by Tana Stone
“Dak, wake up.” He shook his sleeping friend by the shoulder.
Dakar blinked up at him and rubbed his eyes. “What? You interrupted my dream. I was on one of the pleasure planets with a very alluring Xendrian.”
“Trista is gone,” Torven said, pacing as his friend stood.
“Trista?” Dakar looked around as he rubbed his eyes. “Are you sure?”
Torven threw his arms out wide. “Of course I’m sure. This isn’t a huge cavern, and I’ve searched all of it. She isn’t here. She left sometime while we were sleeping.”
Dakar scratched at the scruff on his chin. “Well, she didn’t seem too happy when you told her you she couldn’t leave.”
Torven frowned and made a low noise in the back of his throat. “Why would she want to leave? It’s dangerous out there. I already saved her from dying once.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “What was she thinking?”
“She clearly wanted to get away. Are you sure you didn’t terrify her?” Dakar’s hair was loose, and he twisted it up into a topknot as he spoke.
Torven gave an abrupt shake of his head. “Everything was fine until last night. I thought she…”
Dakar studied his friend’s reaction. “What is it you aren’t telling me, friend?”
“Grek.” Torven mumbled the curse, strode across the cavern, and snatched his pack from the floor. “I made a mistake.”
“What kind of mistake?”
Torven let out a long breath but didn’t meet his friend’s eyes.” I know it was wrong and I should’ve waited, but we were matched before I was falsely accused. She’s my mate, Dak. I feel it. We are meant to be together.”
A look of understanding crossed Dakar’s face. “So you…?”
“Yes,” Torven shouted, and then dropped his voice. “I claimed her.”
Dakar sighed. “That explains why she was so upset with you yesterday.”
“So, you could tell…?” Torven asked as he pulled on his environmental suit, the fabric shimmering blue from the glowing light.
“I could tell there was something going on, but you did not behave like a mated couple,” Dakar said. “She definitely didn’t seem to like you.”
Torven stared at the ground. “I did not want you to know my dishonor. I know it was wrong to claim her when my own future is uncertain. If you knew, you would know my weakness.”
“Did you claim her against her will?” Dakar asked calmly, as he followed his friend’s lead, and tugged his environmental suit on over his clothes.
Torven advanced on him with hands curled into fists. “Never!”
“Of course, you didn’t.” Dakar walked over and slapped a hand on Torven’s back. “You think I don’t know that? I know you are an honorable Drexian. I also know you are a passionate one, who is often ruled by his emotions.”
“It is my weakness,” Torven admitted.
“And also your strength. It makes you a loyal friend and fierce warrior. You would not claim the female if you did not believe she was your mate, and if she was not willing.” Dakar shot his friend a look. “Did you really think I would judge you for falling for a female? She is very pretty.”
Torven allowed himself a small smile. “She is, isn’t she? And she’s so soft. Nothing like the aliens on the pleasure plan—”
Dak laughed when his friend stopped talking and color rushed to his face. “It’s okay. I know the offerings on the pleasure planets are a weak substitute for a mate.” His own smile flickered. “Maybe one day I will be as lucky as you.”
“Lucky?” Torven glanced around the cavern. “I’m stranded on a frozen planet and accused of treason. The Kronock are after me, and my mate has run away. What is lucky about this?”
“At least you have a mate. Once we find her, you will explain that you were an idiot. It is not your fault you don’t have my natural charm with females.”
Torven bristled briefly before nodding. “You are right. I was foolish.”
Dakar slapped him on the back again, this time harder. “Of course, you were. I am your best friend, and know this about you. I doubt the female understands your intentions.”
“You think she believes I do not care for her?”
“You did a good job of convincing me yesterday. Aside from a lot of hostility on her part, I would not have known you knew each other very well at all.” Dakar tapped a finger on his chin. “Although, the hostility from her should have told me she knew you better than you were pretending.”
Torven scowled, picked up his friend’s pack, and tossed it at him. “Then I must find her so I can convince her otherwise. Since you are so successful with females, tell me what I should say to win her back.”
Dakar rubbed his hand down his chin. “My skills lie in enticing females into short-lived liaisons. I’ve never attempted to use my charms for anything more permanent.” He glanced at his friend. “I don’t think flowery words will work in this situation, my friend. You need to swallow your pride, tell her the truth, and hope she has a forgiving nature.”
Torven scowled. Dakar had always been the fun-loving, ladies’ man who could sweet-talk his way out of anything and into any female’s heart. He hadn’t expected such sober advice, but he knew his friend was right.
Taking a few long steps toward the entrance to the tunnel leading up, Torven paused and looked back. “Are you coming with me?”
Dakar hooked the pack over his shoulder. “To see you grovel at a female’s feet? I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Trista stumbled on the ice and fell to her knees, cursing as she hit the ground. Snow swirled around her, and tiny ice pellets stung her face, making it hard to see. She pushed herself back up and trudged forward.
She hadn’t expected to walk out of the tunnel into a snowstorm, that was for sure. To be honest, she hadn’t thought much past the point of storming out of the cavern. Her plan was to stow away on Dakar’s ship, but she didn’t know where it was or if it was using cloaking technology to shield it from the Kronock. Somehow, she’d imagined that it would be easier to locate his ship, but she’d been walking for what seemed like hours.
She leaned against a frozen boulder to catch her breath, looking behind her at the path that was covered instantly by falling snow. So much for returning to the tunnel and the underground springs. She had zero chance of retracing her steps and returning to Torven. Not that she wanted to.
Despite the frigid temperature, anger flashed hot and fast as she thought back to how he’d acted around his friend. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he hadn’t wanted Dakar to know that they’d slept together. Her face burned with familiar humiliation.
And then he expected her to stick around with him and be a fugitive? Well, no thank you. The big jerk could find himself a new doormat.
Trista took a breath. Her lungs were slowly adapting to the thinner air, but she still never felt like she got a full breath on the surface. She wished for a moment she was back in the cavern with the warm, humid air. She recalled splashing in the hot spring with Torven and the way the water looked when it beaded on his muscular chest. Her heart thudded as she remembered how the water looked dripping off the rest of him.
“Stop it,” she told herself. “Forget about him.”
Easier said than done, she thought as she plodded forward. The path out of the mountain had gotten steeper as she descended. She kept away from the edge, pressing one hand to the rock face so she wouldn’t accidentally walk off the cliff.
Rounding a corner, she almost walked into a huge figure. She tried to back away, but tripped, and the creature caught her by the arm. She couldn’t see much in the snow, but his grip was tight. Had she walked right into the Kronock?
As he pulled her close, she peered up and recognized the clear face mask. He wore an environmental suit like hers, although his clearly wasn’t out of oxygen. For a moment, her heart leaped as she thought Torven had found her, then she focused on the face. It wasn’t Torven or
Dakar, although she was pretty sure he was Drexian.
She tried to shake him off, but he held tight.
He removed his face mask and hood.
“Who are you?” she asked, warily. She squinted up at him. His brown hair and nearly black eyes looked familiar, but all Drexian warriors were big and brawny, with bronze skin and some shade of brown hair. “I am Karsh. You must be Trista.”
“You know me?”
“I was sent to rescue you,” he said. “The Drexian empire is very worried about your safety.”
Trista couldn’t help worrying about Torven. Did this mean they were here to arrest him again?
“How did you find me?” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the storm.
Karsh took her arm and tugged her a few feet until they were under the relative shelter of an overhang in the rock. “We have been searching for you since the traitor Torven kidnapped you from the station.”
Trista flinched at his description. As angry as she was with him, she couldn’t believe Torven was guilty of committing treason, especially when his friend Dakar believed him, and even Mandy’s husband, Dorn, was working to clear his name.
“Where is the criminal?” Karsh asked.
Even if Trista wanted nothing more than to get off the planet and return to the space station, she would not be the reason Torven was captured. She shrugged. “Who knows, and who cares? I hit him on the head with a boulder, and left him for dead.”
Karsh’s eyes widened, and the corner of his mouth quirked up. “You killed a Drexian warrior?”
“Like you said, he was a criminal, and he kidnapped me.”
Karsh released his grip on her arm. “That makes my job easier. Now, I just need to return you to the station.”
“Good. I’m dying to get back and have some decent food.”
Karsh looked her up and down. “Are you weak? I can carry you.”
“No.” She waved him off. “I can walk. Actually, if we’re heading back to civilization, I can run.”
The Drexian laughed. “Come. I will take you back to the civilization you desire.”
She followed close behind him as they trekked out of the mountains. In the distance, a geyser of water shot up from the ground, and then another. The ice rumbled gently under her feet. The planet definitely wasn’t as placid as it appeared on a first viewing, and she wondered how many more underground caverns were tucked away beneath the surface. Then she thought about their underground cavern and whether Torven had discovered her missing yet.
Not that it mattered, she reminded herself. He didn’t need her, and she had no plans to divulge his hiding place, so as far as she was concerned, he was safe and could stay there forever.
Trista focused on the Drexian in front of her. Karsh’s environmental suit was as white as the surrounding ice, but he left his hood down, so she focused on keeping his dark hair in view. He was wider than Torven and not as tall, even though he was still well over six feet. His hair was cropped close to his head and he was clean-shaven—definitely not like the rough-around-the-edges Inferno Force warriors she’d met. She wondered if she’d seen Karsh on the Boat before, but if she had, she didn’t remember.
They continued walking down into a valley, and Trista scuffed her foot on the ground to see if she was walking on frozen soil or frozen water. No way did she want to take another unplanned dip into an arctic lake.
The Drexian craned his neck around and motioned ahead. “We’re almost there.”
She peered around him and spotted a black spaceship. It looked larger than the shuttle Torven had commandeered, but she didn’t see any other warriors nearby. “Is it just you?”
Karsh nodded. “The fleet sent out lots of ships to search for you, so we couldn’t send full crews with each one. Most, like me, came out solo.”
“How did you manage to track me down when no one else could?” she asked. “It’s not like this planet would have been a natural place to look.”
Karsh grinned at her, flashing lots of white teeth. “I guess I got lucky.”
Trista thought that was a pretty cagey way not to answer her question, but maybe he figured military strategy was beyond her. She remembered how startled Torven had been, when she’d shown him her mechanical ability. She couldn’t help smiling when she remembered that he’d also seemed impressed as he watched her work on their shuttle’s damaged engine. She shook her head to get the thoughts of him from her mind.
“Are you unwell?” Karsh asked.
“No, I’m fine,” she said, casting a glance over her shoulder at the expanse of white stretching out behind them. “Just glad to put this place in the rearview mirror.”
Karsh frowned. “What is a rearview mirror?”
“Nothing. It’s an Earth thing.”
He shrugged as they reached the ship and he lowered a ramp on the side. Stepping back, he waved her inside and followed behind.
Trista paused once she was on the ship. This vessel was definitely bigger than the shuttle, but the insides were the same shiny black as the exterior.
She watched her environmental suit morph into black and disappear into the background. “You don’t mind if I lose this, do you?”
“Of course not.” Karsh stepped closer to her and reached for the zipper. “Allow me to assist you.”
She moved away from him. “That’s okay. I’ve got it.”
His eyes clouded for a moment, then he nodded. “If you do not need my help, I will be in the cockpit.”
Trista watched him walk away, an uneasy feeling twisting in the pit of her stomach. A Drexian warrior had been sent to rescue her, so why did the whole thing give her the heebie-jeebies? She should be thrilled to be getting off the uninhabited ice planet and away from Torven, but instead, she felt sick at the thought of leaving him.
Please don’t tell me I have that syndrome where kidnapped people fall for their captors, she thought. Stockholm Syndrome, that was it.
“No, it’s not Stockholm Syndrome,” she whispered, as she stepped out of her dirty, torn suit.
She picked up the heap of fabric and couldn’t help remembering Torven offering to switch suits with her when he saw hers was ripped. Then her mind went to their two bodies pressed close together for heat, and the feel of his hard muscles against her. Panic fluttered in her chest. Had she jumped to conclusions because her feelings had been hurt? It wouldn’t be the first time she’d acted on a knee-jerk response.
Trista pressed a hand to her chest and could feel her heart knocking against her ribs. She couldn’t leave him. Not without talking to him, first.
Glancing up at the cockpit, she wondered how she could get off the ship without her rescuer noticing. She peered around for a way to open the ramp again and finally pressed a flat panel, getting ready to make a run for it as soon as it dropped down.
Instead of the ramp lowering, a door slid open. Trista backed away as the body of a Drexian fell out onto the floor in front of her. She slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.
“I wish you hadn’t done that,” Karsh said from behind her.
Trista didn’t need to face him to know the sound she heard was a blaster powering up. She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing desperately she’d never run away from Torven.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Torven put up a hand to shield himself from the biting snow, keeping his eyes on Dakar’s head in front of him. His face was numb from the icy air, and ice crystals had formed on his lashes, making it hard to blink.
They’d been searching for what seemed like hours, although he knew his worry made it feel like longer. He hated the thought of Trista out in the storm. He knew she wasn’t as fragile as she looked, but he also doubted she was used to surviving harsh climates. At least she had her environmental suit, he reminded himself. And the rations and supplies in the backpack.
He forced down a feeling of panic. Neither of those things would help her if the Kronock found her. His enemy was not known for their kind treatment of pris
oners, or for even taking prisoners in the first place. He pushed the thought from his mind, and kept moving forward as the wind howled around him.
This was his fault. If he hadn’t been so worried about preserving his honor, she never would have left. He’d been a fool, and he’d hurt her, and now she was wandering around in a blizzard by herself.
“We’ll find her,” he muttered to himself, his breath warm on his lips. “We have to.”
Nothing mattered anymore except finding Trista and keeping her safe. He didn’t care about the charges against him, or what people might think of him. He just wanted her back safe in his arms.
Dakar turned and yelled something, as he gestured to a point in the distance. The storm made it impossible for Torven to understand him, but he looked ahead and spotted what had grabbed his friend’s attention.
A sleek, black Drexian ship sat in the middle of an open space. From the design, Torven could tell was one of the newer ships, and he was surprised that Dakar had been able to acquisition it for his use. He’d expected his friend to be using the older Inferno Force shuttle they’d traveled from their battleship in. One that did not shine black, and carried the scars from plenty of battles.
As he squinted through the falling snow, Torven saw movement near the ship and recognized two people in Drexian environmental suits, their heads the only thing not blending into the white surroundings. His heart caught in his throat when he realized that Trista was one of them. Her pale hair made his breath hitch in his throat, and it was all he could do not to start running toward her.
Who was she with? He was pretty sure Dakar had not brought a copilot with him. As he watched the Drexian raise his arm and the ramp to the ship lower, it was clear that this was not his friend’s ship.