Hunters

by Michelle Marquis; Lindsey Bayer

  He rolled without much resistance and even allowed her to tie his hands. They made love for hours, each one blending into another until Harmony couldn’t keep her eyes open. She fell into an exhausted sleep in the blanket of Tanner’s arms with thoughts of Prime all but vanquished from her mind.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The comm. was going off for the third time in a row, its insistent buzz forcing Tanner out of Harmony’s arms and into an evil mood. He went to the computer, wondering if Edna was calling him over and over again to ask about their progress. If it was her, he’d really be pissed. He’d already told her they were on their way back with the skip. He squinted at the screen, adjusting the waistband of his briefs, and read the message. It was Edna all right, but she wasn’t asking about Marz. Her message was something a lot more serious and unexpected.

  Harmony’s father had died.

  Tanner hated to be the harbinger of bad news but this couldn’t wait. This was too important to leave until Edna could break it to her. He’d need to be the one to tell Harmony.

  Lying down next to her, he pulled Harmony into his arms and kissed her softly to wake her.

  Harmony groaned and stretched. A private grin stretched her lips. “Hello,” she said groggily.

  Tanner nuzzled her ear. “Hello. I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

  She sat up and blinked at him with those stunning copper eyes. “Someone’s caught Prime.”

  “No. Your father died.”

  Harmony stared at him blankly as though she didn’t understand what a father was. Finally, after several long seconds, she said, “Oh, that’s too bad.”

  Tanner had expected a million emotional responses, but that one took him by surprise. “That’s too bad?”

  Harmony shrugged. “Yeah.”

  She peeled herself out of his arms, grabbed a towel and headed to the small shower in obvious retreat from the conversation that was sure to follow. Her naked body was long and lean with a surprising amount of muscle. He wasn’t a fan of small breasts, but he loved hers. They were round and plump and fit her frame perfectly. She made him harder than hell and he couldn’t imagine changing a thing about her.

  She disappeared into the shower stall and he felt a moment of disappointment that he couldn’t join her. There was barely enough room for one adult, let alone two.

  Then he returned to her odd statement. That’s too bad. What the hell did that mean? Your parent died and all you could say was that’s too bad? Tanner tried to imagine what he’d be feeling if he heard that his own father had died. The thought made his chest tighten and his eyes burn. He pulled his pants on and waited for her to come out a few minutes later. The glass door whined open and she emerged towel-drying her hair.

  “Did you have a problem with your dad?”

  Harmony’s brow wrinkled. “No.”

  “You don’t seem very sad he’s dead.”

  She shrugged. “I guess I’m not. We weren’t really close.”

  “Did he hurt you in some way? Maybe mistreated your mother?”

  “No and no.” Harmony hung the towel up and grabbed a clean pair of underwear from her locker. She slid them over her shapely legs until they covered the silken curls of her sex.

  His tongue tapped his top lip, remembering how decadent she tasted. His lust was roaring to life but he forced himself to stay focused. “Are you happy that he’s dead?”

  She laughed and it sounded tight and high pitched. “Of course not.”

  “But you’re not sad about it.”

  “Does this conversation have a point?” she asked, pulling her T-shirt on.

  Tanner shook his head. “I guess not. Anyway, your mother wants you to attend his memorial service. She’s scheduled it for the day after we get back.”

  Harmony’s lips thinned into a straight line. “I can’t. I have to continue my pursuit of Prime.”

  Tanner couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was she really going to pick a bounty over her father’s memorial service? Unreal. “I seriously hope you’re just shitting me.”

  She stared at him, her face unreadable. “I’m not going to the memorial service. I have to catch Prime.”

  “Fuck Prime,” Tanner snarled. “Don’t you ever think of anything but the fucking cockroach that got away?” He launched from the bed and charged her, stopping only inches away. She folded her arms but didn’t flinch. “That hydrocore has become an obsession with you. It’s all you think about. Every time I look over at the computer console there you are obsessively resubmitting tracking icons and printing out endless reams of reporting sheets. Seriously, Harmony, I’m starting to worry about your state of mind.”

  A muscle moved in her jaw and her eyes bled venom. Then she erupted in a fit of fury that surprised even him. “My state of mind? What about your state of mind? How dare you try to order me to attend my father’s service. If I don’t want to go then that’s that, and it’s none of your damn business. Let’s get one thing straight right now, you don’t tell me what to do. Not now and not ever!”

  She grabbed her pants and pulled them on. “And another thing, I’m sick of you sweating and panting all over me every time you get a little stir crazy. Next time you’re feeling romantic, try using your hand because I’m done with you!” She stormed to the rear of the ship, slamming the hatch behind her.

  Tanner stood there, spent and stricken, his heart pounding a savage rhythm. It had happened. The worst thing he could imagine had finally happened and now he was totally fucked. His plan for revenge had backfired. He was in love with her. Really, hopelessly, and completely in love. He knew from the way his soul twisted like an injured animal that he was lost. Lost in the torture and limbo he knew was coming but could not face.

  Tanner had fallen in love with her and, with very little effort at all, she had gutted him. He couldn’t let things stay like this—he had to make things right, even if he had to swallow every ounce of pride he had.

  He came over to the hatch and opened it cautiously.

  “What?” she snarled.

  He came in quietly and sat down in the chair across from hers. She glared at him with red-rimmed eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t order me to do anything,” she said angrily.

  Tanner held up his hands as if she were pointing a blaster at him. “Okay. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t you ever tell me what to do! No one tells me what to do.” She was losing steam with every word she uttered.

  He nodded. “I know.”

  He reached for her and pulled her into his arms. She stiffened at first then relaxed, resting her head on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a long time, holding each other in the vast emptiness of space, and he was the happiest he could ever remember being. That was when Tanner knew he was more lost than even he had realized.

  Harmony was the first woman he had ever truly loved, and when she finally left him, which he was sure someday she would, he would never love another woman as deeply or desperately as he loved her.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Damn good job!” Edna said, meeting them in the Galaxy Recovery hangar. “I knew pairing the two of you up was a great idea.”

  Harmony gave Edna a thin smile. Tanner dragged Marz off the stolen ship and hauled him over to where the women stood. The fugitive glared at Edna.

  “Where do you want him?” Tanner asked Edna.

  “Just put him in one of the holding cells. Prison officials will be by to pick him up within the hour.”

  Tanner disappeared through the sliding door that led to the rest of the compound.

  Edna began walking back to her office and Harmony fell into step beside her. It was now or never. She’d better tell Edna her plans or the old woman might get some other mission in her head. “I’m going to fix my ship and go after Prime.”

  The bondswoman stopped and gave Harmony a strange look. “Did you get my message about your dad?”

  “Yes. Tanner told me.”

  A liquid
frailty came into Edna’s eyes Harmony had never seen before. “And you’re not planning to attend the memorial service?”

  Great, somehow Edna was taking this personally. Harmony averted her gaze from the old woman. She resented feeling the need to explain herself. “My father and I were never close.”

  “You should still make an appearance at his memorial service,” Edna said, that old iron tone returning to her voice. “It’s the right thing to do regardless of how you felt about him.”

  This was emotional blackmail. Fine. If everyone wanted her to go, she’d go. But she wasn’t staying long. Harmony bared her teeth in a smile. “Okay, I’ll stop by there. But I’m going to need to borrow a ship. Mine’s still out of commission.”

  “Tanner can take you,” Edna said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I already asked him and he doesn’t mind.”

  A bonfire of rage tore into her gut. What the hell was everyone’s deal lately, making decisions for her? “I don’t want him to take me.”

  Edna gave her a hard stare. “Why not?”

  “Because we don’t get along.”

  “He seems to think you do.”

  “Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, Tanner assumes a lot.”

  Edna dug a bit of food from her front teeth with her thumbnail. “I can take you then.”

  The knot inside her loosened but she was still annoyed. “Why won’t you just loan me a ship so I can go alone?”

  “Because I don’t trust that you’ll actually go.” Edna turned her back on Harmony and continued toward her office. “I’m taking you but you’re going to have to break the news to Tanner. He’s probably in the bar. Come by my office when you’re done and we’ll head out.”

  Harmony went into the dark one-room bar and spotted Tanner nursing a drink. He was also smoking a cigarette, which surprised her. She’d never seen him smoke before. She came over and sat on the stool next to him. The smoke stung her eyes. “Can you put that out please?”

  Tanner crushed it out in the glass ashtray. He ran his fingers through his hair.

  “Listen,” she said. “I appreciate you offering to take me to the memorial service but I’ve asked Edna to instead.”

  His eyes slid over to her and they were full of tense anger. “You never answered a question I asked you a while back.”

  “What question is that?”

  “When I fuck you, do you like it because it’s good sex or because it’s me giving it to you?”

  The bartender cleaning glasses nearby glanced at them and grinned. He folded up his rag and slipped off to the back room.

  Harmony frowned and shrugged. “I like it because it’s good sex.”

  Tanner sipped his drink. He was resonating with an unspent fury, and as much as she knew she should walk out, she just couldn’t.

  “You know how the Kirillians train you to fight?” he asked.

  Harmony’s breath froze in her chest. This was dark territory she didn’t want to venture into. “I’m not that familiar with the practice of—”

  “They beat you daily in captivity. Sometimes with whips, or hoses, or even with their bare fists, until you either fold up and pray for death or you turn into a wild animal. Every morning I’d wake up and try to think of some reason to keep on living until, in the end, the only thing that kept me alive was hate.”

  A blade of pain stabbed her heart. The thought of him in such a hopeless place was agony. “Tanner,” she said, trying to keep the emotion out her voice, “this isn’t about you and I really don’t want to hear—”

  “After they let me go,” he continued, “I thought hate was the only emotion I was ever going to feel again. I unleashed it like a mad dog, letting it kill and maul every skip I caught. I fucked and killed my way through five years of my life feeling nothing. Then I met you.” He tossed back the rest of his drink and a small muscle twitched by his left eye. He slammed the glass down on the bar. “You, a goddamned Kirillian, with all of your fucking obsessive attention to detail and your slick, hot lust. And I fell in love with you.” He shook his head with a bitter laugh. “And you can’t even tell me if it’s me that gets you hot or if I could be swapped out for any store-bought vibrator.” He stared down at his empty glass brooding.

  Harmony was stunned by his emotion as a lump formed in her throat. How she hated when he was raw and open like this. Why couldn’t he learn to hide his emotions like everyone else? Swallowing the rock in her throat, she took his face in her hands and turned him to look at her. His gray eyes were the color of dark steel. Something inside her was tearing and ready to give way. “You can take me to the service but you are forbidden to aggravate me. Deal?”

  He gave her a soft and gentle kiss that made her heart ache. “Deal.”

  “And as far as the sex goes,” she said, running her fingers through his hair, “I love the way you touch me and I have from the first time we slept together. Does that answer your question?”

  Tanner pulled her into a possessive embrace, nuzzling her neck. “Yeah, baby,” he said warmly. “It answers a lot of questions.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The memorial service was held at a universal sanctuary hidden in the lush forest of Harmony’s home city of Sola on Kirillia. She and Tanner arrived ten minutes before the service and settled into a back room while the caretaker rushed around arranging chairs.

  From a crack in the door Harmony could see a large picture of her father hanging on the wall behind a table filled with his research awards. Her throat felt tight and dry. A soft recorded piano piece flowed through the room, giving it an unquiet melancholy like a phantom looking for the light.

  Harmony eyed Tanner. He had tried to wait for her on the ship but she’d insisted he come. He was the one so adamant about her attendance at this farce. Well, he could suffer with her. She’d made him dress in some clean black jeans and a gray T-shirt but it was no use. He looked every bit the bounty hunter he was with his heavy muscular build and all those dangerous-looking tattoos. Her mother was going to have a field day with the both of them.

  Tanner paced the room like a caged felon, pausing here and there to stare out the window. “When is this thing going to start?”

  Harmony was just about to remind him that she hadn’t wanted to come in the first place when her mother walked in. Kira Knox was a tall, broad, severe woman with tiny hazel eyes and a no-nonsense attitude. Her long black hair was tied back into a tight braid and, in contrast to her daughter, she looked very much like a Kirillian woman.

  She was dressed in a plain gray dress and wore flat black shoes with white stockings. She could have passed for a matron in a mental ward. “Hello, Harmony.” There was a frigid sterility to her tone.

  “Hello, Kira. How are you doing?”

  Her mother nodded stiffly. “I’m managing, thank you.”

  Harmony gestured to Tanner. “May I introduce Bart Tanner? He’s a colleague of mine and was good enough to give me a ride here.”

  Her mother’s eyes narrowed. “I assumed in your profession you would have your own ship.”

  “I do but it’s currently being serviced.”

  “Do you have the money for that?”

  “I make a good living, Kira. I can take care of myself.”

  “I see.” Her mother fixed her beady gaze on Tanner. She advanced on him like a cat stalking a bird and Harmony knew he was unnerved by how close they were in height. Her eyes scanned his muscular arms. “What interesting tattoos you have, Mr. Tanner.”

  He flexed his chest and gave her a wolfish glare. “They’re souvenirs from my Kirillian enslavement a few years back. My captors used to call me the Barracuda.”

  Kira lifted her shoulders in a dismissive shrug. “How unfortunate for you. Slavery is a regrettable but necessary byproduct of our cultural superiority.” She turned her attention to Harmony, her eyes sweeping down her daughter’s attire in another critical assessment. It was obvious she didn’t approve of what she saw. “Luckily you don’t hold a grudge over
your confinement, Mr. Tanner. If you did, I don’t imagine you would be friends with my daughter. Unless things have changed for her over the past few years, you’re probably her only one.”

  “We’re not friends, we’re lovers,” he corrected.

  Kira’s mouth twisted into a nasty smirk. She puffed out a short burst of air from her lungs that exited her nose. “Really, Harmony, is he the best you could do? Surely you could have found someone closer to your own species.”

  Tanner clenched his fist and glared at her.

  Harmony stepped in front of him to block his view. “Please don’t get into it with her. You’ll be giving her exactly what she wants.”

  Kira gave him an evil smile and Harmony knew her mother was actually enjoying this. “You’re so quick to anger, Mr. Tanner. I can see why the nickname. I apologize if I offended you.”

  “Yeah, well that’s what happens when you’re kept like an animal in a Kirillian fight camp for two years.” Tanner turned to Harmony. “Is this really your mother?”

  Harmony’s stomach twisted, filling her with a sick nervousness. All she wanted was to get this ceremony over with and get the hell out of here. “The ceremony is starting.” She pushed Tanner into the mourning room and away from her mother.

  The piano piece was replaced by another selection of old, tuneless music that played quietly in the background. Two people passed by her father’s picture and placed red cylindrical discs on the table beneath it. A few of her parents’ colleagues stopped in and said a few meaningless words of condolence.

  Her mother took a seat near the front and Harmony sat next to her out of habit. The whole service from beginning to merciful end seemed to last an eternity. All in all, she only counted five people who actually came in and sat. Five people who cared enough to stay after a lifetime. Interesting and very telling. Her parents weren’t exactly loved by all. That was how it was with most of the elite research scientists. They were so busy obsessing over their experiments that they spent little time socializing. It was a cold existence and Harmony was glad she had taken her leave of it. Tanner was the first person to get up and escape outside.