“Done. She’s yours in return for my ship.”
Shouting started up—Qae the loudest of all, but she thought she might have heard Zahli and a couple of the others protesting as well. Except, it was all lost in the roar building in her ears. In the dizzying disbelief that was pounding her head like a mallet.
No. This couldn’t be happening.
Rian let her go and Alvar clamped a hand on her with painful, bruising strength. He thrust her down to the floor, forcing her to kneel at his side.
She searched through the shifting people for Qae, finding him pressed facedown on the floor by Alvar’s thugs, fighting for all he was worth to get free, until one of the pirates kicked him in the head and he dropped still, unconscious.
“Pleasure doing business with you, Captain Sherron. Though I feel that I got the better end of the bargain,” Alvar was saying. He held a hand out, but Rian simply stared at it like it was an insect or a diseased animal that needed to be put down.
“My ship?” Rian asked in a cold, flat voice.
Alvar seemed thrown for a moment, but then nodded with a tight smile. “My man, Edson, will show you.”
Rian glanced over his shoulder at his crew, who were all looking at him like they didn’t know who he was any longer.
“We’re heading to the ship. Varean, you and Tannin carry Qae.”
“Rian—” Zahli started, but her brother turned an unforgiving glare on her.
“Not a word. I’m taking the Imojenna and getting out of this shitehole. You want to stay, be my guest.”
He turned his back on his crew and started to step by her, but then he stopped. Rian reached down and yanked her up. For a crazy second, she though he was going to kiss her, but at the last moment, he pressed his mouth to her ear.
“Find your brother,” he said in a low voice so no one else could hear.
When he let her go, Alvar was staring at them curiously.
“Just saying goodbye.” Rian glanced at her, and there was something in his gaze she couldn’t decipher. “Hope you enjoy her as much as I did.”
“I’m sure she’ll prove entertaining,” Alvar replied, a hint of something in his expression she didn’t want to examine too closely, but left that sick feeling ripping through her again.
Rian nodded and then followed after Alvar’s guy. The rest of the crew fell in behind him, every one of them passing her a last glance, clearly furious and upset on her behalf, but none of them willing to speak out against Rian. As Varean and Tannin came by last carrying Qae between them, her heart ached and she had to look away as her eyes started stinging.
She focused her gaze on the floor, not able to watch as they left her here alone with the monster from her childhood.
Rian had said for her to find her brother. Did that mean he did have a plan after all, even if it was some kind of twisted, terrible, terrible plan that left her here to fend for herself?
But hadn’t she told Qae she could take care of herself? Wasn’t she Rene Blackstone’s daughter?
Alvar wasn’t all that different from the other scum of the universe she’d dealt with over the years. The only difference was that he’d taken her innocence years ago. But that didn’t have to mean he had any power over her now.
She shook off his hold and got to her feet.
Alvar looked her up and down with a small smile edged in anticipation. “So, being Rian Sherron’s whore didn’t ruin you. Good, I like a slave with a bit of spirit. The more you fight, the more I’ll enjoy it when I finally break you.”
She tilted her chin up, refusing to let fear get the better of her. She balled it up and channeled it into her anger instead.
This man had killed her mother, stolen her own innocence, and held her brother for years on end. No matter what he did to her, she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cower.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Qae woke up facedown on a couch he hadn’t seen in over a year. He rolled off, getting unsteadily to his feet as he took in the dusty surrounds of the Imojenna’s communal room. He was alone, but voices echoed from up in the bridge. One in particular brought on a burning hot surge of rage.
He hurried out into the wide corridor and took the short flight of stairs up two at a time. Rian was sitting at the captain’s console, Tannin sitting next to him in the co-pilot’s chair, apparently doing some kind of systems check, Lianna’s voice coming over the comms from the engine room.
“You goddamn bastard son of a whore!”
His whole being narrowed onto Rian as he closed the distance between them. The fury had whitewashed everything inside him with the intensity of molten lava running through his veins.
Qae reached Rian and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him to his feet.
He hauled back and punched him, sending Rian stumbling back a step, but his cousin didn’t go down.
“You frecking traded her for your ship?” His voice was hoarse as he lunged again, this time closing his hands around Rian’s throat and propelling him backward until he slammed up against the console below the viewport. “You worthless piece of shite!”
Rian calmly reached up and crossed his forearm over Qae’s. Before he could work out his cousin’s intention, Rian wrenched down, breaking the grip he had on his throat. Qae stumbled forward but Rian grabbed him into a hold and spun them until he was the one slamming into the console. Rian wedged his weight against Qae to hold him immobile.
“I’ll let you have those free shots.” Rian leaned down, pressing more of his weight against him until he almost couldn’t breathe. “Only because I didn’t realize you’d completely fallen ass over in love with her.”
“Shut your frecking mouth.” He bucked, but it didn’t do any good. Rian simply tightened his hold and pressed harder.
“Listen to me, moron.” Rian’s voice had a hint of metium to it now. Playtime was over. “Camille Blackstone can take care of herself and then some. We both know that. Before we left, I told her to find her brother.”
Rian finally let him go and shoved himself back a step, pushing his hair out of his face, the light catching on those beads he always wore on his wrist.
Qae slowly straightened to face his cousin, panting, more from the rage than the short burst of physical activity.
“What good does that do when Alvar Galton thinks both of them are his slaves?”
“I also planted a tracking device on her.” Rian crossed his arms. “As soon as we’re sure the Imojenna is airtight and spaceworthy, we’re going back in for Cami and Dareon.”
Some of his rage drained away. Some, but not all. A lot could still happen in that time, including Alvar raping and murdering her.
“Fine, you had a plan. Awesome teamwork in discussing it with the rest of us.” He yanked his clothes straight, resisting the urge to punch his cousin again.
Rian shrugged, not seeming too worried about his temper. “Actually, I had a different plan, but when I realized Alvar wanted Cami, it seemed like the better option. I couldn’t tell you, because I needed your reaction to be genuine to convince Galton. Same with the rest of the crew.”
“You’re still an asshole.” He was still too pissed to stand here and make nice with his cousin, no matter how maniacally brilliant his play might have been. He started to walk off the bridge, but paused as he drew even with Rian. “You better hope Alvar hasn’t touched her when we get her back, because that shitebag’s dick won’t be the only one I’ll be taking my knife to.”
“There aren’t many women in the galaxy like Camille Blackstone. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think she could take care of herself.”
“So you took the gamble. And if it doesn’t pay off, you and I—this whole little crusade against the Reidar? I’m done. If anything happens to Cami—”
Jezus, he couldn’t even get the words out. Couldn’t even finish the thought. It was like his brain simply refused to go there.
“If anything happens to Cami,” he continued after
a moment, his voice low and rough. “Then you won’t be the only one in the family with a reputation for being a deadly, deranged son of a bitch anymore.”
He resumed his walk toward the bridge blast doors.
“Where are you going?” Rian asked.
“Anywhere that’s not here.”
…
Apparently Alvar Galton had parked the Imojenna with a whole bunch of other ships Qae assumed were one-of-a-kind deals—probably because the Imojenna was one of the last Nirali classers in near original condition flying around the galaxy—in a collection Qae would have been impressed with on any other day.
But not on the day when Cami was alone with a cold-blooded sociopath who believed he owned her. On that day, he wanted to take a blaster to pretty much everything he could see until Galton’s shiny collection was a pile of shitty rubble like the rest of this junk-ass planet.
He’d found himself a dusty bottle of Violaine in one of Rian’s many hidden stashes throughout the ship and parked his butt at the top of the ramp, taking the edge off as fast as he could.
“Not to sound like a preachy dick, but is that really a good idea?”
Qae glanced over as Jase sat down next to him.
“This bottle is the only reason I didn’t go back and pound Rian’s face into the deck. Or storm Galton’s house solo-style like a junkie on a bad bender who thinks he’s invincible.”
He took a mouthful and held the bottle out for Jase.
“I might not agree with Rian’s method”—Jase took a mouthful of the hard liquor and then grimaced—“but he was right that Cami can take care of herself. She’s one tough chick. Tough and smart. Deadly combination.”
Jase handed the bottle back, and Qae took another swig. Maybe the Violaine was starting to kick in, or maybe Jase’s words were making him think about things more objectively, but the last of his hard anger finally drained away.
Probably if he’d been thinking with his head and not his heart, he would have realized Rian wouldn’t have ever traded Cami for his ship. His cousin might be a lot of things, but he wasn’t heartless, and he hated slave trading almost as much as he hated the Reidar.
In fact, once Rian had liberated a slave ship and made sure the responsible parties had enjoyed a one-way trip to Erebus.
But when Rian had agreed to hand her over, Qae hadn’t been able to think of anything except the hollow look in Cami’s eyes as she’d told him about Alvar Galton killing her mother and what she’d experienced when given over to the slave master to be readied for the auction.
His brain had checked out, all logic had left the building, and he’d been acting on nothing but the need to protect her from the man who haunted her nightmares.
However, Rian and Jase were likely right—it hadn’t even been an hour since they’d left Cami, and no doubt his cousin would already be preparing a surprise attack now that he had his ship back. Alvar wouldn’t be expecting it. He thought they’d made a legit deal, because in his crazy-pants mind, exchanging a woman for a ship was a totally fair trade.
It was looking more and more like Rene Blackstone would get his unspoken wish for Galton to be dead. Because if Cami didn’t happen to kill him, Qae definitely had it on his to-do list.
“Has Rian said how he plans to go back in where all those armed, bloodthirsty pirates are hanging out?”
“He’s definitely got something on his mind,” Jase answered with a nod. “He told Tannin to hack the mainframe of Galton’s house. Something to do with the enviro system and security feeds.”
Qae took one last drink from the bottle and screwed the lid back on. He needed his head clear for whatever came next.
“Great. Maybe this time, he’ll give us half an idea of what’s going on in his head before he puts our balls on the line.”
Jase got to his feet first and held out a hand for Qae. Once he was upright, he looked Jase over, suddenly realizing that despite getting to know him over the past year—especially the fact they had a similar sense of humor—Qae didn’t know much else about the guy.
“This is one of those days where you’ve got to be thinking there’s better gigs in the universe than following Rian Sherron around,” Qae said as they crossed the cargo hold. “Since he’s my cousin, I’m kind of stuck with him. But surely you could join another crew, find something slightly less deadly to do with yourself?”
“Are you questioning my loyalty?” Jase’s expression became a little guarded, but there was still a hint of amusement to it, as though he wasn’t sure whether to take him seriously or make a joke.
“No.” Damn, that hadn’t been his intention at all. “I know we can trust you, Jase. The better question is, can you trust us not to get you killed? The body count is really starting to stack up.”
“What kind of man would I be if I walked away?” Jase paused by the bottom of the stairs to look at him with a weighty expression. “If a guy finds out the universe is getting invaded by a bunch of shape-shifting shite-crazy aliens and he can walk away, pretend like it’s someone else’s problem, he’s either a coward or a moron, and I don’t consider myself either of those things.”
“So just like that, you sign on to fight the good fight, probably get yourself killed?” Qae braced a hand on the railing. “What about your family?”
Jase glanced away, a shadow passing through his eyes. “They couldn’t care less what happens to me. Pretty sure I was dead to them the second I left the backwards-ass moon I grew up on.”
Ah. There was a story there, clearly. And like most of the crew on the Imojenna, Jase seemed to have a case of got-nowhere-else-to-go syndrome. No wonder he fit in so well.
“Anyway, Tannin ended up becoming like my brother.” Jase seemed to shake himself out of whatever dark memories had assailed him. “I wasn’t much older than him when I landed on Erebus and took up a shitty, boot-licking job for a senior officer. Tannin helped me survive that place as much as I helped him.”
Qae clapped him on the shoulder as they started up the stairs together. “Guess we’ll stick it out on this road to hell.”
“Hell might be a holiday compared to the manky shite show Galton’s got going on here.”
“On that we can definitely agree,” he replied with a short laugh as they hit the bridge.
Lianna was back, looking a bit worse for wear with her clothes all greased-marked and dusty.
“How’s she look?” Qae asked as he approached the consoles. He was a grown-ass man, he could pretend the hell out of everything-is-fine, like he hadn’t just tried to rearrange Rian’s face with his knuckles.
“Not great.” Lianna’s expression was grim. “I can’t get her to light up. She’s probably only been flown two or three times in the past year, and there could be any number of parts that have seized, dried out, clogged up with dust or a thousand other problems that’s keeping her dark. If Jensen was here—”
She shook her head, expression shutting down fast as she turned her attention to the dim console in front of her.
Jensen had been Rian’s mechanic who’d had some seriously mad skills when it came to ship engines. Qae had never met another person before or since who could work magic on a bunch of parts like Jensen could. He’d been killed a year ago when they’d lost the Imojenna.
“We’ll figure it out, Lianna,” Tannin said in a steady voice.
“Yeah, maybe in a week from now,” Lianna muttered.
“That bad?” He looked at Rian to see how his cousin was taking this, but like usual, Rian’s expression was basically unreadable.
“Like Tannin said, we’ll figure something out.” Rian’s voice was firm, as if by decreeing it, that would make it so.
“What about Cami?” Because damned if Qae was waiting a day or even another few hours before he went after her.
“Tannin has hacked Galton’s security system. He’s checking the surveillance feeds and using the tracker to find her. As soon as he knows where she is, we’re going in.”
“A handful of us
against dozens of Galton’s men? Sorry, but I didn’t pack my dying pants for this trip. They make me look fat.”
Rian cast him a glance edged in exasperation. “Tannin also has control of the enviro system. Kira took the sedative gas tanks out of the Imojenna’s medbay. She and Varean have gone to connect it to the oxygen scrubbers for Galton’s house. When I give her a go, they’ll be pumping enough of the sedative in to put most of Galton’s men to sleep for around half an hour.”
Hot hell damn. When Rian made a plan, he sure knew how to take it to the next level.
“Still want to punch me?” Rian asked, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.
“A little.” He sent Rian a wolfish grin. “Only in all the squishy parts.”
What was left of the anger was now directed at Alvar Galton simply for being a stain on the dirtiest underwear of humanity. He couldn’t hate Rian when the guy had organized such a fun afternoon out for them. Plus, Cami had proven how tough, resilient, and pretty much awesome she was—he probably should be more worried about what she might do to Galton before they got to her.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Cami backed up from the door as voices sounded in the hallway outside and the lock she’d been trying to override for the past half hour blinked. She swallowed down a surge of apprehension, praying it wasn’t Galton out there.
After the others had left, her master—as she’d been told to refer to Galton—had told her he wanted to finish his meal and had “business” to deal with, but he planned to have dinner with her this evening and then—
And then, nothing, because she refused to still be here when it got dark.
Galton had called one of the pleasure slaves from the orgy. The slave hadn’t bothered dressing and sauntered over, wearing nothing but a few pieces of leather crisscrossing his abdomen and biceps. Though his movements had been relaxed and sensual, his eyes had been dead, devoid of emotion, his features seemed set in a perpetual smirk.
Whatever had happened to her half brother these past years, she hoped to god he hadn’t suffered the same fate—broken and dead inside.
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