Stolen

by Tana Stone

  “To your left. Two vertical panels side by side. The one to the left powers the left thruster—”

  “And the one to the right powers the right thruster,” Xarla finished for him, clearly eager. “Got it.”

  “Moving that small a distance is going to require a soft touch. Too fast and you’ll overshoot me by a lot.” He didn’t say what he was thinking. If she went too far, she might not be able to find him again.

  Her long exhalation told him she was more nervous that she wanted to let on. “Gentle and slow. No problem.”

  Kos sized up the distance and his position with regard to the shuttle. “Engage the left thruster just a bit.”

  Xarla’s wide green eyes met his through the front glass of the shuttle. “Ready?”

  He nodded, his throat too dry for him to respond. If this didn’t work…

  She looked back down at the console, and then the shuttle moved forward slightly.

  She’d taken his advice to heart. He’d never seen a spaceship move so slowly. At least she wasn’t in danger of overshooting him, although at this rate he might run out of oxygen before she reached him.

  Her head popped up. “Did it work?”

  “That was good,” he said. “Just a few more like that and you’ve got it.”

  He saw her head whip around and heard her let out one of the Earth curses that Hope was so fond of.

  “She’s waking up.”

  “That’s okay,” he said, spots dancing in front of his eyes from the thinning oxygen. “Focus on the thruster.”

  “Right.” She turned back around. “Thruster.”

  The shuttle lurched forward, this time a bit farther, although it was directly in front of him. One more acceleration, and he’d be splayed across the front glass of the ship.

  Kos sucked in a breath, but it hitched in his throat. No more air. “You need to adjust to your right,” he gasped. “Hurry.”

  Xarla looked up, her mouth falling open as she locked on to him, and then her gaze traveled beyond him. He could see Hope behind her as she made her way to the front of the cockpit, and then both women gaping past him. His head throbbed as his brain ran out of oxygen, but he was not scared to die. Not when he saw Hope.

  She would survive. He had saved her. For the first time since he’d seen his brother vanish before his eyes, Kos felt like he had succeeded. Pride and love filled his chest and warmed him, as he tried to focus on her face through the ship’s glass. She was looking past him, though. At what?

  Even as his vision blurred and his ears rang, Kos managed to turn his head slowly until he could see the enormous dark-hulled ship hovering behind him.

  Hope’s voice screaming his name was the last thing he heard as he felt his body spasm.

  Thirty

  “Kos!” Hope’s head throbbed as she held herself steady behind the pilot’s seat where Xarla sat. She wasn’t sure if she was seeing things or if the Drexian was really floating between them and a massive black ship.

  His body twisted to face the ship, and then he appeared to go limp.

  “Oh no,” Xarla whispered. “I think he ran out of air.”

  “What?” Hope sank into the nearest seat, her legs too unsteady to support her as she gaped at the alien vessel that dwarfed them. “How long have I been out? Wait a second, what happened to me? Did you knock me out?”

  Xarla didn’t look back at her. “Only because Kos begged me to. You going out there with him was a suicide mission.”

  Hope tried to look away from the sight of Kos’s form seemingly suspended in space, but she couldn’t. “But now he’s…”

  Xarla turned her attention to the console. “Maybe I can still maneuver the ship to get him. I just need to use the thrusters to get close enough.”

  Hope stared at Xarla as her fingers tapped the console. “Seriously, how long have I been unconscious? When did you learn to fly this thing?”

  “Kos gave me a crash course,” Xarla said, edging the shuttle forward slightly.

  Kos’s body jerked back, and Hope gasped as he was pulled toward the other ship. “Who is that? Is it the Kronock?” She jumped up, ignoring the dizziness. “We have to stop them.”

  “I can’t stop them,” Xarla said, her hands frozen as they hovered above the controls. “They have some sort of tractor beam on him.”

  “Maybe we can shoot at them,” Hope suggested. “This thing does have some weapons, right? Let’s fire at them!”

  “What if we hit Kos?” Xarla waved a hand at the Drexian being drawn through space by some sort of invisible beam. “I’ve never fired a torpedo or laser.”

  “I’ll do it,” Hope said, her gaze desperately raking across the unfamiliar lights and symbols of the console. “I have to do something. I can’t lose him again.”

  Xarla grabbed her by the shoulders. “Him being taken captive is better than us accidentally blasting him out of the sky.”

  Hope shook her head, panic fluttering in her belly. “Not if it’s the Kronock. Not if they torture him.” She tried to pull herself from Xarla surprisingly strong grip. “We can’t let that happen.”

  The alien shook her hard enough to make Hope stop struggling. “We’re outmatched when it comes to weapons, so I don’t think firing anything will help, but I also don’t think that’s a Kronock ship.”

  Hope steadied her jagged breathing, narrowing her eyes past Xarla and watching Kos being pulled into a hatch on the sleek ship. “You don’t?”

  “I’m not an expert, but the Kronock ships I remember looked much scarier.”

  Hope thought back to the ship they’d run from. “And scalier.”

  “Not to mention,” Xarla said, “if this was a Kronock ship, they wouldn’t be rescuing a Drexian, and they would already be boarding us.”

  Hope’s pulse evened out. “Then let’s really hope you’re right. Can we hail them and find out?”

  Xarla scrunched her mouth as she studied the console, finally pressing a button. “Here goes nothing.”

  “Alien vessel,” Hope said when she heard the faint sound of static indicating that there was an open line. She tried to make her voice sound official, channeling every sci-fi show she’d ever seen back when she was on Earth. Maybe if she was convincing enough, the ship would give him back. “This is a Drexian vessel, and you are committing an act of war by abducting our warrior.”

  Xarla turned and raised her eyebrows at Hope, nodding her encouragement.

  Hope took a deep breath when she got no response. “Release our crew man at once.”

  “Drexian vessel,” a deep voice responded. “This is also a Drexian vessel.”

  “What?” Hope abandoned her serious tone. “You’re Drexians?”

  “This is Captain Varden. To whom am I speaking?”

  “Hope.” She collapsed into a chair. “My name is Hope.”

  “And I’m Xarla.” The Vralithian waved toward the other ship.

  “Hope? The tribute bride Kos went searching for?” the captain of the Drexian ship asked, his voice registering surprise.

  Hope couldn’t answer. She knew if she tried to speak, she’d start bawling. The ship wasn’t an enemy ship that was going to kill them or take them for bizarre experiments. They’d been found by the Drexians. They’d been rescued just in time. After everything that had happened, they were going to be all right. Hope closed her eyes and squeezed them tight to keep the tears from falling.

  “That’s the one,” Xarla said, when she saw that Hope wasn’t responding. “Speaking of Kos, is he okay?”

  Varden paused and there were voices behind him. “He’s fine. We’ve taken him to our medical bay for a full work-up, but he’s breathing again.”

  Hope put her face in her hands and leaned forward, bracing her elbows on her knees. Now that she knew he was going to be fine, her body began to tremble.

  “That’s wonderful news,” Xarla said, spinning around to face her. “Isn’t that wonderful news?”

  Hope tried to reply, but she was too busy
wiping away the tears that were streaming down her face. Xarla’s luminous green eyes widened, then filled with tears as well. The alien threw her arms around her, and the two women burst into tears.

  “Hope?” A high-pitched voice came over the comms system. “Is that really you? Oh, dear. It sounds like they’re wailing.” More muffled voices in the background. “You’re sure she’s all right?”

  Hope jerked her head up. She recognized that voice. “Reina?”

  Reina let out a loud sigh. “It’s me. I’m so happy to hear your voice, dear. We’ve been looking all over for you and Kos. I’ve been worried sick.”

  “What? How?” Hope’s cries were replaced by laughs of disbelief. “How did you get on a Drexian ship? The last I heard you’d been sold off by those wanker pirates.”

  Reina tittered. “Those pirates weren’t very nice, were they? I think they were ‘wankers,’ as you put it. Luckily, they sold me to a trader who was more than happy to return me to the Drexians. Apparently, he owed the Drexians anyway. I was returned to the temporary outpost rather quickly.”

  Hope hadn’t known how much she’d missed the nervous Vexling until she heard her voice. “Then how did you end up on a Drexian ship looking for us?”

  “I insisted on coming, of course,” Reina said. “I thought you’d like to see a familiar face after your ordeal. I can be very persuasive when I need to be, hon. Don’t forget, I work with human brides for a living.”

  Hope laughed. “How could I forget?” Reina had passed the time when they were being held captive by relaying her wildest wedding stories. “I’m really glad you came, and I’m even more relieved you were returned to the Drexians. What about the other women and Serge?”

  “No word on the Inferno Force mission,” Reina said, her voice breaking slightly, “but I have no doubt they’ll find the other tributes and Serge.”

  “I’m sure you’re right.”

  “But for now, our mission is to get you and your mate back to the Drexian outpost,” Reina said. “Are you ready to go home?”

  Hope hesitated. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to call the Drexian outpost home, but as long as Kos would be there, she was happy.

  “More than ready.”

  Thirty-One

  Kos noticed the smell first. Sharp and astringent and nothing like the scent of leaking fuel. He opened his eyes, immediately flinching from the bright overhead lights.

  Well, he wasn’t floating in space anymore, but he also wasn’t in the shuttle. Soft whirring noises were accompanied by intermittent beeping. Nope, definitely not space.

  The last thing he remembered was floating near the shuttle and trying to guide Xarla as she steered the shuttle to intercept him. He’d been so close and then… What?

  He could recall sucking in a breath and feeling the sharp tug as he drew in no air. Then he’d turned and seen… a ship. The memory came into focus. A Drexian ship.

  Kos raised a sluggish hand to shield his eyes as he opened them again. Was he really on a Drexian ship? He let his eyes adjust to the light until he could peer around him without the glare making his head ache. What he saw made him let out a loud sigh of relief.

  He was in a compact three-bed sick bay with shiny metal countertops and mechanical metal arms tucked up into the ceiling. A machine on a nearby stand was humming and flashing readouts of what he assumed were his vitals. Glancing down, he could see that he was naked except for a crisp white sheet that was tucked around his hips, and the bed he lay in was slightly inclined.

  The door slid open, and Captain Varden strode into the room. “They told me you were waking.”

  Kos attempted to sit up, but Varden shook his head. “Don’t move. You need to save your strength. They’re bringing your bride over now.”

  Kos raised an eyebrow in question.

  “She seems quite eager to see you and also quite upset that you think you can keep trying to tell her what she can and can’t do.” Varden crossed his arms and rocked back on his heels. “That’s a direct quote.”

  “I’ll bet it is,” Kos said, although his chest swelled at the thought of seeing Hope again. He didn’t even care if she was angry. Actually, he rather enjoyed how her eyes blazed and her cheeks flushed when she was busy arguing with him.

  Varden ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. “You want to tell me what happened out there after you left Captain Brok? I didn’t mind sacrificing my first officer to rescue his tribute bride, but I take some issue with you becoming part of the Curator’s collection.”

  Kos readjusted himself on the bed, wishing he was more formally attired for the debrief with his commanding officer. “I ran into some unexpected issues with the tribute, and while we were sorting things out, our ship was boarded.”

  Varden nodded, his brow furrowed. “So, this Curator is real?”

  “Unfortunately. So are all the stories. Actually, the stories don’t do him justice. Sir, he’s running a floating zoo and holding all sorts of creatures captive.”

  Varden’s frown deepened into a scowl. “How has he evaded capture for all this time?”

  “From what I could tell, he has important friends and clients. Some of the guests at his party looked like they moved in elevated circles.”

  “Anyone we can use to flush him out?” Varden asked.

  “Possibly.” Kos squared his shoulders. “Captain, I’d like to be a part of the mission to find this criminal.”

  “I thought you might. Does that mean you’re requesting another leave of absence from the station?”

  “The station is not back to full operation yet, is it?” Kos asked. “Otherwise, you probably wouldn’t have been able to take a ship to come after me.”

  “You are correct that they are still rebuilding after the attack, but I don’t know that I wouldn’t have come after you regardless,” Varden told him. “You are my first officer and were with me when we crashed on the primitive planet after the evacuation. After all we’ve been through together, I couldn’t exactly let someone else go after you.”

  Kos looked down at his lap, his throat unexpectedly thick with emotion. “Thank you, sir.”

  “You are an exemplary officer, Kos. You always have been.” Varden took a deep breath. “But I’ve always felt your talents might be wasted on my bridge.”

  Kos’s head snapped up. “Sir?”

  “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to lose you. It will be impossible to find an officer who can fill your shoes, but I also know that it might be time for you to take on new challenges.” Varden grinned. “And not just the challenge of your tribute bride, although I suspect you might have your hands full there, as well.”

  Kos’s cheeks warmed. He didn’t know what to say, although if he was being honest, he knew his commanding officer was right. “I would never abandon my commitments, Captain.”

  “I know you wouldn’t. Your loyalty does you credit. That is why I’m recommending you for your own command.”

  Kos’s mouth fell open. “My own command?”

  “I am not the only one who believes you deserve this. Captain Brok sent me a subspace message that amounted to the same thing. He was quite impressed by you.” Varden tilted his head. “Thinks you should consider Inferno Force.”

  Kos managed to close his mouth. “I don’t know what to say, sir.”

  Varden shook his head. “You don’t have to make any final decisions at the moment. And I suspect you’ll want to run your options by your mate.”

  Kos dropped his eyes. “I do not think she is my mate, sir.”

  “Really?” The captain cocked an eyebrow. “That’s not the impression I got.”

  “Things are more complicated than I anticipated they would be.”

  Varden threw his head back and laughed. “Things are always more complicated when it comes to human females. Do you remember what happened with me and my mate?”

  Kos did remember. He’d had a front row seat to the captain’s bumbling missteps before things finally worked out. />
  “Take it from me,” Captain Varden said. “It does not have to be so complicated. As long as you care for her, you can work it out.”

  “I’m not so sure,” Kos said, feeling the old ache return. “She has made it clear she has no intention of being anyone’s mate.”

  Varden shrugged. “That is what Dakar’s mate said, as well. Human females are known for changing their minds.” He held up a finger. “But it is very important you never remind them that they changed their mind. They do not like that at all.”

  Kos couldn’t help grinning. “How is your bride, Captain?”

  Varden’s cheeks flushed. “Very well. She is expecting our first child.”

  Kos could feel the Drexian’s joy and pride as if they were oozing from his pores. “Congratulations, sir.”

  Varden cleared his throat and nodded, his eyes shining. Before either man could break the silence, the door glided open, and Hope stomped into the room.

  “You have a lot of explaining to do, Drexian,” she said, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at him.

  Captain Varden backed away, shooting him a final sympathetic glance as he slipped out of the room.

  Hope still wore the long, flowing dress she’d been given on the Curator’s ship, but it looked considerably worse for wear, with tears and smudges he hadn’t noticed before. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a messy bun, and her flushed cheeks were streaked with tears. His heart constricted at the sight of her.

  Even though she looked furious, he didn’t care. He’d never been as happy to see anyone before in his life. Before he could tell her that, her chin started to quiver.

  She ran to him and jumped onto his bed, covering his body with hers and kissing him hard. When she pulled away, he took a startled breath. “I thought you wanted me to explain.”

  Hope kissed him again, nipping at his bottom lip. “First things first, big guy.”