Pirate Bound: A Prequel (Telepathic Space Pirates)

by Carysa Locke

  He frowned. “I will bring it up with Cannon.”

  When he released her a few minutes later, Sanah could find no reason to stay longer. Especially when he dismissed her with a sharp nod, and a terse, “Thank you. Good day.”

  Nayla gave her a little wave before following Doc over to the other side of the room, the two already engrossed in a mental conversation that clearly didn’t include anyone else.

  “Well…” Sanah looked back over to Blaine, still standing quietly with Haggerty against the wall, his expression carefully blank. “I guess it’s just you and me again. Shall we go and find Dem?”

  That earned her a quick exchange of glances between the two dogs. She put her hands on her hips. “Look, I’m going to go talk to him. You can either come with me, or I’ll go on my own.” She didn’t give either of them a chance to respond. She spun on her heel and marched out of the infirmary.

  Wait. The voice wasn’t Blaine’s. Haggerty, then. Sanah paused on the other side of the hatch, but did not turn around or retreat back. You need to understand that Dem is…he’s very dangerous. And for whatever reason, you bring out emotions in him that he doesn’t normally…feel. That’s not good.

  Why?

  It just isn’t. He was hiding something. She could feel it.

  Well, that clears everything up. Thanks. She moved to continue forward.

  Sanah. He could hurt someone. Or worse, you.

  Dem would rather cut his own throat than intentionally hurt me. She hadn’t known him long, but she felt very sure of what she said.

  Maybe, but it’s the intentionally part I’m afraid of. Please.

  She got the distinct feeling that this man was not used to asking for anything, not like this. She could feel the knot of genuine concern and worry inside him.

  Just wait for him to come to you. That’s all I’m asking.

  She hesitated. Sanah was not at all sure that Dem would come back to talk to her of his own volition.

  He will. Just have a little patience.

  The scientist in her wanted answers. She wouldn’t be getting them until she straightened things out with Dem. But the emotion and conviction behind Haggerty’s words swayed her.

  Fine, she agreed. For now. She did not add that if Dem took too long, she would find him and demand those answers.

  Chapter Nine

  Two days passed. Then three. Each morning, Haggerty would arrive to escort Nayla to the infirmary. Each morning, Sanah would ask him a wordless question, and he would shake his head in answer. Sanah spent her time exploring the ship. She learned how to find her way around, always with one of Dem’s dogs silently shadowing her. No more dreams of Niall had plagued her, but she supposed Dem was being cautious by making sure someone was always near.

  She went to all the places she thought she might run into him. The galley, the gym, the bar. She started up her old workout routine, discovered that the pirates had a fantastic chef, as well as access to a staggering variety of alcoholic beverages, but she never ran into Dem. She thought it odd, too, that none of the men she passed in the halls, or saw in the gym, or in the bar approached her. She’d understood from Dem that there would be a number of them who might attempt to “aggressively court” her. Instead, they seemed to avoid her company altogether. This was made more confusing by the emotions she sensed from them—lust and fear. Even those who clearly preferred the company of other men radiated a covetous need around her—no doubt because she offered them what every pirate so desperately needed, genetic material to have children. So, they were interested, just afraid to do anything about it. It was, she strongly suspected, something to do with Dem.

  She did meet a couple of very interesting women. Ava was a pilot—an athletic woman with a tall, lean build, and a long cascade of blond hair of the sort Sanah had secretly coveted as a teenager. She had a wild air about her, and frequented the bar often. She nearly always had a drink in her hand, and flirted with everyone. But what Sanah sensed from her was a deep-rooted grief and rage that fueled everything she did. She was friendly enough, in her way, but surrounded by steep emotional walls. Sanah exchanged a few brief words with her, and Ava seemed uninterested in pursuing more.

  Maigery was a sharp contrast to Ava. She had a sense of serenity and calm. She wore her black hair carefully braided and never appeared without being dressed in something classic and stylish, usually colorful or patterned in intricate designs. Sanah found being around her soothing and informative.

  They met for the first time in the bar. As usual, Sanah sat by herself. Blaine sat a few paces away at the bar, but he never sat with her. She had the distinct impression he was afraid she might question him about Dem again.

  She’d abandoned her usual glass of wine for stronger stuff, and found she enjoyed sampling different vintages of whiskey. She tried a new one each day. This time, she was sampling something more than a century old, from a planet that died in a supernova some seventy years ago. Bottles of Valanan whiskey were usually only sold at private auction, bought by the wealthy elite. Yet, the bartender had barely blinked an eye when he’d offered it to her. Of course, she had yet to pay for anything she’d ordered. The first day she asked, and the bartender had waved her question away as if it didn’t matter.

  “Your tab is covered,” he said. And no amount of questioning from Sanah moved him to explain further. She had a strong suspicion, though, that Dem was the one responsible. She wondered if ordering this glass of whiskey would show up for him as an extremely outrageous bill. Then, in a fit of irritation, she decided she was glad if it did. Maybe that would move him to come see her. She sampled it slowly, noting it down with careful precision on her datapad, cataloging both the origin and age of the whiskey, and adding her own notes as to its mouthfeel and finish.

  “You approach everything with a scientific mind, don’t you?”

  This was the first time Maigery had spoken to her, but Sanah was not surprised. She’d known from the way they’d circled one another for the past two days that this conversation was coming, and had looked forward to it. She smiled as she looked up, and met the other woman’s curious gaze.

  Today, Maigery was wearing a silk robe in a warm amber color not unlike the whiskey Sanah was drinking. It was accented by a cowl pulled over her dark hair, the hem lined with sparkling jewels in flashes of purple and red. The cowl lent her almond-shaped, nearly black eyes a mysterious air, the jeweled edge falling to hide her smile when she tilted her head.

  “I am a scientist,” Sanah told her. “I can’t help it. You have such beautiful clothes. I’ve been thinking that for the past three days, and I’m sorry if it breaches some sort of etiquette, but I just couldn’t wait to tell you.” She smiled at the burst of pleasure and amusement from Maigery.

  “You say what you think,” the other woman observed. She stood and moved to Sanah’s table, one elegant hand outstretched in silent question toward the seat across from her. Pleased, Sanah nodded, and Maigery sat down.

  “I’ve decided I need to be more outspoken,” Sanah told her. “I wasn’t, in my old life, and it cost me.” It cost Nayla more, but she kept that to herself.

  “I like it.” Maigery smiled. “For a bunch of telepaths, we are a people filled with secrets. I find your forthrightness refreshing.”

  “Oh, good. Because it’s only going to get worse, I’m afraid,” Sanah said, a little ruefully.

  Maigery raised one carefully shaped brow. “Really? I can hardly wait to hear where this is going.”

  “Well, to start, I imagine you know a lot about everyone on this ship.”

  Maigery’s smile widened. Sanah could feel her amusement.

  “You mean because of my profession? What’s the Commonwealth term these days?”

  “I think there are as many names as there are worlds. On mine, women were called inamorata, and men were inamoroto.” Sanah shrugged. “I think what you do must be of high importance here.”

  “Because we have so few women?”

  “B
ecause for the past three days, I have never once seen you pay for your own drink or meal. Because everyone who interacts with you, male or female, treats you with the kind of deference usually reserved for government leaders. Every time you speak with someone, they leave feeling better than when they arrived. And every time you leave, you do so on the arm of someone you have chosen.”

  Maigery laughed, her delight a pleasant warmth radiating through Sanah, relaxing her.

  “All right, fair points. So you’ve established that I do, indeed, know a lot about the people on this ship. I don’t normally share secrets, though, so you may be disappointed. Who is it you want to know about?”

  Sanah sat back and opened up her gift just a little more. She decided to take the direct approach. “Why is everyone afraid of Dem?”

  “Ah,” Maigery said, taking a sip of wine. She didn’t feel surprised, but more…curious and thoughtful.

  “You’re wondering how much to tell me,” said Sanah, after a moment. “Please. I have been trying for nearly four days to get someone to talk to me, and everyone is too afraid. I’m about to pull my hair out. As I said, I’m a scientist, and we like to get answers to our questions.”

  Maigery sighed. “All I can tell you is that—”

  “Dem is dangerous. Yes, I know. Why?”

  The other woman circled the rim of her wineglass with a fingertip. “Some Talents are deadly, Sanah. Surely, you recognize this?”

  “Yes.” Of course she did. She knew that better than most people did.

  “Dem has two very dangerous Talents that cause people to fear him. They are rare, and…sometimes people who have them can respond to situations more aggressively than the rest of us. Even a man as controlled as Dem could potentially lash out and kill someone. Each of these Talents is dangerous enough all on its own, but together, they make him…” Maigery paused, searching, “…unpredictable.”

  “But people must be used to this by now. He’s lived among you all his life?” She framed it as a question.

  “Yes. But you being here, and Dem’s response to you…it adds something unexpected, an element people don’t know how to handle.”

  Sanah made a noise in her throat. “What, Dem’s never been jealous before?” She said it deliberately, injecting skepticism into her tone.

  “No,” Maigery said quietly. “Never. People who have his kind of Talent don’t.”

  “Don’t what? Get jealous? React impulsively? Form attachments? What?” It frustrated her that she couldn’t seem to ask the right question. All answers started that way, with narrowing down the question one wanted to ask. She just couldn’t seem to identify this one.

  Maigery shook her head, her dark-rimmed eyes serious. “No,” she said. “They don’t feel.”

  Sanah frowned. That wasn’t right. Sure, there were times when she couldn’t pick anything up from Dem, but he had excellent shields, and there were definitely times when she most certainly had sensed emotion from him. Many of them.

  “No,” she said. “I don’t agree. Dem feels. He experiences emotion. I’ve felt it.”

  A hand suddenly dropped onto Maigery’s shoulder, and Sanah looked up to see Cannon standing behind her. Maigery stiffened instantly. The sudden burst of apprehension from her startled Sanah.

  “Cannon, I’m sorry, I—”

  “No need to apologize, Maigery. Why don’t you let me talk to Sanah for a bit?”

  “Of course.” The other woman slipped out of her seat with a small wave of farewell. Her body language said she couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

  Cannon dropped into the chair and just sat for a moment without saying anything, his keen green eyes studying Sanah. His hair was tied back, a day’s growth of beard shadowing his face. He looked, at the moment, very much the pirate king. Serious and brooding. Sanah imagined many people had quailed under the look he was giving her now, but she wasn’t going to be one of them. She gave him her best smile, folding her hands on the table in front of her. It was a look that said I’ll wait here all day, if I have to.

  Cannon’s lips quirked in the hint of a smile. “You’re stubborn,” he said. “That’s good.” He lifted his hand. Less than a second later, a bottle and a glass were set before him. It was the same whiskey she was drinking.

  “You just scared away the first person who’s been willing to talk to me in three days,” Sanah told him, her tone dry. “After being too busy to see me for the same length of time.” She’d tried to see him. Twice. Both times, the captain had been unavailable, and her attempts to reach him via telepathy had met with a wall of silence. “Avoiding me?”

  “No,” Cannon said. “Busy. Over the last few standard days, our borders have been breached by a highly unusual number of armed vessels. The Commonwealth typically avoids the territory they refer to as Fringe Space. They have all kinds of reasons why. They spread every rumor they can, from unusual concentrations of meteorites, to a black hole, to, well, pirates.” He flashed a smile. “I guess that last part is right. Assuming that your arrival and this sudden bravery on the part of the Commonwealth is not a coincidence, your brother must be quite powerful to command such a response. And he wants you back very badly.” He poured a generous amount of whiskey into the glass and took a drink. His eyes closed, and he just sat, savoring. The only emotion leaking past his shields was appreciation.

  It took Sanah a moment to marshal her thoughts. Her hand tightened around her own glass until her fingers hurt. “He’s not giving up.” Her voice rasped, and she stopped, swallowing. She’d known that, but knowing that and hearing just how much support Niall had rallied to search for them was a different matter.

  “It would seem not.”

  “It’s Nayla he wants. They want.”

  Cannon leaned forward. “And they won’t be getting her. Or you. I want to be clear. I have just spent three days coordinating efforts that have netted us four new ships, complete with armaments. It would have been more, but six jumped back to Commonwealth space before we could board them, and the Sun Breaker mercenary guild has a tendency to scuttle their ships when they lose.”

  “M-mercenaries?” It had never occurred to her that Niall might hire mercenaries. That Veritas would be willing to spend so much. Nayla’s Talent was rare, but this kind of effort and expense to retrieve one person bordered on insanity.

  Cannon shrugged. “The ships your brother sent don’t answer to the Commonwealth government, strictly speaking. In fact, they were all privateer or mercenary groups. I find that interesting. We really need to sit down and talk about the resources and influence Veritas has at its disposal. And soon.” He paused. “But that isn’t actually why I came down here today.”

  “It isn’t?” Sanah frowned. “What could be more important?”

  Cannon waved a hand in dismissal, draining his glass. “We can handle a few mercenary ships. If anything, it affords us the opportunity at some new plunder. And for now, they’re off regrouping and deciding if whatever your brother is paying them is worth the risk. Odds are good at least half of them will decide it isn’t. At the moment, I am more concerned about Dem.”

  “Dem?” Sanah blinked in confusion. “You’re more worried about Dem than a fleet of mercenary ships?”

  Cannon sat back with a sigh. “Mercenaries are easy. We’ve spent a long time fighting for our survival and defending our territory. But I am concerned about anything that poses an immediate threat to this ship and this crew.”

  She contemplated him. “You consider Dem a threat.”

  Cannon refilled his glass. “To answer that, I’m going to tell you a story. It’s a bit long, so bear with me. Like most of our people, I grew up spending half my time on ships, and half my time on one of our colonies. The same colony Dem and his brothers grew up in. Just like the Commonwealth, we’ve introduced non-native animals to many of our colonized worlds. Livestock. Cats. Dogs.” He took a slow drink. Sanah waited. There was something she sensed from Cannon now, not quite escaping his shields, just the hint of
an emotion that told her this was not an easy thing for him to talk about.

  “I was ten. Just coming to understand that my Talent was not like any of my friends’. That I sensed things most people couldn’t. Like the constant hunger and pain from a starving dog living as a stray. It was too scared of people, at first, to come out where we could see it. It hid in the scrapyards behind this empty field we would play in. But I sensed its pain, and started leaving bits of food for it. It only took a few days, and the dog would wait for us in the mornings. A few days after that, and it let me get close enough to feed it by hand. Soon, it was walking halfway home with me. But only halfway.” He stopped, staring broodingly into his glass.

  “Why only halfway?” Sanah kept her tone soft.

  “Because a handful of my cousins were bullies. They’d lie in wait for me some days, and I didn’t ever want them to find out about the dog. I always chased him off before turning into our sector. It didn’t matter, though. They found out anyway.” He picked up his glass and swallowed the rest of his drink all at once. He poured himself another before continuing.

  “One day, I’m walking out to that field, and Dem is with me. I don’t remember why, now. We had classes together sometimes. He was eleven, a year older than I was. We get there, and I see something out in the grass, this…lump. It looks like trash, red and brown and…anyway, we get closer, and it isn’t trash at all.”

  “The dog.”

  “Yeah. My fucking dog. They caught him. Probably beat him. Cut him open. Left him where they knew I’d be showing up with some scraps.”

  Those were his family? And I thought my brother was cruel, Sanah thought.

  “I can’t even imagine what that must have felt like, Cannon. I’m so sorry.” Sanah reached across the table and covered his hand with hers.