by Layla Nash
The ship had quieted, though voices bounced and echoed more the closer she got to the loading bay. None of the Sraibur crew were visible as she peered into the red-lit gloom, but some sort of arm had been extended out into space. Violet clenched her jaw and lifted one of the long-range stunners from the wall as she approached the cavernous space. She was accustomed to the ramshackle, haphazard hold in the Galaxos, so the sleek emptiness of the Sraibur’s bay took her by surprise. Of course, with them being pirates, she shouldn’t have wondered why they’d need so much extra space. For the loot, of course.
“What do you mean, there’s nothing of value?” a loud voice demanded off to her right, and Violet jumped in surprise.
Wyzak growled in irritation and strode to a control panel on the far side of the bay, jabbing commands into it with his back to her. He spoke into the comms device attached to his shoulder. “I told you the chances were slim on a cargo transport like that. Just settlers? What the hell are we supposed to do with them?”
A muffle response came back; Violet edged closer to overhear, trying to decipher the few Xaravian words she could pick out. It was definitely Faros, though, no doubt in the lead for all the pillaging of an innocent ship.
The pirate captain said something about the ship’s propulsion system, then the machinery creaked and moved around the transport arm. Violet brought the stunner rifle up to her shoulder. Maybe this was a perfect chance for her to escape. Jumping onto a ship full of settlers bound for ungoverned space seemed like a relatively safe option.
She stepped out from behind the wall and circled closer to the transport arm. She needed to run across as quickly as possible, before Faros and the others reached the Sraibur, otherwise they could disengage the arm while she was in it. And dying horribly in the vacuum of space wasn’t on the short list of ways she imagined her life ending.
It took Wyzak quite a while before he noticed her; the big Xaravian jumped, his scales rattling and turning brilliant red, and reached for the stunner in his belt.
Violet shook her head and gestured with the rifle. “Don’t even try it, big guy. Toss it over here.”
The red deepened and grew tinged with a little yellow and green—maybe amusement? She’d never been great with the scale colors. She knew what blue and purple meant but never expected to see that on a Xaravian looking at her.
Wyzak sighed and folded his arms over his chest. “How did you get out of your quarters?”
She gritted her teeth against the irritation that he didn’t even take her seriously when she held a powerful weapon trained on him. Violet assumed they had a pretty good medical bay on the state-of-the-art ship, so she shrugged and zapped him in the shoulder. Wyzak staggered back, expression comical in its disbelief, and the scales flared through a whole rainbow before settling on a red so deep it looked black.
So that was the color of rage.
The Xaravian clenched his hands into fists but didn’t bother to look at his shoulder. “Look, Earther—”
“Put the stunner on the ground and kick it to me,” she said calmly. She couldn’t afford to lose her head. Let him become incoherent with rage. She had a plan and he wasn’t about to distract her from it. “The next shot won’t miss your hearts.”
“They’re on their way back,” he said, moving his hands to keep her attention. “In a few ticks, you’ll have the rest of the crew behind you and Faros will have to deal with you in an... extreme manner. Go back to your quarters and I won’t tell him what happened.”
She didn’t believe him for a second. Violet backed toward the transport arm, careful to keep most of her attention on the tricky Xaravian. “I’m getting off this ship.”
Wyzak sighed, raking the hair back from his face with his uninjured arm, then glanced at someone behind her. “Are you going to talk some sense into her?”
Violet froze as powerful hands gripped her shoulders and Faros said, “What an unexpected... surprise.”
She cursed and swung around, clubbing him with the rifle to get more space as the rest of the crew stopped short around him. She hated that her hands shook as she aimed at him. “Get out of the way. I’m leaving and you’re not going to stop me.”
His silver eyes gleamed predatory and unnerving in the reddish light, and as he took one step toward her, Violet reconsidered Wyzak’s advice to return to her quarters. Maybe it wasn’t too late to just... run.
Chapter 12
Faros
They’d run across the cargo transporter not long after Faros had finished his workout and returned to his quarters to clean up and rest. It wasn’t an ideal target, since it was an older model and moving slow, but anything that large had to have something of value on it, and possibly a lot of something of value.
Or so he’d thought.
Faros scowled from the moment he stepped onto the ship’s bridge and accepted the captain’s surrender; as he scrolled through the inventory and manifest; and as his crew returned with reports of wide-eyed settlers headed for a theoretical better life somewhere far from wherever they came from. Faros wanted to break something. Wyzak would never let him forget about the shitty haul, that was for certain. The second-in-command still enjoyed reminding Faros about a trawler they’d chased down that carried a cargo of old nets and religious icons from the Hobier nebula.
Faros kept one of the icons, a strange twelve-armed beast with half a dozen eyes and what looked like sandsnakes writhing around its head, in his quarters just to fuck with Wyzak and to remind himself that not all cargoes were gold.
And he’d just found a cargo full of terraforming equipment, ragged clothes, the cherished belongings of several hundred families, and absolutely nothing of real value. Nothing he could trade to the Tyboli for his cargo and the debt.
He’d resigned himself to facing Wyzak’s sour-faced “told you so’s” as he stormed back to the Sraibur, warning the transporter’s captain to keep silent and forget anything happened, when a semi-familiar voice echoed in the transfer arm from his ship. He moved faster. It sounded like the Earther. It was the Earther.
Faros didn’t know whether to be furious or amused that she’d gotten out of her quarters yet again, and settled for a mix of the two. She held one of the rifles from the loading bay and threatened Wyzak, which Faros appreciated since he’d wanted to do the same himself many times. But he couldn’t let his prisoner run amok on his ship in front of his crew.
She said something to Wyzak about getting off the ship and Wyzak rolled his eyes in that long-suffering manner he had, then ruined the surprise by asking Faros if he was going to handle it.
Which gave Violet enough time to move when Faros caught her shoulders. The Earther swung the damn rifle like a havrix club and managed to land a solid hit on his arm, but Faros had been beaten into the dirt by Xaravians twice her height and weight. He hardly blinked at the slight ping against his scales, and reached to pick her up around the waist to haul her somewhere less public.
Far less public, for what he wanted to do with her.
She squalled like a furious little beedaw and lashed out, and the rifle swung around with enough force that his grip loosened. She bolted and ran, though she ran into the ship instead of trying to make it to the transfer arm behind him. He frowned as he watched her disappear into the interior of the ship. “Where the hell does she think she’s going?”
Wyzak shrugged and started giving orders to Nokx to disengage the arm and seal up the ship’s hold so they could continue on their way. “Go ask her.”
“Are all Earthers so ridiculous and poorly behaved, or just this one?”
Wyzak snorted and shook his head as he strode past, attention already on the navigation panels and the amount of fuel they’d used maintaining control of the enormous transporter. “Your brother seemed to think their charms outweigh the trouble they cause. I don’t see it.”
Faros agreed with him, even if the memory of kissing the Earther raised some intriguing possibilities. Not that he’d be able to find out whether Violet
was worth chasing unless she stopped running away all the time.
He sighed and started after her. The last thing he needed was her finding a good hiding spot and hunkering down. Or working her way into the panels and guts of the ship. Faros didn’t know whether the lawyer knew enough to sabotage the ship or deliberately run them aground, but chances were still good she could achieve the same effect accidentally.
Faros had spent most of his life as a hunter of some kind, first on Xarav and then hunting through space for criminals and Alliance bastards, and then lucrative cargoes. Tracking the Earther’s enticing scent through his own ship didn’t require even a fraction of his skill. The bigger issue was what the hell he was going to do with her when he caught her.
He had to concentrate on dealing with the Tyboli and his debt, not a stubborn lawyer with destructive tendencies. Clearly locking her in her quarters wasn’t working, because she just focused on finding a way out. Which meant she wasn’t thinking logically, since she was stuck on the same ship regardless of whether she was in a room or wandering around the whole place.
So he’d let her wander. Not unsupervised, of course, but… Faros smiled as he caught a hint of her scent as she turned toward the comms room. Trying to reach her friends again, no doubt. He had a plan. He couldn’t trust any of his crew to supervise her, so he’d have to take care of it. And her.
He chuckled and moved a little faster, though he tried to keep his pace unhurried. His prey drive kicked in and he wanted to race after her, tackle her, bear her to the ground… The Earther couldn’t have known she was doing everything right to entice him, to flirt with him. She hadn’t learned anything from being around the Galaxos crew for so long, or maybe she hadn’t given any of the crew the right opportunities to pursue her. Their loss.
The ship lurched as it broke free from the transport ship, but Faros hardly noticed. He’d already given orders to Wyzak and the navigator to put them on course to meet the Tyboli at the agreed-upon coordinates. He couldn’t afford to be late. They’d just have to find cargo on the way. Or figure something else out.
Faros heard her breathing—panting, a little on the verge of panic, like a wild animal that sensed the predator closing in. He didn’t want her to fear him, but the chase riled him up and set his scales rattling. His hearts pounded harder against his bones as he stalked closer, barely controlling his own breath, and his vision focused sharply on the hint of hair that revealed she’d managed to crawl into one of the vents. He should have known. Those damn Earthers were far too tricky for their own good. It was a wonder no one had wiped them out just to save the universe some trouble. He’d never encountered a species so reckless.
He stood in the corridor next to the grate where she hid and waited, listening to her breathe. She knew he was there, just as he knew she was there. He didn’t stop to question how he knew—whether it was scent or sound or something else entirely. Faros didn’t want to ponder it too long. He didn’t have time for any sort of connection with another being, other than his son. Maybe his brother.
Definitely not a female.
He wasn’t a particularly patient male, but he didn’t mind standing there in the corridor, arms folded over his chest, waiting for the lawyer to make up her mind and face the music. When she didn’t move and the silence stretched, Faros shook his head in sheer amusement. Too proud to admit she was trapped. “You ran the wrong way.”
“I know,” she said, voice small.
“Should have tried to get through the arm. The transport ship was much larger. You could have hidden there for quite a while.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you go through the arm?”
She didn’t answer right away; he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from chuckling. He liked her even more than he’d thought possible, her hiding in the wall and not wanting to admit she couldn’t think on her feet.
Faros didn’t quite tap his foot with impatience, but he kept half his attention on the ship and the feeling as someone piloted her through space. They weren’t quite at speed, so Wyzak must have either identified another target or a threat. “You can’t hide in there forever.”
“I’m not hiding.”
“Snake shit,” he said, laughing. “Then what are you doing? Napping?”
Irritation arced through the air and zipped against his scales as the lawyer answered. “This is a tactical pause to reevaluate my options.”
“And what options are those, precisely?” He didn’t see anything but surrender in her future. Maybe a hell of a wrestling match in his quarters, if he could get more liquor in her.
A long silence followed, punctuated with a heavy sigh. “That’s the problem.”
“Get out of there,” he said. “I don’t want to drag you out by your hair. I like my ship and I don’t want to damage the walls trying to get you to see reason.”
“What reason is that?”
She still hadn’t moved. Faros tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling and exhaled as much of his irritation as possible. “That you are trapped on this ship, and behaving like a child throwing a tantrum will not get you what you want. Start acting like a damn adult and get your ass out here.”
“I’m not behaving like a child. How dare you—”
“You’re hiding in a wall,” he said, biting off each word. “Doesn’t that strike you as a little childish?”
She muttered under her breath, too low for him to overhear, but Faros caught the gist. She wasn’t happy with him or herself, and was pretty pissed at the ship, too. He waited until he vibrated with the need to act, on the verge of ripping open the panel with his bare hands, but paused as she moved inside the wall.
Her leg emerged first, kicking out the vent, and Faros clenched his jaw to keep from barking at her to be careful with his ship. Then the curve of her thigh and hip distracted him as she slid out of the vent ass-first. What a lovely view. Faros caught her waist as she stumbled back, finally free of the small vent, and inhaled from her hair as the ponytail came loose and smacked him in the face.
Violet sucked in a breath and tensed, elbowing him to get free, but Faros had finally caught her and the hunter in him didn’t fancy letting her go so quickly. His arm went around her chest, keeping her back tight to him, and he wrapped his free hand around her neck. The lawyer went completely still.
He could have ripped her head right off. She knew it, too, with the way her heart pounded against his forearm where it rested on her ribs. Faros kept his voice low and exerted just enough pressure on her throat to keep her attention. “The fastest way for you to get off this ship is to stop trying to get off this ship. The more time I spend chasing after you and locking you up, the less time I have to take care of my little errand.”
“I will not just tacitly support…” she started, though her breath gurgled against the pressure of his grip. “You’re criminals and—”
“And you are being detained until my mission is complete.” Faros closed his eyes as he breathed in near her temple, almost dazed by the enticing scent of her skin. Imagine not having scales, relying only on the thin, delicate skin that covered them and kept their organs inside. They were so vulnerable, the Earthers, and yet the woman ran around as if she were invincible. “Since you seem to be quite—inventive in escaping locations where you’re meant to stay put, I have a solution. You will not be locked up again.”
She stiffened and tensed in his arms, more defensive as if she realized she’d started to relax into his embrace. “Then what’s your solution?”
At least she’d gotten her caustic tone back. He hadn’t liked the small voice that reached him from the vent in the wall. The lawyer needed to be confident and capable and sassy, even when it drove him mad. “You’ll remain in my custody. Where I go, you go.”
Violet craned her neck to stare at him, despite his palm on her throat, and nearly bumped her nose to his chin. “Are you out of your mind?”
He probably was. He knew it. Wyzak would claim that the
moment Faros told the second-in-command what he meant to do. But Faros knew no other way he’d be able to get a wink of sleep or enjoy a bite of food or get even a speck of work done. He needed to know where she was and that she was safe. The best way to make sure she was safe was to take care of her himself.
But Faros wasn’t about to tell the woman that.
He released her throat and chest at the same time, whirled her around, and pushed her up against the wall. Violet blinked at him, her mouth agape, and her big dark eyes reflected some of his silver gaze back at him. Faros growled and threaded his fingers into her hair, pulling it free of the damned ponytail, and crushed his mouth to hers.
Chapter 13
Violet
Violet had expected some kind of confrontation, accusations, maybe some curses as he dragged her back to some other prison cell. The real brig that time, maybe. Instead, Faros wrapped her up in his arms, grumbled in one of the Xaravian dialects she didn’t understand, and kissed her. Up against the wall, his hard body pressed to hers, and his fingers digging into her skull.
She drowned in it. It was like he short-circuited her brain until she was only feelings, no logic or thought. Not even any self-preservation, since she knew shacking up with a pirate was a quick way to infamy and prison herself.
No, all she felt and thought and knew was the pressure of his body, the heat of his lips and tongue as he tried to devour her. Her knees weakened and she caught his shoulders to stay upright, uneasy as warmth sparked low in her stomach and she thought about wrapping her legs around his waist.
Faros chuckled through the kiss, as if he read her mind, and Violet flushed with humiliation. The self-confident jerk. She started to pull away, to get some of her sanity back, but the pirate captain growled and shifted one of his hands down to her ass. He squeezed her cheek possessively, until a squeak escaped despite Violet’s best efforts to keep it back, and dragged her hips to his.
