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Deadly Pursuit (A Blood Hunter Novel, #2)

Page 13

by Nina Croft


  “Tannis sent me to find you. I’m picking up a ship following us,” Janey said. “It’s right on the outer edge of our scanners at the moment, but whoever it is they’re closing in on us fast.”

  “Collective?”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s not. The Collective are somewhere behind us. This lot are coming at us from the side.”

  Skylar sighed. “Okay, let’s go see who’s after us this time.”

  Alex trailed behind them to the bridge. She wished she had a more important role on the ship, but what would be the point of pushing for that if she were leaving soon? Still, it irked her when everyone else was doing stuff, and she had nothing to contribute.

  “You could always pray.”

  She jumped at the whispered words and spun around to find Jon standing beside her. Lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t even noticed him.

  “How did you…?”

  “I didn’t, but you looked sort of lost and jealous and…”

  “Useless?” she finished for him.

  “Yeah, useless.”

  “They all know what to do. I wish I had something I could add, but I’d only get in the way.”

  “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. I’m not doing anything, and it’s not bothering me.”

  “There they are,” Janey said.

  “That’s not Collective,” Tannis replied. “That’s our other current best friend. High Priest what’s-his-face. Only this time he’s got company.”

  “Okay,” Jon murmured. “Now, you can feel sorry for yourself.”

  “Thank you,” Alex muttered sourly, then shifted closer until the monitor was visible. She recognized the space cruiser from their previous attack, but not the two ships on either side. They were big and nasty, and a shiver of unease ran through her.

  She was still shocked by how much trouble the Church was going to to get her back. It should be making her feel all warm and fuzzy. Instead, anxiety gnawed at her insides as though something wasn’t right with the world.

  Tannis was pacing the bridge. “They’re bigger than us and faster than us. And those new ships don’t look like Church.”

  “No,” Rico agreed. “They’re mercs.” He turned to study Alex. “You sure are popular, honey.”

  Alex squirmed under his direct stare, but after a moment, he turned back.

  “Can we outrun them?” Tannis asked.

  “You just said it—they’re faster than us.”

  “Outfight them?”

  “Not a chance. There’s one thing on our side though—presumably they want their priestess alive, so they won’t shoot us down. And out here in open space, it’s going to be hard to give them the slip. Besides, if we do manage to evade them—chances are we’ll run straight into the Collective.”

  “Shit,” Tannis said. “We’ll never be able to get away with them both dogging our every move. This is not earning us any money. We need to get rid of these guys for good.” She turned to Alex. “What if you come right out and tell them you don’t want to go back? Can’t they just get a new priestess?”

  Alex shook her head. “No. It’s hereditary. The old priestess has to die, and at the exact same moment, a new one is born.”

  “So what—they go searching for a baby born at the same time. And that’s it? If you have the misfortune to be born right then, you’re stuck with this priestess shit?”

  “Yes,” Alex said, trying not to sound morose. “But there’s usually something else.”

  “Like what?”

  “Some sort of sign or mark.”

  “And you have one.”

  “Yes. I have a birthmark in the shape of a cross. Here.” She pointed to her right thigh.

  “Can we see it?” Rico asked.

  “No, we can’t.” Tannis ran a hand through her hair. “Next time I see someone starving in the streets—you know what—I’m going to leave them there.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry, kid,” Tannis said. “It’s not all your fault.”

  Alex winced at the “kid,” but decided now was not the time to argue about it. Tannis had turned her attention to Skylar. “And next time someone comes to me with a job that sounds too good to be true, I’m going to turn and run as fast as I can in the opposite direction.”

  “Unless they offer you a lot of money,” Skylar drawled.

  Tannis glared for a moment and then grinned. “Yeah, I guess that would do it. So how do we get out of this one?”

  “They’re on comms now,” Janey said. “You want me to ignore them for a minute while you guys come up with a plan?”

  Alex wanted to ignore them for a lot longer than a minute. A lifetime would be nice. She gnawed on her lower lip as she waited for Tannis to respond.

  “No,” she said. “Let’s hear what they have to say. At least we’ll know what we’re up against.”

  “This is Hezrai Fischer, High Priest—”

  “Yeah, we heard that bit the last time,” Tannis interrupted. “What do you want?”

  “Only what belongs to the Church.”

  “Did we mention before—we don’t have anything that belongs to the goddamn Church?”

  “Then let us board and see for ourselves.”

  “You’re not setting one holy foot on my ship.”

  “You think you can stop us?”

  Alex recognized the smug tone of Hezrai’s voice. He believed he had already won, and she hoped he was wrong.

  A sense of suffocation enveloped her, and she forced herself to breathe deeply. She glanced down at her jumpsuit—this one burnt orange with scarlet piping—and could almost feel those horrendous black robes wrapping themselves around her, burying her alive.

  Tannis turned off the comms link. “This guy is starting to seriously piss me off. Any ideas?”

  “Well, we have someone that might stop them boarding,” Rico said.

  Tannis tapped her foot. “And are you going to reveal who that is?”

  “We have a representative of the Collective on the ship, flash them a live feed of Skylar if you have to, and tell them if they board us by force, she’ll be filing a formal complaint.”

  “Then what?”

  “Tell them we’ve no argument with the Church, and if we have this thing of theirs, we’re willing to negotiate. Set up a rendezvous point.”

  “And then what?”

  “Jesus, I don’t know. But this will at least give us a chance to come up with a plan.”

  Tannis switched the comms back on. “Look, we’re not even sure what it is you think we’ve got. But we’re willing to come and discuss it with you.”

  “Why can’t we discuss it right now?”

  “Because I don’t like you, and I don’t want you on my ship. And just so you know, we have a member of the Collective with us, and if you make any attempt to board, she’ll be filing an immediate complaint.”

  Hezrai didn’t speak for a minute, though Alex could hear the rasp of his breathing. He was upset. Good.

  “So what are you suggesting?” he asked.

  “Let’s arrange a rendezvous point, and we’ll meet you there.” Tannis moved across to the captain’s console and pressed a few keys. “How about the third moon of Trakis Four. That’s neutral ground. And only a few hours away.”

  “Agreed. But you try and move out of tracking distance and we will attack immediately.”

  “Yeah, right. I’m so scared.” Tannis switched off the comm and flung herself into her seat. “You know this guy?” she asked Alex.

  She nodded. “All my life.”

  “You get along?”

  “He hates me. Apparently the first time we met, I threw up on him.”

  Tannis sniggered. “Good for you.”

  “I was only four weeks old at the time.” Alex defended herself. “But things never really improved after that.”

  “Right, so we have about six hours to think of a way to permanently get this piece of shit off our backs. So get thinking.”

  Alex wai
ted until everyone was busy and headed for the door, needing time to think.

  She didn’t go back to her cabin; instead, she headed for the docking bay and slipped inside the shuttle where she was pretty sure she wouldn’t be bothered. Both Jon and Skylar had watched her as she left the bridge, but she didn’t want to talk to anyone. Jon was unlikely to follow her—why would he? But she had a notion that Skylar would come in search of her. And she didn’t think she could cope with anyone trying to persuade her out of what she was about to do.

  Or even worse, not trying to persuade her. What if she told Skylar she was going back, and Skylar said, “Good idea, kid?”

  She couldn’t bear it. This way she could at least tell herself she had been part of something, and that they’d wanted her to be here. Even if she had no choice except to go. The thought had been churning in her mind ever since that kiss with Jon.

  Everything had changed with that kiss.

  Or rather, not changed but become clearer. It was why she had stayed away from him these past few days. She needed to understand what she was feeling and what the ramifications were.

  Maybe she was wrong, and with a little distance she’d realize she wasn’t coming to care for him. That she just had a serious case of hero worship, because he was gorgeous and exciting and had saved her life.

  Before the kiss, she’d thought she could have a little fun, learn what it felt like to be a real woman. And afterward, she would go back and do the job she was born to do, with a few happy memories to look back on. Eventually, she would forget her time on El Cazador and forget Jon.

  But she knew it wasn’t only hero worship. It wasn’t love either—yet. The problem was, she suspected she wasn’t the sort of person who could separate sex and love however much she wanted to. Now, if she stayed and if she did somehow manage to persuade Jon to give in and make love with her, she doubted she would ever have the strength to walk away. He would shatter her heart without a thought, and she’d be left broken and useless.

  It wasn’t as though he would ever allow himself to care for her. While she might persuade him to have sex, for him that was all it would be. Jon was a hard and bitter man. Somewhere in his past, something had broken him. Alex couldn’t change that. She wouldn’t even know how. Anyway, he’d told her as soon as this was cleared up he was off on his own again. The way he liked it.

  Why could she never be the person she wanted to be? Why did everything have to matter so much to her? The recent interaction with Hezrai had crystallized her thoughts, until they were like sharp little daggers stabbing at her tender brain.

  Tannis had said they couldn’t escape from both, so at least by going back she could do some good.

  If she gave herself up to Hezrai now, maybe he would leave her friends alone, and without her dragging them down, they would be able to sort out their issues with the Collective.

  So she was doing this to save her friends. Why did she always have to think that the whole world was her responsibility? Maybe that’s what happened when you were brought up as a priestess and told you were the divine hand of God.

  You can’t save the whole world, Alexia.

  Sister Martha’s words echoed through her mind. The old sister had said them so many times when Alex had been growing up. Whenever she’d wanted to make changes, make things better. When she was younger, she had argued. As she’d grown older, she’d argued less as it seemed more and more futile, and she’d come to believe she couldn’t save anything, never mind the whole world.

  Now she wasn’t so sure.

  At least she planned to try.

  Chapter Eleven

  Alex disappeared from the bridge soon after the comm ended.

  She’d appeared sad and defeated. And who could blame her; if he’d spent most of his life with assholes like Fischer, he’d be suicidal by now. The thought worried at his mind. Jon couldn’t even begin to imagine what her life must have been like. She’d said that she intended to go back, but he presumed she hadn’t really meant that.

  He’d almost decided to follow her when Skylar rose to her feet and headed out. Skylar would be much better for Alex; she’d be able to talk without the other thing clouding the issues.

  Alex had been avoiding him the last couple of days. He’d got himself all built up to fend off her advances, and he’d hardly seen her. If she was in a room when he entered, she somehow managed to slide out and vanish.

  That was a good thing, wasn’t it? At last, she’d realized he wasn’t some sort of puppy dog she could play with. But he hadn’t been happy.

  Then today, he’d come up with the brilliant notion that what she was really doing was letting him do the chasing. After all, that’s what he’d told her to do.

  So he’d gone looking for her today. Not really understanding the impulse but knowing he had to see her. Probably to tell her she was wasting her time, and he wasn’t the running sort. In any direction.

  He’d seen her with Rico. At first, he hadn’t noticed Skylar was present as well. Alex had been all hot and sweaty, and sexy as hell, and he’d been shocked by the fury that had roared through him at the sight. Luckily, no one had noticed him before he’d spotted Skylar and managed to get his rage under control.

  In that moment, he had accepted that he was fighting a losing battle.

  Why not give her what she wanted?

  The truth was they would sort out this thing with the Collective, and he would be on his way eventually. Or they would all die. Either way, having a little fun with Alex wouldn’t do any harm whether she decided to go back to the Church or not. He wouldn’t be here anyway.

  Once he’d accepted the idea, the tight knot of tension had unwound inside him, and he was filled with a lightness he couldn’t remember.

  He’d welcomed the fight with Skylar to blow off a little steam, but it was a measure of how unsettled he was that she’d beaten him. His mind had been on other things.

  Walking behind Alex to the bridge, he hadn’t been able to drag his gaze from her tight little ass, knowing it was only a matter of time before it would be his. And he’d been feeling the pressure ever since.

  Now, he was lying on his bed, an hour later, his hand down his pants, trying to relieve a little of that pressure when the shrill of the buzzer rang through his head. He knew who it was without looking. She was the only person who ever came to his cabin.

  “Shit.”

  Bad timing. He’d explode if she came near him now.

  Jon released his grip on his cock, rolled to his feet, and pulled his shirt down over his pants in an attempt to be a little discreet. He didn’t want to scare her off now that he’d decided he didn’t want her scared off.

  She stood in the doorway, hands in her pockets. Despite the clothing, she reminded him of Al the cabin boy.

  “Can I come in?” she asked. “I have a proposition for you.”

  A proposition? That sounded more like it. Still, he couldn’t quite get rid of the idea that something wasn’t right with the world in general, and his immediate plans for the future in particular. Stepping aside, he gestured for her to enter.

  She gave him a wide berth as she passed, and he frowned again. For once, she’d fastened the jump suit right up to her neck; no sign of cleavage on show today. Though it molded to her full breasts, and his cock twitched inside his pants.

  He reached out for her, but she stepped back, and he dropped his hand to his side, shaking his head in confusion. Why, when he thought he had a grip on things, did the rules have to change? He took a deep breath. Maybe she needed to talk about it first. Women liked to talk. Didn’t they?

  “So this proposition…?”

  She nibbled on her lower lip. “I want you to take me to the rendezvous point with High Priest Fischer.”

  For a moment, he didn’t think he’d heard right. Maybe because he’d been expecting words more along the lines of: I want you to take me to bed and fuck my brains out. Well, maybe not that exact wording, but similar. Now, he had to try and get his
head around this. At least his hard-on was subsiding.

  Was it some sort of more oblique approach? Maybe he should tell her he’d decided to give her his full cooperation. Or perhaps he could show her. He stepped toward her, but once again, she backed away.

  “You were right,” she said.

  “I was?” Well, that had to be a first.

  “I have to leave before I get you all killed.”

  He pressed his fingers to his scalp. “Let me get this straight. You want me to take you and hand you over to the Church.”

  She nodded.

  “Why? What’s changed?”

  “Nothing really. I told you I was always going to go back.”

  “So why now?”

  “They know where I am. And they obviously won’t stop coming after everyone until they have me back. Once I return, they’ll leave you alone. You’ll be able to concentrate on sorting out the Collective rather than avoiding the Church.”

  “You can’t give yourself up.”

  Uncertainty flickered in her expression. “Why?”

  She no doubt wanted to hear something soft and romantic like he couldn’t bear to see her go. But that wasn’t who he was. Hell, even before his pack had gone he’d never been one to articulate his feelings.

  “Because I can’t stand the thought of that slimy bastard getting what he wants.”

  Disappointment flashed in her eyes, but she shrugged. “Anyway, I’m not giving myself up. I’m going home. It’s not as though I’m in any danger.”

  He paced the room for a minute, before turning back to face her. “Why come to me?”

  “Because I don’t know how to fly the shuttle.”

  “But why me? Why not one of the others?”

  “Because the others might try to talk me out of it. I know you won’t. You told me to go back, after all.”

  “I didn’t mean it.”

  “Yes you did. And you were right.” A frown formed between her brows. “What’s the problem? You’ll even get a reward for handing me over. It’s a win-win situation for you.”

  Jon rubbed his chin. In a way, she was right. She would be safe if she went back to the Church, unlike the rest of them who were not likely to survive much longer with the Collective after them. As long as the Collective never found out her involvement, and they were unlikely to make a connection between The High Priestess of the Church of Everlasting Life and a motley crew of space pirates. No, she’d definitely be safer, so why was he searching his brain for reasons why she shouldn’t go back?

 

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