Whatever that meant. She should probably be worried about what he had in mind for her, but she couldn’t deny the thrill of excitement and anticipation that surged through her.
“I might respect the hell out of you, Qaelan Forster, but I don’t trust you as far as a I can throw you. The cuffs stay on until we’re clear of the Belt.”
He shrugged as if he didn’t really care. “Suit yourself. But you get to explain to Rian when he gets here.”
Oh.
Crap.
Chapter Eight
The morning had dawned dark and rainy, lightning forking across the sky in the far distance, the rumble of thunder a low murmur in the background of the usual city sounds.
Rian hadn’t gone to bed, too wired about the impending departure in the morning. Not that he slept much on the best of nights, anyway. Instead, he’d sat in the armchair by the window nursing a bottle of Violaine—something he’d done a lot when the rest of the house was sleeping—watching rain trickle down the crystal pane, and the occasional storm roll across the sky, lighting up the mountains beyond the city in blue-white.
He’d dozed on and off, but his mind wouldn’t let him sleep. Memories kept ambushing him, like a roll call of the dead. Members of his crew, Callan and Jensen, and what’d happened last time they’d gone up against the Reidar. Losing his ship. Nearly dying and leaving Ella alone in the hands of the Reidar. His fear of how they would use her, only eclipsed by the wrench in his chest at the horror she would face and what that would do to her.
What he’d told Qae had been true. It was long past time he got the Imojenna back. If he could go by himself without putting anyone he cared about at risk, then he would have. But for one, none of them would let him. And two, it was the kind of thing he probably couldn’t do on his own.
Though they still didn’t have a way of stopping the Reidar, the razar stunner Qae’s crewman Chase had developed did give them a small advantage. It momentarily dazed the creatures and forced them to drop their disguise and reveal their true alien form. At least with the razar they could out the bastards and separate human from alien.
With the Reidar swiftly and thoroughly infiltrating every level of government and military, including UAFA and multi-galactic companies—likely so when they were ready for the final invasion, they’d already be in control of every aspect of humanity—it was something of an anomaly they hadn’t come across any Reidar in all the time they’d been on the Belt. That little inconsistency in the Reidars’ otherwise meticulous secret invasion was starting to bug him, but he had no clue why they might have overlooked this corner of the universe. Maybe they considered a few pirates as insignificant in the scheme of galactic politics.
Varean had come into his room just after midnight, wearing nothing but a pair of sweat pants, hair mussed like he’d been having his own restless night. He’d dropped down to sit in the opposite armchair and put his bare feet on the coffee table between them.
The guy never bothered with pointless questions like how he was feeling—Varean knew. He always knew. They had some low-level telepathic connection, kind of like what he had with Ella; just as intense, but it affected him on a different level. Something to do with whatever the hell the bastard aliens had done to him in that lab all those years ago, along with Varean’s Reidar DNA. And the fact Varean had practically brought him back from the dead.
He and Varean had talked about the upcoming mission, how they might get the Imojenna back even though they’d found no solid leads in the last year. There’d only been one—that the Imojenna had been stored in a warehouse of decommissioned ships on a planet in the central systems owned by a company called Taverstock Co-op. By the time they’d gotten there, the place had been empty… If there’d been any ships there in the first place.
They’d also discussed the new razar prototypes Chase was working on, and his ambition to make one big enough to mount on a ship.
Apart from the less-than-ten minutes it had taken for Varean to shower and change, he hadn’t left Rian’s side. Which kind of told him maybe his new BFF was worried about him.
Yeah, he was more on edge than he’d been in a long time. The prospect of his crew coming up against the Reidar after the disaster of the last time had the anger and darkness stirring in a way it hadn’t recently.
He just needed to get off Tripoli. Besides the occasional short trip, he’d spent too much time with his boots on the dirt in the last year. They needed to be out in the black so they could get on with stealing his ship back and then spilling Reidar guts all over the galaxy.
In the large airy entrance hall of the villa, all of his crew assembled. He stopped, casting a glance over them—his sister, Zahli and her fiancé, Tannin, who also happened to be an expert hacker. Kira, their doctor, and his navigator-slash-engineer, Lianna, who’d probably been more adrift without the Imojenna than even he had.
Including Varean and him, plus Qae and Jase, who were no doubt already waiting on the Ebony Winter, that made nine of them. Qae’s ship was only half the size of the Imojenna. There wouldn’t be a spare bunk and very little privacy, which meant continuing to avoid certain people would be nearly impossible.
Ella stood between Kira and Zahli, and despite any intentions to the contrary, he couldn’t help looking directly at her. She was staring steadily at him, and when their eyes met, the impact of it hit him right in the middle of his chest. He held her gaze, hating the tingling awareness that shot down his spine, but reveling in it like a guilty pleasure by the same breath.
Goddamn it, they’d been doing so well off the ship, giving each other space and pretending they’d settled into some kind of arrangement where they tolerated each other without things becoming tumultuous. Why the hell was she coming now?
He should have known when they all heard he was planning on getting the Imojenna back that every single one of them would insist on coming.
The idiots.
He glanced at Varean, who’d stopped next to him. “What is this?”
Varean grinned, waving a hand in their general direction. “This is your crew. Or did you somehow forget that?”
“Hilarious, jerk-face. I mean why are they all coming?”
“You’d have to ask them.” He gave an unhelpful shrug as he clasped Rian on the shoulder. Varean then went over to Kira, sharing a brief, easy, intimate kiss with her before grabbing up a couple of her many, many medical bags.
The troops all started filing out the door. Everyone except Ella, of course.
Here we go again.
With the being-stuck-in-each-other’s-space, the beguiling conversations, the constant simmering temptation he wanted no part in, and the Reidar-trying-to-turn-her-into-a-weapon.
“Don’t you think that out of everyone, you have the most reason to stay here?” he questioned before Ella could say anything. Or worse, ask him how he was feeling. “When the Reidar discover you’re out of the Belt and flitting around the galaxy, they’ll throw everything they’ve got at capturing you.”
“You want me to give you some line about us all being stronger together? Because I’ve got plenty.” A smile teased her lips up, making his chest tight. The hint of irreverence only made her that much more intriguing.
When he’d first taken her from a slave trader paid by the Reidar to abduct her from her home planet of Aryn, Ella would have never made a comment like that.
She’d been a perfect, serene, rigid priestess. No crack in her facade to hint she was a flawed being like the rest of the human race. Every word had been carefully chosen, every exchange like a diplomatic parry or lure for information. Living on the Belt for the past year, and his ship for eight months before that, had definitely taken the polished shine off her priestess persona. And despite himself, despite everything, he liked this new, slightly relaxed version of her way too much.
No matter how he felt about it, however, no matter how a few times in the last months he’d woken up in a cold sweat, his body aching and the ghost of her fading from his
mind, it didn’t change the fact that neither of them were willing or able to broach the undeniable spark between them, let alone acknowledge it.
“How about you just tell me why you’re risking it?”
Even though if he had his way she would have been staying behind, he reached down and picked up her bag. He’d long ago learned that Ella did what she damn well pleased, and there wasn’t anyone who could stop her.
Especially him.
“I go where I’m needed. Varean is still learning to control his Mar’keish abilities. You know we meditate together every day. Since someone made a declaration about not coming back until the Imojenna was found, and Varean would never let you go anywhere without him…” She didn’t need to finish saying the words, the look she sent him was enough. “Oh, and whenever you’re ready to join us in the meditation—”
“Over my dead body,” he muttered. He’d already had this conversation with her a few times—and a lot with Varean. The two of them were absolutely convinced they’d find answers and help Rian with his inner darkness by engaging in some kind of meditation-three-way. He’d never admit it to her or anyone else, but the idea of it seemed too intimate, and he had enough trouble keeping his walls up around her without putting himself in a position of mental vulnerability. Besides, if he went into his mind, he had no idea what he’d find or what might be released. No way was he willing to risk that.
“That’s the problem. You did die. Varean brought you back. The least you could do is try for him.”
“Still playing the whoops-I-died guilt card? How long is that going to keep up for?” He cut her an impatient sideways glance as they headed for the door. Between her and Varean, they’d harass him with their good intentions right out the nearest hatchway into space.
“Until you stop brushing it off and being a jerk about it.” Ella tilted her head and sent him a look that was almost chiding. Having people call him on his shite was still kind of new to him. Before her, everyone had been too scared of his volatile temper to ever say anything against him, even when he was being a massive dick.
But Ella had never been intimidated by him, and then Varean had come along and at some point, people had stopped tiptoeing around him, and he hadn’t even noticed. He’d never admit it aloud, but being treated like a normal person, instead of an unstable explosive that was a second away from detonating, was actually a small relief.
Though he was far from “fixed” or better—there was no way he could ever be whole again, not with the scars he bore on his psyche—his inner demons had definitely been easier to handle in the past year. There was no denying Ella and Varean had played an important part in that.
He probably should have been arguing against Ella coming, against risking them spending too much time together and upsetting the fragile accords they’d come to—because at the end of the day, even though there was that spark of something between them, Ella wanted it about as much as he did. Which was to say over both of their dead bodies.
He didn’t have a clue what reasonings she had for wanting to keep herself from getting intimately entangled with him—his guess being that she’d seen inside the dark depths of him and was the only one who knew exactly what he was capable of. That aside, the only thing they did agree on was not letting whatever that connection was develop into anything deeper or more complicated.
Outside, a shuttle was waiting at the front of the house. Obviously, someone—probably Zahli—had worked out everyone was planning to come this morning and had organized the transport so they could get to the spaceport easily.
He took a seat at the front, closest to the pilot’s chair where Lianna had already made herself comfortable.
The trip went by in a gray blur as rain washed over the shuttle while the crew chatted, the mood a strange mix of solemnity, anticipation, and eagerness. Probably because this was the first solid hope they’d had in recovering the Imojenna for months. They all knew once Rian set his mind to something, come hell or armies of Reidar, nothing would get in his way.
At the spaceport, Lianna commed Qae to let him know they were approaching, and as they pulled up outside the Ebony Winter, the ramp was already three-quarters lowered.
As he walked into the cargo bay, Qae came down the stairs from the upper levels. A slight figure followed after, and at first, he assumed Qae was seeing out a guest he’d had in his bed overnight. Until her face came into view.
And then he saw the cuffs.
“Are you frecking kidding me?” He pulled to a stop, totally certain he didn’t want to know what was going on here. Obviously, his cousin had a death wish. But did he have to commit suicide via Rene Blackstone by messing with his daughter? Because it was only going to make his own life harder when he had to go into damage control to make sure no one else got taken down in the fallout.
Qae leaped down the last two steps, tugging Camille Blackstone after him, who shot him an exasperated look. His cousin was bleary-eyed with mussed hair, and considering the fumes of alcohol coming off him, he probably didn’t want to get too close to an open flame any time soon. Camille also looked bleary-eyed, but mostly from being tired, like she hadn’t slept.
“Qaelan Merrick Forster, what the hell is going on?” Zahli demanded, walking right up to stand in front of Qae, planting her hands on her hips. Zahli had long ago taken on the mom role onboard the Imojenna, doing her best to look after everyone. Now Qae was included in the brood, and she wasn’t above reprimanding him like he was four years old.
“This is not what it looks like.” He held up his cuffed hand, jerking Camille closer to him. “Unless it looks like Cami Blackstone handcuffed herself to me so I would be forced to take her along on this insanely dangerous mission to steal untraceable creds for her father and get the Imojenna back. Then, in that case, you’re completely right.”
Zahli glanced over her shoulder at Rian in confusion. “What’s he talking about? What untraceable creds?”
Right. He hadn’t actually told any of them what’d happened with Blackstone the day before.
“Never mind, we’ll talk about it later.” Rian shifted his attention to Camille. Or, Cami, as his cousin had called her. What was the chick playing at here? Hadn’t this thing with Qae caused enough trouble already?
“I’m fairly sure I could find a laser or saw that will fix this problem for you.” He aimed the words at Qae. No doubt it would annoy Cami that he was refusing to deal directly with her.
But Qae held up a hand. “No need. Cami started this game, but I’m going to finish it.”
Cami aimed a heated glare at Qae, which he completely ignored. “Like hell you will.”
Damn it, he hadn’t gotten anywhere near enough sleep to deal with this kind of crap this morning. For once, couldn’t something be simple and straight forward?
“Qae, this isn’t the time to be messing around. Get rid of her, and let’s get your ship off the ground.”
Cami stepped forward. “I’m not going anywhere. I wasn’t going to go off and get my small share of the creds while he’s out there taking some kind of stupid risk for his share that ends up getting him caught or killed. I refuse to have that on my conscience.”
Not hard to see Cami had inherited some of her more stubborn traits from her father. He did have to respect the fact she was taking her part of the responsibility in this mess. She was just going about it in completely the wrong way.
“There is no negotiating here. When your father finds out you came along—”
“He knows. I told him Qae and I would be working together. He accepted the terms.”
Somehow, he didn’t think it was that simple. And he wasn’t willing to take on the extra liability when there were already so many odds stacked up against this mission.
“You’re not coming, Cami. End of story. Lianna, go find a laser cutter or some kind of saw.”
Lianna murmured an agreement and disappeared toward the ship’s tiny engine room.
“You can cut the cuffs and you can kic
k me off the ship, but I’ve made sure Qae won’t make it out of the Belt without me.”
That finally got his cousin’s attention. Qae turned to stare down at her for a long moment, at first not saying anything.
Cami smirked, crossing her arms, stance defiant.
“What did you do?” Qae’s voice came out low and menacing, disbelieving anger an obvious undertone.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” She brazenly tugged at the neckline of her T-shirt. “Want me to get the key out now and unlock us?”
“You hell-spawned harpy. If you’ve messed with my ship—”
She stepped closer to him. “Call it an insurance policy. Besides, you were the one who decided the systems needed checking at eleven thirty last night.”
Qae growled. Like actually growled as though he was about to hulk out into some crazy beast. It was possible, given how much he loved his ship.
“She’s not going anywhere.” Qae glanced at him, a kind of frustrated, yet intrigued light in his gaze Rian had never seen before. “I assume you and Lianna can take care of the launch? I’ve been up all night, so I’m taking some downtime.”
Rian nodded, looking at Cami once more. She wasn’t smug or gloating about winning that little skirmish, mostly looking stubbornly determined to see through this crazy plan of hers.
She’d apparently ensured they couldn’t leave the Barbary Belt without her onboard, but he doubted they’d make it with her onboard, either. Rene Blackstone couldn’t really be willing to let her go on this run with them, not when whatever they ended up doing to get the creds would either be ridiculous, dangerous, insane, or a combination of all three.
But maybe the answer lay in that scenario. If they lagged and didn’t travel fast for a day or two, it would give Blackstone a chance to catch up, and then Cami would have no choice but to go back to Tripoli with him. Maybe he’d even send a message to Blackstone himself to expedite matters.
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