Salvaging Abby (Marks Mercenaries Book 4)

by N. J. Walters

Heart pounding, she shook her head. This was the craziness of the moment talking. She couldn’t hold him to that. “I’m a nobody from nowhere,” she reminded him. “I’m homeless.”

  “I am your home.” The man was relentless. He combed his fingers through her hair. “Why do you doubt?”

  That stopped her cold. Why did she doubt? Was she so afraid to take a chance on love? Was protecting herself from hurt more important than reaching out for what she’d always wanted? Not that he’d told her he loved her. But he had called her his heart.

  “Abby.” He kissed her again. This time his hips jerked up, driving him even deeper.

  “Yes?” she managed to gasp.

  “Stay.”

  “You don’t play fair,” she whined as he rubbed his chest against her turgid nipples.

  “I am Gravasian. I play to win.” The sheer arrogance, along with the sexual rocking of his hips, had her spiralling out of control. “Give yourself to me.”

  “Yes.” She threw herself against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “God help me, yes.”

  He caught her hips in his hands and began to raise and lower her on his lap, going faster and faster. His strength was enormous. All she could do was hang on to the physical and emotional ride. It was wilder than their journey to the asteroid field.

  Tension pooled low in her belly. She began to move with Vaden, working with him, driving them both to the pinnacle and then over.

  He roared and wrapped his brawny arms around her, holding her so tight it hurt, but in the best way possible. Her entire body rippled with a pleasure that seemed ripped from her soul.

  When it was over, she raised her head, staring at the man she’d joined herself to. His features were handsome but harsh. His hair was tousled, and his dark eyes burned with an inner fire. Male satisfaction clung to him. He was hard and arrogant and dangerous and hers.

  His lips thinned and turned down at the corners. He reached out and touched her face. “Why are you crying?”

  “I am?” She hadn’t realized and was embarrassed by the emotional outburst. “I’m sorry.”

  Vaden released a deep sigh. “Do not apologize. You have lost your ship, your home. You must be scared. Yet, my concern was not for that, but for my physical needs.”

  Wow, her man took a lot on himself. “Ah, didn’t you see me on my knees between your legs?” His cock, which was still semi erect inside her, flexed, making them both moan. “I take it that’s a yes,” she teased.

  “I will never forget it as long as I live. It was a precious gift.”

  “I wanted you, too,” she reminded him.

  The corners of his mouth twitched, and his eyes got a familiar gleam. “Maybe you want me again.”

  An alarm cut off her laughter.

  Vaden lifted her from his lap and yanked his battlesuit back into place. A little slower, she grabbed her flightsuit and struggled her way back into it, glad she hadn’t removed her boots, even if it did make it a bit more challenging. Her ripped underwear was lying on the floor by his chair. They must have fallen out earlier in her haste to undress. She snatched them up and stuffed them back into her pocket.

  “What is it?” she asked, all her worries flowing back.

  “Freeman and his ship are closing in.”

  “What will we do? Our engines are at ten percent.” There was no way they could run.

  Sitting in his chair, Vaden was all warrior. “We will evade him. There is so much debris he cannot depend on his radar.”

  “Then why could we?”

  “We are much smaller, more like the asteroids. And we are not blasting debris before us.”

  Made sense to her. She started to head back to her chair, but he grabbed her and kissed her hard and fast. “Strap in,” he told her. “I will keep you safe.”

  Abby sat and pulled her safety harness around her. Whether they lived or died, she was with him all the way. “I trust you.”

  Chapter Nine

  Her words warmed Vaden’s heart even as the situation turned it to ice. He would kill Jasper Freeman. It was only a matter of time. He would not allow the man to haunt his Abby for much longer. All he had to do was evade detection and keep her safe until either her brothers or a Gravasian warship arrived. Either would do.

  Even now, with enemies closing in, he was hard and aching. Didn’t matter he’d just come. Abby was the only one in the world who made maintaining control difficult. But he would do it. He had to. Her life was on the line.

  His attention suddenly became laser sharp. The task at hand was to evade the other ship.

  “Blast field is getting larger,” she pointed out.

  He knew she was thinking the same thing he was. Having a woman familiar with space travel and ships was a plus. “He risks throwing off the formation of the field.” And if that happened, asteroids would scatter out of their given paths. The entire field might break into two smaller ones.

  “Hiding might be a problem.”

  That he already knew. “Firing pulse,” he told her. The ship glided through space, propelled to the left, away from the oncoming blasts. “Freeman is in a hurry.” And that could be a problem.

  “He’s afraid,” she told him.

  That made sense. “He does not want to be around if a Gravasian warship arrives on the scene.”

  Abby nibbled on her bottom lip. Every muscle in his body coiled. He wanted to lick that lip, then suck it. He shook his head to refocus.

  “What if Jasper has one of his Council friends convince your ambassador that I should be given back to him?”

  “That will never happen.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  Vaden pulsed to the left and back, moving as slowly as possible and maneuvering to avoid debris and stay hidden at the same time. It was a challenge, but one he handled easily.

  “Trust me,” he told her.

  “I do, but you’re only one man. And I assume you’re in the Gravasian Spaceforce since you have access to a ship. If you’re ordered by your ambassador to give me back, you won’t have a choice.” She rubbed her temples, her face pale. He disliked seeing the signs of stress. “I know your people are all about honor. I don’t want to jeopardize your career or life.”

  She truly was a gem. He knew she’s sacrifice herself if she thought it would help him. His chest expanded with pride at the woman he’d chosen.

  “You will ruin nothing. This I promise you.”

  “Okay, but if anything changes…”

  “Alert,” the mechanical voice blurted. “Enemy ship on our starboard side.”

  “I see them,” he muttered. “The asteroid field is thinning out on this side. We won’t be able to hide for much longer. Not the way he’s blasting through it. He has to be using laser cannons. Their shields must be strong enough to deflect debris.”

  Even as he spoke, a large chunk of asteroid flew toward them, knocked off course by a blast. It was repelled and sent off in another direction, making Vaden swear under his breath.

  “What is it?” she demanded.

  “That ricochet will attract attention.” He risked a slight push of the engine to take them further back into the asteroid field.

  “How much longer can we hold out?”

  “Not long. We need to sneak around him and head back out into space.” It was a long shot to even try, but they were running out of options.

  “We’ll be exposed out there.” She took a deep breath and nodded. “But you’re right. If we can sneak by him, he’ll waste time looking for us. If we head back the way we came, we might rendezvous with my brothers or a ship from your world before he realizes we’ve slipped around him.”

  Intelligence and acceptance blazed in her eyes. He wanted to promise her the world. First, he had to make sure they were alive so he could offer it to her. Freeman wanted her, but if he understood he could never have her, there was no telling what he might do.

  “I could go to the engine room. See if I can fix the damaged shield.”

&n
bsp; “Do you think you can?” As much as he wanted her beside him, it would be invaluable to her safety if all the shields were operating at full capacity.

  “Not sure. Won’t know until I get there. And your tech is foreign to me.”

  Of course it was. Gravas did not share their tech easily. Why give a potential enemy anything that could be used against them? He’d never understood selling military and technology advancements to other worlds.

  “We’d need to divert power to life support in that area,” she reminded him.

  He quickly and dispassionately weighted the options—she stayed with him and they made a run for it or she left him and tried to fix the shields while he made a run for it. There was only one choice.

  He eased the ship to the side, sliding from one asteroid to another. “Computer, I need life support between the bridge and engine room. Maintain at optimum in engine room no matter the cost to the engines.”

  “Life support engaged,” the computer confirmed.

  “Go,” he told her.

  Abby released her safety harness, but instead of heading straight for the door, she came to his side. “I won’t let you down.”

  “I know.” He trusted her as much as men he’d worked alongside his entire life. No, he trusted her more.

  She leaned in to kiss him. He grabbed her shoulders and yanked her close, savoring the passion and sheer joy of life she aroused in him. He could have kissed her for forever, but there was no time.

  “If it looks hopeless, return to the bridge.” Return to him. “We can divert the energy used to power the life support back into the engines.”

  “Will do.” She hurried toward the door without looking back. He knew because he kept one eye on her. As soon as the heavy panel slid shut, leaving him alone in the command center, he turned all his attention to the job at hand.

  “Computer keep watch over Abby. She is to survive, no matter what. Understood?”

  “That is not my directive.” If a computer could actually protest, his was doing so.

  “It is now.” Taking control of the navigation, he began the intricate game of cat-and-mouse, using power only when absolutely necessary. It would take patience and skill and a large amount of luck to pull this off.

  Freeman’s ship was likely to pick them up on radar as soon as they exited the asteroid field. Their only chance was if the person on radar assumed they were a stray asteroid, spinning free out into space. He’d have to basically play dead in the sky, letting the ship float where it would to simulate an asteroid.

  ****

  Abby hurried to the engine room. Having worked there earlier with Vaden, she was more than familiar with it. He trusted her to do her part, something she hadn’t expected from her Gravasian warrior. From what little she knew about the culture, the women stayed on the planet and did not engage in their military.

  Maybe that was wrong. Who really knew?

  But Vaden was counting on her and respected her mechanical skills. As a child, she’d spent hours watching and working alongside her brother, Amos, who loved to tinker. The years she’d spent with Henry had given her a lot more practice and knowledge.

  That warmed her heart, even as the rest of her still tingled from their passionate lovemaking. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing she’d ever done, but she had no regrets.

  “Let’s see what we’ve got.” She found the proper panel and lowered it. Some of the mechanics were recognizable, but there was much that wasn’t. “You can do this.” The pep talk helped calm her nerves. She wanted so badly to do this, to help them survive.

  So far it had been all Vaden. He’d used his piloting skills to hide them from Jasper. But now they had a new plan, a very necessary one.

  Abby studied the workings of the shielding system, removing the inner workings very carefully. The last thing she wanted to do was blow their remaining protective barrier. The computer boards that supported the shields were familiar enough for her to feel confident in her ability to fix it.

  That is until she saw that the final one was shorted out. There was nothing to fix. This needed an entire replacement.

  She hit the intercom. “Do you carry parts or replacement panels for the shields?” If he did, he hadn’t shown them to her earlier. She could have poked around herself, but this was faster. Time was of the essence.

  “No, not a ship this size. There is never a need. The shields are impenetrable, and there is usually a larger ship nearby.” While it made sense, it was also frustrating. She wanted to bang her head against the wall. She could fix this if she had the proper parts.

  “Then that section of shields is fried until the parts are replaced.” She hated disappointing him … and herself.

  “Understood. Return to the command center.”

  “On my way as soon as I put things back.” Now that she understood how it was all put together, she did so quickly.

  “Computer, lock down life support except for this area and divert power.” Vaden issued the command as soon as the door closed behind her.

  Instead of returning to her chair, she went to stand alongside him. “I’m sorry.” She felt as though she’d let him down.

  He shook his head. “The fault is mine for not having replacement parts. You did all you could. At least we know what we are dealing with.”

  Unable to resist touching him, she placed her hand on his shoulder. He stiffened and then relaxed into her touch. “How’s it going?” She studied the viewing screen, surprised to find they were about to leave the asteroids behind. He really was good to get them this far without detection.

  “Now we drift and hope they assume we are debris.”

  With the way her luck had gone lately, she doubted that would happen but kept her opinion to herself. Although, she had moved meeting Vaden from the negative side of the scale over to the positive. But have Jasper find her and then the shield being damaged definitely tipped things back to the down side.

  She removed her hand from his shoulder and gripped the arm of his chair as they floated out into space. The remains of the Dreamer floating by made her heart ache. There wasn’t much left of her home, much of it incinerated by Jasper. Just one more reason to loathe the man.

  Vaden caught her hand in his and pulled her until she was standing in front of him. “Probably not a good idea,” she told him.

  “All we can do is drift until they find us.” He pulled her between his spread thighs and rested his hands on her hips.

  “Don’t you mean if they find us?”

  He moved his hands around to her ass and urged her closer. Heat seeped through her, pushing out some of the cold fear that filled her. A shiver wracked her entire body making him frown and put his arms around her.

  “It is only a matter of time until they discover we are not among the asteroids. They will double back and search for us.”

  He was so matter of fact about it, so cold. He seemed totally emotionless, until she looked into his dark black eyes. They overflowed with passion and determination.

  “What will we do?” She rested her hands on his chest, savoring his strength and the heat that always seemed to radiate from him. Either that battlesuit had some source of internal heating or his core temperature naturally ran higher than that of a human. She suspected it was the latter. When they’d been in bed, she’d been toasty warm.

  Of course, that might have been due to the amazing sex.

  “We will do whatever the situation requires.”

  He really was cool-headed with his ability to live in the moment and do what was necessary. Unlike her, he didn’t seem to be worrying about what if situations.

  He lifted her so she was sitting on his lap. She didn’t protest, because she wanted to be there beside him. If the worst happened, and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure it didn’t, she wanted to be as close to him as she could for as long as possible.

  They drifted for the longest time, the two of them quietly sitting together with her head resting on his s
houlder. He had one arm behind her back and the other resting on her lap with his hand gripping her hip. It was cozy.

  The silence was finally broken by the computer. “Enemy ship coming toward us.”

  Knowing it was time, she slid from his lap, returned to her seat, and strapped in. Vaden brought their ship around so they were facing the Simplistics One.

  The communication panel beeped with an incoming call. Vaden put it on screen but said nothing. Jasper, face flushed with anger, started at him. “You can’t outrun me.”

  Vaden didn’t reply. If anything, he seemed downright bored. She had to admire that.

  “Your shields are weak,” Jasper reminded him.

  “Your point?” Vaden asked.

  “Give. Me. The. Girl.” Fear made her blood curdle. Jasper said each word slowly, making no pretence at being civil.

  “No.” That was all Vaden said. Abby watched unable to look away as Jasper’s face grew redder and redder.

  “Give her to me or I’ll kill you.”

  “More threats?” Vaden asked, seemingly only mildly concerned. “Didn’t we already do this?”

  Vaden was calm and cool while she was sweating, her fingers digging into the covering of the arms of her chair.

  A laser struck them. This attack was heavier than any other that had been leveled at them. Their smaller ship spun and rocked. Vaden worked to keep it facing Jasper’s larger vessel. The shields held, but she had to wonder how much longer they could. They were seriously short of power. One shot to their weak area and the entire ship would be in jeopardy.

  They couldn’t run, and they wouldn’t be able to protect themselves much longer.

  Making a decision, she unhooked her safety harness and went to Vaden, knowing Jasper could see her. Ignoring him, she climbed onto Vaden’s lap. He didn’t question her, but simply wrapped his brawny arms around her.

  “This is your fault,” Jasper informed her.

  Honestly, she was sick and tired for being blamed for this idiot’s obsession. “No, it’s not my fault. All I want is to live my life away from you.” She couldn’t see his crew, wasn’t even sure if they were able to hear her, but pressed onward. “All your men will die if you do this.”