First Dimension

by Rebecca Royce

  “You have to admit, you’re purposely giving off a buccaneer look.”

  He frowned. “I am not. I’m dressed appropriately for a day at sea, that’s all.”

  She shrugged and hissed when the ropes at her wrist dug into her skin. Well, that would teach her to try to be flippant while she was tied to the mast. Her captor rushed forward and loosened the restraints slightly. Before she could help herself, she sighed with relief and then wished she hadn’t. If there was anything her father had taught her over the years, it was never let other people know you needed them. That gave them power over you.

  When he finally finished fiddling with her ropes, he stood up again. “So Ms. Pettigrew, as I was saying…”

  She interrupted him. “It’s Dr. Pettigrew.”

  “What?”

  “My name is Dr. Hadley Pettigrew. If you’re going to use a title, use the right one.” Normally, she didn’t care if someone called her ‘Hey you’ but right now it seemed hugely important he know who she was, and maybe it would also subtly tell the man that she was not connected with her father in any way.

  He nodded. “I knew that actually; guess I forgot. Fair enough, Hadley, we meant to kidnap Hailey. For that, I owe you an apology ,but unfortunately there is nothing to be done about it now. So it looks like you’re our captive.”

  Hadley swallowed. Given the choice, she would have preferred not to have been ripped from her ship but she certainly didn’t want Hailey taken either. Her twin sister was nothing if not hysterical during the best of circumstances. No, it was certainly better that it be her, if it had to be either of them.

  “Now what?”

  “Pardon me?”

  He seemed awfully polite for a pirate, or a kidnapper, or whatever he wanted to call himself. She suspected he hadn’t always been a bandit. In fact, he seemed more like a southern gentleman than anything else.

  “Now what do we do? Are we just going to sail around in circles until my father pays you the money you want? Because I must tell you this is highly, and I mean highly, disruptive to my work. I may never get another chance to actually see the giant squid as easily as I can right now. I’d really like to be returned to my ship as soon as possible.”

  “You’re looking for the giant squid in the northern Atlantic ocean? I thought they were off the coast of Japan.”

  Okay, so he was educated too. She made a mental note of that fact in case she needed to know it later.

  “That’s true, yes. The Japanese scientists did manage to get a photo of the squid in the Pacific waters. But there is every reason to believe the giant species is here, too. Just because they were the first to find it doesn’t mean that’s the only place it lives.”

  He nodded. “I see. So the fact we kidnapped you right now is a very bad thing in your perspective? Is that your point, Hadley?”

  She nodded. Something about the way he said her name made her stomach muscles clench. She had to admit, the man had a sexual chemistry she hadn’t been around in years. Under other circumstances, she would have sat across a room and quietly drooled over him for an entire night without ever having the nerve to approach him. Like she’d thought earlier, he was simply too tall to not be terrifying. At some point when he went home with someone else, she would have felt ridiculous and not gone out to another social event for months because of it.

  Coming back from her thoughts, she realized she’d been silent far too long, a problem she often had. Communication, especially with good-looking men, never came easily for her and this was obviously not going to be an exception to the rule. “Yes, it will make things extremely difficult.”

  “Good.”

  Hadley gasped. “What?”

  He laughed and this time it did not send shivers up her spine. “Let’s just say I intend to make it my business to make things as difficult for every member of the Pettigrew family as possible. We didn’t think we could get to you, Hadley, but now that we have, we’ll just consider it a gift of fate.”

  “Two seconds ago you were apologizing to me.”

  “That was before you told me my ‘get-up’ was akin to a pirate’s and showed me that it didn’t matter which Pettigrew sister we kidnapped—you’re both spoiled princesses too used to living off of Daddy’s money to know how to treat another human being with respect.”

  “How dare you lecture me on protocol and manners while I am strapped to this goddamn mast, you arrogant monster. You don’t know the first thing about me.”

  Yes, they’d been raised with money but if they hadn’t had each other than they would have had nothing more than that. Their mother had died giving birth to them and one string of nannies had come and go until they’d finally gone away to school. It had always made her crazy when someone presumed to know what kind of person she was based only on the external counting of her father’s money.

  “And thank God for that.” Her captor ran a hand over his stubble. “I know enough about your father to last me the rest of my life. I warned him this would happen if he didn’t stop the tests. I told him I would get my revenge and now I intend to.”

  A slow spread of dread filled her stomach and she wished she could cry. This man was after revenge. That meant he wanted so much more than money. She’d be lucky to get out of here unmolested. Hell, she’d be lucky if she got out of here at all.

  “So you’re familiar with my father, then.” She didn’t ask it as a question. He’d mentioned her father twice. There was no point in acting dumb about it. Her voice sounded strained and she hoped he didn’t hear it. She would never let him see her cry. Whatever happened, no matter how bad it got, she would never let him know. She didn’t have much control left, but that much she would keep.

  He nodded. “Your father and I are well acquainted, Hadley.”

  “Then he is more fortunate than I because you have yet to tell me your name” she responded haughtily.

  “You can call me Hawk.”

  Like the bird on his left arm. It somehow seemed appropriate for him. She could imagine him with black wings, flying high in the sky, above the clouds.

  She didn’t want to question him about his name. At this moment, now that she knew it, she didn’t want to know anything else about him. Ever.

  “Are you going to kill me, Hawk, or rape me, or do something equally awful to me?” She was sure there were more sophisticated ways to ask what she needed to know but right at that moment she could barely make her mouth open and close to say the words. If he thought she was old fashioned and pathetic, then so be it.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Where did you get a ridiculous idea like that?”

  “You just said you wanted revenge against my father. I don’t have to be terribly brilliant to know what that means. It makes sense that you would have wanted Hailey for that reason, too.”

  “You talk in so many circles, its making my head hurt.”

  He walked closer to her, standing well within her personal space. She tried to maintain the calm composure she’d promised herself but she feared the sweat that formed on her back had nothing to do with the heat of the sun and everything to do with terror.

  “No one on this ship is going to force themselves on you, Dr. Pettigrew. No one. I wish I could say you will be leaving here unharmed, but I never tell a lie. But I can promise you when your father comes to get you, you will be sexually unharmed. That much I can swear.”

  “What do you mean I won’t be unharmed?” Okay, now she truly was terrified. But at least she hadn’t cried. That was something.

  “It’s better if you don’t know. You’ll be less afraid that way.”

  She didn’t like the sound of that one bit. Her heart raced. “Hawk, please, whatever your fight is, it’s with my father, not me. I’m just a scientist in search of a giant squid. I’m nothing, nobody. I haven’t taken any money from my family in ten years. Okay—that’s a lie—there was that one time nine years ago when I let my father pay to get me out of this stupid company where I was supposed to be selling knives an
d I couldn’t stand it. He paid for the knives, but that was it.”

  “Sshh.” He placed a steady hand on her shoulder. “I just promised you that you would leave here alive and not be raped, isn’t that enough to keep you calm?”

  “No. You just said I would be harmed.”

  “We can survive anything, Hadley, I promise you that. If we live, we can survive.”

  There was no warmth in his eyes, no compassion, no understanding that what he just said would cause her any fear. It was more likely he did know and felt no remorse about it. “You’re a monster, aren’t you?”

  He nodded. “I am the man your father made me. My whole crew is.”

  Hadley looked up. Hawk’s whole crew, who she had not seen since they’d taken her that morning, stood staring at her. How long had they been there? She hadn’t heard them approach. Come to think of it, she hadn’t heard Hawk walk towards her earlier either. They must be the quietest sailors ever to grace the high seas.

  “Now, I’m going to untie you, then without causing any trouble you are going to take my hand. I’m going to lead you down below to your quarters where we all feel you will be more comfortable until tonight.”

  He leaned over and untied her restraints. She should do something. The women in the movies always knew just what to do to try to escape. But she wasn’t brave and she had no idea what kicking him in the balls would do to her situation. He’d already promised her pain and she hadn’t done anything but be compliant. How awful would this so-called pain be? She didn’t want to know.

  “Hawk, please let me go and I’ll make sure my father gives you whatever it is you want.” She was too close to begging and it felt pathetic, but really what did she have to lose?

  “Sorry, Dr. Pettigrew, but this is happening whether you want it to or not.”

  Chapter Two

  Hawk rubbed the bird tattoo on his bicep. It ached, but that was no surprise. Everything in his body hurt most of the time, and always would. Silent as the predator he was, he walked quietly in the dimly lit cabin to stare at Hadley. It was his cabin most of the time, but she didn’t need to know that. Despite what he was sure she was thinking about them, they weren’t monsters and he wasn’t going to tie her up in a jail cell. Not unless she became much more of a problem. So far, other than screaming and yelling—something he would have done much louder than she was if he was in the same situation—she’d been a relatively easy unwilling passenger on their ship. Even if she did try to run or claw at him he was fairly certain she could be easily restrained. It was better to simply leave her alone.

  She slept soundly, as though it was the middle of the night and not the middle of the day, and he doubted he could wake her, even if he did accidentally make some noise.

  He couldn’t blame her. She’d been through an ordeal and once left alone in quiet quarters, it was no shock she’d all but passed out on the bed. Rest was good for her right now; tomorrow she would need it, if she was to survive what was to come.

  He closed his eyes. How could they have made such a mistake? Or maybe it hadn’t been an error; maybe Jeremiah had led them to her on purpose. Even after all this time together as compatriots, Hawk knew he’d never truly understand the other man’s motivations. Maybe it was better that way.

  Hailey would have been a better choice. It had been clear Hadley led a productive life, which had surprised him. A member of the Pettigrew family who wasn’t devoting herself to the destruction of others was a rare find indeed. But now Hawk was going to end that usefulness and drag her into the unfriendly light of realization and pain.

  He shrugged. It was no less than her father deserved. Honestly, they could have done ten times more to her father—Zacharias’—family and it still wouldn’t have been proper retribution.

  Unable to resist the urge, he knelt down next to her bed and touched her hair gently. It was soft, just as he knew it would be. When was the last time he’d seen red hair this color? He smiled in the darkness as he realized exactly when he had last seen it. The few weeks he had escorted Annabelle across the Sahara on camelback. It had looked just like this.

  But it hadn’t been soft. No, they’d both been dirty and disgusting by the time they’d reached their destination. Plus, he had found out later she’d already gotten sick, although he hadn’t known it when they’d been riding around. He’d been too young to tell, too naive to know the difference. Pettigrew loved gene manipulation but his science was flawed. Eight generations to produce another redhead and this time the sick son-of-a-bitch had managed two at the same time.

  But Hawk didn’t get involved with the Pettigrew women anymore. He knew better. He would do this thing with Hadley and then he’d be through with them again.

  A loud buzzing in his ear made him jump up. Damn. He looked down at Hadley, who slept soundly still, and rolled his eyes. Of course, she couldn’t hear the sound. Why had he worried she would? Running out of the door of her cabin, he tried to keep his footsteps light. He closed the door behind him and listened for a moment to see if he heard movement from her, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

  He took the stairs to the deck two at a time and met Jeremiah at the top. Nodding briefly to the other man, he noted that Jeremiah had taken the afternoon to shave his head again. Someday he’d have to ask him why he bothered.

  Shaking off his brief interlude, he got right to the point. “Did you get buzzed?”

  Jeremiah shook his head and stared up the sky, worry passing over his blue eyes. “No, my prince. You did?”

  Hawk nodded. He wasn’t going to bother correcting the ‘my prince’ nonsense right now. It was pointless; his formerly blond-haired friend who was for today bald would never stop doing it.

  They were out there, and it was more than one. That Jeremiah, and most likely the others, couldn’t sense them yet didn’t mean he’d been wrong. It was just another example of how heightened everything had gotten lately, especially for him.

  Jeremiah barked orders loudly, instructing the others where they should be, what he thought was happening. Hawk reached out and grabbed his arm.

  “Protect the Pettigrew woman. I won’t lose her. We’ve come too far to turn back now.”

  The other man’s eyes widened and Hawk nodded. It wasn’t often he gave the other man such a direct order and he had no doubt it would be followed.

  Hawk strode to the center of the deck, deliberately putting himself out in the open. If they wanted him, he was there. He could feel his pupils dilate and he smiled. Oh yes, they were out there and he itched for a good fight.

  His youngest crewman, Stone, rushed towards him, grabbing his attention. “We took the wrong one, Hawk. Maybe we should give her back and go find the other.”

  He shook his head. “We’ll never find the other one. They’ll be gone forever now. Count on it. This is our last chance, period.”

  The air around him stirred and Hawk had two seconds to refocus himself before a gold streak of light shot in front of his face. Prize.

  He swung around and reached forward, grabbing what seconds earlier had been thin air but now contained the body of a man twice his size and weight. Hawk didn’t mind. He loved a good challenge.

  “Ah.” With every ounce of his strength, he pulled the newly arrived man into his body space. If Prize wanted a fight, he would get one.

  “I see you’re the same, Hawk.”

  Prize’s voice sounded gruff, it was almost hard to hear him, the result of part of a grenade landing in his throat years earlier. Hawk had been responsible for that incident and hearing the trouble Prize had to utter his words always brought a smile to his face.

  “I’m always well, as you know.”

  Hawk shoved the 300-pound near-giant backwards to get a better look at him. Same brown hair and perpetually tanned skin, same muscle mass, his brief inspection told Hawk nothing much had changed about Prize since their last encounter. That was good. It meant he still knew how to defeat him.

  His opponent raised his hands as if i
n surrender but Hawk didn’t let down his guard. He knew better. He’d been tricked too many times before.

  “I come as a messenger, nothing more.”

  “Funny, they’d send you to deliver a message, considering you can barely speak.”

  Prize narrowed his eyes, but didn’t move. Hawk suppressed his grin, knowing what the control cost his opponent. “They want her back. That is all. Give her back and we can return to normal.”

  Hawk shook head. Not this time, not again. “Sorry, I’m not sure to what you are referring.”

  “The Princess wants her back.”

  “She could care less and you know it. It’s been a long time since she had anything to do with her children. But good try, just the same. Tell Pettigrew he’ll have to do better than that.”

  “If you don’t give her back, we’ll take her back, by force.”

  “Ha.” Hawk laughed, he couldn’t help it. The ridiculousness of that statement was more than he could handle. “Am I supposed to be afraid of that, Prize? The only person here who could be harmed by that encounter is the very same woman you claim to want to rescue.”

  Prize moved forward, faster than Hawk could see but he’d anticipated it and jumped to the side. He lunged, colliding with the gold light as it streaked to the side. The impact forced Prize back into solid form as they both slid on the deck towards the guardrail and into the water.

  The freezing Atlantic surrounded Hawk’s body but he made himself hold onto Prize. He wouldn’t lose him just because he was cold. Wrapping his arms around the bigger man’s neck, he held on while Prize attempted to bring on the light he mutated into and resurface at the same time.

  They broke water together.

  Teeth chattering, he still felt victorious. “You can’t shift as long as I have you, Prize-my-man.”

  “I may not be able to shift to the light, but I can still destroy you.”

  Prize launched them both into the sky, forcing them onto the deck again, rolling them over so he landed on Hawk. The crunching sound was the only indication Hawk had that his right rib had broken before the pain laced its way through his body. He rolled left, ignoring it, as he tried to get the huge mass off him.