Jevlen finished in Destiny’s apartment and let himself out. He could feel the curious stares of her neighbors from their windows. He probably ought to question them about her but he felt a sense of urgency. Time was slipping away and he had to find her. He doubted the simple people of Ressing Four could offer anything helpful. Destiny wasn’t a fool. She wouldn’t divulge any information to these people that would lead to her capture. He probably shouldn’t feel a glimmer of pride at the thought but that was his damn Ronoshian instincts kicking in again. He shook his head at his own ridiculousness. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she’d bewitched him. He hadn’t functioned properly since the moment she led him into the lightning storm. It was time for his processors to function accurately so he could track the fugitive and be done with this assignment.
***
Destiny chose Heritage City on Jestansaa because it was the biggest and busiest city in the quadrant, and a brief shuttle ride from Ressing Four. She knew she was taking a big risk coming to the city because there was such a large military presence, thanks to Bakkarians trying to infiltrate the city, but she felt it was her best option. She needed to hide and a busy city provided plenty of hiding spots. The problem was the absence of a citizen chip. Everything in the city functioned according to the chip, even docking her small personal shuttle in the landing bay. But there were always a few who were willing to take Ressing Four sterling in place of credits – including the landing bay master. He was very sympathetic when she explained that her citizen chip was malfunctioning; he became even more agreeable when she handed him the fistful of sterling. She wanted to ask him to keep her whereabouts a secret in case Jevlen caught up with her, but she didn’t want to raise his suspicions. She would disappear within the city and not even the best tracker would be able to find her in the multitudes.
After living on the fringes of the Confederation for two years, she knew how to find the information she needed. She quickly located a relic shop. She hadn’t spent much time in Heritage City but she knew it would be no different there than all the other places she’d hidden. Relic shops were the gateway to the underground where people like her trafficked. For a price, they would gladly help her get established in a new life. They would even provide her with a pseudo-chip if she wanted – a false identifier that was temporarily fused to her wrist and covered with a layer of plasti-skin. She’d had it done when she was on Dervo Ke for a few days but the bounty hunters caught up with her and she had to ditch the pseudo-chip.
It took hours longer than she anticipated to locate a relic shop that would rent her a room for Ressing sterling. They gave her a pathetic, windowless little room in a questionable part of town but Destiny couldn’t complain. She’d stayed in worse.
She waited until later hours, when the shadows grew longer, to venture out again. She had to go to the market, procure eye coloring drops and hair dye. It was exhausting entering the game again. She’d finally felt safe on Ressing Four but she’d never completely let her guard down or stopped looking over her shoulder. How was it possible the Colonel still hunted her? Didn’t he realize, after two years of silence, that she was no threat to him? Perhaps he was worried she would pop up with her evidence when he was about to accept his first admiralty and she would ruin his success. He deserved a fair turn after destroying her life so completely.
The market in the inner sector of Heritage City was no different than markets she’d seen on other worlds. The skies were teeming with transport traffic while the ground was filled with people hurrying this way and that. Destiny did her best to blend in with the crowd and kept her head down. She didn’t want the security monitors to spot her. If she could touch the small spheres that zipped above the city streets, filming the citizens, she would. But that would open new problems when law enforcers checked to see why the monitors weren’t working and they discovered her bio signature.
She moved between the stalls of the noisy market, looking for the products she required to alter her appearance. Just when she found a stall carrying what she was looking for a shadow fell over her.
Destiny looked up to see who was standing so close that he blocked the solar lamps. She gasped in horror. “Jevlen!” How had he found her so quickly? She hadn’t made any mistakes! She skittered away from him but his reflexes were faster than hers. His hand shot out and he gripped her arm in his steel fingers. She had to get away! She wouldn’t go back to the Colonel!
“Destiny Kagar, you are under arres-“
“No!” She tried to reach for his head to shut down his main processor but he grabbed her wrist and held her away. Now he held both her arms. She frantically twisted her hand in his grasp and concentrated on the circuitry within his fingers. A second later his fingers snapped open and her hand was free.
He growled in frustration. His green eyes lit with fury that she could control him so easily. “You will not escape. You must be apprehended.”
Destiny realized they were drawing curious stares and decided to use the crowd to her advantage. “Help!” she shrieked. “He’s attacking me! Help me! He wants to assault me!”
She saw the puzzled look on Jevlen’s face but he didn’t release her. He couldn’t process what she was doing. “You’re hurting me! Help me! I’ve done nothing wrong!”
Several in the curious crowd moved forward as Destiny tried to tug herself free of Jevlen’s impossible grip. “He’s a Dark Marauder!” someone gasped. Destiny groaned inwardly at that revelation. People were reluctant to get involved with Marauder’s in case their deadly wrath was turned on them.
“He’s lying! He’s pretending to be a Marauder!” she shrieked. Her shouts drew even more attention. She swung around wildly, trying to break free while Jevlen stood immobile with a confused look on his face. At least he allowed her a little freedom of movement, which she used to her advantage. He could have picked her up and carted her away kicking and screaming. Instead, he watched with a baffled expression as she threw herself against the vendor’s stall, scattering his product everywhere. “Don’t hurt me! Please!” she shrieked. She should get a starring role in a holo-vid for this performance.
“Hey! What are you doing? What’s going on here?” a very large, very angry Garmore demanded as he stepped from the back of the stall and saw his stuff scattered everywhere. Fortunately, he went after Jevlen and not Destiny. Unfortunately, she was now trapped between two very large powerful men. She would get smashed like a measlewort if she didn’t act fast.
“Get out of here,” the Garmore growled as he stepped close and got in Jevlen’s face. “Take your fight with the woman somewhere else!”
Destiny was trapped with Jevlen’s steel on one side and the softer mountain of Garmore on the other. As Jevlen was distracted, explaining he meant no harm and he was merely apprehending a fugitive, Destiny laid her hand over his. This time, instead of snapping his fingers open she forced them to slip away gently. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice too soon. Once she could wriggle free, she slid out from between the two men.
As soon as she’d broken away from Jevlen she started running across the market. She accidentally bumped a few people, sending fruit flying, but she couldn’t stop to help. She heard Jevlen’s shout which spurred her on faster. She was nearing the market’s exit when someone stepped into her path ahead and trained a phaser pistol on her.
Destiny screeched to a halt and eyed this new threat warily. She recognized him. Scanesch. He was one of the bounty hunters she evaded over a year ago. He had long black hair, a black beard, and triumph glittered in his dark eyes. Deep ridges scored his forehead. He beckoned her forward but she stayed rooted to her spot.
“Come to me, Destiny. You have evaded me long enough.” He gave her a wolfish grin that she found repulsive. “Perhaps we can finish what we started before I hand you over to the Confederation.”
She’d met him in a seedy bar on Dervo Ke. She’d gone there seeking transportation off the planet. She’d been nursing a broken heart shortly after Jevlen’s mind w
ipe, and Scanesch had been nice to her. Well, he pretended to be nice as he tried to seduce her before arresting her. She’d made a scene in the bar similar to today’s market scene and several brutes had come to her rescue. She didn’t think she’d be so lucky today.
“Before you start screaming, let me warn you this phaser is not set to stun. I will gladly blast a hole through that pretty body of yours if you try to resist me.”
“You’ll have to kill me before I’d allow you to touch me, Scanesch,” Destiny spat as he slowly walked toward her. He acted like he had this in the bag, the cocky shreesak’s ass. Destiny backed away from the bounty hunter as he slowly stalked toward her.
“Doesn’t matter to me. I get paid whether you’re dead or alive.”
“I won’t go back to the Colonel!” She darted quickly between two stalls. Scanesch shouted for her to stop then fired his phaser. His first shot blasted the side of the stall. He chased after her and fired a second shot. This one caught her in the back of the shoulder. It burned like hell and the fire spread deeper than the wound. The sudden burst of pain nearly brought her to her knees. Unfortunately, coming to a dead end between the stalls did stop her. She turned wildly, realizing her only exit remained where Scanesch stood, grinning smugly while he pointed his phaser at her.
“You will come with me, Destiny Kagar, or I will keep blasting holes in you until there’s nothing left. Consider the first shot a warning.”
Some warning. It burned so bad she wished she was unconscious. She stood, considering her options, while Scanesch grew impatient. She couldn’t run. He was too close and the next shot would probably be fatal. But she couldn’t just give up. She refused to let the Colonel win.
“What if I gave you information about the Colonel? I’ll trade you the information for my freedom. I’m sure you can blackmail him for more than the bounty you’ll collect on me.”
Scanesch didn’t look impressed. “Tempting, but no. Now come with me. I’ve wasted enough time on you.”
Destiny wavered. Was this worth dying over? The Colonel would undoubtedly torment her once he got his hands on her. Then she would probably wish she’d allowed Scanesch to kill her.
“Let’s go; move it!” Scanesch growled as he waved the phaser pistol at her.
A large imposing figure in black stepped behind Scanesch, making the bounty hunter look like a pathetic measlewort. Destiny’s eyes widened in shock as she saw how furious Jevlen was. His green eyes sparked with rage. Great. Now she had two hunters to contend with. How would she ever escape them?
THREE
“You will not harm her!” Jevlen snarled. He reached for the bounty hunter, picked him up, and threw him into the nearest stall. It barely assuaged his fury. When he saw the bounty hunter fire on Destiny Kagar, something clicked within his processors and his biological side took over. He’d never felt such impotent rage as when his woman was being attacked. He didn’t pause to think about his reaction or why he felt possessive as he did. He went into protective mode and nothing would stop him from saving her. It didn’t matter that he hunted her himself. No one else was going to touch her.
“She’s a high priced mark, Marauder, and it’s first come first served in this business.” Scanesch clambered to his feet and shoved Jevlen back. The smaller man was stronger than he appeared. He swung out with his fist in a series of fast hand strikes and Jevlen was forced to defend himself against the fool. Before he could incapacitate the man, he again produced his phaser pistol. “Stand down or I’ll kill you, Marauder.”
Jevlen would have grinned at the man’s absurdity but he’d had enough of this spitting creashan beetle. He obviously didn’t know what he was up against. Jevlen glanced at Destiny who watched from a safe distance. He quickly scanned the area to determine that she was unable to escape again. He wouldn’t put it past her to devise a clever means of evading him. The thought brought a cynical lift to his lips. She was a clever woman, indeed. As soon as he dispatched with this threat, he would take the time to question her fully – especially about her comment suggesting they’d been intimate. He wanted to learn more about that and in as fine detail as she was willing to offer. Or maybe she would show him.
His thoughts were briefly distracted but not enough for the bounty hunter to get the advantage. With lightning fast reflexes, Jevlen reached out and grabbed the man’s hand that held the phaser pistol. The hunter winced as Jevlen squeezed, expecting the man to drop the weapon. When the hunter tried to jerk away, the phaser pistol fired. The shot went wild, hitting Destiny. She collapse.
With a savage yell, Jevlen gripped the hunter by the throat. “I should kill you for harming her!” But he knew he couldn’t. Confederation conduct for soldiers didn’t allow vengeance killing, and right now he wanted to avenge Destiny. He gave the bounty hunter a hard shake. The man clawed at Jevlen’s fingers wrapped around his throat. He was turning a painful shade of red and the puckered skin of his forehead was more pronounced.
Jevlen threw him against the stall. “Go. And don’t try to apprehend Destiny Kagar again.”
The hunter rubbed his neck as he scrambled to his feet. “This isn’t finished, Marauder. I was hired by the Confederation and you’re interfering. I don’t give up easily.” He glanced at Destiny, crumpled on the ground. He was probably weighing his chances of grabbing her. “You better watch your back,” he warned Jevlen before he shoved past him and ran into the crowded market. Jevlen stood his ground. He wasn’t intimidated by a pathetic hunter.
His heart tripped in an unfamiliar pattern and his respiratory levels were elevated as he sank to his knees beside Destiny Kagar. Did she live? She laid in a pool of blood that seemed to be pouring from a wound in her head. Head wounds were fatal yet he detected faint life signs. He brushed back the light hair covering her face. Her skin was ashen. He quickly gathered her into his arms and the sense of protectiveness amplified with the feel of her pressed against his chest. She belonged to him. It wasn’t rational but it wasn’t something he would fight. Until he could get his processors realigned, he planned to explore these unexpected instincts that arose at the sight of her. When he returned to a Confederation base, he would make sure those troublesome instincts were properly suppressed.
***
Destiny slowly opened her eyes then wished she hadn’t. Her skull felt like it was split and her shoulder was on fire. Apparently Scanesch had gotten off another shot. She didn’t remember trying to run from him a second time. All she recalled was Jevlen fighting the smaller man, and the fury on his face when he threatened Scanesch not to harm her. It reminded her of the old Jevlen, her mate that would protect her at any costs. Was there a chance that he remembered her? She shook her head at the foolish idea then regretted the movement. She gave a soft moan as a shaft of pain stabbed her head.
“You shouldn’t move. It will take time for the medi-plas to take effect on your two wounds. I’m sorry I don’t have anything more effective to restore you. Your shoulder wound is more serious than your head wound. The phaser blast merely grazed your temple but I’m sure it hurts nonetheless.”
“It does,” Destiny agreed as she turned on the pallet to study him. He sat in the hover chair beside her bed. It seemed awkward and uncomfortable because he sat so stiffly. He looked terrible. “You need to rest.”
His gaze sharpened. “So my defenses will be lower and you can escape? No.”
“No, so your natural body gets the restoration it needs and doesn’t grow weak. You are not fully a machine, Jevlen. Your biological body needs sleep.”
“I haven’t slept well for a while,” he admitted.
Destiny leaned up on her elbow then winced at the pain in her shoulder. What did he use to heal her, a first generation medi-plas? “Why aren’t you sleeping well?” Had she missed something in the diagnostic? She had felt rushed checking his processors. “What are your symptoms? When did the problem start?” She had a feeling the lightning channel on Ressing Four had everything to do with his problem.
“I have dreams,” he stated. She waited for him to continue but he didn’t say anything more and he looked distinctly uncomfortable talking about this.
“Dreams. What sort of dreams?”
He dropped his gaze away from her and looked down at his hand. He flexed his fingers, slowly opening and closing his fist. Did he think she would drop the subject if he didn’t answer? It’s not like she was going anywhere. He wouldn’t allow it.
“They’re just visions – of you.” He glanced up and his intense green eyes met hers. If possible, his gaze was even more intense than usual and he stared at her with an awareness that hadn’t been there before.
“What did you dream, Jevlen?”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly a dream since I wasn’t asleep when the vision occurred. I saw you, us, together. Perhaps it was my imagination but I’ve never imagined such things. Not such personal things at any rate and with someone I’m ordered to apprehend. But you seem to understand me. I don’t have a clue as to why since you were never privy to the confidential Confederation program I was a part of.”
Captured by the Cyborg: The Dark Marauder's Mate (The Dark Marauder's Mate Scifi Series Book 5) Page 3
