The doors opened with a swish, and I stepped out quickly, eager to get out of the box and the memories it evoked. They closed behind me with a soft hiss.
“Yep, it’s a human woman all right,” a deep male voice said.
I scanned the plush, amber-lit room, zeroing in on the bar that hugged the wall to the right, where several hulking figures were seated on high-backed stools sipping from glasses.
“You’re human, right?” The speaker was tall enough to use the stool merely as a butt perch; one leg was stretched out in front of him, the other braced on a metal spoke at the bottom of the stool. “Hey, you mute?”
I stared evenly at him, taking in his dark hair and swarthy good looks. “Are you Braker Rock?”
He grinned, showcasing gold-capped teeth that were startling against his complexion. “Do you want me to be?”
“Shut it, Jaron,” one of the other guys said. “You know you ain’t meant to mess with the contestants.”
This one was blond and blue-eyed.
They both looked human. Like the Trads did. Like Vex. But … My gaze dropped to the hand holding the glass. Metallic wrapped in some kind of translucent skin, and the first guy, the dark-haired one, had metal poking out from the V of his shirt.
They weren’t Trad, and they weren’t human. My curiosity was piqued. “What are you?”
Blondie arched a brow. “You don’t know?”
“If I knew I wouldn’t be asking.”
“Humans don’t get around much,” dark-haired guy said.
“Cybornex,” Blondie said. “The best of the best.”
Jaron pushed off his stool and strode toward me. “Almost human. Want to feel?”
I raised my chin to stare him in the eye. “Do you have balls?”
He blinked down at me, momentarily thrown, but then his grin widened. “Hell yes, we do.”
I canted my head. “Well, I suggest you back the fuck up if you want to keep them.”
Blondie made a choking sound that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
“A female who can resist your charm, Jaron.” The final guy in the trio spoke up.
I glanced at him, shaved, inked head, sharp hawkish features, and one eye that glowed eerily—mechanical maybe?
He smiled, close-lipped and ambiguous. “Braker’s through there.” He jerked a thumb to his left, and I followed the direction to see a closed door. “You best not keep him waiting. He isn’t the most patient of fellows.”
I stepped around Jaron and walked across the room to the door, hyper-aware of their attention on me.
Cybornex, Cyborgs? A meld of man and machine? I’d need to speak to my guys about them. Could they be trusted? Were they pirates like Braker had been?
So many questions and the man who could answer them was beyond this door. It opened as I approached. The room beyond was sparse and decorated in muted colors. There was a corner arranged with some seating, a bar, and a man. He stood with his back to me, looking out of a rectangular window.
The window we could see from the pits.
This was Braker Rock.
“Amazing, isn’t it? What any species will do for money?” His voice was gravelly, and his tone was jaded.
“Money can save lives.”
He snorted. “Is that why you’re here? To save lives?”
“Yes.”
He turned to face me, and I bit back a gasp. The left side of his face, from his temple slashing diagonally across his nose and under his left cheekbone, was metal. Smooth metal with one red, piercing, glowing eye. The right side looked human. Handsome even, and his thick chestnut hair that held a slight wave gave him a boyish air even though there was nothing remotely boyish about his presence.
His lips curved in a smile. “From the look on your face, you’re new to my species.”
“I’m new to a lot of things.”
“Human females are rare,” he said. “Unless they’re being kidnapped by Trads or seduced by Athions.” He spat the final word out as if it was a dirty thing.
“You have a problem with Athions?”
His lip curled derisively. “I see that you don’t. Your sweet kiss was broadcasted to the whole arena.” His human eye narrowed. “You’re out here, on a spaceport with an Athion. You’re either running to something or away from something, and the way you fight … No regular human fights like that.”
My scalp prickled. “I have skills.”
“You also have a beast inside you. I know what you are. You’re a one-percenter.”
Ice filled my veins. “What do you know about one-percenters?”
He was powerful. He knew about one-percenters. What’s to say he didn’t know about the warrant out for our arrest? I scanned the room, looking for a quick escape.
“I know what their drug did to them. I know what it wakes inside them, and I know not all one-percenters have the same beast. It’s different for you. I know they’re discarded by the Trads and wanted by the Athions.” Sadness crept into his eyes. “I know that once taken by the Athions, they don’t make it out alive.” He took a step closer. “Are the Athions making you fight? Using you? There’s more than one. Three Athions and a Trad.” He frowned. “Is the Trad a prisoner too?”
My pulse skipped. “How do you know all this?”
His smile was smug. “This is my port. I know everything. The Athions were flagged over a week ago, and the Trad not long after. I didn’t think too much on it, not until Vartin brought you in. A human female traveling with one of the Athions. So, tell me, what deal have they brokered with you? What have they promised? Because I can tell you, whatever it is, it’s a lie. They’re snitches that work for the Athion government. Their only goal is to take you with them and hand you over to die.”
My chest was tight as I recalled the moment Tide had admitted this. “I know.”
He blinked at me in surprise.
I smiled up at him, suddenly weary with it all. “That was their plan. It was why they rescued me from Vesper. But it’s not any longer. Now we’re running. From the Trads who suddenly want me back, and from the Athion government who wants to run tests on me. We need this prize to get away. This … coming here to fight, was my plan.”
His jaw flexed, and then he let out a humorless bark of laughter. “They went against their orders.”
I nodded. “They’re good guys.”
He puffed out his cheeks. “Well, fuck.” He tapped the area under his right ear. “Call off the hit on the blues. Change it to a retrieval.”
Wait, what?”
He smiled almost amiably as the door behind me opened and Blondie stepped in.
“Larcen, get some food sent up. We’ll be having guests soon.”
11
MARICK
The air smells of smoke and copper. Spaceport atmosphere. Heady due to the unique combination of gases mixed to cater to a variety of species. It makes me sick. I miss Trad air. I miss Trad soil. Vesper was meant to be a temporary position, but the powers that be left me there to rot. Maybe now, once I deliver Rogue to them, they’ll finally allow me to come home.
The spaceport has a record of a shuttle matching the Athion shuttle’s description docking two weeks ago. There are records of it being towed by the chop shop. But no records of any public or private transactions regarding a new ship in the last two weeks.
They’re still here.
She’s still here.
Excitement bubbles in the pit of my stomach, and my hands itch to touch her. To wrap around her throat and squeeze while I bury myself inside her. She will be mine, over and over again, before I deliver her to them.
She owes me that much.
I stand back in the shadows, eyes on the building where they sort space trash, watching the bounty enforcers exit the building. Talking to them is pointless. They won’t give out details on their warrants. But shuttles don’t just disappear. The Athions would have sold it or had it scrapped. And shuttles aren’t great sale items.
They came here.
/> I know it, and I’m going to find out where the fuck they went.
I duck out of the shade and stride toward the building. You can run, Rogue, but you can’t hide.
12
Larcen led me back into the room with the bar, and the other guys sat up with interest.
“Well?” Jaron asked him.
Larcen shrugged. “I got to order food.”
Red-eye studied me. “You’re not an Athion captive?”
I shook my head. “The Athions are my … mine.”
His frown cleared.
“They broke protocol,” Braker said from the doorway to his watchtower. “I guess some snitches have hearts.” His smile was sad. He turned away and stepped back into his room.
The door closed on him.
I was so confused. How did he know so much, and why did I get the feeling this was personal?
Larcen had stepped away, a finger pressed to the spot behind his right ear as he rattled off what I assumed was a food order.
I looked to Jaron. “I don’t get it. You guys are pirates, right?”
Jaron’s mouth turned down. “Most of the time.”
“We take a sabbatical for the gauntlet,” Larcen said. “A month of respite from pillaging. This here is our port.”
“Braker isn’t retired?”
Jaron snorted. “Like hell. You don’t retire from the business. You live it, and then you die in it.”
“And are all pirates like you?”
Jaron grinned. “Handsome and sexy?”
I arched a brow. “No, cybornex.”
His face fell. “No. Just us. We’re the last of our kind. The rest of the crew are an eclectic bunch.”
So, they pillaged and then spent a month encouraging people to fight. “I don’t get it. He ordered a hit on my guys … To protect me? Why? Why does he care?”
There was a deep silence which red-eye broke with a ragged sigh. “Elena. That was her name. A one-percenter like you. Trads dumped her on a mining asteroid, just fucking abandoned her like trash. The asteroid wasn’t even manned by living creatures. Machines mined the ore and shipped it out. If we hadn’t landed there to liberate some of the ore, she’d have perished.”
“Fucking feisty, she was,” Jaron said.
“Braker lost his heart to her,” Larcen continued. “Elena was good for him. She was one of us. And then she was gone.”
Elena … a one-percenter, like me? “What happened?”
“We stopped off at a spaceport to grab supplies,” Jaron said. “Elena liked to cook, strange dishes from Earth. She had the damn kitchens in the main ship kitted out to her liking.”
“That stuff she made, the stew …” Red-eye shook his head with a fond smile on his face.
“Delicious,” Larcen agreed.
Jaron cleared his throat. “Anyway, we left her with her spice list. We were supposed to meet back at the docks, and she didn’t show.”
“Snitches picked her up.” Larcen’s tone was bitter.
“We had no idea why,” Jaron said. “No idea Athions would want an infertile female abandoned by the Trads. But they did.”
Red-eye picked up the story. “Braker went nuts. He pulled all the strings to get communication with the Athion government, even offered his service to get her back.” His lip curled. “They turned him down. So, we infiltrated. But we were too late.”
My hand flew to my mouth because I knew what was coming.
“We found samples of blood, hair, and a video chip containing her final moments. She was emaciated. Skeletal. Strange sores covered her body and her hair … she was gone. A month and they’d turned her into the living fucking dead. Braker watched them euthanize her on the video clip.”
My eyes burned, and I blinked back tears. “They used her and killed her.”
“Yeah, and that’s exactly what they’ll do to you if they get their hands on you,” Larcen said. “So, you better be sure about your guys.”
Poor Elena. And this was what had been in store for me if the guys hadn’t changed their minds, if we hadn’t connected the way we had.
I took a shuddering breath. “I am. I’m sure. We just need a ship, that’s all.”
The lift opened, and Tide stepped in. “Rogue.”
I rushed toward him, and he wrapped me in his arms. “I’m okay.”
His heart beat fast against my chest. “What the fuck is going on?”
I looked up at his tense jaw to note he was addressing the cybornex, not me.
Another door to the left opened. I hadn’t noticed it before, probably because it blended seamlessly into the wall. One of the pale, long-limbed creatures pushed a huge silver trolley into the room.
Larcen waved a hand toward the food. “How about we get comfortable? Your friends will be here soon, and then we can get down to business.”
Business?
What the heck was he talking about?
* * *
Anxiety thrummed beneath my skin, and my gaze kept flicking to the lift. The food smelled divine, but there was no way I was touching anything until Vex, Lore, and Xavier were here.
What if Braker had been too late?
What if his minions had already carried out his orders?
Tide sat beside me, his body tense, ready to fight. The cybornex were completely relaxed, though, eating, drinking, laughing, and then Braker’s door opened and he sauntered in.
“Your friends are here,” he said.
The lift opened, and Vex strode in. His shirt sleeve was torn, and his knuckles were grazed. Lore and Xavier entered behind him, looking like they’d just stepped out of a tussle.
My heart leaped into my mouth as Vex’s gaze zeroed in on me, and then we were both bridging the distance between us. He swept me up and held me tight, his face buried in the crook of my shoulder.
I breathed him in, smoke and sweat and him.
“Hey, leave some for the rest of us,” Xavier drawled his usual line.
Vex ignored him, tucking me into his side and fixing his gaze on Tide. “Are you fucking insane? What were you thinking bringing her to a place like this? After all she went through on Vesper. You want her to relive that shit?”
Tide stared levelly at him. “Trust me, it wasn’t an easy call. But we were out of options.”
“We could have figured it out,” Vex bit out.
His body was vibrating with the need to do violence. I placed a hand on his chest.
“This was my idea.” I looked up at him, into his amethyst eyes. “Tide and Lore lost their jobs. The enforcers were coming. We were out of time. We had to do something. This prize money can save us all.”
I gave him the facts. Simple and short. He pressed his lips together, the rage in his eyes dimming a little. Vex was protective when it came to me, but he was also a man of logic and cunning. It’s why he’d survived on Vesper for so long, it’s how he’d succeeded in saving me from Marick.
“Hate to say it,” Xavier said. “But she’s right, Vex.” He looked to Tide. “The enforcers came looking for us at the dump. We got out just in time.”
Tide nodded at Xavier’s statement but didn’t take his eyes off Vex. “Are we good?”
Vex’s arm tightened around me. “Yeah…Yeah. We’re good. But who the fuck are you?” His gaze trailed over Braker’s guys and his body seemed to expand, ready to counter whatever was thrown at him.
“We mean you no harm,” Larcen said evenly.
“Is that why you sent men to kill us?” Xavier asked dryly. “Funny way of extending an invitation.”
Larcen had the grace to wince. “We had reason to believe you were planning on hurting the human female.”
“Your Athion government likes to experiment on one-percenters,” Jaron said wryly. “And The trads use them for breeding. See where I’m coming from?”
“You were protecting Rogue.” The heat went out of Vex’s tone and the grip on me eased a little.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Xavier said to Vex. “You’ve had your
hugs.”
Vex reluctantly released me, his eyes on the cybornex.
Xavier hugged me hard and quick, then studied my face. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Did their people come to the ship?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Once the enforcers hit the dump, we headed home, and just as well we did.” He glanced back at the lift, and my gaze slid to Lore.
Lore was pale and looked like he was about to fall over any minute. Shit. I moved quickly to slip under his arm, taking his weight and leading him to the seats.
“Sit.” I lowered him onto the bench. “I’ll get you some water.”
Lore grabbed my hand. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
I smiled down at him, then leaned in and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Me too.”
Braker entered the room. “Touching.” His tone was dry. “Considering you had originally planned to ship her to Athion to play lab rat.”
It was Xavier that answered. “I guess you’re the boss?”
Braker poured himself a drink. “I run things, yes.”
“Look,” Xavier said. “When it comes to Rogue, we had a job to do, but we decided not to do it.”
“No one hurts Rogue,” Vex said. “No one hurts her and lives.”
Braker studied Vex with open curiosity. “A Trad protecting a human female. That’s a first.”
“We fought on Vesper V together.” I handed Lore a glass of water and faced Braker. “Vex saved my life several times.”
Vex wrapped an arm around my waist again, and I placed a hand on his pectoral to let him know I was good, that it was okay, but his amethyst gaze was hard and unforgiving as it remained on Braker.
Vex’s eyes narrowed. “If someone attacks me or mine, I retaliate. Hard. The only reason you’re still standing is because your intention was to protect Rogue.”
Braker smiled. “Good to know. But I see now, she has all the protection she needs. Sit. Eat. I have a business proposition for you. One that could prove lucrative for us all.”
Xavier and Lore exchanged wary glances, but it was Tide who responded, stepping back into his leader role.
Survivor: Survivor’s Heart book 3: Planet Athion Page 5
