He wrapped a hand around her ankle, trying to pull himself away from the cage in a belly crawl. “Get him off! Get him off.” Red faced, he screamed.
Samantha’s gaze shot to Mercury. Reaching out of the cage, he gripped one of Resler’s legs. Resler kicked his free leg back toward the bars, but he couldn’t connect with Mercury and his kicks weren’t well-planned enough to get any momentum pushing off the cage. He was doing more thrashing than anything. Mercury jerked Resler back and used the bars to wrench his leg. The sickening snap of bone blurred with the sound of Resler’s high pitched squeal and, suddenly, her ankle was free. Over the din she heard the slap of feet running toward the hold. She hadn’t bothered to close the door and the noise must have carried through the corridor to Drake. This was only going to get worse.
“Wait!” She leapt toward the bars and fell to her knees to get down to where Resler and Mercury were locked in violence. “Mercury, stop.”
His eyes snapped up to her and his lip curled in a snarl.
Her heart pounded in her chest. He could easily release Resler and rip out her throat. Taking a chance, she stretched out a shaking hand and laid it over his.
His hand jerked, but he kept his grip on the still squirming Resler.
“Drake is coming,” she said. “Please, you have to stop.”
Gaze still locked on her, his grip eased but he didn’t release Resler completely. He breathed hard, nostrils flaring, body still taut and ready to fight.
Samantha spoke softly, “Resler, be still.”
“Fuck that. Get him off!”
“Shit.” Drake’s muttered curse echoed weakly from the hatch. Samantha kept her eyes on Mercury but spoke to Drake. “Come get your man, Mr. Drake. And,” she said, deliberate and even, “don’t bring any weapons over here or make any threatening moves.”
The cargo hold had gone eerily quiet with only the sound of the men panting from exertion and Drake’s boots as he strode across the floor then came to a stop at Resler’s head.
Samantha slipped her fingers under Mercury’s wrist and slid them along the heated skin, stroking gently over the large artery. His nostrils flared in response. For an instant they were back in that moment when she’d first laid eyes on him. When he’d pressed his nose against the same spot on her wrist. It had been a moment of trust. She’d trusted him, now it was his turn. “Please,” she said. “Let go.”
His hand eased away and Drake pulled Resler free. She knew Mercury could change his mind and grab her at any moment, but she refused to show her fear.
She glanced over her shoulder as Drake hauled Resler up, arm over his shoulder, and to his feet. “Take him to the med-bay. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Drake looked grim as his attention darted from her to Mercury and back. “I’m not leaving you in here alone.”
Slowly she edged back away from Mercury’s cage then stopped. “I’ll be fine.”
He huffed. “Don’t be long.”
“I won’t.”
She watched until they disappeared through the hatch then she scooted forward and wrapped her hands around the bars of Mercury’s cage. She looked for signs of injury. There were plenty of scars, but nothing that looked new. “Do you need medical attention?”
He stared back, chest rising and falling on deep labored breaths. She wanted him to trust her more than made sense. He had no reason to trust her and every reason to be angry at the world. She didn’t expect stopping Resler’s attack to change that.
“One look and I should’ve known you’d be trouble.” She bent her head on a sigh. She noticed the stun-stick had fallen, or more likely been pulled, into the cage. It lay a few inches inside.
Still on her knees, Samantha met Mercury’s gaze and edged her hand between the bars. Staring back at her, he seemed unaware of her reaching for the stun-stick, but the moment she touched it his hand manacled her wrist. She waited, heart in her throat, for him to break her arm or hurt her, but he knelt there motionless.
Samantha swallowed, pushing her sand-dry tongue against the roof of her mouth. “You know they won’t let you keep it. Keeping it will just give them an excuse to hurt you again.”
His grip flexed, but he made no move to let her go.
“I’m not going to hurt you. Stars,” she cursed. “That’s the last thing I’d want to do. There may be nothing I can do about you being in these cages, but I’ll try to keep you safe as long as you’re on board.”
Mercury’s grip eased and Samantha slowly pulled the weapon between the bars.
“I know Resler is scum, but try to avoid drawing his attention, okay?”
Mercury said nothing. Big surprise.
“You probably didn’t do anything this time, did you? Why would you?”
She’d accepted that Mercury wasn’t going to speak. She’d been talking more to herself than to him, but it was Diablo who finally answered.
“He did it to draw Resler off Carn.” His voice made her think of the rumble of an approaching sand storm. “He’s still weak from our last fight in the arena.”
She hadn’t bothered to check the others. Stupid. Carnage lay limp on the floor of his cage. She rushed over and reached in to check his pulse.
Diablo snarled and growled. “Don’t. Touch. Him.” He’d followed her as she moved past his cage to reach Carnage. His command turned into a steady snarl, but he didn’t make a grab for her.
Samantha held his gaze. “I’m not going to hurt him.”
Carefully she pressed her fingers to Carnage’s neck. His pulse was steady under her fingers. She remembered Resler saying something about Carnage’s whore. He must have been taunting him about their mate. Did these men really share one woman? He’d said Carnage’s whore not theirs. Maybe Owens had it wrong. “I think he’s just out. If he seizes or doesn’t come around soon, call me. Okay?”
Diablo quieted. He tipped his head and his ears flicked. The very un-human gesture made her pulse race more than his growls.
She struggled to her feet, legs feeling rubbery and started for the door.
“How?”
Samantha spun around. Mercury was on his feet, watching her with those stormy eyes. The one word had sounded dragged past his lips.
His gaze flicked toward Carnage and back. “How do we call you?”
Her cheeks felt tight, a smile barely contained. He might be stubborn but the other two men meant more to him than his pride. “Just say, emergency response.”
“Emergency acknowledged.” The ship’s computer spoke in cold metallic syllables.
“Cancel emergency response.” She went back to his cage and picked up the stun-stick she’d forgotten in her concern for Carnage. “When the ship responds like that you can talk to it the same as you would talk to a person. It’ll understand and respond. Within limits. Got it?”
Instead of answering he pushed his hand forward. He pressed his palm high on her chest, warm fingers spreading against her bare flesh. Her shirt had torn at some point. She knew the skin there would have flushed golden during the fight, but it should have returned to normal.
Mercury’s thumb traced her skin, leaving a trail of heat. “The color changed when you were angry,” he grumbled softly.
Samantha grit her teeth and counted in her head until her breathing slowed. Maybe Resler and Drake hadn’t noticed. A lot had been happening. She brushed his hand away and smoothed the fabric back into place. “I’d explain, but I don’t have time to give you a Cirrillian biology lesson.”
Mercury released her, only to palm her cheek. “You were injured protecting me.”
She knew there’d be a bruise across the cheek where Resler had hit her, but she might get lucky and avoid the shiner. She shrugged. “You returned the favor so let’s call it even.” She should pull away from his touch, but there was something soothing about the heat of his palm on her cheek. Such gentleness from a man capable of terrible violence.
“No,” he said. “We’re not even. This was not for you to do.”
> “I only did what you did for Carnage.”
“Pack protects pack.” Something dark whipped up the storm in his eyes before he pulled away and his gaze slipped to the floor. “You’re not a part of our pack. This wasn’t for you to do.” He wouldn’t meet her eyes. Grief or guilt? “Stay away from us.”
His rejection caused an almost physical pain. Silly. Angry, she bit back her urge to shout, igniting a fresh wave of pain in her cheek.
When she’d calmed, she spoke through the pain. “You’ll find I’m not so great at following orders.”
CHAPTER FOUR
The Dove
Earth Alliance Beta Sector
2210.149
Before going to see to Resler, Samantha stopped at her quarters to change shirts. If she’d gotten lucky and Drake and Resler hadn’t noticed her Cirrillian coloring, she didn’t want to risk another incident. Once her color had come up it was always easier to trigger it for a while. The two Roma men had a knack for making her angry.
By the time she got to the cramped med-bay, Drake had the other man stripped down to his briefs and feeling no pain. Eyes glassy, he barely registered her entry, but Drake didn’t miss a thing. His eyes cataloged her from the toes of her boots to the fresh shirt and pearlescent salve she’d spread across her cheek.
“You okay?” His voice sounded oddly soft with none of the usual swagger and cockiness. His sincere concern was the last thing she needed when she wanted to hang onto the rage fueling her.
Samantha nodded to give herself time to swallow and work up enough moisture in her mouth to speak. “I used the med-kit in my room. It’s not bad. How is he?”
“Better than five minutes ago.” Resler was half sitting on the med-bed that had adjusted to something between standing and sitting to make it easier for him to climb on. With a grunt of effort Drake managed to lift Resler’s legs onto the bed and push the man back into a seated position. Resler was too out of it to help. Drake had to shove the man’s hips to get him properly positioned in the bed.
“What did you give him?”
“A standard blocker. Nothing that will interfere with anything we have to do to treat the leg.”
There was disapproval in his eyes. He probably figured she’d leave him suffering given the choice and maybe he was right. “I was more worried about mixing a pain killer with the liquor in his system.”
Samantha pressed the med-bed control to get the man laying flat then reached for the sensor array mounted above the bed.
“I should take a look at that cheek.” Drake reached for her but she turned to block him.
“Really, I’m fine.” She forced a tight grin onto her face and tossed a look over her shoulder. “Can you take the other side?”
Drake moved around the bed then helped her pull the array down and over Resler’s legs.
Resler lurched up and grabbed Drake’s hand, stilling his progress. “You make sure it gets done right. That bitch will leave me crippled, if you leave it up to her.” There was drool at the corner of his mouth, negating the effect of the threatening tone.
Drake nodded and moved Resler’s hand back to the bed.
Samantha pressed a sensor to his neck. “Lucky for you this is a pretty sophisticated med-bay for such a small ship. The equipment will be doing most of the work.”
Drake pulled the mender out of its clearly labeled slot in the low ceiling above the med-bed, then positioned it over Resler’s leg. Samantha could tell by the chime it made that there was a problem.
Drake studied the mender’s interface screen then looked up. “Have to reposition the bones first.” The words were said almost under his breath. If he’d waited on the pain killer they could’ve done a general anesthetic.
Samantha didn’t have much sympathy for Resler, but cruelty was beyond her. “We could give him a scrubber to counter the painkiller and the liquor.”
Drake shook his head. “He’ll pass out when we get started.”
Together they followed the mender’s guidance to realign the cracked bone. Drake turned out to be right. The first time he put tension on Resler’s leg, pulling it out straight, the brute went under.
Samantha looked across the mender to this pragmatic and efficient Drake and wondered where this side of him had come from. “You’ve done this sort of thing before.”
“So have you.” He answered with no bravado, no swagger.
After the craziness of the last hour Samantha struggled to adjust. “Basic medical is part of my training.”
“That’s right.” Drake nodded. “As pilot you’re responsible for the lives of everyone on board.” He recalled her words with no venom or rancor in his voice. His eyes were on the screen. Without his perpetually sly look to harden his features, he seemed almost handsome.
It was a rare moment when she could genuinely say she didn’t mind talking to him and she needed to smooth things over. It only made sense to try to make conversation. “So, where have you done this sort of thing before?”
He spoke without looking up. “I was born in the Mitna Refugee Camp on Denver3.”
“That’s attached to a mining colony, right?”
He made an mmm of agreement. “What medical care we had access to came at a high price—a debt to the Directorate—and that meant a stint in the mines.”
“So how did you end up with Roma?”
“I hopped freighters for awhile. Working in trade for transport and board. Landed on Roma and never looked back.”
His gaze lifted.
“If you focus on your job and get us where were going without any more of this kind of shit—” He waved a hand at Resler’s mending leg. “Owens will compensate you well and you might even get a hand-up. The man has a lot of allies.”
Not friends, Samantha noticed. He hadn’t said Owens had friends. But then she’d lost her friends in an instant, so maybe she was the fool. “If I try to explain what happened, we’re only going to argue.”
“Probably.”
“The man was drunk, Drake. You need to get him under control.”
“You don’t get it, Sam. Resler wasn’t the problem here, you were.” His glaze flicked to her bruise with a surprisingly concerned look. His lips turned white from being pressed together before he went on. “If you hadn’t interfered, no one would’ve gotten hurt.”
“Except Mercury. And Carnage.”
The mender’s task complete, the screen went dark. Drake moved around to stand beside Samantha as she guided the mender back into its storage slot.
“I don’t want to fight, Sam. I don’t want any of this keeping us at odds.”
He reached for her wrist and brought her hand up as if he meant to press a kiss to her knuckles or maybe tug her in for something more. Stars, where had he gotten the idea she wanted any part of that? And why did it seem so offensively presumptuous when Mercury’s touch that first day hadn’t bothered her at all?
She tugged her hand away and tried to sound sincere. “Drake, I’m flattered, but—”
Cruel arrogance swept back onto his face as if the nicer Drake had been a holographic mask, easily dismissed. “Do you know what my job is with the Dogs, Sam?”
She had to think a moment, all the way back to Sevti’s introduction. He and Resler hadn’t talked much about their work in the time they’d been onboard. At least not in front of her. “You’re a trainer.”
“That’s right. So, I know what I’m talking about when I tell you Mercury can take a lot more that Resler could dish out with a single stun-stick. The Dogs are tough bastards and Mercury is too well-trained to fight a guard.” He huffed out a breath and shook his head, clearly realizing that recent events had disproven his assertion. “At least he never would have before.”
Samantha took a breath and turned away to adjust the settings on the med-bed. “You’d expect him to just take the abuse?”
“It would be the smart thing to do. It would be over quicker that way and there’d be no repercussions. I chose him you know? Chose to work wit
h him. Because he’s smart. Aggressive, tough, but also trainable. I had to bust my ass to keep up with him. To find new tactics to keep them alive and winning. I researched military and history vids for hours every night. You have no idea how much I hate fucking history.”
For a moment Samantha entertained the notion that maybe he cared for the Arena Dogs, that maybe he believed he’d been helping them. When she turned back around, he’d propped against the wall and his attention seemed to be focused on the past.
“I spent the last five years of my life working with those Dogs and they had to fuck it all up. Fuck up everything I worked for. Fuck up my career.”
No. She hadn’t been wrong about Drake. This was a man who saw only his own interests. Cared only for his own wellbeing. He would never have compassion for anyone or anything that stood in his way. Samantha watched him shake off the barely-leashed rage and head for the doorway.
And for once she showed prudence and kept her mouth shut.
When the hatch opened, Mercury was prepared to repeat his edict for the woman to stay away and he was oddly disappointed when it was Drake that stepped inside. Her willingness to stand-up to Resler on his behalf confused him. He could see no purpose to it, if she was allied with the whip-masters. A game? But why? She’d stopped him from doing more damage to Resler. But she’d seemed to believe she was protecting him. She’d rushed Resler like a young warrior, all courage and no thought for her own safety. He shook his head and studied the cold eyes of the whip-master.
If she was not allied with Drake, she was in danger and her failure to recognize the extent of the masters’ cruelty only gave him more reason to warn her away. Such ignorance was dangerous for her.
He got to his feet slowly, watching the whip-master’s hand tighten around a dart gun. Carnage panted heavily, sprawled across the floor of his cage, still hurting from the effects of the stun-stick on his healing internal injuries. With no food or medical care and nothing but abuse since they’d been sentenced to death, his injuries where healing more slowly than they should. In the cage beside him, Lo’s muscles tensed. Mercury knew his pack brother was fighting against his fear. Lo feared almost nothing.
Stealing Mercury (Arena Dogs Book 1) Page 4
