by Tana Stone
Max knew Holly was known for her love-‘em-and-leave-‘em approach to men. How would that play out, now that she was locked into an arranged marriage with a total stranger?
“So now what?” Danica’s question brought her back to reality and the sounds of Mourad’s crew getting closer.
“You go,” the chancellor said, waving at his soldiers to follow him. “My warriors will hold them off.”
K’alvek shot Kush a glance, took Danica’s hand, and began running with a small group of Dothveks surrounding him. She watched as Bexli and Caro took off in a different direction with their complement of Dothveks.
“That leaves us,” Tori said, nudging her in the shoulder. “Ready to run like hell?”
“Ready,” Max said, as Kush took her by the hand and their group began sprinting away from Mourad’s ship and toward the edge of the desert. His touch restored her sense of calm, but worry still niggled at the back of her mind.
Tori and Vrax, the Dothvek with long, loose hair, ran in front, keeping pace with each other and shooting occasional glares back and forth. Two additional Dothvek warriors flanked her and Kush, their pace never faster or slower than theirs. Behind them, the sounds of blaster fire made Max turn her head.
“Don’t look back,” Kush told her. “Don’t ever look back.”
Her dress, which had been so voluminous, was plastered to her legs by the blood rains. In the light, she could see that the pale blue fabric looked like it had been through an actual bloodbath.
Max hiked up the dress until the mass of wet material was bunched around the tops of her thighs, and her legs were free. It was hard enough to keep pace with the huge Dothveks and their long, muscular legs without a ridiculous dress in her way. She would be glad to get back into some sensible clothes, although by the looks of Danica’s outfit, sensible meant lots of leather.
Kush glanced down at her exposed legs and grunted his approval. She felt a flash of his arousal.
“Now is probably not a great time,” she said, through short gasps of breath.
They dodged sparse, scraggy clusters of bushes, and the ground started to give way to slabs of rock and stretches of soft sand. Max wished she were wearing more than a slip of a dress as the suns blazed down on them, the temperature increasing as they approached the golden, shimmering dunes. At this rate, her skin would be fried before they reached the desert.
The distance between them and Tori and Vrax began to lengthen, as her legs burned. Max pressed a hand to her side to keep the shooting pains in check, but soon she was slowing even more. Shit, she wasn’t even going to make it to the desert.
Without a word, Kush scooped her up into his arms and continued to run, making up the gap between them and Tori and Vrax. His legs pumped hard, and he ran faster now that he carried her. The other two Dothveks by their side did not break stride once, the blades in their hands reflecting the sun’s rays in sharp bursts.
So, he’d been slowing his pace to match hers, she thought, feeling a rush of warmth that he’d never let on until he had to. Usually, Max would hate the idea of being carried by a man, but she didn’t mind with Kush. It didn’t hurt that they were running for her life, but she realized she didn’t mind a lot of things that would normally irritate the hell out of her.
She didn’t mind him taking charge. She didn’t mind him being better at something than her. And she’d liked him taking charge when he’d claimed her.
His steps faltered, and Kush almost fell forward, righting himself and looking down at her with a startled expression.
She clamped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, did you hear that?”
He held her closer, giving her a predatory grin. “I am glad you do not mind, little one.”
Well, shit. She needed to watch what she thought from now on, unless she wanted him stumbling around in shock all the time.
“I can feel your mind much clearer now,” he explained, his voice coming out in quick bursts. “Since I claimed you.”
Max knew that should have freaked her out, but it didn’t. She liked the fact that their bond was stronger, and she loved feeling his throbbing desire for her.
“Have I mentioned how difficult it is to run while your body is pressed to mine, little one?” he said, softly enough that the two warriors to their side could not hear.
She imagined that running with a hard-on, especially one as huge as his, must not be pleasant. Her body heated at the thought that he was hard for her, and heat pulsed between her legs. Cool it, she told herself, before you make him fall again.
He chuckled low. “Thank you.”
“Almost to the jebels,” a Dothvek shouted over his shoulder, as a group of furry, camel-like creatures came into view. They stood on the edge of the desert, ropes dangling from around their thick waddles. They had spindly legs with knobby knees, and seemed completely unconcerned by the creatures running full speed toward them.
As Tori and Vrax drew even with an outcropping of rocks, a pair of soldiers Max recognized from Mourad’s crew stepped from behind them. Bile rose in her throat as she remembered the one with a buzz cut and tattooed neck backhanding Danica when they’d boarded the bounty-hunter’s ship. She’d still been the captain’s captive at that point, but it had taken her all of two seconds to realize she didn’t want to be taken by that guy.
Tori skidded to a stop, and Vrax caught her before she fell. With a single smooth movement, Kush swung Max down and tucked her behind his considerable bulk. The two Dothveks moved to his side to shield her. It was too late.
“Nice try, barbarian,” Tattoo Neck said, his voice rough. “We’ve come too far to let that little bitch hide from us any more.”
Kush bristled, his anger rising as he held her in place at his back. Max didn’t move, but she could see through the sliver between his back and his raised arm.
“You’ll have to go through us, asshole,” Tori said, sweeping her hair pins out of her mass of curls and assuming a fighting stance, the sharp steel glinting in the bright sunlight.
The warrior beside her flashed his curved blades and couched low, ready to strike. “All of us.”
“I don’t think so,” Mourad’s other crew mate said, leveling his blaster at Kush’s heart.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kush sized up the distance between him and the armed aliens. Too far for him to reach them with his blades before they cut him down. The warriors on either side of him shifted and growled low in their throats, reminding him that he was not alone in his fight to protect his female, and that each of his Dothvek brothers was willing to fight to the death.
“I don’t want you to die for me.” Her voice was small and muffled from behind him, but he could hear the fear in it, and his heart squeezed in response.
“I have no plans to die, little one,” he told her. “Or to lose you.”
“Hand her over and we’ll let you all walk away,” the alien with thick markings along one side of his neck said, grinning and exposing a mouthful of heavily gapped teeth.
Kush knew it was a lie before he even reached out to sense the alien’s intent. They would take his female and then they would kill them all. Their hatred for the females oozed out of the creatures like blood from a wound.
“You must think we’re as stupid as you look, asshat,” Tori said, smiling back at him.
The pair took a moment to understand her words before swinging their blasters in her direction.
“I would say ladies first,” one of them said, “but you’re no lady.”
Tori laughed. “You got me there.”
Before they could fire, she flicked the hair pins down sharply, embedding one in each of the aliens’ feet. They bellowed in pain and rage, and everyone else flew into action.
Vrax ran forward, his loose, dark hair flying. He skidded to the side in front of the bounty hunters and sent a hard spray of sand flying up into their faces. They spluttered as they swiped at their eyes, unaware that the Dothveks who had been flanking Kush were now running at
them from both sides, blades extended.
The tattooed bounty hunter ripped Tori’s pin from his foot, jabbing it at the warrior who approached him and making the Dothvek dodge to the side. The other Dothvek slashed at the alien who was still trying to free his foot, a cut opening in his arm and blood spurting onto the sand.
Kush spun on her, pushing her toward the jebels who still appeared to be unconcerned by the screaming and running. “Go! Ride as fast as they will go. They know their way home. I’ll catch up.”
She floundered forward, her blue eyes wide with alarm as she looked back at him. When he saw that she’d started running toward the furry animals, he pivoted back around. He had to keep the enemy distracted and give her time to escape. Once she was far enough away on the sands, the alien bounty hunters would not be able to catch up on foot. They might be big and bulky, but they were not used to the brutal heat of the dunes.
He ran toward the fight in a zigzag pattern and kept his arms tucked in close, making himself harder to target. His heart hammered in his chest as he watched the enemy recover from their initial confusion and begin blasting. Searing heat scorched the top of his peaked ear, and he rolled forward, somersaulting across the soft sand and coming up underneath the fray.
Tori had retrieved one of her sharp, blood-tipped sticks, and slashed viciously at the thick-necked alien, making it hard for him to focus his blaster. The shots he fired off went wide, and he roared in frustration as he tried to avoid her jabs at his chest.
The other bounty hunter clutched his wounded arm as blood seeped through his fingers and splattered the sand below, leaving dark patches. With his one free arm, he shot at the Dothveks, who used their arched blades to block the blaster fire as they moved closer.
Vrax hoisted him up from the ground, and Kush bent low and rushed the bigger of the two males, knocking him to the ground. The blaster flew from his hand and into one of the nearby dunes, sinking almost instantly beneath the powdery surface. So much for turning his weapon on him. He guessed he’d have to beat him the traditional way.
Winding his arms tightly around the alien’s chest, he pinned his arms to his side and squeezed. The male reared back and butted him in the head, making him loosen his grip and black spots dance in front of his eyes. When he was flipped over, Kush landed nimbly on his feet and twisted quickly to avoid being tackled.
From the corner of his eye, he saw his little female pulling herself up onto one of the jebel’s backs using the rope around its neck. She cast a longing gaze at him before leaning low over the animal and kicking its side to urge it forward.
He felt a rush of pride as he watched her move easily on the jebel’s back as it began to amble across the sands. She was getting away. He knew the jebel would instinctively return to the Dothvek’s oasis village, which was where he’d find her when the battle was over. If he survived, he reminded himself as he heard the grunts of fury from the alien who’d picked himself up from the sands and was barreling toward him.
Tori flew in front of him, tackling the male before he reached Kush. There was no time to thank her, as he felt another hot blast narrowly miss his shoulder. The other alien was still firing, holding off the Dothveks with an unrelenting spray of blaster fire that they were ably deflecting.
As he watched, a blaster shot ricocheted off one of the flashing blades and struck Vrax’s arm. He screamed in shock and pain, and Tori whipped her head toward him, which gave the brutal alien just the opening he needed. He knocked her off him with a cruel backhand that sent her spiraling into the sands, her needle-like sticks cartwheeling through the air and then arrowing into a dune.
Another scream told him one of his Dothvek brothers had been hit, and when he turned, he saw the warrior sprawled on the ground, his eyes wide and unseeing. Rage bubbled up in his chest, and he swung himself around for another attack.
“I wouldn’t do that,” the bounty hunter with the blaster said, standing over an unconscious Tori and aiming for her head.
Kush stopped. Max would never forgive him if he let her crew mate be shot. He backed away from the tattooed alien and motioned for his warriors to do the same.
He let out a heavy breath. At least his female was safe. At least she’d gotten away.
“I’ll come with you if you promise to let her go.”
Kush didn’t need to turn to know who’d said that. He would know his mate’s voice anywhere.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Max’s legs were like jelly as she walked across the uneven sands to reach them. The two bounty hunters from Mourad’s crew were heaving ragged breaths, their faces red and dripping with sweat. One clutched his bleeding arm and the other had a gash across his forehead, and neither looked pleased.
Tori began to move, sitting up and touching a hand to her temple where a pink knot had already started to bloom. When she saw the blaster aimed at her head, her shoulders sagged, although her expression was still deadly.
“No.” Kush’s voice was a strangled croak as he turned, his face contorted in pain she knew was not a result of his bruises. Dark hair hung in his face, his braid having been pulled loose in the fight, and a smear of blood marred the dark tattoos covering his chest.
She walked to him, reaching up and stroking one hand down the side of his face. Even bloody, with rivulets of sweat trickling down his forehead, he was still the sexiest guy she’d ever laid eyes on. Her guy, she thought, her heart contracting as she locked eyes with him.
“You can’t,” he whispered. “I won’t let you.”
“I have to,” she said, trying to sound braver than she felt. “This is the first time I’ve ever been a part of a group. I’ve spent so long on my own that I forgot what it was like to have friends and to care about people. It feels really good.”
“Then stay with us.” Kush’s eyes flitted toward the bounty hunters. “We’ll find a way out of this.”
She let her hand fall to his chest, and she pressed it to the hard muscle, savoring the solid feel of him and the comforting thump of his heartbeat. “Not without others getting hurt. Holly already sacrificed herself for me. I won’t let anyone else do it. Not if I can stop it.”
“Let’s go, doctor,” one of the bounty hunters said, laughing as he emphasized the word. “My finger’s getting itchy over here.”
Max glanced at the blaster aimed at Tori and saw the Zevrian’s lip curl up in a sneer as the man spit out a mouthful of blood that landed near her leg.
Tori pushed her dark curls out of her face and smiled up at the guy. “You sure it’s not just mange?”
Max fought an impulse to laugh. Even when she was down, the security chief wouldn’t let anyone get the last word. She wished she’d gotten the chance to know Tori better. She wished she’d had more time with all of them, especially Kush.
He closed his hand over hers, wrenching her attention back to him. “Please.”
The single word was like a vise around her heart. She knew her leaving would hurt him—she could feel the waves of his pain already—and tears stung the backs of her eyes. But she had no choice. Her giving herself up was the only way to ensure that no one died for her. She could live knowing that they were all still safe. Even if she was alone again and trapped who knows where, it would be enough to know that her bounty hunter friends and the barbarian warrior who’d stolen her heart were safe.
“It will not be enough for me,” he told her, reminding her that her thoughts were no longer hers alone.
“But they’ll kill you all until they get me,” she said. “You know they will. I’m worth too much for them to ever give up.”
He pressed his lips together in a hard, white line. She knew he’d sensed as much from the enemy bounty hunters to know she was right. They were willing to cut down anyone they needed to in order to get to her, and she was not about to let that happen.
She blinked away the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks and shatter her resolve. “If you’re all alive, maybe one day you can find me. Danica and her cre
w tracked me down once. I’m sure they could do it again. But first I need to get these guys away from here.”
“You are tougher than you look, little one.” He cupped her face in one palm, using his thumb to brush away a tear that had escaped out of the corner of her eye. “I swear on the goddesses that I will scour the skies for you. I will never give up. You will always be mine.”
His promise made her smile. From any other guy in the galaxy, it would have sounded like the cheesiest line ever. Coming from Kush, she knew it was a solemn vow.
She lifted herself up on her toes to kiss him, and he met her with a soft brush of his lips. Even the slightest touch made hot pulses ricochet through her body, her lips opening to him as her fingers buzzed. His kisses were drugging, as was the energy that flowed through his body and into hers, and when she finally pulled away, she wondered if she’d ever feel anything as wonderful again.
With an irritated exhalation, one of the enemy bounty hunters snatched her by the arm and tugged her away. She reached for one final touch from Kush, but her arm was jerked hard and she stumbled, her knees scraping the sand.
She tried to meet Kush’s eyes, to tell him it was okay, but it was too late. With a bellow, he lunged at the alien dragging her, his eyes burning with rage.
Time seemed to slow as he pulled back his blade to strike, the steel glinting in the brutal sunlight. His eyes flared with fury and then surprise as a shot of blaster fire exploded across his shoulder, spinning him around before he landed facedown in the sand.
“No!” Max screamed as she watched him drop, clawing at the bounty hunter’s meaty hand clamped on her arm.
The thick-necked man standing over Tori swung his blaster back to her after shooting Kush. Shock had contorted her face into a furious scowl, and she looked coiled to strike, the muscles across her shoulders bunched.
