by Layla Nash
He couldn’t find her in the corridor as he shoved his way out of the brig. The Tyboli leader with red stripes on his uniform fired a stunner at the Earther male, hitting him full in the chest. The skinny kid made a strangled sound as he collapsed against the wall, a confused look on his face, but Wyzak didn’t dare stop to check on him. He needed to find Gemma. Wyzak already heard the sounds of a boarding crew preparing to take over the ship.
Red Stripes aimed at him and the stunner clipped Wyzak’s shoulder as he dragged his injured leg along the corridor. He fired back and moved faster. Gemma had to be there somewhere. She must have gone to investigate the noise, like any good spacefarer, which just put her in more danger. Wyzak called down the corridor to warn his comrades away from hurting her, but didn’t know if anyone heard.
More Tyboli crowded the corridor behind him, apparently afraid they wouldn’t be able to reach their own ship, and smoke and stunner fire filled the narrow space. Wyzak gritted his teeth and pushed forward, grateful that the ship wasn’t so large he’d be out of breath as he reached the chaos of the loading bay. Gemma fired a high-tech rifle and looked the worse for wear as she held Faros off from boarding the ship.
The rest of the Sraibur crew backed up in the boarding arm behind him, and it was just a matter of time before Faros killed Gemma in order to gain access to the ship. Wyzak growled in irritation at the thought and staggered closer as the Tyboli flooded into the loading bay and made the small space even more crowded. The Tyboli shouted warnings at the Xaravians and both crews turned on each other across the interior of the ship.
Wyzak didn’t wait for anyone else to offer a solution. He grabbed Gemma from behind, wrapping his arms around her and trapping her hands in his, and hauled her up against his chest until her feet dangled off the floor. She froze in surprise, then screamed and lashed out, throwing her head back hard enough to break his nose.
Faros leapt forward into the loading bay, past Wyzak, and immediately took on the Tyboli who fired weapons and scrambled to reach their own ship. The pirate captain called through the noise, “Everything all right, Wyzak?”
He wrestled with the furious Earther and spit out a bunch of her hair that somehow ended up in his mouth. “Good enough. Five Tyboli onboard. Two Earthers.”
Gemma thrashed and struggled, almost succeeding in worming her way free, and Wyzak braced himself for a hell of a fight. He had to keep her safe from the Tyboli as well as his crew, at least until he had a chance to talk to them about her role in his kidnapping. And to decide how he wanted to handle his vengeance.
The Xaravians filled the loading bay and confronted the Tyboli, who still fought to reach their ship.
Wyzak needed to get her out of the way and safe from all the stunner fire and random fighting. He backed away from the loading bay, heading toward the brig and the inside of the ship. Gemma shrieked and her metal elbow collided with his ribs hard enough to crack his scales. He grunted and his grip loosened, and she bolted.
He cursed, lunging after her fast enough to catch the back of her shirt, but staggered as a Tyboli fell into him and sent him reeling.
Gemma disappeared into the dim interior of the ship. He pushed upright and focused on getting to her before any of the others. Alarms blared, warning of increasing damage to the struggling ship, and made his hearts tick faster. He had to find her and get her onto the Sraibur.
Chapter 13
Gemma
Her chest ached from the arms that banded around her like steel restraints, but Gemma wasn’t going to let that stop her from saving the Memphis. She had no idea where Milo was, but he hadn’t ended up in the loading bay with the rest of them, so he had to be elsewhere in the ship. Maybe he’d already made it to the bridge and was prepared to fly the Memphis to safety. He at least needed to know that the Xaravians had found them and were about to murder them both. And that they’d torn a hole in the side of the ship and Gemma needed to quarantine the loading bay before it killed them all.
She choked on fear as she staggered toward the bridge. They never should have dealt with the Tyboli; she should have expected the double-cross and figured out a better way to make the trade. The lights flickered as demands from the two transfer arms overloaded the power system, and she knew the Memphis wouldn’t be able to handle the tension much longer. The propulsion system would overload and then they’d be adrift in ungoverned space, an easy target for whoever happened across them.
If they survived the Tyboli and Xaravians.
Breath sobbed in her throat as she struggled to stay upright. Every part of her hurt. Her ribs felt cracked, a stabbing pain nearly blinded her, and her leg was numb to the point of uselessness. But she’d fought through worse. She’d survived worse. It paled in comparison to the pain when she lost her arm. And she wasn’t going to just sit back and wait for the Tyboli or the Xaravians to make her life hell before they ended it.
Gemma shuddered at the memory of the cold slide of Tyboli fingers across her side. It was almost over. She just had to survive a little longer, get to the bridge, and fly the Memphis away from all the trouble that...
She staggered to a halt outside the brig and stared at a figure crumpled on the floor, slumped against the wall. Her heart jumped to her throat. Milo?
Gemma went to her knees beside him, shaking his shoulder to wake him up. He was only stunned. He had to be okay, still alive, still breathing. Just stunned. Her vision blurred as Milo’s head rolled back to rest against the wall. “Milo. Please.”
Her voice sounded small and scared, far too vulnerable. She choked on grief and shook him harder. “Wake up. Wake up.”
Metal groaned far away and someone shouted about the transfer arm collapsing under the strain of having two ships docked to the Memphis. She didn’t care. What the hell was she going to do without Milo? Gemma squeezed his hand and searched for any sign of a pulse. Maybe if she got him to the sick bay, there was a chance the reju pods could...
Strong hands caught her arms and hauled her upright. “You can’t stay here.”
She lashed out, not wanting to leave Milo alone. “Let me go.”
“It’s dangerous,” Wyzak growled. He dragged her away, shouting at someone else loudly enough that she winced, but Gemma fought with all her strength.
“I’m not leaving him,” she said. Her metal arm collided with the Xaravian’s head and he grunted, but his grip didn’t loosen.
More alarms blared through the Memphis and her throat closed. The whole ship was coming apart as the transfer arms ruined the structural integrity. The Tyboli and the Xaravians would destroy her ship. They’d already killed Milo.
She had nothing left.
Wyzak’s arm tightened around her waist as he hauled her back against his chest and carried her away from Milo. She screamed and clawed at the air. “I can’t leave him.”
The Xaravian snarled and then snapped over his shoulder, and a younger Xaravian dodged past them to retrieve Milo’s limp body. Gemma’s fury ebbed as she dangled in Wyzak’s arms and watched the other Xaravian throw Milo’s body over his shoulder and head for the loading bay on Wyzak’s heels. She couldn’t take her eyes off Milo’s face, already gray and waxy. He was gone. Dead. They’d killed him.
Her vision blurred and she went limp. Her last friend in the universe... gone.
Chapter 14
Wyzak
Wyzak tried to be grateful for small gifts when Gemma stopped fighting and let herself be carried out of the damaged ship. He carried her to the loading bay where the rest of the Sraibur’s crew finished off the Tyboli, destroyed their transport arm, and prepared to abandon the bounty hunter’s cutter. If there wasn’t too much damage to the small ship, maybe they’d sell it for scrap or repurpose it as a sister ship for the Sraibur.
But he didn’t want Gemma on the rinky-dink tub of scrap.
He scowled at one of his crewmates who raised an eyebrow that Wyzak carried the girl, and didn’t bother to acknowledge the question before he strode into the boarding a
rm the Sraibur attached to the smaller ship. Nokx followed him with the body of her dead partner. Wyzak tried to tell him it was because he wanted Gemma to stop struggling so damn much, and bringing the other Earther along seemed like the best way to ensure her cooperation, but the other pirate didn’t even blink. He just wanted to get off the dying cutter.
In truth, though, he recognized something in her voice that tugged at his cold, dead hearts—grief. She’d loved the other Earther, and his death hurt her. Wyzak hated it, but he was afraid of the possibility that dragging her away before she could properly say goodbye would hurt her more.
He paused as soon as he reached the loading bay on the Sraibur, suddenly at a loss for what to do with the fierce Earther in his arms, but didn’t look over as Faros said, “Well, things seem to have taken a turn.”
Nokx appeared from the boarding arm and put the body on the deck, out of the way. “We don’t have much time before we need to clear away from the other ship. The tension is tearing it apart.”
A hiccupping sob escaped from Gemma, and Wyzak tightened his arms around her, wanting to comfort her. Even though she’d planned to sell him to the Tyboli, he could empathize with the pain of losing a good ship. His vengeance could wait.
Faros looked at his second-in-command, then at the Earther female, and the captain’s expression hardened. “So this is the bounty hunter.”
She went rigid and tried to elbow away from Wyzak. “Get the fuck off me.”
Under the scrutiny of his crew, Wyzak couldn’t coddle her. She’d drugged him, after all, and kidnapped him. They wouldn’t understand why he wanted to tuck her away somewhere safe and feed her. Hell, he didn’t know why he wanted protect her. So he gripped her shoulders tightly enough that she squeaked. “This is one of them. The other one...” And he nodded at the limp form across the bay.
The rest of the crew finished transferring what few items of value had been on the cutter and began disengaging the arm in favor of a flexible tether so they could drag the powerless ship in their wake. There wasn’t much to save, not after the Tyboli fled. Wyzak barely held onto Gemma as she fought wildly, though he couldn’t tell if she wanted to reach her dead partner or her dying ship.
Not that it really mattered. She wasn’t going to escape him.
Faros’s eyes glinted with irritation. “Don’t suppose there’s a bounty on the bounty hunters. Surely we can return the favor and sell her on to someone else she’s wronged.”
Wyzak stiffened and swallowed a growl, but he couldn’t hide the flare of red-gold that heralded his anger. He hoped Faros and the others would interpret it as anger at the bounty hunter, instead of fury that the captain considered turning her over to anyone.
Faros glanced at Harzt, the security officer, and jerked his chin at where Wyzak still restrained Gemma. “Chain her up. Put her in secure quarters. We’ll deal with her shortly.”
Harzt eyed Wyzak for a long moment before he slapped a set of laser shackles on the girl, then threw her over his shoulder to lumber down the corridor to the set of quarters they tended to use as a brig. Although the only person who’d been imprisoned in it recently had been Faros’s mate, Violet, when the captain kidnapped her from a rebel base.
Wyzak clenched his jaw until his teeth cracked, fighting the urge to tell the other warrior to stop touching the girl, and folded his arms over his chest as Faros and the rest of the crew approached to check him over. The captain’s gruff voice hid a hint of real concern. “You are uninjured, brother?”
“I’m fine,” Wyzak said. He brushed at a few of the singe marks and dents in his scales from the stunner fire, and ignored the pain in his arms from Gemma’s snapping and clawing. “The girl put something in my drink at the spaceport.”
A grin spread across the captain’s face, and Wyzak held up his hand to cut him off. “Not a word.”
“Oh, you’re never going to live this down,” Faros said, cheerfully slapping Wyzak’s shoulder. “Now let’s get the fuck away from here before more Tyboli land on us. You must be hungry. And you’ll need copious amounts of liquor to wash away the shame of letting an Earther female trick you into...”
“What’s the problem with Earther females?” a cool voice asked, and Faros jumped like a guilty kid.
Wyzak swallowed a grin as the captain’s mate appeared in the corridor, half of her attention directed at where Harzt still wrestled the squalling bounty hunter toward the secure quarters.
Faros pasted a smile on his face and tried to kiss his mate, as if she hadn’t caught him talking about her species and gender in an unfavorable light. “They’re full of surprises, as you know.”
Violet eyed the captain, clearly aware he lied, and finally smiled at Wyzak. “I’m glad we got you back. You had us worried for a while.”
“It’s good to be back,” Wyzak said. He rubbed his shoulder and nodded at the interior of the ship. “Did you have any trouble finding me?”
“Not much.” Violet shot her mate a dark look and led the way back through the ship toward the dining room they shared most of the time. Wyzak was grateful to just follow and not think, though he listened for the sound of Gemma making trouble as another security officer jogged to help Harzt.
He still strained to listen as Violet directed him into the small dining room, though he had to take a seat and put his feet up once Faros followed him into the room. The Earther female in front of him fiddled with an ordering panel attached to the food generator. “It was just a matter of time. But it’s good to know the Tyboli are hiring bounty hunters to get after us instead of coming themselves, I suppose.”
Faros scowled and flopped into one of the empty chairs, though he caught his mate around the waist and hauled her into his lap. “Why is that? I’d rather fight the Tyboli head-on than deal with a hundred sand flea bounty hunters.”
“Yes, but we can avoid the bounty hunters,” Violet said. She frowned at the captain but didn’t attempt to get her own chair. They all knew Faros wouldn’t give up until she sat with him. She’d given up on resisting some things, though from where Wyzak sat, she won every battle she chose to engage in.
Faros argued and grumbled at her, distracting her from getting the food, until Wyzak took over and ordered his own meal. He couldn’t wait to demolish half the stores in the galley. And then... then maybe he’d figure out what to feed Gemma.
“So a pretty girl distracted you, hmm?” Violet asked.
Wyzak pretended to be fully absorbed in the quest for a meal. “It’s been a while. A half-decent-looking girl would have distracted me.”
Faros snorted. “Well, you could have had your fun and then escaped, old man.”
“The tranquilizers made that a little difficult,” Wyzak muttered. He’d really never live it down. Faros would give him shit about being kidnapped for the rest of his life.
“But two little Earthers?” Faros sighed and shook his head in mock disappointment. “One girl and that skinny kid who crumpled under a single stunner blast? That’s all it took to keep you contained? I might need to look for a new second-in-command. Can’t get a reputation as a bunch of pushovers.”
Wyzak snorted and rubbed his side. “Good thing all the witnesses are dealt with. As far as the rest of the universe is concerned, it was half a dozen full-grown Lokin headhunters who took me down.”
Violet’s cool gaze appraised them both, and not for the first time, Wyzak found himself wondering what she actually thought. The lawyer was unreadable. Faros didn’t even try half the time, it seemed. The Earther picked at one of the plates that appeared on the table, her attention carefully on her fork and not the Xaravians in the room. “Then what are your plans for that witness who just went howling into the brig?”
“Most bounty hunters have their own bounties, if you know where to ask,” Faros said, waving his hand negligently. “Chances are the pair of them captured and turned over the wrong bounties, and there will be plenty of gangs and crews looking to get revenge. We’ll be rid of her soon enough.”
“No.” Wyzak didn’t dare meet Violet’s gaze, since he suspected the Earther would read his true concern in his eyes, and leaned back in his chair to pretend indifference. “I’d like to get my own vengeance first.”
Faros grinned and reached for the fermented meat and veggies they’d purchased from a Xaravian restaurant at the last spaceport. “Easy enough, brother. She’s all yours until you decide you’re done with her and want to dispose of her. The one is already dead. Why’d you bother to bring him back here? Now we have to jettison a corpse.”
“Wasn’t sure he was dead.” Wyzak could have told him the truth, but he wasn’t about to sign up for more mockery by admitting Gemma didn’t want to leave her partner behind.
Violet’s head tilted as she studied him, and Wyzak resisted the urge to squirm under her scrutiny. The lawyer was too observant. Far too observant. She absently picked at some of the meat, ignoring Faros when he rested his chin on her shoulder. “Does the girl know he’s dead?”
Wyzak shrugged but didn’t answer. He didn’t trust himself to lie to her. He could deceive the captain when necessary, but successfully misleading the lawyer took more skill than he possessed.
Faros yawned and rubbed his jaw. “Let’s find out. We can question her, get whatever useful information we can out of her, and then figure out who to sell her to. Not bad for a day’s work. Then we’re off to find a ship to seize.”
Wyzak reached for the bottle of liquor that the captain had produced. He’d need a hell of a lot of it to deal with Gemma. “Not yet. Let her stew.”
The captain chuckled and leaned back in his chair, relaxed and relieved after the adventure with the Tyboli. Violet kept watching Wyzak until he wanted to fidget. The lawyer suspected something. He knew it. Maybe he should have asked her what she saw, since Wyzak needed the help interpreting what the fuck was going on himself. There was no reason he should want to protect Gemma, not after the way she’d treated him. And yet...
