Survivor: Survivor’s Heart book 3: Planet Athion

by Cassidy, Debbie

  “Fine. We’ll eat, we’ll listen, but if we decide your proposition isn’t for us, then we walk. Deal?”

  We had no leverage here. Not really. If Braker wanted to kill us, to make us disappear, he could. We were at the center of his web, and like he’d said, he owned this port. But he’d loved a human, and he’d tried to save me. There was honor in this man.

  I couldn’t believe he’d force our hand.

  Braker pouted, as if mulling this over. “If you decline my offer, you can leave.”

  His smile was confident. He knew we had nowhere to go, and so did Tide, but that didn’t stop my Athion from making the deal.

  We took seats, us facing them at the long table.

  “Well, isn’t this cozy,” Xavier said.

  He seemed relaxed, but I knew him well enough to note the tension in his shoulders. He was ready to rumble if need be.

  Braker poured some pink juice into a long glass and passed it to me. “Try it. I believe it tastes of peaches. You have them on Earth.”

  I took the glass and sipped. Flavor exploded on my tongue. Yes. Peaches.

  My eyes filled with tears. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

  There it was, that sad smile again.

  Lore frowned and glanced my way. He was a sharp one, and he was probably picking up on the undertone here. The guys didn’t know about Braker’s past or why he wanted to help us. I’d need to make sure the decision we made was based on all the facts, which meant filling them in as soon as I got a chance.

  Beside me, Vex crossed his arms and sat back, legs splayed in a classic male pose that screamed he was perfectly at ease.

  “Well? Get to it,” he drawled.

  Braker took a leisurely sip of his drink. “The port is a steady source of income for the Crimson Hand. It’s a nice little nest egg. However, the biggest source of income comes from the bi-yearly pit fights and the gauntlet. At least it used to. Income is dwindling; people are getting bored of the same old fights and the same old challenges year after year.” He paused, and his gaze flicked to me. “I think we can change that.”

  I blinked up at him. “How?”

  “Your pit fight won the house more money than any pit fight these past few weeks.”

  Of course it did. People were betting on me to lose. “And?”

  “The gauntlet is a run where the contestants work solo to get from A to B. The live feed shows each contestant in the network beneath the Cogs. But I want to shake things up.” His smile was decidedly wicked. “I know the full extent of what you’re capable of. They don’t, so I want to pit you against the other contestants.”

  Wait, what? “You want me to play prey?”

  “Prey? You’re not prey, Rogue, but they won’t know that. You survive. You get to the exit, and you win. Simple. In the meantime, you put on a damn good show.”

  “You want me to kill the other contestants?”

  “I want you to do whatever it takes to survive. Take the deal to put on a show for me, and I’ll put you in the gauntlet. Otherwise, you’re out. Shipless and stuck here until your pursuers find you.”

  “No,” Vex said. “Fuck you.”

  But my mind was whirring. “You’d do that? After what happened to Elena? You’d let it happen again?”

  His face smoothed out, devoid of all emotion. “You’re not Elena. You’re not my problem.”

  “But I was enough of your problem for you to order a hit on my friends.” He arched a brow as my brain clicked and made the connections. “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? Whether the guys were with me or not. You planned to use me in your gauntlet …”

  So much for him being an honorable man.

  He was going to save me from the nasty Athions and use me in his games, but when he found out that they were on my side, he switched and brought them in, using them as leverage to get me to play his game. He knew I’d do it for them, for us.

  He was right.

  He shrugged. “Business is business.”

  His crew looked uncomfortable, and Larcen was blatantly staring at his boss like what the fuck?

  Tide shook his head. “No deal.”

  Braker ignored him, his attention on me. “Rogue?”

  I licked my lips. There was no other option. The guys knew it, but they were acting on instinct to protect me. It was up to me to do the right thing, the only thing that would get us off this port.

  “I’m in.”

  13

  “We need to leave,” Vex said. “I don’t trust that guy.” He paced the private quarters Braker had given us.

  Xavier was busy checking the room for bugs. Lore was sitting on the sofa, his expression thoughtful, and Tide stood by the holoscreen watching the pit fights depicted there.

  The quarters were large. A central room that acted as a lounge with bedrooms shooting off from it. Generous. But then, I was about to play prey in his gauntlet.

  One day.

  I’d be running the gauntlet in a day.

  Braker had promised to send me the specs and stats on the other contestants. The contestants that would be trying to kill me.

  “We’re clean,” Xavier said. “No eyes or ears in the room aside from our own.”

  “Here it is!” Tide was still staring at the screen.

  Larcen’s face appeared on the screen, and his voice echoed around the room as Tide turned up the audio feed.

  “Patrons, welcome to the fifteenth biannual gauntlet. This year, we’ll be doing things differently. Only six contestants have been handpicked by Braker Rock. Six of the best.”

  Pictures flashed up on it. All male. Huge, hulking, crazy, scary-looking creatures. Pincer guy was one of them. Five of them. My picture wasn’t there.

  Larcen grinned. “Yes, we seem to be missing a contestant, don’t we? And there’s a reason for that. Our final contestant is a key that unlocks a special prize.”

  My picture appeared, and underneath were the words

  Bonus 25,000 credits for the kill.

  Braker was offering the other contestants 25k just to kill me. So, even if they didn’t win the gauntlet, if they took me out, they still walked with something.

  I looked small. I looked insignificant. I looked like easy money.

  “Fuck this,” Vex growled.

  Tide turned off the sound, his shoulders tense. “Rogue. I don’t like this.”

  Neither did I, but it was our only way out of the mess we were in.

  “I don’t trust any of this,” Vex said.

  I stepped closer to him and touched his arm lightly. “I can do this.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut. “I need to get some air.” He strode toward the exit, where the doors opened with a swish, and was gone.

  We weren’t prisoners.

  There was a lift that led out to the main arena. We could still leave. But our problem was there was nowhere to go.

  The tablet on the table pinged with a message.

  Xavier ran a hand through his hair and then picked it up. “Must be the information on the other contestants.” He swiped right to unlock the screen and opened the message. “Fuck,” he said softly.

  I took the pad off him to study it closer, running my gaze over my opponents and their strengths and weaknesses.

  Pincer guy had skin as hard as a crustacean, but crustaceans usually had soft gooey insides if you did manage to find a weak spot and get in. There was a leather-skinned dude who secreted a hallucinogen substance from the pads of his fingers. Okay, so I needed to make sure he didn’t touch me. The other two were the same species, and they looked like twins. They had speed and flexibility listed as their strengths, but they were practically deaf. The final guy looked like a gooey blob—apparently, he suffocated his opponents. He also had an incredible sense of smell, but his eyesight was terrible.

  This was all good information, and I filed it away neatly for future reference.

  “You need to get some rest,” Tide said.

  He was right. I needed to recharge and be
ready for the gauntlet.

  I nodded and then headed for the nearest bedroom.

  “Lore, go with her,” Tide said. “You need to sleep to heal.”

  I held out my hand to Lore as I passed and tugged him to his feet. “I hope you’re a cuddler.”

  He smiled down at me, his ember eyes bright in his face. “I don’t know. But it will be interesting to find out.”

  * * *

  Lore lay on the bed fully clothed; the lights were low, and the temperature just right. I tugged off my boots and stripped down to my underwear before crawling up beside him.

  His gaze was hooded, but I caught the flash of hunger in his ember eyes, and my stomach flipped hard. He was still recovering. I needed to keep my hands to myself.

  I lay beside him, heart pounding a little too fast.

  The backs of our hands touched, and then he gently took my hand. “I won’t break.”

  I turned my head to look at him. “You’re recovering.”

  He reached out to cup my cheek. “Rogue, the fever from the infection is gone. The heat in my veins is for you.” He rolled toward me so that we were lying chest to chest, our faces inches apart. “Can I kiss you?”

  My mouth was suddenly dry. I nodded, breath coming faster, lungs tight as he tentatively, gently brushed his lips over mine. A low moan of protest broke from my throat. Another brush of his lips, firm and velvety.

  I fisted his shirt, my breath kissing his mouth. “Tease.”

  He kissed me again, smiling against my mouth. I flicked my tongue out to taste him, and he opened for me with a soft groan. The kiss was slow, leisurely, and exploratory. His tongue caressed mine, and heat bloomed between us, sweet and aching. It coiled in the pit of my stomach and throbbed at the apex of my thighs. Our mouths opened wider, deepening the kiss, pushing closer. Hands touching, sliding over fabric and flesh and grasping silken strands of hair.

  I’d never kissed anyone like this … This deep. This long, until my mouth was tingling, and shocks were skimming through my body, setting every nerve ending alight so that when he grazed his knuckles up my arm, my core clenched hungrily.

  “Lore …”

  He rolled on top of me, pressing me into the mattress with the heat and weight of his body. Legs twining with mine, the contact was like electric fire racing through my veins. I needed more. I needed his skin against mine. I needed to taste him. But there was no rushing Lore. He savored, touched, tasted, played until my body was wound up so tight, the tiniest push would send me hurtling over the edge, and only then did he shuck his clothes, rough and desperate, sending my heart racing even more because he was about to lose control.

  It was in the bunch of his shoulder muscles and the tightness of his jaw, and oh, fuck, he was beautiful. I ran my hand down his abdomen, down to the V at his hips and over the head of his arousal. He sucked in a breath as I made circles on the wet tip. His whole body tightened, and then a low, rumbling growl grazed my senses. His hands whipped up to pin mine to the bed, and our gazes locked. His ember eyes burned like flames in his head, chest heaving.

  “Please …” I arched my back.

  “Yes.” He entered me in one smooth thrust.

  My cry was cut off by his mouth, and then he was moving, thrusts controlled and deep as I gasped and moaned into his mouth. Our breath tangled, our bodies tightened, rushing toward the abyss together, and then we were falling into a surge of sensation, shattering together.

  Long minutes passed in silence, just our breath, just the quiver of our post-orgasm limbs.

  Lore raised his head, his eyes bright, his breath coming fast. “I love you, Rogue.”

  I cupped his cheek. “I love you too.”

  14

  Vex

  I stand outside the loaned quarters and take a shuddering breath. This goes against everything I am. To let her go into danger alone.

  But we all know there is no other way to protect her. If we don’t do this, we’re stuck on this port, and it’s only a matter of time before the Athion government or the Trads find us.

  I can’t think about what they’d do to her.

  This is a shot, and we have to take it, but everything inside me wants to take her and run.

  If only there was somewhere to run to.

  I need a drink.

  The bar in the pit is busy. It takes several minutes to get served. I need a quiet spot in a corner. I need a moment.

  The chair scrapes as I pull it out, but I’m in a gloomy spot, hidden from view, left alone.

  The drink burns a welcome path down my throat. Probably incinerating my insides. But it clears my head.

  We can do this.

  Rogue can do this, and then we’ll be free. Truly free. They won’t find us.

  A familiar voice grabs my attention. A voice saying my woman’s name.

  “—Rogue will succeed?”

  “Better if she doesn’t.”

  “You think he’ll keep her?”

  “I don’t know what Braker will do any longer. He’s not the man we used to know.”

  “If Rogue wins, then she’s a commodity. A fighter he can exploit on the other ports.”

  Other ports? What the fuck?

  “He wouldn’t … would he?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “And the Athions and the Trad?”

  “Expendable or leverage. Probably leverage. I saw the look in his eyes. He’s not intending to let them go. He just wants them to think they have a choice.”

  I down my drink and slip from the shadows. I need to warn the others.

  TIDE

  Vex paces like a caged animal. I can almost see the rage and anxiety rising off his shoulders.

  Of course, this is what Braker wants. I should have seen it coming, but still, it leaves me feeling sick. Why can’t they just leave us the fuck alone? Why can’t they leave her alone? Rogue deserves better than this. She deserves to be free.

  I turn to Xavier, who is suddenly tapping away on a tablet. “Can you hack into Braker’s system using the holotab?”

  Xavier doesn’t even glance up, but his smile is razor-sharp. “Already on it.”

  “We need—”

  “Network schematics,” Xavier finishes my sentence. “We need a map of the tunnels that Rogue will be in.”

  “We also need—”

  “Braker’s ship ID and docking bay details,” he finishes for me again. “Yeah, we need a way out, one that doesn’t rely on Braker keeping his bargain. His men may not know for sure what he plans to do, but the fact they doubt him is enough of a red flag for me. He may have loved a human once, but he doesn’t give a shit about Rogue. She’s entertainment, that’s all. We need a way to pull our baby out.” He swipes and then his face lights up in triumph. “Schematics. There are tiny access routes that run alongside the main tunnels. Maybe some kind of relief system or overflow system. I’m not sure.”

  “I can do it,” Vex says. “I’ll get her out.”

  “Yeah, meanwhile …” Xavier pulls up another screen. “Tide, Lore, and I will steal a ship.”

  The ID number of Braker’s ship and the docking station blinks back at me. We are snitches. This is what we do, and Braker doesn’t know the half of our skills.

  “We need to keep Rogue out of this,” Vex says. “If shit goes wrong, she needs to have her head in the game. To survive it.”

  “But it won’t go wrong,” Xavier says. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  15

  Marick

  The smell of smoke still lingers in my nostrils. Someone is after them, someone that isn’t me and isn’t an enforcer. Do they have her? I refuse to believe the bitch is dead. She’s too stubborn for that. There are no bodies on the ship, or so the enforcers say.

  They’re on the hunt too.

  I have to beat them to it.

  The hub is crawling with business, but this is where she would have come. To blend and hide. But where would she go from here?

  A shadow sweeps across the peripher
y of my vision. I spin in time to avoid being knocked over by a figure on a hoverboard. Anger races through my veins, and I leap forward and snag the back of the creature’s coat, pulling him off his ride.

  He hits the ground, stunned, staring up at me with flat, ugly features that make me want to vomit on his face.

  “Watch where the fuck you’re going.” I bite out the words.

  He holds up his hands. “Sorry.”

  I step back as he scrambles to his feet and reaches for the bag he’s dropped. Papers spill out. Posters with neat black ink.

  50,000 credits and a ship.

  “Wait.” I grab his shoulder. “Where is this?”

  He squints up at me and then down at my shirt, at the emblem that makes me look like an official of the Trad military.

  “Not for you.” He backs up. “Sorry.”

  Like hell. I move fast and block his path. “Where?”

  There is a flash of fear in his eyes, but then he stands tall. “Not for you. No officials. You won’t get in.”

  I smile down at him. “You can get me in.”

  “No.”

  “How much?”

  “What?”

  “You can’t be doing this job for fun? Hovering about and handing out posters. No one is stuck here for fun, so tell me, how much to make your life better?”

  His chest is rising and falling fast. “You pay me?”

  I nod slowly. “Ten thousand credits.”

  His eyes go round.

  I pull my holotab from my pocket. Rogue’s face glares back at me defiantly. The only picture we have of her, taken the day before I fucked her. The memory sends shivers of want over my skin.

  I lick my lips. “And if you help me find her, I’ll double the amount.”

  His eyes slip to the picture and widen a fraction. I know that look.

  It’s recognition.

  16

  The skintight suit Braker had provided was made of thicker material than the one I’d worn in the pit. It also had a mic built into it. The boots were lightweight, and they’d even provided gloves. The only part of me exposed would be my neck and face. Good if I came up against the guy with the hallucinogenic secretions in his fingers.