Punished

by Tana Stone

  I’d have thought an entire ship filled with battle-tested warriors and bounty hunting females would have been something Sienna would relish. These females were doing what she claimed to want to do. Why would she walk away from a chance to fight by their side?

  I looked up at the cave dwellings rising over the village square. She must have gone home to attend to her sister. I let my gaze fall to the rock face that held the planet’s supplies. Or maybe she’d needed to attend to work. I frowned. Neither was a good enough reason for staying away when it was finally time to ready for battle. This was what I’d been preparing her for during all our training sessions.

  Then I thought back to our conversation before the bounty hunter ship had arrived. The one where she’d talked to me about staying on the planet with her. Had that upset her? Was that the reason she’d run off? I grunted as I shifted one of the newly augmented launchers and tilted it to face the sky. I’d always been honest with Sienna about wanting to leave the planet and find a way back to my people.

  You should have told her you want her to come with you, I scolded myself. Even though my stomach clenched at the possibility that she would say no, I needed her to know that I did not wish to leave without her.

  “I need to take care of something,” I told Kush, as he fitted a torpedo into its casing.

  He straightened and met my eyes. “Is it about your female? The one standing with you when we arrived?”

  “How did you know?”

  He put a hand to his chest. “You do remember that my people are empathic?”

  I hadn’t, but my face warmed at the realization that he could read my thoughts.

  “But even if I couldn’t sense your emotions, I would know that something is amiss with a female because of the look on your face.” He waved at hand at the Dothveks working in the dusty ring. “I have seen it on all my Dothvek brothers’ faces at one point or another.”

  I rubbed a hand across the scruff of my cheeks. “It is that obvious?”

  He grinned and thumped a hand on my shoulder. “It is not a bad thing to care about a female so much that it makes you sick.”

  I choked out a laugh. “It isn’t? Doesn’t it make you a more vulnerable warrior?”

  Kush shook his head, his dark braid swinging. “It gives you something more powerful to fight for. Revenge is good, but love is better.”

  I had not expected such wisdom from the bare-chested warrior that some might consider a barbarian, but all of the Dothveks on his ship were mated to one of the bounty hunter females, and they all appeared to be just as eager for battle.

  “Besides,” Kush continued, giving me another thump and stepping back. “Didn’t you say your female was a good fighter? We need all the warriors we can get.”

  “I will return,” I told him, determined to find Sienna and bring her back. After I asked her to come with me when I left the planet.

  I’d almost made it to the tunnel leading out of the amphitheater when a blast exploded the far end of the open air arena. My gaze snapped to the sky, where Zagrath fighters were zipping overhead, a red torrent of laser fire shooting from them. They’d arrived sooner than we’d expected.

  “Tvek!” I yelled, looking over my shoulder at the weapons we’d assembled in the open area. The imperial attack had started before we’d had a chance to get our weapons in place or away from stray laser fire.

  Holly’s gold-skinned mate scooped her up and ran for the exit. “I’m getting her to safety.”

  I waved at the supply cave as he passed me. “Head over there. The planet’s supply stores are cut into the rock. She’ll be safe inside.”

  He nodded, not slowing his pace as the pregnant female jostled in his arms.

  Instead of running, the Dothveks and Tori were busy shoving armed torpedos into launchers and swinging them toward the incoming fighters.

  “Take this, you imperial fuckers!” Tori yelled, as she unleashed a torpedo into the air.

  As Holly had promised, the torpedo flew with incredible speed, locking onto a gray fighter and turning it into a ball of flame.

  Tori cheered at the explosion. “One down!”

  Casting a lingering look at the cave dwellings and hoping Sienna was safe, I bolted back to help fire at the attackers. Vrax fed torpedos into the launcher Tori was operating, so I started doing the same for Kush.

  “Thanks.” He grinned as I loaded a fresh torpedo for him, then spun the launcher into the sky, tracking an imperial ship before loosing the weapon. It arched high before darting toward the fleeing ship, and soon the sky was filled with another fireball as it found its target.

  A rumble made us all swivel our attention to the bounty hunter ship lifting off the ground.

  “Caro can’t resist a good sky battle,” Tori yelled over the sound of more laser fire.

  We watched as the ship shot forward, flying low and blasting a pair of imperial fighters, before flipping over and coming back around for a second run.

  “She’s good,” I said, loading another torpedo for Kush.

  “She’s not just good,” Tori corrected me. “She’s fucking great!”

  As the huge ship swooped and pivoted with the grace and agility of a much smaller ship, I had to agree with her. Two more imperial fighters blew up, but one spiraled to the ground in a fiery streak, crashing somewhere near the shallows. In the distance I heard screaming, no doubt from terrified villagers.

  “Last one!” Kush said as his torpedo blew up the final gray Zagrath ship overhead.

  I braced my hands on my knees to catch my breath. “Not bad for a few torpedo launchers and one ship.”

  Before the others could agree with me, a swarm of imperial ships descended from above, all firing on the planet and on the bounty hunter ship. Vrax pulled Tori down as laser fire blew up the benches of the amphitheater, chunks of stone raining down around us.

  The bounty hunter ship flew deftly, but there were too many fighters on her tail. Like a dart, she flew away from the village in a manic, evasive pattern, disappearing entirely from our view.

  “Caro!” Tori jerked from her mate’s grasp and ran back to her launcher, her expression wild with rage as she aimed it at the gray ships that now filled the sky like a swarm of Zillian locusts.

  When ships started to explode one after the other in quick succession, we all looked at Tori. But she hadn’t fired. She gaped at the fire in the sky with as much surprise as the rest of us, as imperial fighter after imperial fighter imploded.

  Then the black Vandar horde ships dropped their invisibility shielding.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Ch 35

  Corvak

  I ran from the amphitheater as the Vandar transport ships descended from the larger horde ship. Most of the imperial fighters had been blasted from the sky, but a few had darted above the clouds and presumably back to the imperial battleship in orbit. Villagers who’d come from the square earlier to stare at the bounty hunter ship now took advantage of the break in laser fire to run back toward the village and the dwellings. A quick glance over my shoulder revealed a mass of bodies moving swiftly up the path.

  My heart pounded as I dashed toward the trio of black ships touching down next to where the bounty hunter ship had been. I didn’t know if Raas Bron himself would be on one of the transports, but I was more than ready to bend my knee to him and show him my sincere contrition. Standing with my hands clasped behind my back and my tail only slightly twitching, I waited as patiently as I could while the ramps to the ships lowered to the hardpacked dirt.

  When the Raas emerged, the metal on his studded leather arm braces glinting in the light, my mouth went dry. It was not Raas Bron, or any warlord of the Vandar I’d seen before. Since I’d laid eyes on all the current Raas’ but one, this had to be Raas Vassim. The one who patrolled the far outskirts of the galaxy, and rarely had any contact with other Vandar. The one who was whispered about in low tones and with furtive glances. The one they said was deranged.

  Lunori Raas,
he was called in hushed tones. The Deranged Warlord.

  Raiders poured from the transports behind him, but all waited with their axes and shields in their hands as the warlord took long strides toward me, his kilt slapping against his muscular thighs and his tail swishing rapidly.

  “Vandar,” he said, his shrewd gaze fixed on me. “It was you who called for aid?”

  I clicked my heels together quickly. “It was, Raas. I am Corvak of the Vandar.”

  More black leather cut into the flesh of his massive chest as it crossed from the top of his shoulder to his waist. Behind him, his tail snapped back and forth as if he was an animal readying itself to pounce. “But your horde is not here.”

  I clenched my hands together and lifted my chin. “I am currently without a horde.”

  He tilted his head at me. “I’m listening.”

  “I was the battle chief for Raas Kratos, and then for his successor Raas Bron. When I believed the human female the Raas had claimed to be deceitful, I questioned her in my oblek. For that, I was exiled to this planet.”

  “I’ve heard of the Raas’ and their human mates. I do not understand it.” The lunori Raas appraised me. “I do understand wanting to punish one who is deceptive.”

  I inclined my head at him. He did not seem so deranged to me, but I had yet to see him in battle.

  Raas Vassim flicked his gaze behind me. “Stranding you on this pre-warp planet seems like harsh punishment. Perhaps even harsher than being banished to the hinterlands of space.”

  I stared at him. Had the Raas been banished? I had never heard of this. Or was this a part of his madness? Was he paranoid?

  “The planet of Kimithion III might be more primitive than our society, but they do not deserve to be conquered by the empire,” I said, instead. “I am grateful you responded to my hails, although I am surprised you would come so far.”

  “Your hail was not the only one I received beckoning me to this place.”

  Before I could ask him who else could have possibly sent him a hail from the planet, more imperial fighters descended en masse from above. Some fired at the planet, while others targeted the main horde ship. Still other gunmetal-gray imperial transports began landing near the bank of the shallows.

  Raas Vassim waved his raiders forward. My heart leapt at the sight of so many gleaming battle axes and swishing tails. I would get to fight alongside my Vandar brothers again.

  “We have come to kill our enemy and aid our Vandar brother.” Raas Vassim thrust his fist into the air. “For Vandar!”

  I joined the other raiders in pumping my fist into the air. “For Vandar!”

  The Raas cut his gaze to the imperial soldiers coming off the transports in the distance, then turned back to me. “I saw your armaments in the arena. We will handle the ground invaders. You and my horde ship can take out the vermin left in the sky.”

  I clicked my heels again in deference to the warlord, watching the Raas lead his raiders in an all-out run toward the advancing Zagrath. When I spun back toward the amphitheater, torpedoes were already blasting from within its confines.

  I’d almost reached the entrance to the tunnel when the local fighters caught up to me. There were only a handful of the fighters that I’d trained, but they carried their makeshift shields and determined expressions.

  “We’re here to fight, battle chief,” one of the humans yelled.

  So my training hadn’t been a total loss. Some of the males had courage.

  “You can join us with the armaments,” I said, waving for them to follow me. “I am surprised Donal and his friends are not with you. Didn’t they claim to thirst for battle?”

  One of the humans snorted out a laugh. “Donal’s more interested in spending time with his intended than anything else.”

  I stopped and turned on my heel so fast the human almost smacked into me. “His intended?”

  Was that why Sienna wasn’t fighting by my side? Had she decided to be with Donal since I was leaving? The moment the thoughts crossed my mind, I dismissed them. Sienna detested the man. I’d seen it in her eyes every time she’d been around him. I also knew the way she looked at me. She would never betray me for that weak excuse for a male.

  “The female who pretended to be one of us the first day,” another fighter said. “You remember? The one you fought?”

  Of course I knew he meant Sienna.

  “We stopped by his dwelling so he would join us, but he said he was busy with her.”

  Fear iced my skin as I thought about the male Sienna had rejected time and time again. He was a coward who was not above taking something by force.

  I pointed to the mouth of the tunnel. “Join the others inside. They need help loading the torpedoes.”

  The fighters ran forward, then the last one glanced at me over his shoulder. “What about you? Aren’t you coming?”

  I locked my gaze on the cave dwellings. “I have something to take care of first.”

  Then I ran faster than I ever had before.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Ch 36

  Sienna

  I glared at Donal, my head throbbing as I yanked at the bindings holding my hands together. The walls of his dwelling shook as more laser fire pounded the surface of the planet, a fine dust sifting down from the rock ceiling and dusting his brown hair as he stood across from me with his arms folded and his scowl fierce.

  I’d been roused by the sounds of the low-flying ships and incoming weapons fire, and the onslaught of the attack had not faded since I’d been conscious. The empire was attacking, and I was powerless to fight. I thrashed again, almost falling off the couch. “This is crazy. You can’t hold me against my will.”

  “It’s for your own good, Sienna.” His gaze shifted to the window. “It’s too dangerous out there right now.”

  “I thought this was what you trained for,” I said, attempting to appeal to his sense of male pride. “Didn’t you want to be a warrior and defend the planet?”

  His top lip curled. “You mean like your Vandar lover? No, let the others die in a pointless battle. When the Zagrath defeat them and take over the planet, I’ll be the first to welcome them with open arms. They’ll need emissaries from the community, and who better than me?”

  I looked away from him, repulsed by his cowardice and disloyalty. I’d always thought he was an obnoxious jerk. How had I not seen how much worse he was?

  Another blast hit the surface, and the floor trembled. Were the Zagrath firing at the cave dwellings? My gut hardened into a cold ball of fear. I did not want to end up buried beneath tons of rubble, if the tall peaks fell.

  “Help!” I screamed, aiming my words at the thin curtains fluttering over the windows. “Somebody!”

  My cries were drowned out by the noise of the battle and the screams of everyone else running on the path outside the dwelling, just one more voice in a chorus of terror.

  Donal laughed, but it was a hard, mirthless sound. “No one is coming for you. No one knows you’re here. Well, no one who would dare open their mouths about it.”

  I thought back to the hands grabbing me from behind. “Your friends were in on this, too?”

  His cold smile was the only answer. “They don’t like the idea of that barbarian showing up here and taking my girl either.”

  “Corvak has nothing to do with me not marrying you.” I strained my hands against the rope until the skin chafed. “I was never going to marry you.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. You are going to marry me. As soon as this is all over and the empire drags away the corpse of your Vandar, you will agree to marry me, or I’ll make sure your father never works again. You really want your sweet little sister to be homeless?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. Since Juliette had been the one to tell Donal that I was seeing Corvak, and was the reason I was currently being held against my will while the planet was being brutally attacked, she was far from my favorite person at the moment. But as furious I was at her, I didn’t want t
hat to happen.

  “You’d really force a woman to marry you?” I shook my head at him. “Why would you want someone who doesn’t want you?”

  His eyes flashed and he dropped his hands to his sides, clenching them into fists so hard his arms shook. “You will want me.”

  I shrank back as he stomped over to me, gripping my jaw in his hand and jerking my face to his. “Once that Vandar is gone, you’ll forget all about him, and I’ll make you want me.”

  I twisted my face from his painful grasp. Even though Donal looked a little crazy, I refused to let him scare me. A Vandar warrior would never back down from a fight, and neither would I. “That’s not the way it works, Donal. I’m in love with Corvak, and I always will be.” A blast rattled the door and sent more dust over us. “It doesn’t matter if he dies or if he leaves, I’ll never stop loving him. And I’ll never love you.”

  He staggered back like he’d been slapped, shaking his head so hard it was a blur. I used his distraction to pull my shoulders back as far as I could and tug my hands with all my might. The pain made me flinch as I scraped off the skin on my wrists, but one hand finally slipped free. I let out a gasp, drawing Donal’s attention.

  “What are you…” His words died on his lips as his gaze dropped to my neck. Then he was on me, tearing back the neckline of my blouse. “What is this? Where did you get this?”

  I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he was so distracted pawing at my collarbone that I was able to use my free hand to untie my other one. When both hands were free from the restraints, I brought them around and down hard on his back.

  A huff of startled breath escaped his lips as he rolled off me and onto the floor. Leaping up, I kicked him in the gut, rewarded by a groan as he clutched his belly. “That’s for trying to rape me.” I aimed another kick at his side. “That’s for tying me up.” My final kick was straight at his groin. “And that’s for never ever learning the meaning of the word no, you spoiled, little prick.”