by Dani Worth
“He’s off grid, but I had a recent lead. My brother was following that lead. Where is my brother?”
She narrowed her eyes, studied Jacks. “He looks like you. I locked him up with the big sexy blond.”
“Anders?” Jacks straightened away from the wall. “You locked him up with Anders? Bad move.”
Lux lifted her head, her grin there and gone before she groaned. “It’s a funny move. Those two fight like brothers.”
Jarana snorted. “Brothers, my ass. Anders wants in Captain Sexy’s pants.”
“Captain Asshole,” I corrected. “He was supposed to kidnap you and took us instead.”
“I did get that out of him.”
“So how did you get on his ship?” Jacks asked.
“Like I’m gonna give out trade secrets. Let’s just say your brother isn’t as smart as he thinks he is, and everyone has to refuel.” She drank the rest of the water in her tube then nudged Lux. “Sit up and drink the water so you feel better. The faster you do that, the faster we get home. I miss my family.”
She didn’t wait for Lux to answer, merely stood and set her empty drinking tube on top of the simulator. She walked to Jacks and placed her hands on her hips. “You get a reprieve, but only because I can tell Vala and Bastian like you, and because part of your story matched with what I’ve managed to dig up. Let’s go back to that computer room and you can show me what you’ve got and give me the name of the ‘dumb’ Saturna partner you think will have kept his files.”
“He’s a human. Para Lashin.”
The instant tension in Bastian’s body against my back made me turn to look at him. His color started to match Lux’s and I frowned. “You know him?
He nodded. “Remember when I told you I traded a year of my life for passage back to Kithra? It was with him.”
Jarana groaned. “I’ve heard of him. In fact, there’s a pretty fat bounty out on him. Slave trade.”
Jacks crossed the floor and squatted next to us. “You spent a year with that animal?” At Bastian’s nod, Jacks stood, hands in fists, nostrils flaring as his eyes narrowed into slits of blue ice. “He was one of the partners when I worked for them. There were rumors…” He trailed off, shut his eyes.
“I’m going to be sick,” I murmured, my heart a block of ice in my chest.
“Hey,” Bastian put his arms around me. “That’s all over, and though I wish I’d never met the man, he did keep his promise in the end and take me to Kithra. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met you.” He looked up. “And you, Jacks.” He tucked my hair behind my ears, nudged up my chin.
The love shining in those warm brown and amber eyes made me kiss him.
“Hello!” Jarana released a long suffering sigh. “Are any of you thinking here?”
I let go of Bastian only to find myself gently lifted aside as Jacks pulled Bastian to his feet and wrapped him in a tight embrace. Not feeling slighted in the least, I took in the shattered expression on Jacks’ face, and decided I couldn’t yet know what it was he seemed to know. Someday, I’d want to hear if Bastian wanted to share, but right then, I could not hear details. The look on Jacks’ face told me in no uncertain terms that he could never “un-know” what he’d seen in his mind. He pulled back, looking into Bastian’s face.
“I’m okay,” Bastian said softly. He kissed Jacks, and my toes curled in my boots at the instant heat that poured off the two.
“This is all really touching—”
“And fucking hot,” Lux muttered, breaking in. “I want to go home and watch Kol and Egan kiss. Someone get me some more water.”
Growling, Jarana stomped to the simulator and got Lux water. “Seriously, are you guys not realizing how important this information is? Stop trying to swallow each other’s tongues and listen to me.”
“Shut up, Jarana.” I stood and crossed my arms. “We’re still in the honeymoon stage here—”
“And I’m not?” She glared. “I want to see my men and my daughter something fierce. I…ache for them. But, Lux, when did you pick up Bastian on that supply station?”
“You want me to think, Tracker?” She sat up and pulled sweaty strands of hair off her mouth, grimacing. “I hate you.”
Bastian pulled away from Jacks. “It doesn’t matter when she picked me up. I know exactly where Para Lashin is hiding. He’s using an alias and running an entertainment ship.” He smiled at Jacks. “And I already know his passwords. That’s how I got him to keep his word.”
“Blackmail?” Jacks gripped Bastian’s elbow. “How are you still alive? Para Lashin is one of the most disgusting, ruthless people I ever met.”
“Blackmail always worked for me,” Lux pointed out.
Bastian patted his hand. “He has an enforcer working for him who liked me. A lot. He was…nice.”
I walked over to slide my arm around his waist. “Figures. That pretty face can probably get away with a lot of things.”
“Not all of them good.” Jacks, jaw still tight, walked to the simulator and programmed a glass of that spicy Toquerian ale he liked so much. He downed two of them before squaring his shoulders and turning to Jarana. “If we can find his ship, I can get into his system. We could possibly have enough evidence to shut Saturna down.”
“That’ll take away your bounty.” She tapped her booted foot on the stone floor. “I could sure use that money.”
His eyes narrowed, but I started laughing. I couldn’t help it. “Suns, Jacks, she’s messing with you.”
She inclined her head. “I am. Those people destroyed so much for metal. I’d rather see them go down.”
Lux suddenly groaned loudly and ran into the bathroom. Sounds of her losing her water made me wince.
“Your planet sucks ass!” she yelled.
“Guess we can go let your brother out to help.” She looked at me. “You two planning to ride back with us?”
Bastian and I looked at each other, then Jacks. I shook my head. “Even if we manage to hit Saturna and get the price off Jacks’ head, this isn’t done. We still have to find Crichton. He’s the one who actually set off the explosives.” I hugged my arms around my waist because it hit me that I probably wouldn’t be seeing my sister, brothers or mothers any time soon.
“Vala,” Jacks said, voice low as he came to me and cupped my cheeks. “Vala, sweetheart, you and Bastian can’t stay here. You need to go home. Your family needs you. Kithra needs you.”
“What about you?” I blinked at him, licked my lips nervously. “Do you need us?”
He closed his eyes and put his forehead against mine. “I’ll always need you. Both of you.”
“Then we’ll work something out.”
Jacks stared at Bastian. “You’re the catalyst, Bastian. The very thing I needed to bring this all down.”
Bastian shrugged. “Maybe. I can’t wait to ruin Para Lashin’s life.” He rubbed his hands together.
Lux walked slowly from the bathroom. “Starting to feel better, but I want back on my ship soon. Want that nice, fake, non-humid air.” She grinned at Jarana, a return of her usual spunk showing in her sparkling eyes. “Hey, Tracker, looks like the sexy kid took over your title. Catalyst.”
My mouth dropped open when actual red filled Jarana’s cheeks. “Never thought I’d see you blush, Tracker. I’d love to hear all about this.”
“Never,” she snapped, glaring at Lux. “Want me to share a few details of our past?”
“Probably not.” She grinned.
Chapter Twelve
It wasn’t easy finding Para Lashin.
Two days later, Jarana had become a furious, determined creature, huddled in front of a set of vidscreens she’d taken over. Lux, feeling better, spent most of her time laughing with Anders. He hadn’t been upset with them for taking over the ship, but Claybourne still glowered. More so at Anders than the others. I was guessing he was the reason for the big, black eye Anders sported.
Bastian, at Jarana’s side, pointed at a map on one of the screens, his voice low
as he explained how the ex-Saturna partner blackmailed government officials to get his ship into places no entertainment ship was usually allowed.
Jacks stood near Bastian, had barely left his side in the last two days. He hadn’t said a word about what he knew of this Lashin character, and I was still glad. But his protective hovering over Bastian told me a lot.
Fury crept in to stab at my heart every time I thought about Bastian spending a year with this person, the one who’d taught him true evil existed.
“You’re gripping that knife like you plan to stab someone in this room. Can I pick who?” Lux slumped next to me, pushed electronics on the table aside with her booted foot before crossing her legs at the ankles.
“I’m just cleaning them.” I rubbed the soft cloth of what had been that ugly blue T-shirt over the blade of my knife.
“The kid seems okay, Vala,” she whispered.
“He’s not a kid.”
“No,” she murmured, frowning at me. “I suppose he isn’t. Not with what we’ve learned. But he looks good now. Happy, in fact.” She lifted one leg, nudged me with her boot. “You keeping him?”
“I’m keeping them both.”
“I doubt Jacks will want to live on Kithra.”
Pain slashed my heart again. “I know.”
She dropped her feet and scooted her chair closer to mine. She’d pulled her long, dark hair into a ponytail and it spilled over her shoulder as she leaned toward me. “Vala, you can’t live here. The court is nice and all, but this place is too remote. And depressing as hell. And what about your sister? Your brothers and mothers? I know they’re looking forward to moving to Kithra with you and Yaira.”
“I don’t know, okay?” I whispered. “We’re about to reveal what happened to Kithra, Lux. We’re about take down one of the biggest companies in the galaxies. I’m in love and everything in my life is changing, and I don’t know what I’m going to do at this point, okay?”
She touched my arm. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Vala. Guess I’m trying to say I’d miss you too. I can be selfish. Ignore me.”
My shoulders slumped and I set my knife on the table. When I looked up, it was to meet Jacks’ gaze. He hadn’t moved. I hoped he couldn’t hear us, but he watched me. I looked down, traced one of the vordun flowers on my arm.
“Got him.” Jarana’s murmured words came in a fierce tone that pulled every one of us over to stand behind her chair.
“So what do we do now?” I asked. “Go after him?”
Jarana tapped the screen. “I have good contacts on this planet. I can have them round him up in less than twenty-four hours.”
“No,” Jacks said. “I’ll patch into his ship and get his files, turn those over.”
“What the hell, Jackson?” Clay yelled, grabbing his brother’s arm hard. “After all these years you don’t want to go after the man yourself? You’ll be able to leave this hellhole!”
“Really?” Jacks narrowed his eyes and stared until Clay let go. “What about Crichton?”
“Then let me go after Lashin.”
“I’m so close, Clay. I get those files, turn them in and the news of what really happened to Kithra will be everywhere within seconds. Lashin will hide again.”
Anders stepped up behind Clay, put his hand on the captain’s shoulder. “Give us a head start. We know how to find him now.” His lip curled.
I waited for Jarana to offer to go, watched her indecision as she chewed on her bottom lip. She’d lost everyone she’d loved in those explosions. She closed her eyes and shock made my mouth fall open when she shook her head. “I miss my family too much to ride along. I’ll stay, help Jackson do the hack. But you have to take Lux to get our ship so she can come here and get Vala, Bastian and me. Who knows how long it’ll take you to hunt Lashin down. I just want to go home. I want to hold my daughter.”
Jacks went still with her words. Bastian turned in his chair to stare at him. We both waited for him to say something about the plan, but all he did was nod. It felt like someone punched me through the chest. My eyes stayed glued to Jacks as he moved to his chair. “I can be patched into Lashin’s files within hours.” He put his fingers on that silly old-fashioned keyboard, hesitated, then looked up at his brother. “Thanks for going after him.”
Lux hugged Jarana, who went stiff, eyes wide as she stared at the human woman.
“Stop looking at me like that,” Lux snapped, obviously uncomfortable now.
“What was the hug about?” Jarana lifted an eyebrow.
“Just you. Maska and Erik did good.”
“Shut up,” Jarana growled before turning away. “Just hurry up and get back here with your ship.”
I couldn’t leave Jacks here alone to continue his search for Crichton. I wouldn’t. Bastian and I shared a look and he angled his head toward the door, wanting me to follow him. I nodded. “I’m going into the court to get some fruit for Lux to take on the trip.” Lux had developed a fondness for the same purple fruit that Bastian loved so much.
“I’ll help,” Bastian said, rising to his feet.
I didn’t miss Lux’s smirk as we left the room. Bastian threaded his fingers with mine as we silently walked through the tunnels lit by replicant crystals. We reached the big, wooden door that led to the court and he turned to me. “What do you want to do, Vala?”
I let go of his hand. My insides felt raw, like Jacks had peeled back my outer layer and left me a big, open wound. “I don’t know,” I whispered. “I love you both, want to be with you both.”
“You don’t want to live away from Yaira again, do you?” He cupped my cheeks, lifted my face to his. “Do you really think you’d be happy on this planet with just me and Jacks?”
“You want to stay?”
“I want to be wherever you are. And wherever he is. I don’t have family and though I did want to make Kithra my home, I’ll be happy anywhere as long as I have the both of you.”
I rose up on my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his chest. “Jacks sounds like he doesn’t want us to stay.”
“Too bad.” He stroked his hands over my hair. “That man isn’t going to be alone anymore and that’s the way it’s going to be.”
I smirked against his chest before lifting my face to his. “You aren’t going to be alone ever again either. We’re your family now. Me and Jacks. Suns, Bastian, when I think about what you’ve—”
He put his finger over my lips. “Don’t. Don’t think about it. You and Jacks have shown me what life’s all about. All the bad things in my past are just that—in my past. Let’s get Lux’s fruit and then wait for Jacks to set his hack. We’ll drag him into that bed, which will be switched out for a bigger one as soon as possible. We’ll show him that he can’t live without us. Okay?”
I kissed him. Opened his mouth with my lips and stroked my tongue inside to tangle with his. I thrust my fingers into his hair and held him tight to me before I pulled back and kissed his nose. “I love you, Bastian Sithbrun.”
“Always knew you would,” he answered with a grin.
I blinked into the sudden light from the open bathroom door. Jackson stood in silhouette there, face shadowed, but I could tell by the tilt of his head that he stared at us.
We’d planned a huge seduction scene, posing ourselves naked in this bed, planning to wring pleasure from Jacks until he agreed to either come home with us or let us stay here. For now. We both wanted to be home eventually. But Jacks had taken too long and we’d both fallen asleep.
Now, Jacks sucked in a breath, his silhouetted hands tightening into fists.
I looked down at Bastian and understood immediately. His face was against my belly, his hand wrapped around my thigh. His skin, like polished marble, gleamed against the white sheets. And all that auburn hair lay in a luxurious disarray all over me, the bed…strands of it were tangled with my brighter hair.
“Stunning, isn’t he?” I whispered, heart in my throat.
Bastian nuzzled my flesh, his warm
breath brushing over my belly.
“You both are.” Jackson’s voice came out hoarse, as if he had trouble getting them past his throat. “Your hair, fiery red—his darker, like Fagra wine. While you two are in my bed, there will always be white sheets. You can come back and visit. Will you?”
My heart did that flip-flop thing again. Jackson had been so reserved the last couple of days, that to see him struggling like this ripped me up. “I don’t know, I think Bastian’s hair would look fantastic against black or blue sheets, too.” I stroked his head. “Maybe we should try all the sheet colors.”
Bastian suddenly blinked sleepy eyes up at me as a shy smile lit up his face. This big, gentle man had crawled under my skin just as Jacks had all those years ago. He skimmed his palm up my thigh, opened his mouth on my belly. Strong, sure fingers stroked my sex. “Love how fast you get wet,” he murmured on a groan before sliding two fingers into me. Deep.
I hissed, tilted my head back. “Suns, I love your fingers.”
He fucked me with those perfect, long fingers as he opened his mouth over my skin. Over and over. He reached my right breast, sucking my nipple into the hot cavern of his mouth with a groan of pleasure. His thumb rubbed my clit and his gentleness was welcome. I bit my lip, looked up at Jacks as I heard his breathing pick up speed as he strode into the room. He pulled off his T-shirt, pushed down his pants and put his hands on Bastian, his mouth latching on to his neck. Bastian groaned again and shifted his head against me. All that soft hair fell over my breasts and shoulders, and I squeezed my eyes shut, overcome with pleasure.
Bastian grunted, a gritty sound of ecstasy, and I opened my eyes to find Jackson gripping Bastian’s cock, stroking up and down with sure, strong strokes. He sucked on Bastian’s neck and thrust his hips against Bastian’s ass.
And like that, fire burned in all three of us.
Bastian added a third finger inside me and I gasped. He came up over me, his tongue seeking entrance in my mouth. I opened for him, loving his warmth, his taste. He stroked me over and over, with his fingers, his tongue, and I felt Jacks’ hands in my hair, gently tugging. I turned and met his mouth, groaning as his taste combined with Bastian’s. They snuggled on either side of me and I turned from one mouth to the other as Jacks’ hand joined Bastian’s between my legs. He circled my clit, rubbing the moisture from my body onto Bastian’s fingers. I hissed, tilted my head back, and they moved their mouths down my neck to my shoulders. Bastian stroked his tongue over my nipple as Jacks moved back up to pull my mouth to his.