by Nina Croft
Dylan was trying to find out more about who Kinross was. What was his background? How did he come to have so much power? But so far no one was talking. Maybe no one knew.
Milo had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder filled with goodies for Destiny. Food and drink and an ereader.
He hadn’t wanted to venture out before light. Last night Dylan had shifted form on the way back; he could see better and scent better as a wolf. They hadn’t encountered anything larger than a small bird, but Dylan had claimed there were signs of bigger things out here in the forest. Though he’d also said there was no evidence of anything in the tunnels, so Destiny should have been safe.
A meeting of the council was scheduled for later that morning, so he had to get back and to the island by then. They didn’t want to give anyone reason to suspect them of being anything other than good, conscientious representatives.
Would Destiny even be here?
Maybe she’d taken fright and headed back to the safety of her cozy little cell.
He didn’t like that idea and had no clue why.
He didn’t want to care. His one disastrous venture into love had left him wary of the emotion. And that was the understatement of the century—of the millennium actually. He ran a hand over the raised weal that curled around his throat and extended down over his left shoulder, just touching his heart as though to remind him that love could definitely leave you burned and scarred.
Anyway, why was he thinking of love?
Destiny intrigued him—that was all. She was just so…different. And he wanted to know why. She was also sexy as hell, and while he might have given up on love, he still enjoyed sex, and it had been a long time for him even without considering all the years he’d spent in cryo.
Destiny had a life plan. She was going back to do her duty to mankind. In which case, why not have a little fun before she returned? Except he had a strange idea that it might not be so easy to let her go.
He had no intention of staying on this shithole of a planet longer than necessary. Kinross was bad enough, but add in the church and this was no place he wanted to be. And as Destiny’s “duty” seemed to be tied to Trakis Four in some way, it was clear they were not destined to be close. Not even on the same planet.
He was probably just suffering from some sort of withdrawal symptoms due to five hundred years in cryo. Rico had said it could have some funny side effects; he just hadn’t gone into details.
Maybe it would be better if Destiny had returned to her cell, then he could get back to concentrating on the job he was here to do. Find out what Luther Kinross was up to and whether he had the means to exert any influence over Trakis Two.
When he emerged from the trees, she was sitting cross-legged in front of the tunnel entrance as though waiting for him. She leaped to her feet, a huge, beaming smile on her face.
Someone was pleased to see him at least. And that caused a mixture of happiness and guilt. He was guessing Destiny didn’t have many friends, only Dr. Yang, and he had a suspicion that the scientist did not have Destiny’s ultimate well-being on her agenda.
Just what was Destiny’s mysterious destiny?
She ran toward him and halted. A flicker of uncertainty crossed her face, then she shook her head and reached out, grabbing his hand. “Come. Come with me. There’s something you have to see.”
“Hey, slow down.” But her enthusiasm was infectious, and he allowed her to pull him along. She dragged him to the cave entrance and then inside. What had she found?
The light disappeared as they hurried down the tunnel and she switched on the flashlight and played it across the walls. As they came to the first junction, she took the opposite tunnel from the one they had come along last night, then another. She turned off the flashlight and drew him the last feet in utter darkness, then the light flashed on again.
“Holy shit,” he muttered.
It was a spaceship.
And not one of theirs.
He tugged free of Destiny’s hand and walked around the sleek black and silver vessel. She was like something out of a science-fiction movie. He came back to stand beside her. “There’s nobody here?”
“No.”
“They could be inside.” Were they watching them, even now? Fucking aliens. Jesus.
“No.” She took his hand again, slid her fingers into his, and tugged him forward. When they reached the ship, she placed her free hand on a panel at the side. A moment later a door appeared, then a ramp, and the door slid open.
What the hell?
How long had it been here? Where had it come from?
Even though they’d been in space five hundred years and were God knows how many miles from Earth, he’d never actually expected to encounter aliens. “Should we go in?” Hell, of course they should.
“I’ve been inside,” Destiny said. “There’s no one there.”
He felt a stab of disappointment at that, mixed with a smidgen of jealousy. She’d already been inside. Was that bravery or stupidity to head into the unknown all alone without backup? Maybe a little of both.
She dropped his hand and headed up the ramp, and he hurried to catch up. The doorway was a little bigger than he would expect. The aliens had maybe been larger than humans.
The inside appeared to be in darkness, but as Destiny stepped through the doorway, lights flickered on. They were in some sort of hold, a little like the docking bay on the Trakis ships but much smaller. Probably to store stuff, but the space was empty now except for a vehicle parked against the far wall. His fingers itched with the urge to go see what it did, whether he could turn it on. But Destiny was already heading in the opposite direction. She walked up a ramp and stopped at a door at the top and raised her hand.
“Can I?” he said.
She turned to him with a smile. “Of course.”
She moved aside and he pressed his palm to the panel. The door slid open with a quiet whoosh.
So how did it work? Would they open to any pressure? Was it heat? Touch? Shape?
He could feel a grin tugging at his mouth. This was really fucking cool.
Destiny was heading off again down a corridor. She’d clearly already been exploring and knew where she was going. A few feet on, she came to another door. This one opened onto what he presumed was the bridge. At this end, it was approximately ten feet wide, but broadened to around thirty feet at the front, where there was a clear window that looked out into the darkness of the cavern. Beneath that was a bank of consoles, smooth and featureless, and in front of them, two huge chairs. It looked like the aliens were humanoid but definitely larger than the average human. Two more chairs sat on either side of the room, with their own smaller consoles with screens above, blank at the moment.
Destiny sat down in one of the chairs at the front—it dwarfed her—and pressed her palm to the smooth console in front of her. It flickered to life and turned into some sort of control panel.
“I didn’t dare press anything else in case I—”
“Took off?” He could imagine that would be quite worrying. His stomach lurched—he really didn’t like flying. All the same, his fingers were itching again. He sat in the seat beside her and stared at the console. There was a big red button in the center, and then lots of other controls. But he had no clue what any of it did.
“I searched the whole ship,” Destiny said. “There’s nobody alive and no dead bodies.” She sounded almost disappointed. “What do you think happened to them? The people who flew her. Where did they go? Why would they leave this behind?”
He shrugged. They would probably never know. “You spent the night in here?” he asked. “All alone?”
“I’m used to being alone.” She shrugged. “There are cabins with beds. They must have been a lot like us. But bigger.” Her stomach rumbled. “Sorry. I don’t suppose you have anything to eat.”
He got
the satchel from his shoulder and dug inside, pulled out the box of food he’d brought with him. “I didn’t know what you’d like, so I brought some of everything.” He handed it to her, and she tugged off the lid and peered inside.
She selected a chocolate muffin and nibbled on the corner. “This is so good,” she mumbled. “Dr. Yang says that sweet things are not healthy. But it’s delicious.”
Dr. Yang was definitely a killjoy.
She finished the muffin and took out a piece of cheese. Ate it. Then a bread roll. And another. Where was she packing all of that? Finally, she sat back. He handed her a bottle of water and she unscrewed the top and drank deeply.
“Thank you.”
“So what now?” he asked. “Are you going to stick around here and work out how to fly this thing? Then head off into space?”
She shook her head.
He’d been teasing, but she looked so serious, now he really wondered. “What do you want to do, Destiny?”
She shifted in her seat so she was facing him. “I don’t know.” She bit her lip. “I should go back, but I don’t want to, at least not just yet. I mean I will eventually, but first, I want to…” She shrugged. “I don’t even know what I want to do. Just that there has to be more than what I’ve already done. That’s pathetic, isn’t it?”
“Not at all. I think it’s understandable considering your crappy upbringing.” At the same time, she was unlike anyone he had ever met. Unspoiled. He had an urge to find out why. To discover what had made her this way. Where she had come from. What she tasted like when he kissed her—
—And stop that train of thought right there.
He was attracted to her, he could admit that much, but kissing her was a bad idea. He needed to keep talking, get his mind off things he had no business thinking.
“So tell me about yourself.”
“Okay.” She settled into her seat. “I was born on the Trakis Four in the year 2224. I don’t know who my parents were. Dr. Yang said it wasn’t important, but I would still like to know. I never met them. I never met anyone except Dr. Yang.”
That was seriously odd. “What about the crew of the Trakis Four?”
“Dr. Yang said everyone else was asleep.”
“Then she was lying. All the ships had crews awake. Up to thirty-four crew members at any one time.” Except the Trakis Two. Rico had kept the crew to a minimum. He had apparently spent the first rotation learning everything he could. After that, he’d only woken up whoever was essential.
Her nose wrinkled and a line formed between her brows. “Why would she tell me they were asleep? Dr. Yang says that lying is a sin.”
Obviously, only for everyone else. For some reason, she hadn’t wanted Destiny to meet the rest of the crew. Or them to meet her. But why? “Maybe we could ask her one day. So where did you live?”
“In the laboratory. It was okay. I had my own space. And a gym so I could exercise. But I was lonely. Often I wouldn’t see Dr. Yang for weeks at a time. And sometimes…”
“What?”
“Sometimes my head felt like it would explode with everything I wanted to know. But Dr. Yang would get angry if I asked questions, and I would be punished. And I wouldn’t see her for a long time. So I learned not to ask.”
He was beginning to dislike Dr. Yang. A lot. Maybe he’d make her vanish in a puff of smoke. He was pretty sure his new wand would do that much magic.
“Did she tell you anything?”
“Of course. She gave me lots of things to read and study, and she told me about the exodus from Earth. About how the planet was dying and that the survival of humanity was in our hands. She said that I was important and had a role to play when we reached the new world. That I would help the whole of humanity.”
“But she didn’t tell you what the role would be?”
She shook her head. “Just that I would know when the time was right. And I must be patient. And I tried to be. I really did. But sometimes…I think I must not be a good person, because I just wanted to know everything. Right now.” She blinked a couple of times. “Dr. Yang would be very angry with me.”
“No doubt.” He hoped she was really pissed. The bitch. He had a mind to comm Rico and tell him to find Yang’s family and…what? Eat them? “But does that matter?” he asked.
She frowned again as she thought that through. “She brought me up. She’s done everything for me. I owe her my life.”
“She kept you a prisoner and you owe her nothing.”
Her eyes widened at his angry tone. “Are they looking for me?”
Clearly, she was changing the subject. “I don’t know yet. If they are, they’re doing it quietly and under the radar so far.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s an old Earth saying. It means they don’t want anyone to see them. We’re going to headquarters for a meeting this morning, so we’ll keep our ears open.”
“Your ears can close?”
He shook his head. “It’s just a figure of speech.” He had to leave, and he didn’t want to go. Reaching into the satchel, he pulled out the digital ereader. He’d loaded it up with all the books from the entertainment archive on the shuttle.
“This is for you. A present.” He pressed the button to open the reader. “It’s fully charged and should last a few days. But one of us will be back tonight.” Though he was damned if he was going to allow Dylan to come here alone.
She stared at the ereader, her hand sweeping across the screen. “There are so many.”
“There should be reviews and rankings to help you choose,” he said. “They’re split into fiction and nonfiction. Just make sure you know the difference.” Christ, if she read them and believed they were true, God knows what she would think of the human race. “Some are facts and some are made up.”
“Why do people make them up? Is it like lies?”
A little like lies, he supposed. “Not lies, no, because everyone knows they’re not true. Stories are for entertainment, but they’re also a way for people to try and make sense of the world around them.”
“Oh.”
He stood up and looked down at her; she was running her finger over the titles. “I have to go. Do you want to show me the way out of here?”
“Of course.” She jumped to her feet. “Thank you for the food and…and everything.”
“Thanks for the spaceship.” Something occurred to him. “Don’t press any more buttons until we find out a little more about this thing.” He didn’t want her disappearing into space. Or blowing herself up. Or…
A look of regret flashed across her face, but she nodded. “Okay.”
She was good at doing what she was told. That should make him happy. Instead, he had the urge to shake her, and that triggered a sense of unease somewhere deep inside. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she didn’t give them away. Then in a couple of weeks they could return to Trakis Two with the information they needed to move forward. Maybe Destiny would have gotten over the duty thing by then and could come with them…
He led the way out of the spaceship, down the ramp. The door shut behind them. They didn’t speak in the tunnels, but as they came out into the forest, he turned to her. “You can still go back,” he said and had no clue why.
“I will. Just not yet.” She smiled. “I want to read my books.”
It wasn’t the answer he desired and again he wasn’t sure why. But something drove him on and he stepped closer to her, so close they could touch. A voice inside his head reminded him that this was not a good idea.
But he ignored it this time, because he’d been wanting to do this since he’d first seen her.
He reached out and she went instantly still. They were so close she had to tilt her head to look into his eyes, and a little line formed between her arched brows as if she wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Hell, he h
ad no clue what to expect, either.
She inched even closer. Her eyes were wide, not with fear but with anticipation. She glowed. And he lowered his mouth to hers.
Chapter Sixteen
“…remember that what has once been done may be done again.”
—Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
This was a kiss.
Destiny held herself very still. If she moved, he might stop, and she really didn’t want that to happen.
His face was so close now that she had to shut her eyes, and then his mouth touched hers. Pressed against hers, his lips were warm and hard. His fingers were in her hair, cupping her skull, tilting her back. Her heart rate picked up and tingles ran across her skin. It was very…interesting.
Too soon, he backed off, and her eyes flashed open. Was that it? She wanted more. He was watching her, his silver eyes half closed.
“Open your mouth, Destiny,” he murmured, a faint tinge of amusement in his voice. His thumb stroked her lower lip and her mouth dropped open. “Are you always so obedient?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He chuckled. “I’ll have to remember that.” Then he was coming close again and this time she kept her eyes—and her mouth—open. She didn’t want to miss any of this. She felt as though she was poised on the edge of something momentous, something life changing, and that it might be snatched away from her at any second.
He paused, so close she could feel his warm breath against her skin. “You have to breathe,” he said.
She gulped in air and then his mouth was on hers, his lips parted. They fitted together perfectly. Then his tongue filled her mouth, and the shock of it pulled her back and away from him. She swallowed, eyes wide, staring at him.
“You want me to stop?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Is this what normal people do?”
“I don’t think there’s anything normal about this. The question is: do you like it?”