Sky Hunter

by Fae Sutherland

  “Seriously, Jeret. A prince? Come on now.” Rain had that tone like a teacher about to scold.

  “Right, ’cause you ain’t never had a little secret, Mr. Spacephobic.”

  “A little secret? Jeret, just stop. Let me handle this.”

  “No.” Jeret stood up. “I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t need you guys trying to save me. I never did.”

  Torin’s eyes narrowed. “Funny, five minutes ago you seemed perfectly fine with us saving your ass. Or does that not count?”

  “You know, this whole family quarrel thing is cute and all, but I have a job to do and I’m going to do it whether you agree or not.” Dagan broke in, holding his hands up. He met Jeret’s eyes, his look almost imploring. “Your father mourns your loss, Jadi. As do your people and your world.”

  Jeret bit his lip, squirming inwardly. Was that true? “Sure did take him long enough to find me to say so. Like you said, didn’t take you long, did it?”

  Dagan gave him an admonishing look. “You’re not a child anymore, you just said so. Why hold on to your childish grudges? He’s your father. And Jadikira...” Dagan hesitated, as if he didn’t want to say what came next. Jeret’s heart leaped into his throat.

  “And what?”

  Dagan let out a breath. “The king is ill, Your Highness. He is dying.”

  Jeret’s mind reeled and he exhaled heavily, one hand pressed to his stomach. “Shut the fuck up. That’s not true! And for Christ’s sake stop calling me that! My name is Jeret and I’m not Your fucking Highness!”

  He could feel Torin’s and Rain’s pitying looks and it just made him even angrier. Dagan was lying. He had to be. He just wanted to get Jeret to go with him, back to Hadrian, back to being a prince and not a person. No way!

  He stalked up to the other man. “You’re a liar. And I’m not going back there. Not now, not ever. So you can just go back and tell my father that it’s over.”

  Dagan caught his wrist, as his eyes narrowed. “Stop being such a selfish brat. Your father is dying and he wants to see his son before he does. Is that so much to ask? You’d deny him his dying wish?”

  Oh, that was low. Jeret yanked his hand away, rubbing the skin that tingled. “Even if it was true, and it’s not, why would I go back now? All that’d do is make me a prisoner there even more than I was before. They’d never let the heir to the throne just walk away. There are a dozen others who want the damn throne and they can have it for all I care!”

  Oh, shit. Of course. And what else came with the throne? Control of the gradium mining. Control of the most powerful source of space travel fuel discovered in a century, a crate of which resided on board the Ansata right that very moment.

  Shit. Holy fucking hell shit.

  Dagan frowned at him, seeming to realize Jeret’s mind had wandered. Not surprising, considering the years they’d spent nearly inseparable, with Dagan acting as not just his personal guard, but a friend, a mentor even. “What is it, Jadi?”

  “Stop calling me that,” he muttered. “My father’s sick?”

  “Yes. That’s what I was told, anyway, and I don’t have any reason to disbelieve him. Why? Your mind is turning, I can see it.”

  “You can’t take me back. Unless your goal is to have me end up dead too.”

  Torin took a step forward, brows knit. “What do you mean? No one’s going to kill you, Jeret.”

  “They will if I go back to Hadrian now.” He turned to Rain. “Where’d you put the shipment?”

  Rain frowned, glancing at Torin, then at Dagan. “I don’t think we oughta be discussing that in front of guests, Jeret.”

  Jeret rolled his eyes. “He’s the least of our troubles right now. That shipment now not only has us knee-deep in Shengo’s crappy business dealings and in the crosshairs of the C.O.P. if they find out we have it, but thanks to Dagan we just landed right smack in the middle of a good old-fashioned coup.”

  Dagan scowled. “What are you talking about, Jadi...Jeret?”

  How come he was the only one any good at putting pieces together when he was surrounded by folk who made their damn lives reading between the lines and, hell, living between them too? “Well gee, let’s see, we’ve got a shipment of gradium smuggled off-planet and bound for one of the most dangerous criminal elements in the known damn universe, a dying king with no heir apparent to the sole known source of the C.O.P.’s favorite fuel source and a handful of people who could plausibly claim succession if the heir—me—isn’t found in time, or at all. What does that equal?”

  Torin let out a long groan. “How the hell do we keep ending up in the middle of these political shitstorms?”

  Dagan was still frowning, glancing between Torin and Jeret. “Wait, you have a shipment of gradium on board? And you’re worried going to Hadrian will get you killed? Christ, boy, it isn’t Hadrian you need to be worrying about, but the Coalition instead or, hell, anybody who finds out what you’ve got.”

  Jeret waved a hand at Dagan, giving Torin a significant look. “See? Even he gets it!”

  “Even he? What am I, some half-wit?”

  Jeret bit back a laugh. Dagan must have caught it, though, because his black eyes did that thing Jeret could remember so vividly, all lighting up inside and smiling without actually moving his lips at all. Anybody else would think the bounty hunter was still standing there scowling and pissed, but Jeret knew he and Dagan were sharing a little moment of amusement in the middle of it all.

  Dammit, why did Dagan have to be so...him? Why couldn’t he be a big fucking jerk?

  “There is no discussion about the job, Jeret. It’s done. We either move the stuff or we end up on the shit side of everyone’s list.” Torin ran a hand over his bare scalp, a move that meant he was worried. Torin being worried only made Jeret even more so. Christ, what a mess.

  “This is just another reason for you to come with me back to Hadrian. You’ll be safer.”

  Jeret turned to Dagan. “In the middle of a coup? There’s a traitor at my father’s court, Dagan. Is it gonna soothe your damn honor if you drop me, the only person with a legit claim to succession, right in the middle of some turncoat’s grand scheme to steal the throne? How long before I end up taking a goddamn dirt nap, huh?”

  Dagan glowered, but Jeret could tell it was mostly because Dagan knew he was right. “You don’t even know for sure there is a traitor.”

  “Because that gradium just walked itself out of the mines, chartered itself a ship and those royal guards the locals saw were pure coincidence, out for a day stroll on a dead moon the same time we’re picking up smuggled goods? C’mon, I get that you got a job to do, but does it include me dead? ’Cause I’m thinkin’ it don’t.”

  Dagan raked a hand through his dark, spiky hair, sighing. “Then what do you suggest?”

  Torin and Rain were looking at him for the same reason—he’d discovered the problem so he was supposed to fix it? Apparently.

  “Well, for one even if I was ever gonna go with you, it ain’t gonna be before I know who’s playin’ for both sides.”

  Torin frowned. “Wait, so you plan to go with him?”

  Jeret glanced between Dagan and Torin, then shrugged. “Maybe it wouldn’t suck to see my father. I ain’t going back to be their damn prince or, Christ forbid, their king, though.” He gave Dagan a hard look. “Let’s get that straight right off.”

  Dagan held up his hands. “Hey, my job was to bring you home. Nobody said a damn thing about keeping you there. What you do after, well that’s none of my never mind.”

  Jeret didn’t know why he bristled at that. Dagan didn’t care where he went or what happened to him. So what? Jeret glanced at Torin. “Well?”

  “Well what? Boy, I just want to get off this rock and deliver my merch. If you want to go have a reunion with dear old dad after, fine.”

 
Rain gave Torin a quelling look, turning to Jeret. “Just tell us how we can help. I’m assuming there’s not going to be any trying to cart our boy here off in the night now that he’s agreed to at least go back to see his father. Am I right, bounty hunter?”

  Dagan hesitated. “Fine. But he’s not going to have anything to do with this smuggling job. I’m supposed to protect him, not let him—” Jeret cut him off with a hard right hook.

  “Let me? Let me?” Jeret rubbed his knuckles and glared back and forth between Dagan and Rain. “How about the both of you stop talking about me like I’m twelve, how about that? Christ!”

  He shoved past them and made a beeline for the engine room, on the opposite side of the ship. Let the three of them stand around pissing into the wind playing alpha male. He had work to do. Anything to keep his mind off the fact that not only was the one man he’d ever had any real feelings for currently on board and acting like a jackass, but that he’d just agreed to return to his home planet, a place he’d sworn he’d never go back to. Oh, and not to mention the whole smuggling the most dangerous cargo in the entire universe thing. There was that too.

  The day wasn’t even half over and already it was ranking right up there with the worst ever.

  * * *

  Dagan rubbed his jaw, watching Jadi storm off. He chose not to follow. The prince wasn’t going to abandon his friends or, probably more importantly, this ship. He recalled quite vividly how Jadi had longed for a ship, and the attachment he had to all his gadgets. After five years aboard the Ansata, Jadi would consider her a part of him.

  Assured his charge wasn’t going to disappear on him, Dagan turned to the captain and Rain. “I can’t allow him to be a part of this job of yours. And I’m certainly not going to be a party to it.”

  Torin crossed his arms across his chest. “Nobody invited you, bounty hunter. Jeret is a part of this crew and we need him. He already told you he doesn’t intend to go with you.”

  “Actually, he said he might like to see his father. Are you going to try and talk him out of it? Cost him the chance to reconcile with his dying father just so he can help you on a job that might very well get him killed? That’s how much your crew means to you, Captain?”

  As expected, the captain abruptly looked ready to follow Jadi’s lead with a punch to his face. Instead, Rain was the one who spoke, taking a step toward him.

  “You’re new here, bounty hunter, so I’m gonna let that slur on my husband’s character slide, but I’d recommend real highly that you don’t make the same mistake twice. We clear?”

  Dagan smirked. “Cute. Standing up for your man, I get it. But I’m here to do a job and until it’s done, I’m a burr under your saddle, cowboy. I suggest you get used to it, both of you, because we both got a lot to lose in this equation—and maybe Jadi’s the only thing any of us have in common.”

  “His name’s Jeret. If you want him to keep punching you, go ahead and keep refusing to acknowledge who he is now.” Torin strode for the stairs. “There’s a spare cabin. Rain, show our friend here where he can sit a spell while we figure out what to do.”

  Dagan shrugged, following Rain in the direction Jadi had gone, only instead of ending at the engine room, Rain led him to a small cabin, gesturing him inside. Dagan chuckled, looking back at Rain over his shoulder. “Do you think I’m an idiot? I go in there and that door’s locked before I can turn around.”

  Rain gave him a genial smile. “Maybe so. But what’s your other option? It’s this or get the hell off this ship without what you came for. I suggest you have a seat.”

  Dagan stepped backward into the cabin, lips quirking. “How do you know he doesn’t?”

  “’Cause if he did, you’d already be unconscious.”

  Dagan sighed at the door that slid into place between them, locking him inside. Unfortunately, Rain was right. He’d wait. This was his own fault for allowing them to catch him trying to nab Jadi, so now he had to try to salvage the mission. Stay as close to the prince as he could, even if that meant letting a bunch of criminals lock him on board their crappy little ship.

  He’d been in worse situations—getting Jadikira home was all that mattered, not his pride. Let Torin and Rain ponder the matter for a little while. The reward he’d offered to share just might turn them in his favor. Loyalty was something he’d learned criminals liked to think they had but rarely possessed. And if, by chance, Torin was one of those few? Well, then if he really did care for Jadi, he’d help Dagan get him home.

  Either way, Dagan won. That was all that mattered.

  Chapter Three

  “I gotta say, babe, I’m surprised at you.” Rain stretched out on the bunk, watching Torin get undressed. “I thought you swore after me that you’d have no more troublesome strangers on your ship.”

  Torin cast him a glare that Rain ignored. His husband was more bark than he ever had been bite. Not that his bite wasn’t pretty damn good. “This is different.” Then his scowl dropped and Torin sat down on the bunk beside Rain. “I always knew there was more to that kid than we knew. But I have to say, I never suspected he was a prince.”

  “Me neither.” Rain sat up, then raked a hand through his hair. “Why do you think he ran away? I mean, other than he’s trouble lookin’ for a place to land.”

  “I don’t know. He doesn’t seem averse to the idea of going back for a visit, it’s just the whole ‘come home and claim your rightful place on the throne’ that’s making him dig in his heels.”

  “So how come you’re helping that bounty hunter? Jeret don’t want to go back.”

  Torin reached up to tap the light panel, plunging the cabin into darkness as he stretched out beside Rain. “I’m not helping Dagan. I’m helping Jeret.”

  Rain frowned, turning onto his side. “How?”

  A deep sigh came from Torin’s side of the bed. “Jeret isn’t like us, hotshot. In a lot of ways, but most important—he has a family. One that wants him back.”

  Rain knew it was selfish, but he didn’t like that these people, who didn’t know anything about Jeret the way he and Torin did, were just going to swoop in and take him back without so much as a ‘Thanks for loving him and taking care of him.’ “We’re his family too.”

  Torin met his gaze through the shadows, a small smile curving his lips. “My softhearted hotshot. Look, I’m not going to help the guy drag Jeret anywhere against his will. But if there’s a chance that the kid can patch things up with his father before he’s gone, not only will Jeret regret it if he doesn’t, but do we want to be the ones stopping that from happening?”

  Fuck. Torin knew him too well. Because no way did Rain want to keep a father and son from reconciling on the man’s deathbed, for Christ’s sake. He sighed. “I hate when you’re right.”

  Torin laughed softly and tugged him down for a kiss. “It happens so rarely, according to you. Let me enjoy it.”

  Rain grinned and gave his husband’s lip a bite. “I’ll mark it on the calendar so you don’t forget the special day.”

  So they’d help. But Rain was going to make sure that it’d be Jeret’s final decision and the bounty hunter was just going to have to deal with that.

  * * *

  Jeret glared at the cabin door. The captain had locked Dagan in there the night before, but he hadn’t said anything about Jeret not opening the door. And dammit, he had things to say. So he took a deep breath and slapped his palm on the wall panel, eyes narrowing as the door slid up.

  Dagan stretched out on the bunk all relaxed. Gorgeous. Shit. Jeret scowled even harder.

  “Comfy?” he snapped.

  Dagan grinned. “Actually, yeah. Just waiting for your fellow criminals to decide the reward is too rich to turn down.”

  “If you think that’s going to happen, you’re an even bigger dumb lug than you look.” Jeret stepped into the ca
bin, then the door slid shut behind him. “I want to know why you’re really here.”

  Dagan sat up. It took all of Jeret’s willpower not to notice the way the other man’s muscles bunched and flowed. Okay, so maybe he noticed. It wasn’t his fault the freaking musclehead was wearing a shirt at least a size too small. “What do you mean? I was pretty clear why I’m here, Jadikira.”

  “Please stop calling me that. It isn’t my name, hasn’t been for years.”

  “Forgive me, Highness, it’s hard to forget the little boy who tagged along in my shadow. That Jadi I know. This Jeret? I don’t know him.”

  “That’s exactly my point!” Jeret moved closer, praying he could get Dagan to see reason. “You don’t know me. I’m not that boy anymore. I’m not the prince. I’m not my father’s heir. I’m not Hadrian’s freaking salvation, okay? I’m just Jeret—hacker, criminal, member of this crew. That’s all.”

  Dagan stood up. Christ, he filled the cabin, he was so big. “That’s not true. You’re more than that, you always have been. You can’t just hide from it. I’m evidence that the past won’t stay buried. So quit trying to plant daisies over it.”

  God, he was so frustrating. “You’re such a jackass. You come waltzing in here after a reward and you don’t give a damn about what I want at all. You haven’t changed a bit. Always your freaking ‘duty’ overriding everything else. Why do you think I had to run away like I did? Because you were my closest friend and I couldn’t even confide in you! You’d have sold me out to my father in a heartbeat if I’d told you I was leaving.”

  He’d wanted so badly to say goodbye. Dagan had been his friend, not just a silly crush he’d harbored, but a friend. But that friendship had limits, Jeret had known even then. Nothing got between Dagan and his goddamn honor.

  Dagan looked stung. Maybe he’d struck a nerve. Did the bounty hunter actually have feelings after all?

  “It’s not about selling you out, Jeret. My job was to keep you safe. Whatever the costs and whatever the threat.”

  “Including myself,” Jeret spat.