Savage

by Tana Stone

  “So, what do we do?” she asked her crew mate.

  “I don’t know.” Tori pulled the sharp sticks out of her hair and let it cascade down. She dragged her hands through it. “Can you imagine spending the rest of your life on a sand planet with zero technology? Can you imagine never piloting a ship again?”

  Caro gulped. She’d never thought of it that way. She loved being a pilot, and she was really good at it. She couldn’t imagine never feeling that rush of takeoff again, or never doing another barrel roll. “No. That would be awful.”

  Tori nodded, her own expression grim. “Spaceships feel like home to me. It’s hard to envision a future for myself where I’m not on one.” She wrinkled her nose. “And you know how I feel about sand.”

  Caro swigged the last of her gin, even as her gut twisted. “Maybe we can convince them to come with us.”

  “Maybe.” Tori didn’t sound convinced. Caro understood. The Dothvek warriors were as attached to their planet as the women were to living in space. They lived in tents and carried knives. It was hard to picture the barbarians living in the sanitized world of computers and blasters. “If Rukken insisted on staying on the planet, what would you do?”

  Caro’s heart hammered in her chest. Even thinking about it made her feel ill. She looked at Tori, her stomach clenching. After all they’d been through together, it was unthinkable that she’d pick someone she barely knew over her. “The crew is my family.”

  Tori nodded, as if Caro was saying what she couldn’t. “We can’t give up our lives, no matter how hot these guys are.”

  Caro gazed down into her glass at the remaining drops of pink liquid. “We were never going to stay on this planet forever. They knew that.”

  “We can always come back.” Tori’s voice cracked. “To visit.”

  Caro knew that if they left, they’d probably never return. It would be too hard. But leaving Rukken would be almost impossible. She bit down on her bottom lip until she tasted blood. As crazy as she felt thinking it, she didn’t think she could do it. She couldn’t leave him.

  Twenty-Nine

  Rukken held his breath as he stood outside the room listening to the two females talk. He hadn’t meant to listen in on their conversation, but there had been no moment where he’d felt comfortable interrupting them.

  He’d woken when he’d rolled over in bed and found Caro missing. After panicking, he’d jumped out of bed and set out to find her, moving quietly through the maze of corridors until he finally heard female voices. His relief at hearing her familiar voice and knowing she had not run off without him quickly turned to pride as he’d heard her defend him to her friend. But when they’d started talking about leaving his planet for good, his blood had run cold.

  He should have known. Caro had talked about little else but finding a way off the planet since he’d taken her. And now her friend had acquired a ship and they could leave. Even though she claimed to care about him, she would leave. They all would.

  Rukken backed away from the open door, his bare feet silent as he moved quickly through the ship. He needed to leave. He couldn’t be there when they left. He didn’t want to hear it from Caro’s own lips—her explanations, her apologies. He couldn’t survive it.

  But he also knew he couldn’t make her stay with him. He’d taken her captive because he’d thought that once she understood their bond, she would stay. He’d been convinced that if they had enough time together she would feel too connected to him to even contemplate being away from him. Clearly, he’d been wrong.

  A realization slammed into him—since he now loved her, he didn’t want to force her to be with him. He wanted her to care about him enough to choose him. If she didn’t choose him, he had to let her go. The cruel twist of it made bile rise in his throat.

  After stumbling around for a while, he found the center of the ship and touched the panel to the side of the ramp like he’d seen Vrax do once they’d come on board. He knew this would probably alert someone that he was leaving, but he didn’t care. He needed to get away from the cold artificialness of the ship, and return to the sands.

  The ramp made a low hum as it slowly descended, and his beating heart raced. His desire to leave made him want to run along the lowering ramp and leap off the end, even though it was far from the ground.

  “You leaving?”

  He jerked his head around, his hand going instinctively to his blade. When he saw that it was only the boy, Rynn, he let out a breath. “Yes, I am leaving.”

  “Won’t Tori’s friend be mad at you?”

  Rukken’s gut clenched. “She will be fine.”

  Rynn shrugged. “I don’t know. Girls don’t like it when you run off.”

  Rukken tilted his head at the young boy. He could not have been more than ten solar rotations. “How do you know so much about females?”

  “I grew up on Kurril,” he said, as if that explained a lot. When Rukken didn’t seem suitably impressed, he added, “I was a runner for the pleasure houses. I got to know the pleasurers, and I know what they liked and didn’t like.”

  “Pleasurers?”

  Rynn’s soft cheeks reddened slightly. “You know. Girls who do things for credits.”

  Rukken did not know what a credit was, but he could tell what the boy meant by his shifting feet and flushing skin. “Caro is not like one of those pleasurers.”

  Rynn shrugged again. “Girls are all the same. They like men who treat them nice and don’t run off.”

  The ramp touched down on the sand, and a soft cloud puffed up around it. In the distance, light was beginning to warm the tops of the dunes, although the air still held the night’s chill.

  “I am not running off.” Rukken gazed longingly at the surface of his planet. “I am letting her go. It is what she wants.”

  Rynn swiped at the sandy-colored hair flopping down in his eyes. “You sure?”

  Rukken growled. This boy was confusing him. Hadn’t he heard Caro say she was leaving and that she couldn’t imagine staying with him on his planet? “I am sure. I am choosing for her. This will be easier.”

  He strode down the ramp, glancing back at the boy when he reached the bottom. Rynn stood at the top of the ramp, looking every bit the child, and waving as the ramp lifted again. When it slammed shut, the metallic sound echoing across the sands, Rukken fisted his hands and turned toward the rising suns.

  He inhaled, savoring the fresh air. Maybe Caro was right. He did not belong on her steel beast of a ship, and she did not belong on his planet. He started to run, his wide feet moving easily up the dunes. It felt good to be running, his arms pumping at his sides. He could sprint now that he had no one to slow down for. Rukken ran as fast as he could, sand spraying out behind his feet, as the pair of glowing suns slid higher in the sky—one a fiery orange and the other a nearly blinding white.

  His breathing was heavy, and his legs burned, but he welcomed the pain. It distracted him from the ache in his heart. He could not let himself think about Caro leaving. He could not even glance back for fear he’d see the dark-hulled ship lifting into the air. Even still, he knew she hadn’t left. He did not want to, but he still sensed the faint pulse of her. Rukken wondered how long he would feel her. Would he sense her when she was flying away from him, or would he feel empty and cold, like he did before he found her?

  With a rough grunt, he powered up another peaked dune, not pausing at the top before sliding down the long slope of sand. When he reached the bottom, he stumbled and fell back.

  He’d almost run headlong into the long, knobby legs of a jebel. Peering up, the suns blinding him, he tried to see the rider as his heart hammered in his chest.

  Feet landed beside him as the jebel’s rider dismounted. Then more feet were hitting the sand and surrounding him.

  “Is this him?” A female’s voice asked.

  A large figure loomed over him, blocking the suns. “It is the exiled Dothvek.”

  Rukken recognized K’alvek, as the warrior stood with his hands p
lanted firmly on his hips. He held his own hands up as he stood slowly, his gaze shifting to the group of Dothveks and females circling him.

  “Then where is she?” a female with pale hair asked, looking up at K’alvek and leaning close to him. “If he took her, where’s Caro?”

  K’alvek crossed his arms and rocked back on his heels. “Well, Rukken? Where is she?”

  Rukken saw curiosity in the Dothvek’s expression. He glanced around at the other faces. Concern, anger, fear, but no one in this hunting party wanted to hurt him. This was not the malice he’d sensed before. These were not the warriors he and Caro had been running from. His stomach hardened into a cold ball.

  “I do not have her.” He locked his gaze on K’alvek and hoped the warrior would be as fair as his father. “But I think she may be in danger.”

  Thirty

  Caro yawned as she walked back through the ship to her quarters. The Lurling gin had made her more sleepy than anything, and she was dying to curl up in bed. If she was being honest, she really wanted to curl up next to Rukken. The thought of the big barbarian made her heart flutter, and she walked faster.

  Despite what she’d told Tori, she knew she couldn’t leave him. Whatever was between them was something she’d never experienced before, and she couldn’t give it up so easily. She hadn’t quite worked out the solution yet, but she knew they could figure out an answer.

  Even though the corridors of the large ship were like a labyrinth, she soon found the arched, metal door and pushed it open quietly. When the light from the outside spilled across the metal floor and the corner of the bed, her heart caught in her throat. His bare feet no longer hung off the edge of the platform bed.

  Caro opened the door all the way, groping for the light panel on the wall. When she found it and slid her finger up to illuminate the room fully, her stomach sank. Rukken wasn’t there.

  She shook her head, even as she turned and peered down the hallway. Where had he gone? Had he woken up, found her missing, and decided to look for her?

  She knew he wasn’t comfortable on board the ship. It was too artificial and cramped to him. He wasn’t used to ceilings and steel, and he definitely didn’t know anything about how spaceships were laid out.

  Caro sighed. He could be anywhere. She only hoped he wasn’t lost and panicking. Scraping a hand through her hair, she started searching for him—first down one corridor, then another. When she poked her head onto the bridge, she saw Tori flopped across the captain’s chair, with her legs crossed and dangling over one of the armrests.

  Tori sat up when she saw her. “I thought you were headed back to bed.”

  “So did I,” Caro said. “Any chance you’ve seen Rukken?”

  Tori cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me he’s wandering around the ship.”

  “I think so. He must have woken up, seen that I was gone, and decided to search for me.”

  “Too bad this ship’s so huge.” Tori shook her head. “He could be anywhere.”

  Caro eyed the monitors. “I don’t suppose the ship can locate him for us.”

  Tori let out a snort of laughter. “This is a Zevrian mercenary ship. Heavy on the weapons and light on the cool tech. We’re lucky it has any sort of sensors. Most Zevrian captains strip down their ships so they’re warbirds with shields and little else.”

  “So, we search on foot.” Caro beckoned for Tori to join her. “Come on. Two are faster than one.”

  Tori fastened her hair on top of her head and let out an impatient breath. “We don’t think this big barbarian can survive on his own?”

  Caro shot her a look. “I don’t want him to get lost and freak out. This place is like a maze.”

  “Fine.” Tori swung her legs down, her chain belt jingling. “But don’t say I never did anything for you.”

  Caro rolled her eyes as she and Tori left the bridge together. “I’m assuming your guy is asleep.”

  Tori flinched at the term “her guy,” but nodded without answering. When they reached the center of the ship, they both stopped and stared at the boy sitting cross-legged on the floor.

  “Rynn,” Tori said. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be asleep.”

  The boy looked from one to the other. “I thought I’d stay here in case anyone else needed to leave. It’s not safe to leave the hatch open.”

  Caro’s stomach did another flip. “Anyone else?”

  Rynn jerked his head toward the hatch, which was closed tight, then he looked at Caro. “That Dothvek you were with left, and I shut the hatch after him.”

  Tori cursed under her breath. “He left?”

  Heat flooded Caro’s face, as the fear that had been niggling at the back of her mind became a reality. She leaned one palm against the nearest wall, grateful for the cool, hard metal.

  “When was this?” Tori asked, as Rynn stood.

  The boy shrugged. “Dunno. A while. You two were still drinking in the mess.”

  Caro cringed. Rukken had left her while she’d been telling Tori how she felt about him, while she’d been defending him and saying how great he was, despite the fact that he’d abducted her. She felt like an idiot.

  Swallowing hard, she straightened. “Did he say anything about why he was leaving?”

  Tori mumbled something about men leaving, but Caro ignored it.

  “I told him not to run off,” Rynn said. “I told him girls get mad if you run off.”

  “Smart boy,” Tori mumbled.

  Caro cut her eyes to Tori before focusing on Rynn again. “What did he say?”

  Rynn looked at his feet. “He said he wasn’t running off, he was letting you go, and that it was what you wanted.”

  Caro jabbed a finger at her own chest. “It was what I wanted?”

  Rynn twitched his shoulders again. “Something about him choosing for you and making it easier.”

  Caro sucked in a breath. Had he heard her talking to Tori? She spun around to her friend. “Do you think he heard us?”

  Tori bit her bottom lip. “It’s possible if he was wandering around the ship looking for you.”

  “Fuck!” Caro stamped her foot, and the steel floor trembled. “That was just me thinking out loud. I didn’t mean it. I never had any intention of leaving him.”

  “You didn’t?” Tori asked. “Because that’s not how it sounded when we were—“

  “I know, I know,” Caro cut her off. “I was confused. It’s all been a lot to process.”

  “You can say that again,” Tori said. “The guy did kidnap you and hold you against your will.”

  Caro narrowed her eyes at the Zevrian, who help up her hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. I’m just saying no one would blame you for being confused about what you want.”

  Caro massaged a hand over her forehead. “But I’m not confused. Not anymore. Whatever happens, I want to be with Rukken.”

  “I told him he shouldn’t leave,” Rynn repeated.

  Caro took a deep, steadying breath. “He can’t have gone far. I’ll just go find him.”

  “What’s going on?”

  They turned to see Vrax coming toward them, rubbing his eyes, his long hair mussed.

  “You were asleep.” Tori’s voice softened.

  “That was before the shouting and banging. What’s going on?”

  “I’m sorry,” Caro said. “I was the one shouting and stomping. I just discovered that Rukken left.”

  That seemed to wake Vrax. He squared his shoulders and frowned. “Why did he leave?”

  Tori glanced at her. “It’s a long story, and it doesn’t really matter why he left. He’s gone.”

  “And I’m going after him,” Caro added.

  Vrax folded his arms over his chest. “Not alone, you aren’t.”

  “Vrax is right.” Tori crossed her own arms and looked surprisingly like her Dothvek mate. “You can’t go alone. I’ll go with you.”

  Vrax choked on a laugh. “You are both mistaken if you think you are going without me.”<
br />
  Rynn bounced on the balls of his feet. “That means I’m in charge of the ship.”

  Tori and Vrax exchanged a look, then the Dothvek shrugged. “What choice do we have?”

  Tori leveled a finger at the boy, whose eyes were wide with excitement. “Only if you agree not to let anyone in.”

  Rynn made a crisscross motion over his heart with one finger. “I promise.”

  Vrax strode to the panel by the hatch, pressing it and watching the ramp lower. “We should go before he can get too far away.”

  Caro mouthed ‘thank you’ to Tori, and the Zevrian gave her a curt nod. “I’m not promising not to kick his ass for leaving you.”

  “Get in line,” Caro said.

  Tori grinned at her. “You’ve become a little sassier since you were abducted. I like it.”

  The ramp touched down on the sands, and Vrax took long steps until he’d reached the ground. Caro and Tori followed, both raising a hand to shield their eyes as the suns rose over the dunes.

  “That is far enough,” a voice said from behind them.

  They all spun around as a group of Dothveks appeared with blades drawn. Caro’s heart soared as she looked for her friends among the warriors, then sank when she saw the clan’s leader step forward.

  Zatvar smiled maliciously. “This is even better than finding the traitor.”

  Thirty-One

  Rukken scanned the faces around him, aware that they did not believe him. They surrounded him—Dothveks with fierce expressions and bright sunlight glinting off their blades, and females with even more intense expressions on their faces, if that was possible.

  This was the crew his mate talked about returning to. These were the friends she could not leave. She’d been right. They had come for her, and they looked like they were ready to kill him over her. Strangely, he was happy for Caro. Happy that her friends cared for her as much as she cared for them.

  “Why do you think our friend is in danger?” A female with unusually colored hair asked, after she’d stomped over to plant herself in front of him. “She got away from you, didn’t she?”