekbone at the same time as she twisted away from him.

  The move knocked him backwards several steps toward the edge of the path. Jordan had lost her balance again as she turned and fell hard on her right hip. She immediately rolled, pushing herself up into a crouching position as Kelman wiped at the blood from where she had broken the skin along his cheek.

  “I am going to enjoy torturing you,” he snarled. “I’ll make sure your Trivator gets to watch while I do it.”

  Jordan swallowed when she saw the glow of red eyes in the woods behind Kelman. Her eyes flickered to him then to the pistol lying just outside of the path. Kelman glanced down and behind him. A slow smile curved his lips as he took a step back. He was still on the path, but it wouldn’t take much to push him off. If she could…

  Jordan didn’t think. Darting forward, she raised her hands and caught Kelman in the center of his chest with her hands, shoving him backwards off the protected path. She stumbled to a stop when he fell backwards onto the soft ground.

&
nbsp; Her eyes widened when he slowly stood up, picking up the laser pistol as he did. She started to take a step backwards when he shook his head and aimed it at her. Jordan’s heart pounded as he took a step closer to the path. She couldn’t see the glow of red eyes any longer. Had the creature been frightened off? Had it been just a figment of her wishful imagination? Raising her hands out in front of her, she drew in a deep breath.

  “Please,” she whispered. “I can’t lose him. I… can’t…”

  “Ask me if I care,” Kelman replied with a mocking sneer.

  “I do,” a deep voice replied right before a flare of light lit the night.

  *.*.*

  Dagger fired the laser pistol, hitting Kelman in the shoulder and knocking him to the side. He had come up on them just as Jordan had turned on the man. He was still too far away to fire, especially with them fighting, but he had heard every defiant word she had spoken to the cold mercenary.

  He had been shocked when he saw her fighting back. When she had thrown Kelman over her shoulder, he almost shouted out. Instead, he had come forward with the intention of saving her. It took a moment for him to realize what she was doing when she had knocked Kelman off the path. Dagger could have sworn he had seen the glowing red eyes of one of the forest predators that came out at night watching what was going on.

  “Jordan, are you hurt?” Dagger asked in concern, glancing at where Kelman lay moaning.

  “N… No,” she whispered in a broken voice. “I heard the shots. Kelman told that man to shoot you. I heard the shots.”

  “It was me doing the shooting,” Dagger murmured. He turned when the sound of running feet echoed in the quietness of the night. “It is Hunter.”

  “Hunter!” Jordan repeated hoarsely as shock began to set in and she began to shake. “I don’t…”

  Jordan cried out when an arm grabbed her and tried to pull her toward him. Kelman’s fingers dug painfully into her arm. She stared at his pale face. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth and a gurgling sound escaped his throat as his mouth was opening and closing.

  Jordan heard the loud sound of a woman’s scream, the sound high and piercing. She knew the sound was coming from her, but her eyes were glued to the creature attached to the other end of Kelman. The huge, six-legged creature was pulling Kelman toward the woods. Her eyes moved down to where Kelman’s fingers gripped her arm in a death grip, pulling her with him.

  “Jordan!” Dagger cried out in horror. “Pull his fingers free of her arm. Cut his arm off if you have to!” Dagger shouted to Hunter.

  Hunter grimly pulled Kelman’s fingers free of her arm. The moment she was free, she collapsed into a shaky mass in Dagger’s arms. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open, but the screaming had stopped. No sound escaped her, except the sounds of her loud panting.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered, using the words he had learned back on Earth to soothe her. “Everything will be alright. He’s gone. He’s gone.”

  Jordan’s eyelashes fluttered as she looked up at Hunter. He was standing over Dagger’s shoulder looking down at her with concern. Her eyes shifted to Dagger and she locked her eyes with him as her teeth began to chatter.

  “Co…Cold,” she whispered. “Pl… Please… Cold… Warm me.”

  “Always,” Dagger whispered, pulling her closer to him as her eyes closed against her pale cheeks. “I’ll always keep you warm.”

  “Saber has arrived with the transport,” Hunter said in a quiet voice. “Let’s get her to medical.”

  Dagger looked up at Hunter and nodded. Rising, he refused to release Jordan. Her body was so light, so delicate, so fragile, yet she was the strongest woman he had ever known.

  No! I won’t move. I won’t go with you. I won’t let you hurt Dagger any more than you already have. I… Won’t… Let… You!

  And she hadn’t he thought as he carried her over to where Saber was waiting with the transport. He slid into the seat. Hunter climbed into the front. A soft murmur had Saber lifting off the ground.

  Dagger stared blindly out at the night as they rose into the air. His arms tightened around Jordan’s slender figure. It was over. Kelman was dead. Bowing his head, he closed his eyes and pressed a kiss to the top of Jordan’s head. He was free.

  *.*.*

  Jordan’s face turned to the sun as a sliver of it shone across her face. She blinked, immediately recognizing where she was. A smile curved her lips when a light breeze blew the sheer curtains open to reveal the tops of the tropical trees. In the distance, she could hear the sound of the waves on the beach and the ‘birds’ that populated this world.

  Turning her head, the smile on her face softened and grew tender when she locked gazes with Dagger’s warm yellow-gold eyes. She closed her eyes when he reached up and traced the curve of her cheek. Turning her head, she pressed a kiss to the center of his palm.

  “Good morning,” she whispered.

  “Good morning,” Dagger replied in the rough, husky voice that she loved so much. “How are you feeling?”

  Jordan frowned, concentrating as she did a mental evaluation of her body. She felt… good. The frown turned to relief when she thought of what had happened back on the mainland.

  “Is it true?” She asked, opening her eyes and looking at him. “He’s gone, for good?”

  Dagger rolled onto his side and cupped a hand under his head. He played with the silky strands of her hair for a moment before he ran his finger down along her jaw. He would never get tired of touching her.

  “Yes, Kelman’s gone for good,” he replied.

  Jordan rolled onto her side so that she was facing him. Reaching up, she stroked the scar on his cheek before rubbing her thumb along his bottom lip. She smiled when he nipped at it.

  “How long was I asleep?” She asked, staring up into his eyes.

  “Too long,” he whispered. “Every second you didn’t wake, I worried. I love you, Jordan. You make each day a new one for me. I need you.”

  “You once said I was what gave you hope,” she told him. “It works both ways. You took me out of the darkness. You brought light and love and filled my heart. You were my hope, Dagger. I couldn’t lose that. I won’t. You promised me forever and I want every second of it. If you ever get lost again, I’ll find you. I’ll come for you, no matter what.”

  Dagger’s eyes closed and he reached up to hold her fingers against his lips. Jordan felt the shudder that went through him before he opened his eyes. He pressed their joined hands against his ravaged cheek and smiled.

  “I won’t get lost again. I have too much here to ever leave it,” he told her in a husky voice. “I’m going to build a home for us here. Our son will grow strong and I’ll teach him to be a warrior who will one day be given an Amate as beautiful and as brave as his mother. And if we are given the gift of a daughter, then I will protect her and keep her warm just as I promised her mother I would do. I have a family, Jordan. You and our son, are just the beginning of what I had always hoped to have.”

  “A son,” Jordan whispered in shock. “How…? Are you sure?”

  Dagger rolled, caging her under his long length. His eyes softened and he bent to press a tender kiss to her lips. Tracing a path down to her ear, he rubbed his nose along her neck.

  “I’m very sure, my Amate. The healer at the medical centre was concerned and cautioned me to make sure that you were not placed in danger again,” Dagger murmured, pressing a kiss to her neck. “Thank you, Jordan Sampson. Thank you for believing in your heart and finding me.”

  “Forever,” she whispered, losing herself in his love.

  To be continued…. Challenging Saber: The Alliance Book 4

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