by Alison Aimes
The Captain’s eyebrows rose. Off to the side, she heard Caine issue her name in a warning growl. She didn’t care. He’d protected her and her colleagues as best as he could. Now it was her turn to do the same for him.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The rumble of voices in the hallway woke Bella. She sat up, her heart beating fast, her gaze taking in the gleaming metal walls of the sparse ship quarters, the empty bunk beds to her left and right, the half lit artificial lighting that never turned completely off, and her clean, new Council uniform.
She hadn’t been dreaming. She and Caine had really made it off Dragath25 alive.
Careful not to knock her ankle cast, she rose awkwardly and limped toward the door. The medics had finished fixing her up far faster than Caine. After a shower and some food, she’d lain down on the bed to wait for him. Obviously, she’d fallen asleep.
That he hadn’t come to wake her only made her more uneasy.
Her door slid open with the press of her palm. Caine stood across the hall, two Council guards flanking him. Obviously, the Captain still wasn’t quite sure what to make of him. She’d been shadowed by guards as well, but they’d left her once they’d brought her to her quarters. Caine’s appeared intent on sticking around.
“Hey,” she said, leaning against the doorframe for support. Showered and dressed in someone’s loaner Council uniform, his clothes emphasizing every inch of his broad shoulders and long legs, Caine looked unbelievably handsome—and more removed from her than ever.
“You’re up,” he turned toward her, leaving the guards in front of his door, his usual graceful gait marred by a slight limp. Still, the medics had done a good job. All his cuts and bruises had been treated and his laser wound dressed. His gaze traveled from her head to toe. “You okay? The medics refused to tell me about your condition.”
That he’d asked went far toward soothing her worries.
“I’m fine. Just a bad ankle sprain.” She reached up and rubbed away a water droplet that clung stubbornly to his spiky hair. He sucked in a harsh breath, his eyes hungry. The moment reminded her of the first time she’d really seen him. When he’d dunked himself in that first cave and revealed the man beneath. It was amazing to think how badly she’d come to want that man to be hers. Not just for short-term protection, but for a lifetime of whatever life chose to send their way. He’d become her world. “What about you? How’s your leg?”
“Just a scratch.”
She hadn’t expected him to say anything else.
A heavy silence fell between them.
She could see the concern in his gaze. But there was something else, too. The same wariness he’d had when they first met.
She eyed the guards. They were kindly trying to appear as if they weren’t listening.
“You want to come in?” she asked Caine. She didn’t care where the Captain thought Caine should sleep. She wanted him with her.
He stilled, as if she’d surprised him. “Probably not the best idea. We, ah…we should probably give it some time.”
Was there anything more painful than a guy who didn’t want to hurt your feelings? Still, she wasn’t about to run from the truth. After Dragath25, she knew she could handle anything.
“Give what some time?” she pushed. “If things have changed now that we’re heading back to Earth and you don’t want to be with me anymore, just say it.”
She wasn’t going to let him do that distance, all-business thing again. Last time, he’d said he’d done it because he was afraid of losing her, but that excuse wouldn’t fly now. She was standing right here. Available for a lifetime. If only he’d reach out and touch her.
His big hands closed around her forearms. “Of course I want to be with you.”
“Sir?” One of the guards spoke. The other was already reaching for his weapon. “Is there a problem here?”
Caine tensed, but he didn’t drop his hands. “No problem at all.” His voice was an angry rumble. “Can we get a minute?”
It had to be weird to have to answer to others after eight years of being entirely on your own.
“We’re fine,” she seconded, knowing the guards would need to hear it from her, too. “We’ll talk inside my room. It will be less awkward for all.”
The guards exchanged an uncertain look.
“Please. It won’t matter if you stand outside my room or his,” she coaxed, “as long as you’re keeping watch.” She’d been dealing with Council protocol her whole life. She knew how to work around it when necessary.
Neither guard looked particularly happy, but they didn’t protest as Caine walked her backward through her doorway, the door sliding closed with a definite whoosh.
They stared at each other in silence.
“You say you want to be with me,” she said at last, “so why are you pulling away?”
“I’m not pulling away.” He looked frustrated. “I just…I want to give you some time to make sure I’m what you want. The way those guards reacted…the way people are going to see me...that’s how it’s always going to be if you stay with me.” He shook his head. “We’re not on Dragath25 now. You have choices.”
She should have known. But that’s what you got when you fell for a real hero.
She moved closer, pressing her body against his, her arms slipping around his waist. “It wouldn’t matter where in the universe we were. You are exactly what I want, Caine. You. No one else.”
He swallowed hard. His arms remained by his side. “If I’d been any kind of real man, there wouldn’t have been a deal between us from the start.”
His words hit like a punch. “I don’t understand.” She didn’t want him to regret their deal. Being with him was the only good thing that had come out of crash landing on Dragath25.
“I saw you. I wanted you. So I took. I told myself it was the Dragath25 way. It wasn’t right.”
Now, she understood. Guilt was eating at him. Making him question whether he deserved a better ending than a lonely death on Dragath25.
“Should I feel guilty, too?” she asked, her palms curling against his chest, the steady pounding of his heart comforting beneath her hand. “I didn’t know you, but I asked you to risk your life for me and my colleagues. I bartered on your good will and your loneliness. I took and took.”
“No.” His hands curled around her shoulders. “You gave me so much.”
“Then we’re even.” She stared into his eyes, willing him to see things her way. “It was a fair deal. Don’t make yourself out to be the bad guy when you weren’t. It was something good. For both of us. Don’t regret it.” Her voice cracked. “Please.”
A firm hand gripped her chin. “I could never regret being with you. Ever.”
Relief whispered through her. “I love you, Caine.” She couldn’t keep it inside for another second. She needed to tell him again. Needed to hear him tell her, too. Now. When they were off Dragath25 and anything was possible.
She held her breath.
He pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes crinkling in that sweet, sexy way. “I never thought I’d say that ending up on Dragath25 was the best thing that happened to me, but every single one of those miserable eight years was worth it since I met you.” He cradled her face in his hands. “You’re everything to me, fighter girl. I’d die for you.”
“But will you live for me, too? Will you fight whatever’s coming to be with me?”
“I told you. I love you. Plain and simple. If you want to be with me, I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you always.”
“So will I.” She ran her finger down the seam of her uniform opening, relishing the way his dark gaze locked on each bit of skin slowly revealed. Relishing the wonder and need he didn’t even try to hide. “There may be some challenges ahead, but I believe in us. There’s nothing coming so bad that we haven’t already faced on Dragath25. Together.”
He laced his palms with hers, drawing her close, skin to skin. “Wherever we are, Bella, wherever we go, you’ll always be my h
ome.”
She hadn’t expected to find something so beautiful or perfect on Dragath25, but there it was. A thousand questions remained about Earth’s future, about Ava’s fate, about Caine’s sentence, but she knew they’d deal with them as best they could. She and Caine had been tested by Dragath25, and they’d emerged stronger and better. United by a bond that could never be broken.
From the seeds of destruction and danger, something miraculous had grown.
Epilogue
“Bella.” The furious roar shook the barrack walls.
Bella crouched low. Left up. Weight even.
A blur of movement streaked by her hiding space.
She leapt, her palms connecting with solid, warm flesh. By rote, her arm hooked round his throat—for an instant. Then there was only air.
Damn. He’d feinted left.
With a curse, she went sailing overhead, the hard floor coming up fast.
She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for impact. Only to be spared. Powerful arms hauled her close, twisting them both in midair. She landed with a grunt atop a hard body. Per usual, Caine had taken the brunt of the fall.
“I almost had you that time.” Breathing fast, she stared down at the bottomless black eyes she couldn’t do without. Her heart gave that same flutter it always did when she saw him, her skin beginning that slow burn. Nearly eight months later, Caine still drove her wild with just a look. He may have been dressed in the trappings of Council civility, but he’d never quite shed that dangerous wildness he’d had since the day they met.
“Almost.” Caine lifted his gorgeous head and kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re getting better.”
“I’ve had a good teacher.” Plus, she’d been practicing like a maniac. For precisely this moment. Her gaze dropped to the disc in his hand, the distinctive gold seal of the Council hard to miss. “That for us?”
The disc bent in his grip. “I told you not yet.”
She shrugged. She wasn’t afraid of Caine or his bark. She knew the reason behind his gruffness now. His history. His instincts. His ingrained need to protect her. They were just some of the many things she loved and appreciated about him. But she also knew he wouldn’t let his fears rule either of them. They’d come to trust each other too much to let the past stand in their way.
“Ava has already waited too long for us to come and find her.” Bella’s heart still hurt every time she thought of her missing friend, of how she must think she’d been abandoned, when the reality was totally different. “I know you’re as sickened as me by all the Command Council delays and excuses. It’s way past time to take this on ourselves.”
Bella didn’t know what kind of shape her friend would be in when they found her, but she knew Ava would never have stopped fighting for her freedom. After dealing with her friend’s family and fiancé, Bella had a better idea of the source of her friend’s strength—and her wounds.
Besides a meek mother with sad eyes and a bruise on her chin, Bella had found the rest of Ava’s relations arrogant, despicable, and creepy to the core. They’d flat out told her and Caine to mind their own business when they offered to help. It was clear from the way they spoke—as if Ava was a possession to be retrieved—that they were committed to recovering her, but that the homecoming wouldn’t be a happy one.
Before meeting them, Bella had thought Council families were the lucky ones.
“Ava deserves the freedom she always wanted. She’s not going to get that if her family finds her first.”
“You’re right.” Caine’s head clunked back against the floor. “It is past time. For her. And for us. Besides, even tigos and pythiles aren’t as dangerous as those asshole Council members.”
Actual jokes. Caine had been making them more and more.
Her heartbeat picked up a notch. “So we’re a go?”
His sigh was long and loud. “You’ll probably be a hell of a lot safer once we’re off this planet anyway.”
He wasn’t wrong. She wasn’t exactly the Command Council’s favorite person thanks to her recent maneuvering—and not just over Ava.
Living up to her fighter girl nickname, she’d used the insider information Winthrop had given her about the Command Council’s growing precarious leadership position along with her findings about Dragath25 soil to blackmail the Council into pardoning Caine. It hadn’t been easy. Council members preferred to protect their own. But when faced with the possibility of losing out on information about potential food and water sources that could help them retain power, they’d tossed aside one of their own easily enough.
Of course, she hadn’t stopped there. She’d also used the information to wrestle better food and lodging for all non-Council people. Nothing revolutionary, but enough to make things a little more fair. And put a dent in established protocol. Something few in the Council welcomed.
Which was why Caine was so worried about Council reprisal. He’d been doling out his share of intimidating looks during the mandatory Council meetings. And though he hadn’t mentioned it to her, she knew he’d engaged in more than a few physical ‘discussions’ in the corridors with displeased Councilmen and their hired muscle. All to keep her safe.
“And you once thought Dragath25 was the most dangerous place in the solar system,” she teased.
He snorted.
She kissed the corner of his lip, pleased to see the hint of a laugh line at the edge of his mouth. It was a good sign. Despite the issues with the Council, he was happy. They were happy.
Though he’d grumbled and protested about risking herself for his sake, she could tell a weight had been lifted since his pardon had come through. Reuniting with extended family and friends had also gone a long way to healing old wounds. But what had really made him smile was when Councilman Hendricks and his brother were found guilty of over fifteen counts of murder. They were already serving triple life sentences on, irony of ironies, a new penal colony rumored to be even harsher than Dragath25. Gwen had finally been given justice.
Now another woman needed them to fight for her.
“A sanctioned shuttle is being prepared for our use. Supplies and food included.” Bella kissed the other side of his mouth. “Council clearly wants me off this planet as soon as possible.”
This time he didn’t laugh. A new sadness had entered his gaze. “Hunter and Chloe aren’t going to be happy. They’ve gotten used to having you around.” And Caine had gotten used to being around her brother and sister as well. After so much time alone, he was clearly enjoying being part of a larger family.
“Did you read the full assignment?” she asked.
A sheepish look surfaced on Caine’s face. “Only the first paragraph saying we’d been cleared to return to Dragath25 air space to look for Cadet Davies. After that…I, ah, stopped reading and took off to find you.”
So he could roar at her for speeding things along.
“Well then,” she said, happy she could give him the good news, “you’re going to be pleased. Hunter and Chloe have been cleared to come as well.” At eighteen, Hunter was almost as tall as Caine and, thanks to better access to food, finally starting to lose the gaunt look that had always worried her. Chloe, too, looked healthier than ever, her blossoming beauty garnering more than her share of looks. As big sister, she would have worried about leaving them behind again, but thanks to their training in piloting and astrophysics respectively, she didn’t have to.
Satisfaction swelled within. Her family. Whole. Healthy. Together. After so much struggle. She couldn’t be more grateful.
Of course, she wasn’t a fool. She’d lived on Dragath25 before. She understood there were risks to returning. But she had no choice. Her friend needed her. And what’s more, scratching out an existence on Earth under strict Council rule didn’t hold the same appeal it once had. Not when she’d learned there was so much more life could offer.
This time, though, they’d be returning to a planet plunged in battle. After hearing her report on the Oasis and Caine’s testimony regard
ing 225 and his pack, the Council had declared war. Hundreds of soldiers had descended on Dragath25, too many for 225’s jammers to affect. Thousands of prisoners had been slaughtered, but there were still substantial pockets of resistance, and 225 had yet to be caught or killed. Dragath25 remained a dangerous, lawless place.
As if he read her mind, Caine ran a finger across her brow, smoothing out her worry lines. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to let anything happen to you or your siblings—and we’re going to find your friend. Whatever it takes.”
Steady once again, she wrapped her arms around his wide chest. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, either.” She kissed his lips hard and fast. “We’re going to be better than fine.”
“Together,” he agreed.
Love and hope surged through her. Sure, the future was unknown and there were challenges yet to face, but with Caine by her side, she knew she could handle anything. Together, they could find pleasure and joy and beauty anywhere. That’s what love made possible, even on Dragath25.
*****
Want to know what happened to Cadet Ava Davies after her disappearance from Dragath25? Read an excerpt from:
TAKEN,
Book Two in the Condemned Series
by Alison Aimes.
Chapter One
She was caught. Her arms pinned to the wall. Her legs, too. Every limb twisted at an impossible angle. No manacles necessary. Just the cruel indifference of spinning, plummeting centrifugal force.
Cadet Ava Davies struggled to get air past the acrid terror squeezing her lungs. One minute she’d been hustling down one of a million rocky cliffs on Dragath25 toward fellow junior scientist and friend Bella West, her mind racing with the implications of her recent soil findings, the guard Pratt grim-faced and unfriendly at her side, and then…nothing.