by Kiersten Fay
“I’m sure I can manage to find my way without accidentally plundering your loot.”
Sonya turned away and strode down the hall. “We’ll see.”
Brushing off her attitude, he continued decoding, growing more and more frustrated with his lack of success. After a while, he managed to make some progress. There were promising leads as to the location of Anya’s sister Nadua.
Only when Sonya sashayed toward him, dressed in fresh clothing and her black hair arranged in delicate curls dripping past her shoulders, did he realize he’d worked through the night. She caught sight of him and tilted her head, yet said nothing as she re-opened the tavern and slipped inside.
A moment later, he spotted Anya gliding toward him. She smiled and then paused to study him. He realized then how weary he must look.
“You should take a break. You'll burn yourself out if you continue like this,” she chided.
He was about to assure her he was fine when a loud squeal shot from behind. “Oh, my gods, oh, my gods! He finally did it!” Sonya zipped forward to wrap Anya in a tight hug.
Ethan’s gut hollowed into a dreadful pit.
Anya sputtered, “You couldn't… You don't… How…”
Somehow Sonya understood Anya's convoluted babbling. She smiled. “It's a demon thing. We can just tell.” Then she bounced in place. “We have to celebrate!”
“No! That's okay,” Anya replied, horrified.
Ethan interjected, “I don't want to know what this is about, do I?”
Anya gave him a pitying glance and then averted her eyes.
“Didn't think so.” After Anya’s declaration yesterday, Ethan had figured it wouldn’t be long till Sebastian “claimed” her. What he didn’t anticipate was how deep the rejection would affect him. He quickly schooled his features. “Maybe I will get some sleep after all.”
One of the computers pinged behind him. He leaned over the screen. He’d been cycling through various galaxies over the last hour.
“This could be it,” he muttered, forgetting his wounded pride. “The code seems to be pointing me toward a solar system in this particular galaxy. Five moons, two moons, eight moons, three moons…”
When he brought up the last image, Anya gasped and rocked back on her feet.
Sonya was by her side in an instant. “Are you okay? You're not pregnant, are you?”
Ethan ground his teeth, keeping his face pointed away from them so they couldn’t see his resentment.
“What!” Anya choked out. “I don't think so.”
She sounded so unsure and frightened by the prospect, reminding Ethan that she knew nothing of their kind. He blanked his expression and met her gaze. “Did you take his blood into you?”
“No, of course not!”
“Then it cannot be.” He faced the computer once more.
“So Faieara have a mating ritual similar to ours?” Sonya sounded smug.
“It's not a mating ritual. It's a fertility rite,” he explained. “We don't believe in fated mates like you. We choose who we want, but without the fertility rite, which could be likened to your idea of mating, there will be no offspring.”
“Idea?” Sonya glared at him.
He was about to inform her that what she called a “mating ritual” was nothing more than a barbaric act, but Anya stepped between them. “This is not important right now. I think seeing that planet is what affected me.”
Ethan took in the planet, Undewla, then back at his notes. “Hmm. What a coincidence, this planet is at the top of my list.”
Chapter 7
Sonya watched through the wall-sized window as the small shuttle jetted toward the icy planet, Undewla. Not surprising, Anya had insisted on accompanying the group—Sebastian, Cale, Ethan, and Marik—and had managed to convince Sebastian that her gift would help them to find Nadua.
Around the bridge, several crew members bustled at their posts, scanning the icy surface of Undewla for signs of life.
According to records, the planet’s inhabitants would deal with outside traders on occasion, but were considered fiercely territorial as well as difficult to locate. The planet was known for its horrendous storms. In fact, more was known about Undewla’s debilitating weather than about its people. Sonya hoped Sebastian’s party had better luck than Marada’s scanners.
The small shuttle breached the atmosphere and was swallowed up by the glaring sheen that reflected off Undewla.
Sonya called across the room to the ship’s pilot. “Aidan, can you get us any closer?”
“I can, but not much. The…Wait…” Aidan bent over his console.
After a moment of silence, Sonya demanded, “What is it, Aidan?”
He tapped a set of buttons and brought to the screen a magnified section of the rocky asteroid ring that surrounded Undewla. “A moment ago our sensors caught the signature of a ship. Seems to be skewed by all the debris.”
Slowly, she scanned the line of floating rocks. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. “Could the sensors be malfunctioning?”
“Running diagnostics now.”
A sparkle of light glinted in the distance, and Sonya leaned forward. A massive ship peeked out from behind a large, slow-moving asteroid.
Aidan let out a harsh curse. “Extarga,” he announced on a growl.
“Damn.” Sonya’s heart revved. She realized in an instant that they were being stalked. “Get a warning to the shuttle now. Call them back.”
Aidan scowled. “Too late. The surface storm is disrupting transmission. I can’t connect to them.”
Sonya stabbed her fingers through her hair. “This can’t be happening,” she muttered. “Why does shit have to go wrong while I’m in charge?”
“Shit!” Aidan spat.
Anxiety squeezed her throat. “Oh, gods. What now?”
“They’ve sent out a shuttle of their own. It’s heading to the planet.”
In the span of a few heartbeats, many emotions gripped her mind: Horror at the situation. Fear for Anya and the others. Doubt that she could take on Extarga as well as stop that shuttle. Especially when Sebastian had been unable to take on Darius’s ship.
Oddly, she thought of Ethan and the smug comments he would indulge in if she failed. That is, if he were still alive in the end.
Sonya ground her teeth, alarmed by the sudden and violent pang in her chest. When she met Aidan’s waiting gaze, she knew her eyes had transformed from their usual soft violet to a harsh red. “Attack!”
Aidan and the others jumped to obey, readying their stations for battle.
“Take out their shuttle first. I want it scrapped. Then go for Extarga. We’re going to hit and run. Try to get Extarga to pursue us.”
After that? She had no idea.
Unfortunately, Extarga saw them coming and Marada rocked from a round of explosions.
Marada’s weapons locked on the small shuttle and fired several rounds, none of them a direct hit. Extarga let loose a barrage of blasts along Marada’s hull.
“Shields at eighty percent, Captain,” Aidan barked. “We already know we can’t take much more of this.”
Jarring blasts slammed the ship, causing Sonya to grip her console for support. She looked up with despair as the shuttle disappeared into the planet’s atmosphere.
Another cluster of blasts bashed into Marada’s outer shell.
Sonya let out a boisterous string of curses. Whoever was on that shuttle was Sebastian’s problem now. “Aidan, get us into the asteroid belt. We’re smaller than Extarga and can easily out maneuver them if they follow.”
Marada shot for the belt, and Extarga followed. To her dismay, the enemy ship matched Marada in agility and speed as they weaved through the haphazard patch of over-sized rocks.
More blasts gouged at the ship. The sound of crying metal made Sonya’s stomach sink.
“They’ve hit our main thrusters,” Aidan bellowed.
“How’s our power?”
“We’re running on momentum. I’m controlling u
s with the smaller secondary thrusters, but that’s it.”
At this rate, Extarga would tear them apart like a child through tissue.
“Then our only option is to hide,” Sonya said as another set of expositions rocked the ship. “Is that possible, Aidan?”
Aidan had once run Phase Nine, a deadly space race where contestants were constantly forced into similar situations. Sonya couldn’t ask for better at Marada’s helm.
“It is.” he replied, scanning ahead. “I just need to find the right…Ah.”
With Extarga close on their ass, Aidan twisted the ship through a dense patch of asteroids. The allotted space was too tight for Extarga, and they were forced to veer off, putting space between the two ships. Then Aidan doubled back toward a massive rock five times the size of Marada, and, with precise movements, hugged the ship to its surface.
Sonya ordered over the loud speaker, “We’re going ghost. Shut down all non-vitals immediately.”
The bridge light flicked off, leaving them in a faint glow of sun rays reflecting off the planet and floating rocks around them. The bridge fell silent, thick with tension. The asteroid pivoted slowly, taking Marada with it. Extarga, slow and predator-like, came into view.
“Oh gods, their right there,” the ship’s navigator gasped.
“The color of this asteroid is not too far off from Marada,” Aidan whispered. “That’s why I chose it. Their sensors would be fouled up by the debris just like ours was. And if they didn’t catch where we went, there’s a good chance they won’t be able to see us at all.”
Time dragged on as the crew waited in silence, watching Extarga jet back and forth, like a creature that had lost its prey. Most nerve-racking was when the asteroid they had landed on turned, obscuring their line of sight, and any hint of Extarga’s whereabouts vanished.
When Extarga appeared once more it was heading back toward the Undewla. A second object emerged from the gleaming white atmosphere of the planet, glistening. Aidan zoomed in.
It was Extarga’s shuttle.
“Do you suppose they’ve captured our crew?” a voice mumbled from the darkness.
Nobody answered, fearing the worst.
A beep sounded.
“It’s our shuttle!” Aidan opened transmission.
“They’ve taken Anya.” Cale sounded frantic, and Sonya could imagine the wild look in his eyes. “Where are you?”
She responded, “Extarga took out our thrusters. We’ll be down till they’re fixed. No estimated time as of yet.”
“Damn,” Cale spat. “Get them fixed and come after us. We’re following Extarga.”
“You can’t go after them! They’ll—”
“They took his mate, Sonya!” Cale’s tone indicated an end to the conversation. He knew what it was to be mated, and now Sebastian did too, but Sonya never understood how being mated caused one to abandon all reason. If they followed Extarga, they’d be captured, or worse…killed.
“We could lose all five of you…” She hated how her voice quivered.
“Not five,” Cale replied woefully. “Marik’s still on Undewla. The natives captured him.”
A breath heaved from her chest as she sank into her chair. Marik and Anya had been seized by two completely different factions. Sebastian, Cale, and Ethan were riding to their deaths. And Marada was incapacitated.
“And has the pirate accepted that he’s being flown to his doom?” she asked Cale. Maybe Ethan could talk some sense into her brothers.
“The pirate is up for the challenge,” Ethan responded, probably seated next to Cale.
Sonya didn’t have time to evaluate the odd sense of relief she felt at hearing his voice.
“My princess is in danger,” he continued. “If I die trying to save her, then I die with honor.”
The pirate was just as daft as the rest of them!
Sonya sat forward. “I want to save her too, guys, but don’t you think we should regroup? Form a plan?”
“No time!” Sebastian snarled. He sounded distant and out of breath, clearly fighting the Edge. “He’ll take her where I cannot find her.”
“But—”
“Enough, Sonya!” Sebastian snapped. “Fix the ship and then follow us, but keep your distance from Extarga. Your priority is to the people on Marada now. If we cannot… You have to be prepared to leave us.”
Sonya shook her head, biting back a wave of emotion that burned her eyes. “I can’t leave you.”
“Hopefully you won’t have to, but… promise me you’ll make the choice if it comes to that.”
Images flashed through her mind. A body, broken and bleeding, lying motionless in a pool of his own blood…except this time, instead of her father, it was Sebastian, Cale, and even the pirate in his place. “No.” Her voice came out small.
“Dammit, Sonya!” Sebastian had never addressed her so harshly.
She quelled her quivering lip. “Promise me you’ll come back.”
“I…I can’t.”
Cale jumped in. “You know us better than that, Sunny. We’ll be back in no time.”
She did know them. Her brothers were two of the fiercest males she’d ever known. She could almost feel sorry for Extarga and the bastards on board. Almost.
“Pirate.” She forced a sturdy voice. “I expect you to come back as well. You’ve work to do here.”
“Aye, Captain.” It sounded as though Ethan was actually smiling.
The transmission cut off. Sonya took a minute to gather herself before barking over the loud speaker, “All mechanics report for duty!”
Chapter 8
It took three full days to repair the thrusters. Another four days were spent tracking Extarga.
Space was massive—actually, massive times infinity…squared. Endless. Extarga could be anywhere. Could have gone in any direction. For all she knew, Marada could be heading away from it.
Sonya drove the crew on, never letting it known that she was starting to have doubts whether they would find the monstrous ship at all. She was running on a mix of instinct, determination, and a heavy dose of delusion.
She wasn’t the only one losing hope. She could see it in many of the crew’s eyes, but no one wanted to be the first to admit it. The atmosphere on the ship was solemn and quiet. The crew tended their stations without the usual mirth and liveliness.
Aside from the group that had gone after Anya, Sonya worried for Marik. He was alone on Undewla, captured by foreigners who probably didn’t even know what they were dealing with when it came to demons—especially one that abhorred captivity as much as Marik. She hadn’t wanted to abandon him, but at least she knew where he was.
Once again, her mind drifted back to her family.
Please be okay.
She couldn’t lose them. They were all she had left. After her father’s gruesome demise, she had been determined to keep the last of her family safe. And her reckless brothers took her to task every chance they got, this being the last in a very long line of rash behavior.
With most of her time spent in the control room, Sonya had closed the pub. The galley had become self-serve, with no one available to take Marik’s place as the ship’s cook. As it was, Sonya couldn’t eat. Demons could go months without food, but doing so siphoned much need energy. However, Sonya didn’t feel drained. She only felt the urgency to keep looking.
Yet, in the back of her mind, she knew stress was taking its toll. Sebastian’s words repeated in her head, taunting her. “Promise me you’ll make the choice if it comes to that.” But had it?
No. She’d not leave her brothers, Anya, or even Ethan to the mercy of that madman. She would never stop looking.
What if they’re already dead?
Her mind cracked against the terrible thought. She pressed her palms to the side of her head. She pictured Anya and her brothers lying broken on a cold stone floor, just as she had witnessed that harrowing day back in her once loving home.
“You okay, Captain?” Aidan asked from his place at th
e helm.
Sonya glanced up, erasing the despair from her expression. “I’m fine, Aidan.”
Aidan responded with a look that said he in no way believed her.
To lighten the mood, she laughed and said, “I never thought I’d be worried for a pirate.”
Aidan responded with a thin-lipped smile and a forced chuckle. “Agreed.”
What surprised her, however, was the truth of that statement. The fact that Ethan shared equal time in her mind alongside her family confounded her. Perhaps because she knew if anything bad happened to him, the same would befall the others. And he had an arrogant mouth on him that could only invite trouble. Although, wasn’t Cale even worse?
The two of them together made for a disastrous scenario.
* * *
Ethan tried to stretch his tired muscles as blood seeped from his many wounds, a task made difficult by the metal straps around his wrist and ankles, pressing him to the wall.
To his left, Sebastian and Cale appeared to be in equally bad shape.
Soon after they’d caught up to Extarga, the captain, Darius, had allowed them to come aboard with assurances of ransom: Anya for an extreme amount of space credits.
Sebastian hadn’t hesitated to agree, but Ethan had sensed the demon’s intention. He would never allow Darius to live.
Over the transmitted conversation, Ethan had been unable to decipher the sincerity of Darius’s motives, but he had suspected the male was merely luring them aboard to double cross them in the end.
He’d been correct.
Now they stood, strapped to a wall, bindings around their wrists, ankles, and necks, subject to a regiment of abuse. The psychopath enjoyed causing pain, and had nearly killed Sebastian when he’d refused to cry out from a lengthy punishment. Sebastian continued to flail and snarl like a rabid beast.
Both Cale and Ethan took turns attempting to draw Darius’s attention away from Sebastian whenever necessary.