by Lili Zander
Cinnacar resisted synthesis. Naturally occurring deposits were found only on Nestri, but the LoreLords wouldn’t trade with the Zorahn Empire. Cinnacar was sacred to them, and the section of the planet with the richest deposits was also the site of their burial grounds. They refused to desecrate the resting place of their ancestors.
The Okaki didn’t approve of genetic engineering either. “What you are doing is an abomination,” the Elder LoreLord had said. “You are changing the fabric of reality without thinking through the consequences.”
He’d been right about that, almost prescient in his insight. A thousand years ago, could any of us have predicted a future in which the Draekon gene spread like fire through the population? Could we have predicted the yearly testing, the underground labs, and the prison planet?
Of course, the scientists hadn’t been interested in listening to reason. The Okaki wouldn’t trade? Then they would be conquered. One way or the other, we would have our cinnacar.
Now, a thousand years later, nobody except the LoreLords remembers why the Draekon Conqueror attacked them. The entire incident has been conveniently wiped from the ThoughtVaults.
But I remember. The memories drag me into the darkness, and I remember everything. The screams of the dying. The smell of ashes in my lungs. The fields, hazy with smoke, thick with the bodies of the dead. The sound of ritual voices raised in songs of mourning.
A soft hand touches my shoulder. Lani. I must have really been out of it; I didn’t even hear her approach. I turn to look at her, pasting a smile on my face. In the background, Mardex leans back in his chair, his eyes closed. Either he’s asleep or he’s pretending to be; I can’t quite tell from this distance. “What can I help you with, lovely Lani?”
She rolls her eyes. “Let me guess. The next thing out of your mouth is going to be an offer to sleep with me, or something similarly outrageous. I’m onto you, Ruhan. You bait me so I lose my train of thought and you don’t have to answer my questions. Do you even want to sleep with me?”
Have I said that I love smart women? I really do. “Very much so.” I glide a finger over the back of her hand, tracing the lines of her veins. A light touch this time, and she can pull away whenever she wants. I won’t make her afraid again. “Are you offering?”
She’s standing close to me. So close that I can breathe her in. There’s the faint astringent tang of her Okaki-supplied cleaner, but underneath, there’s a warmer, sweeter note that is all Lani. The scent of her fills my nostrils and banishes the cloud of gloom over my head. Nestri will be fine. If all goes as planned, we’ll land in Nestri Prime, find a commercial transport heading to Hokatir, and board it. We won’t have to spend more than a night on the Okaki homeworld.
She doesn’t answer my question, but she doesn’t pull her hand away either. Her breathing quickens fractionally. I hold her gaze in mine. Caeron, she’s beautiful. Her skin is soft, her hair tumbles down her back in wild abandon, and desire dances in the corners of her eyes.
The rathr, my dragon pointedly reminds me. Notice how it disappears when she touches you?
I banish the dragon. I don’t want deep thoughts now. I want to be distracted. I want a couple of exceedingly pleasant, exceedingly sweaty hours with this woman. She’s attracted to me. I’m attracted to her. Yes, it’s a small shuttle, and yes, Mardex is unfortunately right there, robbing us of our privacy, but I can be creative. We’ll figure it out. Lock the cook in the tiny refresher or something.
She blinks. “You’re doing it again,” she accuses, tugging her hand free. “Ruhan, for the love of God. Do you take anything seriously?”
“I try very hard not to.”
“Give me patience,” she mutters. She takes a deep breath. “Let’s try this again. Something’s been bothering you ever since you caught a glimpse of Nestri. Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?”
She doesn’t miss much. She fixes her gaze on me, her eyes very blue and very luminous, and I have the strangest feeling that she’s reading my emotions. Except humans can’t do that, can they?
Her obvious concern takes me by surprise. I’m not used to people worrying about me, and I don’t know how to react. “Your concern touches me, lovely Lani,” I tell her teasingly. “Have no fear. I will deliver you safely to the Rebellion.” I wink at her. “Unlike your friend, you won’t even have to travel via a cargo transport.”
For a moment, an expression of hurt washes over her face, and then she grits her teeth. “Will you cut it out for just one second? One straight answer. That’s all I’m asking for.”
Women have come and gone from my life, none leaving a dent in my heart, and that’s just the way I like it. I enjoy sex, and I like women. But in all my life, no one has ever been essential. I was not built for attachments; I have a greater affinity for technology than people.
Yet when hurt flickers in Lani’s eyes, something clenches inside me. “I’m sorry. I was being glib.” How do I phrase this? Neither Lani nor Mardex know I’m Draekon, and I’d like to keep it that way for as long as I can. I don’t know how Lani will react to the news, and I don’t trust Mardex yet. “I’ve been to Nestri before. My memories of that last trip aren’t pleasant.” I give her a faint smile. “With any luck, we’ll be in and out of there before it matters.”
She nods. “Thank you for telling me,” she says softly. “I haven’t really thanked you for getting me off the Konar, have I?” She wrinkles her nose. “Instead, I yelled at you. Sorry.”
She’s been through hell. I doubt she’s had a night of uninterrupted rest since she was taken by the Okaki pirates. Before that, she endured the scientists. And she’s apologizing to me. “You were worried about your friend. You’ve been through an incredible amount of trauma. Whatever your reaction is, it’s justified, Lani. You don’t owe me an apology. If you want to punch me, that would be acceptable. If you want to lie in the middle of the shuttle and scream until we arrive in Nestri, that’d be okay as well.” I shoot a teasing smile in her direction. “You might wake Mardex though.”
She smiles back. “You’re very nice for a bounty hunter. Not that I know any. But in the movies, they weren’t nice people.” She flushes. “Never mind me, I’m babbling.”
I gesture to the chair next to mine, and she takes the cue and sits down. “Strap in,” I instruct her.
We’re not far from Nestri. Any moment now, we should be in range of the planetary defenses. I’ve already changed our escape pod’s registration information and erased the more damning details. The Konar is a pirate ship, and its shuttles are unlikely to be welcome on Nestri, so I’ve wiped any reference to the Konar, Gervil, and the Annihilator. When the combat satellites orbiting the planet ping our pod, it’ll tell them that we’re from the Oxani, a trading ship.
She does as I ask. I lean back in my chair. “I’m not a bounty hunter. You just thought I was.”
She gives me a sidelong glance. “You’re a soldier of some kind, though, aren’t you?”
“Former soldier.” The Supreme Mother gave me my orders once upon a time, and I killed when she commanded, but no more. Those days are in the past. Nobody controls me now. Not even the Rebellion.
“Are you a mercenary?”
My lips twist wryly. “Let’s see, mercenaries get paid to fight other people’s wars.” The Rebellion didn’t offer a paycheck; they just threatened to kill me if I didn’t cooperate. Not that I’m bitter. They did what they had to do. “No, I can’t say I’m a mercenary either.”
She laughs. “Okay, keep your secrets. Altruistic stranger, it’ll have to be.”
She has a nice laugh. Musical. Warm. Sexy as hell. Lush mouth, soft, full lips. For a second, I lose myself in fantasies that involve Lani’s mouth on my body, her tongue snaking over my skin. My cock hardens.
Blue beeps a warning a second before the first missile launches at us.
I jerk the pod away from its path just in time. The bot plugs into the ship, and I let him take over. In a firefight, his reflexes are fractiona
lly faster than mine, especially on this escape pod, where the controls have been designed for the nine-tentacled Okaki.
Another missile streaks past. Kashrn. What is going on? We’re in an escape pod. No weapons. No shields. Why are Nestri’s planetary defenses attacking?
“Should they be shooting at us?”
Lani’s voice is nervous. I don’t blame her. “It’s not standard protocol.” I lace my fingers in hers. Her hand is cold. Once again, when I touch her, the rathr vanishes. My mind feels as clear as a sunny morning after a night of rain.
I turn on the comm. “Nestri Planetary Defenses, we are an unarmed escape pod from the merchant ship Oxani. We invoke the right to land and seek aid.”
In response, they fire another set of missiles.
One of the missiles makes contact. The pod shudders from the impact, and a section of paneling explodes, shrapnel flying everywhere. In the back, Mardex screams in agony.
We’ve been hit.
9
Lani
Mardex screams, the sound saturated with pain. I turn back to see blue blood everywhere. Even worse, there’s a large hole in the side of our shuttle, right where I’d been sitting before I’d gotten up to check on Ruhan, and Mardex’s harness is straining dangerously.
Any minute now, the Draekon is going to get sucked outside.
The cabin’s losing pressure rapidly. Breathing becomes difficult. Dark spots swim in front of my eyes. Ruhan looks over his shoulder. “Blue, go,” he snaps.
The spider disengages itself from the controls and skitters to the back. Its legs must have suction cups or something, because it’s not being sucked outside. It positions itself over the damaged hull and starts to secrete something at the massive hole.
Ruhan reaches across my body and yanks down on a lever. A clear screen drops between the cockpit and the damaged craft. I hear a hiss, and then oxygen—precious, beautiful, oxygen—floods our chamber. Thank heavens. “What about Mardex?” I gasp, taking big gulps of air.
“Blue will fix the hull breach in less than a minute.” His voice is calm and steady. “Lani, auto-pilot isn’t going to work. I need to switch to manual controls, but unfortunately, this is an Okaki escape pod. It’s been designed for nine tentacles. I need your help to land.” He gives me a warm, reassuring smile. “Can you do this for me, lovely Lani?”
He’s not panicking. He’s acting like he’s been in this situation hundreds of times. The way he makes it sound, this is just another day at the office. People shooting missiles at us? No biggie. Massive hole in the side of our spacecraft? Not to worry, the huge spider will fix it.
His calm is contagious. My breathing evens and the terror that gripped my heart recedes. “Of course,” I reply, answering his question. “Of course I’ll help—I don’t want to die in a fiery space explosion, thank you very much. But you’ve really got to stop calling me ‘lovely Lani.’”
He flashes me a grin. “Put your right hand on the trackpad,” he instructs.
I look down. There’s a black surface in front of me, about the size of a mousepad. I place my palm on it. “Very good,” Ruhan says approvingly.
We’re still under attack. As Ruhan walks me through what I need to do, he’s also dodging missiles, veering the ship sharply, first to the left, and then to the right. Everything in the shuttle rattles. Metal creaks. Something tears free with a screech, and we’re tossed into a spin.
Oh God, oh God, oh God. We’re going to die. I just know it.
Ruhan’s hands fly over the controls. After a few gut-wrenching seconds, he stabilizes the shuttle. “Now, tap down on the trackpad,” he says, as if we hadn’t almost fallen out of the sky.
I take a deep breath, wipe my sweaty palms on my thighs, and knock on the trackpad with my knuckles, as if I’m knocking at a door. A neon display appears in front of me.
“See the red dot?” Ruhan asks. “What you need to do is keep it inside the rectangle.”
I move my fingers a fraction, and the red dot slides left. Ah, okay. It’s just like the trackpad of my laptop. “I’ve got it.”
“You do indeed,” he says, approval coating his voice. “Can you do one more thing? See that lever to your left?”
I nod. “Those are our reserve fuel tanks,” he continues. “When I tell you, move it forward all the way.”
“Reserve fuel tanks?” I ask nervously. “That’s not good, is it?” The moment those words leave my mouth, I want to take them back. Stop bothering the guy, Lani. What’s the point in asking Ruhan if we’re going to die? He’s just as motivated as I am to stay alive, and, while I’m responsible for two controls, he’s got at least a dozen levers, joysticks, and trackpads that he’s monitoring.
“It isn’t great,” he agrees. “But we’ll manage, Lani. We make a good team.”
The spider beeps. Ruhan gives me another blinding smile, reaches over me again, and yanks back the same lever. The barrier between the cockpit and the rest of the cabin slides open. He looks over his shoulder, and I follow his gaze. The hole in our shuttle has been covered with a translucent netting—spider web, my brain interjects—and now that the shuttle is sealed, the cabin is re-pressuring. SpideyBot has switched its attention to the injured man. It’s clinging to Mardex’s chest, emitting a green light from its spidey-eyes.
Mardex’s face is white. Sweat beads on his forehead. “Blue, status,” Ruhan orders. The spider chitters something, and he frowns. “We need to land,” he says soberly. “There should be stasis units in the storage compartment, but I can’t look for them right now.”
Just then, the entire control panel lights up, and an alarm starts to blare. Ruhan takes a look and swears under his breath. “Never a dull moment,” he says wryly. “We’re out of fuel. Lani, could you switch to the reserve tanks, please?”
It takes me a second to remember his earlier instructions. I push the lever forward all the way. Ruhan nods in approval. “If only I knew if they’ve engaged the pulse shield,” he murmurs.
“Pulse shield?” I probably shouldn’t be asking questions right now.
“An electromagnetic pulse,” he explains. “It’ll short out all our tech.”
My skin goes cold. “That’s not good. That’ll take down every ship trying to enter the planet, won’t it? Is that common?”
He gives me a sidelong look, and I sense more approval in his gaze. “It’s exceedingly rare,” he replies. “And strictly forbidden. Then again, so is shooting at an unarmed escape pod.” His brow furrows. “Something weird is going on in Nestri.”
“What do we do?” We’re on reserve fuel tanks. We can’t stay in space—we’ll run out of gas. Blue fixed the side of the hull, but the translucent membrane is a temporary patch. Mardex looks like he’s dying.
But if we guess wrong and the pulse shield shorts out our electronics, we’ll fall out of the sky and splat. Talk about two shitty choices. Heads you win, tails I lose.
The comm crackles. A voice speaks in Oka. It’s garbled, but I can just about understand the words. “This is your last warning,” the person on the other end says. “Turn away from Nestri, or you will be obliterated.”
Ruhan laughs out loud. “And that’s our cue,” he says cheerfully. “The pulse shield isn’t active.”
His green eyes dance with anticipation. God, he’s so gorgeous. That smile, that sexy, sexy laugh… It should be illegal to be this hot. This irresistible. I have to bite the side of my mouth to keep myself from beaming back at him like an idiot. “How do you know?” If he’s wrong, we’ll die.
“They’ve already shot at us without warning. They don’t care if we’re alive or dead. It’s a bluff. In another minute, we’re going to be out of range of the missiles.” He flashes me an encouraging look and rests his hand on mine. “You’re doing very well, Lani,” he says. “The landing’s going to be rough, so hold on tight, okay?”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Okay.”
As soon as we enter the planet’s atmosphere, it becomes a lot harder to
keep the red circle inside the rectangle. You know how sometimes your laptop mouse goes crazy and starts doing things on its own? It’s like that. I push my fear back, grit my teeth, and fight to keep us steady.
Ruhan’s busy with his own controls. His hand glides over a lever, smooth and controlled, and my insides tighten with inconvenient lust. It’s not fair. Why does he have to be really good at piloting this shuttle? It was a lot easier to resist Ruhan when he was being glib and flippant. But now, he’s neither. In a crisis, he’s calm and competent.
And damn if watching him stroke the controls isn’t the hottest thing I’ve seen in years.
“You’re good at this.” The sound of his voice clears the fog of lust surrounding me. “Did you pilot ships on your home planet?”
“What? No, nothing that exciting. Flying is an expensive hobby, and I was a kindergarten teacher with a lot of student debt. I barely had money for rent and food. I’ve just played too many games. I’m not a hardcore gamer—I don’t have enough time for it, but it’s pretty effective stress relief.”
In fact, the only thing that helped my stress levels more was a good toe-curling, mind-blowing orgasm. And I have no idea why I thought of that right now. Or why I’m picturing Ruhan’s hands exploring my body. What would he be like in bed? Would he stroke me the way he’s stroking the trackpad? Would he be controlled while I fall apart? Would he give me a wicked smile before he goes down on me?
“You taught younglings?”
Once again, I jerk my thoughts back from the deep pool of lust they’ve fallen into. What did he just say? I replay his words back in my mind. He asked me if I taught younglings. The word is unfamiliar, but his meaning is clear. “Yeah, I did.” Don’t blush, Lani. Do not blush. He can’t read your thoughts; he has no idea you’re fantasizing about him.
“And you couldn’t afford a place to live?” He looks confused. “I don’t understand. In the High Empire, it is an honor to teach, and those that are called to do it lack for nothing.”
