Sunscapes Trilogy Book 1: Last Chance

by Michelle O'Leary

  "Get out now, while you still can, Del."

  But the hell of it was, he couldn't. The Core had held him hostage with his father's honor and his brother's safety. The Shays had more insidious bonds, but they were just as strong, the lure of the Shadows not the least of them.

  Picking the plates back up, Del turned away so Nick couldn't read his face. “I didn't ask for your help, little brother."

  "I know,” Nick grumbled behind his back. “You're too Sun-cursed stubborn to ask.” When Del didn't comment, he continued, “Just please don't be stubborn about this. Tell me you'll leave, Del."

  With a calm that he didn't feel, Del glanced over at his brother, eyebrows raised in polite question. “Dessert?"

  "Shit,” Nick snarled, pushing away from the table and rising abruptly. “Of all the stupid-ass, mule headed, Krell brained...” His voice trailed off into unintelligible mumblings as he stalked out of the kitchen, but Del figured he probably didn't want to know what else his brother was calling him.

  He finished cleaning the kitchen and then went to the entry into the living room. Nick was pacing around it like a caged tiger, and Del folded his arms, leaning against the entry as he watched. “You never told me how your flight with Red went."

  Nick shot him a black look and continued to pace, apparently unwilling to be distracted from his anger and frustration.

  "Did you bring her back in one piece?” Del asked casually and was rewarded when Nick stopped in his tracks and glared at him.

  "Of course I did! No thanks to you,” he snapped.

  Del put on a wounded expression. “What'd I do?"

  "You could've warned me about that damned training course. It would've been less dangerous for me to go up against a Core gang."

  Del grinned unrepentantly at his brother. “Had a good time, did you?"

  Nick's expression eased, one corner of his mouth quirking up. “After I got over my near death experience ... sure."

  With a chuckle, Del straightened and walked over to clap his brother on the shoulder. “Thought you would. So, since you've been busy today, don't suppose you could take me on a tour of the station? Haven't actually seen it myself."

  Nick gave him a reluctant grin. “I haven't been that busy. But I did see this little place on the common strip. Looks like fun. Don't know if they make supernovas though."

  "Let's go find out,” Del said, slinging a companionable arm across his brother's wide shoulders and heading towards the door.

  "Don't forget Sam,” Nick murmured, but he didn't resist.

  "Oh, yeah.” Del paused at the door to say, “Reactivate VRS."

  "Privacy mode has been terminated,” Samantha declared in her smooth voice.

  "That's great. We're going out. Watch the fort."

  "Fort?” she asked in a perplexed tone. “I don't believe we have a—"

  The door closing behind them cut off her words.

  It turned out that the little place on the strip did in fact make supernovas. When they returned to Del's quarters, it was with a great deal more cheer and less grace then when they'd left it.

  "This cannot be healthy,” was Samantha's first comment on seeing them stagger through the door.

  They found her comment hilarious. Helping each other to the couch, they collapsed bonelessly onto it, still laughing. This petered down into the occasional chuckle after several minutes.

  During the companionable silence that followed, Del remembered something. “Hey ... didn't you tell me the Shays gave you quarters?"

  "Shit,” Nick said in a conversational tone. They stared bleary-eyed at one another for a minute. “Well, hell, I'm not gonna make it back there. Barely made it here."

  "Couch again?"

  Nick nodded solemnly. “Couch."

  "I insist that you take fluids and allow me to medicate you before you retire,” Samantha said in a tone that brooked no refusal.

  They were in the mood to be accommodating. Afterwards, Del couldn't remember ever sleeping so well, though it didn't last nearly long enough.

  Chapter 13

  Cassie waited outside of Del's door with something less than patience, a foot tapping and her fingers drumming on folded arms. What was keeping him? Samantha had greeted her nearly five minutes ago.

  Then the door began to open and before she saw who was on the other side, she said, “Well, it's about—” The sight of Nick Givliani standing there shirtless and sleep-rumpled took her voice and her breath. She had just enough left of both to squeak, “time."

  Holy heart of the Sun, a small, stunned voice whispered in the back of her mind. She'd known yesterday that he was trouble. Though similar to his brother in face and form, his younger features were warmer, less hard and wary than Del's. His dark eyes were more open, curious, and piercing in their intensity, his hair was long enough to twist her fingers in, and his mouth had a generous curve that made her knees feel like water. Only his mocking amusement had kept her from acting a total idiot, her responding anger the steel she'd so desperately needed in her backbone. He knew how appealing he was, and Cassie knew how equally unappealing she'd been—defensive resentment had helped her retain her composure.

  But when their eyes met over Del's threshold, Cassie forgot about composure. His eyes were heavy-lidded and shadowed, his hair tousled, and face softened by sleep. She mused that he'd look exactly like this, satiated and mussed, after a night of passion. The golden expanse of skin over taut, defined muscles only brought that image into sharp focus, and Cass swallowed hard as the strength seemed to run out of her muscles.

  A moment later, Nick's mouth curved in a way that was both devastating and insulting. In a voice made gravelly with sleep, he murmured, “If it isn't the little dragon.” Shifting to one side and waving her in, he added, “Here to crack the whip?"

  Is that what Del thought of her? Faint hurt helped her to gather the ragged edges of her control, and she pressed her lips together as she edged past him with what she hoped was a chilly look.

  Del stood beyond his brother, shrugging his way into a shirt with a disgruntled scowl on his face. “What the hell, Cass?"

  "We're getting an early start this morning,” she said, unable to help the clipped edge to her tone.

  "No kidding,” Del drawled, folding his arms and looking down at her with disgust.

  Swallowing a sharp, defensive response, she copied his stance and raised her eyebrows. “Well? The day's not getting any younger."

  Nick snorted and passed between them, snagging her vision as he padded towards the kitchen. “I'll get coffee,” he said with a tinge of irony.

  Del grumbled something under his breath, but turned towards what she assumed was the door to the bedroom. “Give me five to san and change,” he said over his shoulder.

  Alone in the living room, Cassie wandered with restless feet to the couch, catching sight of the pillow and blanket with something like alarm. The image of Nick sprawled there made her face warm and her mouth go dry—had he slept in his pants?

  "You want any coffee?"

  Cassie gave a guilty start and spun on her heel. Nick was leaning out of the kitchen doorway, his eyebrows lifted in question.

  "N-no, thanks,” she mumbled, feeling her face prickle with a blush as he looked at her quizzically for a moment before disappearing back into the kitchen.

  He reappeared shortly after with a steaming mug in his hand and, giving her an assessing look, sauntered to the couch. “Have a seat,” he invited as he swept the bedding off the cushion and kicked it out of the way with a negligent bare foot. He dropped to the cushions, resting one long arm along the back of the couch, as he sipped his coffee and glanced at her with a casual air. But there was a gleam in his eye that put her on her guard.

  "That's okay. I'll stand,” she muttered, tightening her arms across her chest. Why the hell didn't he put on his shirt? It was there, right under his elbow, but he acted like he was completely unaware that he was half naked.

  He seemed to find her answe
r amusing, because there was a smirk on his lips when he lowered his mug. “It's just a couch. I promise it won't bite."

  But will you? she thought to herself, suddenly remembering that he was an FPA inspector, but she pressed her lips together and moved forward anyway. He was amused enough at her expense; he didn't need to see the extent to which he unnerved her. Her pride—not to mention her affiliation with the Shays—demanded that she at least act unconcerned.

  Sitting a careful distance away from him, she gave a little grimace without meeting his eyes and said with a contrived air of distraction, “Sorry if I seem rude, but we're already late."

  "It figures you'd have a timetable,” he drawled, and she shot him a glare in response to the derisive humor in his tone.

  "It's not my timetable,” she snapped and then looked away from the white flash of his grin. Why was she flaring at the least little provocation? Manny was famous for his needling, and she never had trouble tolerating it. Of course, she'd never been confronted by Manny's naked chest while he teased her either.

  A silence fell between them and thickened as time dragged by. She could feel him watching her with those sinful dark eyes as he drank his coffee, seemingly as unaware of the tension in the air as he was of his discarded shirt. She kept herself from fidgeting with grim resolve and wondered what the hell was taking Del so long. Five minutes had never felt so much like an eternity.

  Finally, the door to Del's bedroom slid open and he appeared, tucking a clean shirt into his pants. At the sight of him, Cassie bounced to her feet as if on a spring. “Ready to go?” she asked and headed towards the door as if his answer was a foregone conclusion.

  "I don't even get coffee?” he complained, not moving after her.

  Cassie paused by the door, looking back at him impatiently. “There's coffee down there, along with breakfast. We're practicing with the haulers today, which means everybody's participating. I'm pretty sure we'll be back for lunch, but just in case we run out of time, you'd better say goodbye to your brother. Late afternoon is when we leave for the run, and we won't be back for days."

  Feeling like an escapee, she stepped through the exit.

  "What, no goodbye from you, little dragon?” Nick called after her.

  Gritting her teeth, Cassie refused to glance behind her and find out if his expression matched the mocking humor in his tone. Stiff backed, she walked away as the door closed between them.

  With a rueful grimace, Del looked from the closed door to his brother's unrepentant grin.

  "Prickly little thing, isn't she?"

  "Around you, anybody would be,” Del retorted with a wry shake of his head as he approached the couch. “Try not to get into trouble while I'm gone, little brother."

  Nick sobered, staring up at Del with a frown pulling at his brows. “You're really gonna go, then."

  "It's what they pay me for,” Del said and then ruffled his brother's hair, grinning at the disgruntled cuff he got in return. “Will you be here when I get back?"

  "Probably,” Nick answered, his eyes dark wells of concern. “Be careful, Del."

  "As careful as I can,” he answered with a jaunty grin and headed towards the door. “Sam, take care of him."

  "I will,” the AI responded in her smooth voice.

  He gave his brother a quick salute as he stepped out the door and got one in return, but Nick's expression was somber. It didn't lend Del any comfort.

  Cassie was waiting for him by the lift, much to his surprise. She gave him a cool smile, but made no comment as she stepped into the lift with him.

  Trying to gage her mood, he cleared his throat and said, “Good morning, by the way."

  "It should be one,” she answered, her smile warming a bit. “Test flights are usually fun."

  "You said the whole crew, right?” he asked as casually as he could, but she shot him a knowing look.

  "That's right, including the bosses."

  Much to his agitation, his heart sped up at the news. He took a deep breath and tried to keep in mind what his brother had told him last night. Just do your job and don't get involved, he thought to himself, but it wasn't very convincing. “Is that normal to take everybody on a run?"

  "No,” she answered as the lift doors opened. “But this run is ... a little different."

  He looked down at her questioningly as they made their way to the maintenance bay, but she just gave a small shrug and shook her head. Looking up, Del was surprised to find the bay mostly empty. There were a few ships off to the side and the conveyers continued to do their work, but the double row of Shadows were gone. The entire crew was present, however, and boisterous, clustering around a hovering table of beverages and food.

  Sin and Manakai were easy enough to pick out. Dressed entirely in black, they moved through the group with a smooth, predatory grace that Del remembered from his first encounter with them. The Shadow Twins were back. Del felt his heart lurch at the sight and took a despairing breath, watching Sin move with a hunger he couldn't deny. In the palm of her hand ... Nick had been more right than he could know.

  "Down boy,” Cassie murmured next to him as they approached the crew.

  He shot her a scowl of irritation, but she didn't seem to notice, waving to someone from the group with a smile. He glanced up to see Bib bounding towards them, a welcoming smile lighting her angelic face.

  "Big Del!” she cried joyfully and flung herself at him.

  Unprepared, he staggered a little as she collided with him, his arms automatically catching her about the waist.

  "Good morning,” she whispered in his ear, her voice a throaty invitation and her soft body pressing against his in seductive welcome.

  With a grimace that made Cassie snicker, he unwound her arms from his neck and set her firmly away. “Morning, Bib,” he muttered.

  Unphased by the rejection, she beamed up at him. “I met your brother yesterday. I like him,” she added with a gleam in her sky blue eyes.

  "You like everybody,” he said gently and shook his head when she laughed in delight.

  Insinuating herself between them, she gave Cassie a kiss on the cheek and slipped an arm through each of theirs. Tugging them forward, she exclaimed, “I love practice flights! Do we know what teams we're on?"

  "Not yet,” Cassie said in a tolerant voice, brown eyes meeting Del's with amusement as they allowed themselves to be pulled into the group.

  "'Bout time you showed,” Kai said when he caught sight of Del.

  "My fault—I forgot to tell him what time we were meeting this morning,” Cassie answered him as she extracted herself from Bib and headed towards the table.

  Kai's jaw dropped in feigned shock. “You forgot? You?” Cassie rolled her eyes at him as he turned to sweep the group with a stern frown. “Did the universe end and somebody forgot to let me know?"

  "What, you didn't get that memo?” Sin answered as she approached, flashing a teasing grin at her brother before she looked at Del. The amused twinkle in her bright eyes and the curve of her luscious lips was enough to make him hot all over. “Morning, Del."

  He didn't get a chance to respond—probably a good thing. Bib dropped him like yesterday's news and slipped in between the twins, wrapping an arm around each of them as she said, “So whose team am I on? You're not sticking me in the hauler again, are you? Tell me I get to slice this time!” With a wide-eyed expression of pleading, she looked from one to the other.

  "Hey! What's wrong with flying the haulers?” Jinx's young, grinning face appeared over Bib's shoulder. He must have pinched her somewhere tender, because she jumped and squealed, spinning on quick feet to lunge after him as he darted away.

  Sin exchanged a tolerant glance with her brother before looking at Del again. “We'll give you a couple of minutes to snag something to eat before we get started."

  He nodded, pulling his gaze away from hers with an effort and edging around them to the table.

  Quan, a small, soft-spoken man with a quick smile, made room for him.
“You in the mood for sweet or meat?” he asked, gesturing to the pastries. “Me, I like sugar in the morning, but not everybody does. I think those are egg and cheese, but that over there's sausage for sure."

  "Thanks,” Del murmured, reaching for the coffee first before he grabbed a pastry. Possibly egg and cheese. Whatever it was, it went down fast. While he ate, he watched the loud, disorderly debate going on across the table.

  One of the other pilots, a young man by the name of Owen Risk, who liked to be called Sundog, was in the middle of a tall tale. Lynch and the other pilot Fern, a handsome middle-aged woman, had heard this story before and noisily disagreed with his rendition. Sundog's version grew increasingly more bawdy in retaliation as the moments passed.

  Cassie appeared at Del's elbow, eating a sugar-coated pastry with dainty precision. She glanced across the table with an amused shake of her head. “Sunny's been taking lessons from Manny again."

  Del snorted after a particularly outrageous comment from the pilot. “At least he's got imagination."

  "Bets on which boss breaks it up,” Quan commented on Del's other side, a wide grin on his face.

  "Too late,” Cassie answered as Kai rounded the table towards them.

  Del glanced around to see Sin herding the two youngsters back towards the group, her expression tolerant as Bib and Jinx continued to harass each other.

  "Save it for the trip, kids,” Kai said to the debaters, his voice carrying in spite of their volume. He was grinning in lazy amusement, but his tone brooked no argument. “There'll be plenty of time to talk about Sunny's adventures on this run."

  "What is this run?"

  "Yeah, don't keep us in suspense, man."

  Kai shrugged and glanced around at the rest of the group with raised eyebrows. “Everybody ready? Let's get to it, then.” Pulling a holodisc from his jacket, he tossed it into the air with a careless flick. The disc flipped up and then paused, spinning a holographic image into the air. The vision that appeared was of a stretch of space, several points blinking in an urgent demand for attention. The crew ranged themselves around the disc and Kai in a loose semi-circle, and Del joined them with keen interest.