by Rayna Tyler
Vurell groaned. “If Khyron is going, then I will be going with him. Someone needs to make sure the stubborn male does not have a relapse.”
“I have never been to the human settlement and would like to go as well.” Thrayn took a step forward. “If there is trouble, you will need more males to protect you.”
I rubbed my forehead. “You can all accompany me, but there will be no soldiers and you”—I pointed at Thrayn—“can tell Raytan he will be staying behind to address any issues that arise in my absence.”
Raytan had a temper, wasn’t going to be happy about being left behind, and would be difficult to deal with. As expected, Thrayn looked as if I had smacked him in the jaw. With a small amount of satisfaction, I addressed the females. “How soon can you be ready to leave?”
Chapter Three
Celeste
I stared out the transport’s viewing pane, watching the occasional beam of sunlight burst from behind the numerous dark clouds lining the late-afternoon green sky. The storm had gotten closer, the direction we traveled heading directly into it. My mind was filled with thoughts of Khyron. Concentrating was difficult, so letting Cara operate the controls had not been a problem.
Living on Ketaurrios had taken some getting used to. The planet had varying terrains, some portions similar to deserts, the ground a combination of dirt and sand. There were no defined seasons in the weather. Most of the time it was hot during the day and almost cold in the evening. Storms were random, appearing at any time and ranging from mild drops of water to heavy rains that could last several days.
Since all mechanical transportation was solar powered, traveling could take longer than expected and depended a lot on the weather. It was never a good idea to go anywhere without making sure the solars had been fully charged first. Even with the threat of rain, we had plenty of power to drive the remaining two or so hours to the settlement.
“You know the drezdarr is going to punish that soldier who was guarding Laria’s transport, don’t you?” Cara pushed several buttons on the control panel to increase the vehicle’s speed now that we’d cleared the edge of the city.
I still couldn’t believe there was someone guarding Trixie. I’d bet anything Jardun had something to do with it. I remembered him telling Laria on the day we’d met that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her transport.
“We didn’t have much of a choice. It’s not like he was going to let us take the transport if we’d asked nicely.” I actually felt bad for the young ketaurran male. Not only had I distracted and disarmed him by implying sexual favors, but Cara had knocked him to the ground with one kick to his gut. The poor guy’s ego would be bruised way more than his backside, especially when the other males heard how an unarmed female at least six inches shorter than he had gotten the better of him.
“Besides, I can’t”—I shook my head and stifled the sob pushing its way along my throat—“go back.” Though deep down, there was a part of me that could. I was never one who did much crying, yet after seeing Khyron, I couldn’t keep my memories of the past from resurfacing, and struggled with the overwhelming need to be alone and shed some tears. On top of my erratically emotional state, the uneasiness I’d been experiencing before I’d gone to his room had intensified from the moment we left the city.
She reached across the gap between our seats and touched my arm. “I know.”
That was the thing I liked about Cara the most. She always understood and gave her support without asking any personal or prying questions.
I returned to staring outside, doing my best not to think about the ramifications of what Cara and I now faced for disobeying the drezdarr’s orders to remain in his home. Well, if Khyron wanted to enforce his law, he’d have to come and find me first. Not that I thought he would. He hadn’t cared enough to come back for me years ago before he became the drezdarr, when it really matter the most. So I had no reason to believe he’d care enough to waste his time tracking me down now.
Before Vurell caught me in Khyron’s room, he’d told my friends and me that he thought it would take several more days for the antidote to purge the toxin from his system. Even if someone mentioned my name, Khyron had been asleep when I sneaked into his room. Since I’d left before he could see me, there was no way he’d know I was the same person from his past. I also knew I could count on Laria and Sloane making sure he never found out.
“It looks like the worst part of the storm passed through here already.” Cara slowed the transport to keep from barreling through the water that had pooled on the uneven road.
Traveling could be treacherous. The environment was harsh, and nothing was paved, only worn by constant use. We’d reached an area consisting mainly of rock, where the road wound its way through a gap between stacks of boulders sitting higher than a one-story dwelling.
Laria’s vehicle was an older, smaller model, and could move faster than the larger solarveyors. It was an ideal size for traveling unnoticed and escaping bad situations, which happened a lot when we did acquisition jobs for Burke. It wasn’t, however, great for dealing with the aftereffects of bad weather.
We didn’t have to worry about interior flooding because the base of the transport sat high off the ground. The sand and dirt, when combined with water, became so slick, the transport had trouble maintaining traction. Our biggest problem was sliding and ending up stuck in a crevice or slamming into an outcropping of rock.
“Good, then we should make the settlement shortly after dark.” I couldn’t complain about the past week’s accommodations. They were great, but I missed being home, spending time with my other friends and the children orphaned by the war.
Cara had barely maneuvered through the water and reached an area where the ground was flatter and the stacks of rocks were much lower when the transport lurched forward. She tapped the brakes hard and swerved to keep from driving over a jagged mound that would’ve torn up the underbelly of our vehicle.
Unless we were being chased, I never secured the safety strap on my chair, and the jerky maneuver flung me out of my seat. Luckily, I reacted quickly, bracing my hands on the edge of the control panel, preventing my head from hitting metal.
“What was that? Did we hit something?” I asked, settling back into the chair and reaching for the strap.
“I didn’t see anything on the road. That felt like something slammed into us from behind.” Cara pressed a button, and the transport accelerated. “Check the rear side panel and see if there’s something back there.”
The walls of rock coupled with the winding, narrow road made seeing behind the transport from the control area nearly impossible. “On it.” I pushed out of my seat and grabbed the overhead bar that stretched the entire length of the vehicle seconds before we received another hit.
“Hang on!” Cara shouted, struggling to right the transport and keep us from scraping against rock.
As soon as the swerving stopped, I continued working my way to the back. On the next curve in the road, I spotted a solarveyor. I didn’t recognize the two males manning the controls, but they were definitely human. Even with our accelerated speed, it wouldn’t take the other vehicle long to catch up with us again. I didn’t want to be back here when they did, so I turned and headed back to my seat.
“You were right, it’s a solarveyor. There were two guys at the controls.” I slid into the chair and snapped the safety strap into place.
“Anyone you recognize?” Cara asked.
“Nope, no idea who they are.” Laria, Sloane, and I dealt with mercs on occasion, but I couldn’t think of anyone who’d intentionally come after us.
“Could be road bandits, but I’ve never heard of them traveling this far north.” The road straightened, and Cara accelerated again.
“Don’t they usually go for larger transports?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
The rear of the vehicle received another, much harder hit. The impact vibrated along the hull and jolted us sideways. The engine sputtered, making a lou
d, shrill whine before jerking to a stop.
No matter how many buttons Cara pushed, the transport didn’t rev back to life. “They must have damaged the engine.” She slammed her fist on the panel. “We aren’t going anywhere, not without doing some major repairs first.”
Draeck. This was the first time I’d ever borrowed Trixie, and for once, I was glad Laria wasn’t around so she wouldn’t see what had happened to her. I unsnapped the strap across my lap with a growl, then shoved out of my chair. The guys responsible were about to experience some pain. I moved around Cara, who was already out of her seat, and rushed to the storage unit hidden inside a side panel.
“You have got to be kidding me.” Cara was staring out the side pane at the two males heading for our transport’s sealed access door.
“What?” I stopped what I was doing to glance in her direction.
“It’s Rick and Neil. They’re Doyle’s men.”
“How did they find us?” I didn’t know the males, but I hadn’t spent weeks living with them at the compound in the Quaddrien, a desolate desert area the humans had nicknamed the wastelands, like Cara had.
“Don’t know, but the good news is there are only two of them.” Cara moved away from the pane and engaged the security lock on the door.
“And the bad news?” I pulled out two swords and a thin blade. I slipped the blade into the sheath hidden inside my boot, then held a sword out to Cara.
“They have laser weapons.” She waved at the blade. “Those aren’t going to do us any good.”
A loud bang, a fist against metal, echoed through the interior, followed by a male’s angry bellow. “Open the door, or we’ll blast it.”
“Cara, I know you can hear me. All we want is what you stole from Doyle,” the other male said.
“Sorry, Rick. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Cara raised her voice at the sealed door.
“Do you think they’re looking for the toxin?” The antidote for Khyron wasn’t the only thing Vurell had taken during the rescue. He’d also grabbed vials containing several different poisons.
“Possibly, though they’re not very bright if they think we’d bring them with us, or just hand them over. Since the drezdarr’s home is heavily guarded, it’s more likely they were waiting for someone to leave the city so they could take hostages, hoping to make a trade,” Cara said.
Cara’s theory made sense. It also explained my uneasiness the past few days.
“Open the damn door, Cara.” The other male’s snarl was followed by a ping on the hull.
Cara noticed my troubled look. “Don’t worry, the exterior is too thick for them to blast through. I’m more concerned about Rick being able to override the security. That lock isn’t going to keep them out for long, so if there’s anything else in here we can use to protect ourselves, now’s the time to share.”
This wasn’t the first time the transport had been attacked. It didn’t happen a lot, but it did happen. Laria, Sloane, and I had gotten good at finding our way out of situations far worse than this. “I’ve got an idea.” I moved to the opposite wall, then used the edge of my blade to remove a thick sheet of metal. “I’ve never used this as a shield for a blaster, but I think it will work.” I kept my voice low as I positioned the panel in the middle of the floor parallel to the door.
Cara grabbed the other end to help me keep it upright. “Okay, so now what?”
“You still any good with a knife?” I retrieved the thin blade I’d hidden in my boot.
Cara smiled and took the blade. “Better with my fists, but I can hit what I aim at.”
Chapter Four
Khyron
The solarveyor we took for our trip to the settlement was a much larger solar-powered version of a transport and the same vehicle Jardun and the others had used to cross the Quaddrien. According to Laria, Cara was an excellent mechanic, had repaired the damage to the engine sustained during their escape, and assured her it was functioning properly.
It was a good thing the vehicle could accommodate a large number of people. Not only had the males who were present during my conversation with Laria and Sloane insisted on coming with me, so had Burke. Even though he was still recovering from the knife wound on his thigh, several cracked ribs, and extensive bruising, which he received from Doyle during the mission to rescue Vurell, he objected to being left behind.
Vurell refused to leave the toxins and antidote he had removed from the compound with his assistant, Kren. He wanted to keep them safe and had been adamant they accompany us on the trip. I agreed with his decision. One of the toxins was the same poison I was recovering from. It was specifically engineered for ketaurrans, was harmless against humans, and not something I wanted anyone else to access.
During the rescue, Cara had destroyed the laboratory, hindering Doyle’s ability to recreate the poison. What I did not know was whether or not more of the toxin existed elsewhere. Until I learned the information and discovered the identity of the person who’d attempted to take my life, I thought it best to keep the deadly liquid and its cure guarded by those I trusted.
I stretched my legs across one of the bench seats and stared out the viewing pane at the last rays of sunlight peeking through the steadily growing storm clouds. So far, the precipitation had been light and scattered. I feared it wouldn’t be long before we encountered sheets of water, which would hinder our visibility and slow our travel.
No sooner had we departed from the city than an uneasy feeling, a gut-tightening dread, began snaking its way through my system. My impatience to find Celeste and ensure she was unharmed grew stronger the longer we traveled. From my position at the back of the vehicle, I could easily view our progress through the panes in front of the control area and overhear the conversations between the other members in the group.
I clutched the cup of creevea Vurell had prepared for me, taking an occasional sip of the bitter yellow liquid and trying to relax. The drink, derived from a plant, had minor healing abilities and a natural stimulant to aid with exhaustion. He had taken the bench opposite me and, not long after supplying me with the drink, had fallen deeply asleep. I had no doubt he had spent the last few days watching over me and had neglected to take care of himself.
Jardun had taken a seat near the front with the others and currently had Laria sitting on his lap. Watching the attentive way the couple interacted with each other had envy and regret settling over my heart. If things in the past had gone differently, if I had made other choices, I might be sharing the same kind of relationship with Celeste.
Sloane’s boisterous laughter drew my attention. She was seated in the copilot chair next to Garyck, who manned the vehicle’s controls. She’d swung the seat sideways to face the males seated on the benches behind her. “Can I see your blade?” She held out her hand and wiggled her fingers at Thrayn.
The wary way Thrayn scrutinized Sloane was an expected reaction. I was fairly certain that before today, he had not interacted with the females much. Nor was he aware they were highly skilled with blades and had been trained in hand-to-hand fighting by Burke and several of his males.
He had been taught since birth that it was a ketaurran male’s responsibility to protect females. Seeing the females as warriors and fighting alongside them was an entirely new experience. It required considerable adjustment, even for me.
“Let her see your knife, Thrayn. She will not hurt herself with it.” Zaedon grinned and adjusted his long legs so they were crossed at the ankles.
“If you are sure.” Thrayn did not sound convinced but reluctantly handed Sloane his knife.
She examined it as if it were a priceless jewel, carefully caressing the side of the blue-black blade with her fingertip. “Excellent craftsmanship.”
“And quite expensive. Now, if you will…” He extended his hand, expecting her to return it.
Sloane snatched it out of his reach, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “How about a little wager?”
Thrayn narrowed his gaz
e, his interest piqued. “What kind of wager?”
“I’ll bet you this exquisite blade that Celeste either refuses to have anything to do with Khyron, or she tries to take off his head with a knife the next time she sees him.” Sloane glanced in my direction and grinned.
I shifted uncomfortably on my seat. At the moment, Sloane had the advantage of knowing Celeste better than I did. I already knew my first meeting with her after all these years was going to be difficult, but hearing her friend state it out loud was disconcerting.
“Impossible.” Thrayn jerked upward and puffed out his chest. “There is no female on the entire planet who would not be happy to have the drezdarr’s attention.”
Thrayn gave me a confident nod. At the moment, I lacked the same confidence and decided not to comment.
“If you say so.” Sloane tapped the blade against her palm.
Laria, who’d been resting her head on Jardun’s shoulder, straightened so she faced Thrayn. “Don’t do it, Thrayn.”
He shrugged off her warning, then lowered his gaze appreciatively along Sloane’s body. “What will you offer if you lose?”
It was obvious he had not observed Garyck’s interest in the female. If he had, he would not risk bodily injury by perusing her in such a manner. I was thankful Garyck was facing away from the younger male and focusing on the controls.
Sloane shook her head. “Nah, not interested, but I do have ten cradasson that says I’ll win.” She got to her feet, removed her blade from the leather sheath attached to the belt on her hip, then replaced it with Thrayn’s.
Garyck shot her a sidelong glance and growled. “Little one, what are you doing?”
I wasn’t sure what intrigued me more, Garyck’s use of the uncomplimentary way he addressed Sloane or the fact that she continued to let him.
