by Kate Rudolph
“Of course.” And with goodbyes, he ended the call.
The advice wasn’t anything he couldn’t have told himself, but there was some reassurance in hearing it from people he trusted. He had to give Vita time, and this mission was just the thing. They were fated to be together, he just had to be patient until she saw it too.
Chapter Ten
TWO DAYS LATER AND everything was still awkward enough to make Vita want to tear her hair out. But she’d paid a lot of money for the treatments to keep it the violent red she liked and she wasn’t one to waste money. She was sure the ship was shrinking. How else was Brax everywhere she ended up being? Well, there were probably plenty of explanations, but still.
He was so damn nice, too, and it was driving her up the walls. She’d rejected him, told him she didn’t want any of that mate nonsense between them. And he was respecting that and being nice to her. No resentment, no jabs. She literally held his life in her hands and he acted like it was nothing.
Did he think that if he was nice she’d come around? Was this a tricky way to put a collar around her neck? She wasn’t about to be tricked.
But as the hours wore on, it seemed more and more like he wasn’t playing a role. This was just who he was.
They were in the galley at the same time, both making meals of the protein paste and flavorings she’d bought at Cayster Market. And Vita couldn’t take another minute.
“I was a slave for ten years.”
Brax’s knife clattered to the counter and he looked over at her, his face carefully neutral as if he knew that the smallest hint of pity would shut her up.
He didn’t ask her to continue, but his stare was enough to keep her talking. If he wanted to know her, wanted to know why she couldn’t do the mate thing, then he needed to understand this. He needed to understand that she couldn’t give herself over to someone else.
“I was born in the Consortium, youngest of half a dozen brats.” She methodically sliced the food she was preparing to keep from staring at Brax. It was like she was telling any other story, not the tragedy of her life. No, not a tragedy. She’d survived, and she was more than ten years free. “My parents couldn’t afford us all, so they unloaded me to their creditors. And I got bounced around for a while. Not much use for a kid that small, at least not much that won’t turn your hair white. By the time I was thirteen I had given up hope of getting out. Almost half my life a slave, you know? I worked, I suffered, I was beaten and, well, I’m not going to go into every hardship. It was all bad. There’s nothing redeeming, nothing romantic about a master taking a liking to his property. And I was mostly lucky.” She had to take a deep breath as the memories threatened to overwhelm her. She could practically feel the tension rolling off of Brax and was sure that if she gave the tiniest indication she wanted it, he’d have her in his arms in a second.
She sort of wanted it. But she wouldn’t let herself have it, not until she was done talking. Probably not even then.
“I was sold for the final time when I was fifteen. Maybe sixteen. I tried to keep track of my age, but it’s not like anyone’s celebrating. Sometimes the doctor’s would tell me, if I asked during an exam. Usually they weren’t supposed to talk to us like people.” And she was getting off topic. “Mas—” No, not her master, not anymore. Not anyone’s master. “The man who bought me last was a monster. He reveled in pain and blood. I don’t know if he took a liking to me for some reason, or if I was purchased for one purpose and plucked out of obscurity to entertain him, but it’s what happened. He liked to make his slaves fight. Always to blood, sometimes to death. And I learned my art well. He told me that if I was especially good he’d free me and keep me at his side as his warrior queen. He’d give me control over all the slaves, their training, their torture. He even told me I could select whoever I wanted to warm our bed. And for a moment I was tempted.” She breathed deep again and had to swallow around bile. “To have power when I had none. To have power over someone was more than I could imagine. But I wasn’t the first woman he made that offer to, and it wasn’t really freedom. Not that I considered it for more than a few days. In the end I slaughtered them all. Him, his court, his reigning queen. Even his more loyal servants. Blood ran like a river through his compound and it stained my skin.” She reached up and tugged on her braid, her permanent reminder. “Roski showed up a week later to collect on a debt. Instead there was just me and the survivors. We’d removed our collars, freed ourselves, but we had no way out. As soon as our former owner’s friends found out what I’d done, I was sure to die. I was sure Roski would kill us all. I attacked him, actually. I forgot that. Instead he took me in and sent the others away to where they’d be safe and free. And since that day no one has owned me.”
Neither of them were eating. The story wasn’t really one that should be shared over a meal.
“You’re stronger than I could have imagined,” Brax said, voice shaking with an emotion she couldn’t identify.
“That’s why I can’t be your mate.” Her voice broke and tears threatened, but Vita wouldn’t let them out. It had taken long years and a lot of reflection to find a way past what she’d been through, and she wouldn’t give that up now. “I promised myself I wouldn’t be owned again, that I’d die before wearing another collar. I can’t belong to anyone.”
“It’s not a collar,” Brax said. “But until you can see otherwise...” he trailed off as if he didn’t know how to end. “Thank you for sharing your story. If you’d missed any of the bastards who wronged you, I’d hunt them down myself.” He leaned towards her but seemed to think better of it and turned and left, leaving his half prepared sandwich behind him.
And for the first time in ages, Vita didn’t feel alone.
HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED to deal with everything that Vita told him? Brax wasn’t dumb enough to ask his denya that, but a small part of him was grateful that she was letting him have a little time to himself to process everything she’d said. Oh how those tables had turned. He’d spent the last several days trying to be as helpful and unassuming as possible, and now it was him that needed time.
Slavery. A childhood spent in slavery. How could parents do that to their kid? He understood it wasn’t always easy to keep mouths fed, but there were other ways.
He couldn’t say that to Vita. She’d had a decade or so of freedom to sort her thoughts out, and however she’d dealt with that first betrayal, there was no need to bring it up again. In her mind, Roski had clearly taken the place of the parents who’d sold her, and because she had a decade of trauma she didn’t know how parents were supposed to act. She trusted Roski because he’d been the least bad in a line of terrible.
But should he actually be trusted?
Nothing that Brax had seen so far told him they should, but until he had proof, he was going to follow his denya’s lead. He wasn’t going to use the truth she’d trusted him with to push her to the sidelines and call her unreliable. She was a survivor, and she did have a nearly decade long relationship with Roski outside the context of her rescue from slavery. Even if she was clouded by gratitude, she knew more about the situation than he did.
So Brax would observe. And if the time ever came that he had to make Vita see the truth, only then would he say something: when there was something to say.
When he was sure he wasn’t about to break down or demand she give him a list of names so he could go avenge her, he headed for the cockpit where he’d heard Vita move to. His stomach rumbled, reminding him that he’d abandoned his lunch, so he detoured through the galley and grabbed a protein bar. They tasted like wood chips, but he didn’t want to spend time making a meal.
He climbed up into the cockpit and Vita watched him with cautious eyes, just waiting for him to offer pity. And Brax ignored that. He understood why his mate was skittish now; she didn’t want to feel like he had any claim of ownership over her. He couldn’t blame her. If he’d lived her life, he would have probably felt the same. So he was going to make it clear that the denya b
ond was a partnership.
“So what’s our next step with hunting this Ygreen guy down?” He settled into his chair and leaned back. It was surprisingly comfortable, or maybe not so surprising given the amount of time people spent in the cockpit.
Vita studied him for several long seconds before blindly reaching behind her and hitting her now functioning view screen. Information lit up on the navigator’s station and Brax read up. She’d found a lot.
“We’re headed for a small planet in this sector where he found his last creditor. He’s somehow managed to keep off the radar for the last several months, and I’m beginning to think it was no mere glitch that made your name come up. He’s got a tech assist somewhere. But we can’t follow a trail that doesn’t exist. So hopefully we can find someone willing to talk to us, either the lender or the bounty hunters who nabbed him two years ago. Read up. We’ll be landing in three hours.” She turned back to the controls, and for the first time Brax noticed a planet in the distance.
Exactly three hours later, they were docked on a small planet whose name he didn’t know. The touchdown was icy, and they were directed to land in a hangar with a retracting roof and then further instructed not to exit the vehicle until directed.
“Terraforming hasn’t quite taken,” Vita told him while they waited. “Air is breathable, but they haven’t been able to bring the temperature up to something livable. All the buildings are connected, mostly through underground tunnels. It will still be cold, though, so make sure you have a jacket. And this place is tiny. Less than five thousand inhabitants spread out over fifty square kilometers. A good amount of space traffic. They’ve got plenty of fuel and food, and this is a nice stopover before hitting the empire and their taxes.”
Brax took in the geography lesson while shivering. “Do you have a coat that will fit me?” He’d grabbed a few outfits at Cayster Market and had made do with what Vita had on the ship, but he hadn’t thought to grab more than a thick sweater.
Vita swore. “I think Ad—” she cleared her throat. “There might be something in my quarters.”
Something Addex had left? He’d been on the ship? The spike of jealousy wasn’t as bad as Brax feared and he let it roll away. He was here now, she didn’t want Addex, and he couldn’t change the past. “I’ll go check,” he said, unbuckling his safety harness and heading for her quarters. As promised, there was a thick jacket that barely fit him folded at the bottom of one of her drawers. It pulled a bit tightly across Brax’s back, but it would do for now.
And once he had his jacket, he and Vita were allowed to disembark. She hadn’t been lying about the cold. He could see his breath and his shivers grew worse. He’d grown up on a warm planet, and Honora Station ran hot. He hadn’t been looking forward to Earth’s winter, and if this was a preview he’d suggest that he and Vita wait to visit until summer came back.
“How long do you think we’ll be here?” he tried to ask, but his chittering teeth made it difficult.
Vita threw a grin over her shoulder, seemingly unaffected by the cold. “I kind of want to torture you right now and say a week. But we should only be here a few hours. And I’ll crank up the heat on the ship when we’re done. I promise.” She reached out and squeezed his arm and didn’t seem to realize she’d done it. Brax wasn’t about to react. It was the first time she’d touched him since their steamy encounter in the shower, and he was going to see it as a good sign. But they were on the mission now, and he couldn’t get distracted. Even if he wanted to jump for joy.
It was marginally warmer inside, and the walls were all covered in a thick, soft material that seemed designed to trap heat. Vita seemed to know where she was going, so Brax kept his eyes opened for threats, even as he was aware that his denya was the one much more likely to be able to identify and fight off any trouble.
They weaved their way through several hallways and Vita came to a stop at a closed door. She waved her hand in front of the sensor, but it didn’t open. And when she tried to manually open it, it was locked. She tried the communications pad beside the door, but it remained dark, no matter how many times she pushed it.
“That office has been empty for a month.” Brax whipped around and saw a young woman who barely came up to his shoulder pushing a laden cart. So much for him looking out for threats, though he was pretty sure she wasn’t going to use the stacks of files against them.
“Cheriot is gone?” Vita asked.
The young woman shrugged. “Guess so. Office is listed as for rent in the directory.” She headed on further down the hall, not giving Vita a chance to ask more questions.
“Cheriot was the lender?” Brax confirmed.
His denya nodded. She pulled out her communicator and tilted her head back with a smile when she read the screen. “That’s one lucky break.”
“What?”
“The last team to hunt Ygreen just responded. Come on. They’ll be here soon.”
Chapter Eleven
VITA KNEW XANDR KASKO by reputation only. Their careers had started at about the same time, but he’d come from the Oscavian Empire with a ship and a crew while she’d clawed her way from slave to one-woman hunting machine. There’d been rumors about him tangling with an Oscavian duke, but she didn’t follow most of it, too busy doing her own jobs. But he’d been willing to talk to her when she asked him about Ygreen, and it was just her luck that his ship was on a supply run and he was willing to meet in person. She hated talking over screens and avoided it as best she could. It was so much easier to read someone in person.
She rented a small meeting room for the rest of the day and relayed the information to her contact. They could have met at one of the few restaurants on the planet, but she wanted privacy. There was no telling what systems Ygreen was hooked into, or if any of Roski’s people were around. Privacy was paramount.
A few hours after she saw their message, a huge Oscavian man, an Oscavian woman, and a human woman walked into the room. The rest of his crew must have been around somewhere, but there was no need for everyone to meet.
“Thanks for coming,” Vita said. “Vita Minnick, that’s my partner Brax.” And didn’t that label just roll off the tongue? Telling him the truth of her past was supposed to keep the distance between them, and here she was making minor claims in front of strangers.
“Xandr,” said the Oscavian man. “That’s Andie,” he nodded to the human with a lover’s smile, and it shifted to something friendlier when he looked at the other woman. “And Keana. You’re hunting Coyl Ygreen.”
“We are,” Vita confirmed. “He owes debts to my boss, and he’s a slippery bastard. Sent me off on more than one wrong path.”
Xandr settled into a chair beside the human. “Sounds about right. I’m pretty sure he ended up paying off his debts to our employer by offering his technical skills. The man could make a fortune if he didn’t piss it all away gambling.”
Vita had to agree, but she didn’t like thinking nice thoughts about the people she hunted. It only confused things. “We’re looking for any information that might help us find him. Leads have dried up and the creditor who had an office here is gone.”
“We’ve shifted our focus,” Keana said, sharing an unreadable look with her captain. “And we’re hunting bigger prey than single men with debts. I’m not sure how much we can help.”
“Any info you have. Even if you think I might have it. You know how this goes. One tiny clue can unravel it all.” Of course, bounty hunting was usually more about speed than wits. Someone sold someone out, and a hunter got on her ship and sped towards the mark as fast as she could. One shot of a blaster and bam, it was done.
“A few of our AI models had him hovering around Tendrit for a bit. It’s a resort planet on the rim of the Oscavian Empire,” said Xandr. “We caught him well outside of imperial territory, so if he was hanging there, he might not have realized that we knew about it. I’ll relay the files we have.”
“Thank you.” Vita had never heard of Tendrit before, but that d
idn’t mean anything. It was a clue, and a chance to get herself in Roski’s good graces. “Can I offer your crew dinner? I’m afraid there’s not much more cash for payment for information until I’ve collected the bounty.” If Roski paid her. And he would. He had to.
“No need for payment,” Xandr assured them. “But company would be appreciated.” Other captains might have leered at her and made that a prurient offer, but Xandr slid his arm around the human, Andie, and they all headed for the least terrible restaurant that the planet had to offer.
There they met the rest of Xandr’s crew and Brax’s eyes practically popped out of his head when he found out Xandr flew with a Detyen. The two of them sat together and the rest of the group might as well have not existed.
Wine flowed freely and everyone was happy as they ate. Even Brax seemed to forget about how cold he’d been, and by the time they were ready to depart, Vita was pretty sure Xandr and his crew were well on their way to being real friends.
She wrapped an arm around Brax as they made their way back to her ship. She wasn’t drunk; she’d stopped drinking an hour before and was merely a bit tipsy. But it felt nice to be pressed against Brax and she could remember how good it felt to have his face between her legs.
She wanted that again, and she was just loose enough to ask for it. She placed her palm on Brax’s cheek until he turned his head, and then she kissed him, wet and a little sloppy, but making her intentions clear. Their breath fogged around them in the cold air and they needed to get back inside. “I’m not saying yes to the mate thing,” she said when she pulled away. She had to be clear about this. “I meant it when I said no owning.”
Brax’s eyes flashed blue. “No owning,” he said. “I would never try and claim you without your consent.”
Claim. Oh. That should not have sent a thrill of excitement through her. No. Bad body.