Forsaken Realms (Bounty Hunters United Book 1) (5 page)

He shifted restlessly in the seat as much as the body cage would allow.
“You’re not immune. You can hear my thoughts. Do you know how rare and special that this?”

“No, I don’t. Would you please settle down and stop the mental chatter for a few minutes while I do a pre-flight checklist? Once we’re past orbit, you can mind yammer all you want and I’ll be free to ignore you.”

“Take the collar off, and I’ll speak.”

“I don’t think so. I heard that lion-roar thing that you did inside the building. It made the trees shake. I don’t want to be deafened.”

“I promise not to roar or harm you in any way, but please listen. It’s important.”

“I’m supposed to trust you? Let’s be clear about one thing. You’re my payday. I need the money. Political sequester and other matters aside, you are a trespasser on private property. I’m going to drop you off on Penal Colony X57, and they can deal with you. Call your ambassador or do whatever you have to do, which at that point will be none of my business.”

The pre-ignition switch received a harsh finger-jab and she watched in disappointment as the engines flared and then fizzled.

“Damn! I knew it. I can’t even warm up the hover jets. Naveen’s autopilot has loaded me up with meta-viruses. I hate this!”

“I can’t ask the Kironian ambassador for help because I am the Kironian ambassador.”

“Excuse me. I need quiet. I have to electrically wipe and reset all the circuits and pray I remembered to set everything back in the proper sequence or else we are going to go
kaboom
when I hit the thruster jets on the edge of orbit. Do you understand?”

“I’m very thirsty. May I have something to drink?”

A twinge of guilt ripped through; she knew he was dehydrated.

“I’m busy right now but as soon as we get out of orbit—I’ll serve cocktails.”

“Cocktails? How do you drink them? In my earlier experiences with your language, I discovered a cock’s tail was a feathery protrusion from the posterior of a male bird. I do not understand how such an item might quench thirst.”

“It’s going to be one of those days.” She sighed. “A cocktail might not be enough. Once I’m off duty, I’ll have to get a few shots in me.”

He seemed shocked.
“You want to be shot?”

“No. It’s a saying.”

“The force cuffs are hurting me. They’re too tight. The blood’s left my fingertips. You know I’m telling the truth.”

Telepathically she did feel his pain, and her hands throbbed in sympathy. Gemmina turned from the control console and looked at his hands. The fingers were swollen and blue.

“Oh, God.”

She bolted out of the chair and hurried to him. “I’m going to deactivate the force cuffs.”

His eyes flooded with emotion.
“Thank you.”

Damn it, why did he have to look at her like that?

“I’m trying to be humane. I don’t need to judge you. I’m going to let someone else do that.”

“I did not kill the people of Sarna.”

“Someone did.”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Jason Naveen says differently. You’ll have a chance to defend yourself and contact your people. If your story checks out and you’re innocent, you’ll be immediately released to the Kironians with apologies, which is what I suspect will happen. I’ll get my fee, and everyone goes home happy.”

“That won’t happen for me.”

“Yes, it will. Everyone is walking on eggshells where the Kiron sector is concerned. No one wants to offend the Kironians or blow a potentially lucrative alliance. Trust me, it’s unlikely you’ll spend more than a day or two on X57.”

“Do you know what cryptoerasing would do to me?”

“Naveen mentioned a few things. I understood it was the selective eradication of deviant and violent behavior.”

“It’s more than that. I overheard Naveen’s guards. The person undergoing cryptoerasing is reduced to a child-like state. All adult memories, drives, and desires are gone. He is alive but a large part of his personality and life history is destroyed.”

“Is that true?”

“It is true, and, once I’m cryptoerased, it won’t matter if I’m found innocent or not. I’ll have no memory of my adult life at all. Do you understand my life as a man will be over and can never be restored?”

“Why does Jason Naveen want you cryptoerased?”

“I accused him of annihilating Sarna and demanded that he turn himself over to the intergalactic council and plead for leniency.”

“What? You came here alone to say something like that? That was a bad idea.”

“I did not come here, I was brought here by force. The disaster on Sarna was an accident, but Naveen did it all the same. Naveen thought Sarna primitive and remote enough to experiment with.”

“Your story is starting to creep me out. Why did Naveen call and ask me to take you all the way to X57? It’s such a big risk on his part. Why not simply kill you or cryptoerase you here?”

“Naveen had to call someone on the outside. It’s on record that I flew to Sarna to confront him. If he killed me or if I disappeared here, he’d be in trouble. There’d be a Kironian delegation searching the planetoid for my body. They might not find me, but they’d find a lot more that would point directly at the Sarna tragedy, which isn’t even public yet. They couldn’t keep me sedated. I broke the cryptoerasing machinery here. I kicked it to pieces.”

Gemmina’s stomach churned. “It’s a very dangerous thing to say in my line of work, but I almost believe you.”

“You must believe me.”
He looked at her with liquid eyes. His face appeared so open and earnest.
“Jason Naveen was counting on us being unable to communicate with one another. He thought the collar would trap me in silence while you dutifully delivered me to X57. But he doesn’t know about the sacred link.”

“
Neither do I. What freaking sacred link are you talking about? I have telepathic enhancements and…. Well I don’t really know what going on with you.”

“Take the force cuffs off, please. I’ll do anything I have to do to gain you as an ally.”

She knelt and deactivated the cuffs with a tap command. The faint glow of the cuffs dimmed, and the bands expanded. Once the cuffs were inert, she was able to slide them from his hands with ease. “I’m releasing the force cuffs because it’s the right thing to do. Do not misunderstand this gesture as one of trust. We are not allies. Got it?”

Syan winced as he rolled his wrists, and the blood raced to his fingertips.
“Gemmina.”
A trace of conflict shone in his eyes.
“I’m so sorry, but I have to do this.”
With the speed of a cobra strike, he grabbed her, yanked her against him, and locked his arms around her tight. With his next swift motion, he brushed his lips against her throat, bared his teeth, and bit down until he pierced the skin.

“Ooooww!” She wailed and stiffened. It took a heartbeat for her to even fathom that the source of the scorching pain was actually a bite. His sharp incisors had punctured the skin with the precise efficiency of a syringe. It hurt in a hot stinging way that made her want to writhe.

“Be careful!”
The pressure of the bite lightened. He released his grip on her and withdrew his teeth.
“Gemmina, move slowly you might get dizzy. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

On unsteady legs, she staggered away from him. “Then don’t bite me!” She clamped her palm over the tiny wound and dabbed with her fingertips. The tips of her fingers were sticky. She expected to see blood, but instead the fluid was faint blue. A jolt of pure terror made her tremble. “What is this?” The skin surrounding the bite warmed. “Did you poison me?”

His expressive lips drew taunt.
“It’s not poison. It’s a claim bite. My saliva is loaded with pheromones.”

“What are you talking about? You can’t make a claim on me!”

“I just did.”

“What does this nonsense even mean? What sort of claim do you think you’re making? Is this about property, sovereignty? Tell me what you think you’re doing, and I’ll tell you why you’re wrong!”

“I don’t ‘think it,' I know it. I made a mate claim. We will bond as life mates.”

“What? No! You’re mistaken. Do you have any idea how unethical it would be for me to get involved even in the most casual way with a retrieval? It’s never going to happen.”

Syan’s gaze sharpened. His thoughts streamed even faster into her mind.
“It might take a couple days to fully develop, but it will happen. If it’s any consolation, I’ll suffer from the bite as much as you, if not more.”

“Oh, you’ll suffer! I feel like kicking you in the head for even messing with me and suggesting these stupid things. Stop it.”

“Head kicking is not a respectful way to treat a mate. I would never lay an angry hand on you.”

“That’s lovely, but I’m not in the market for a life mate. I don’t want one, and I won’t be manipulated!”

“Neither was I, but it is done and I will honor the mate bond.”

“Dude, you’re being so somber about this. I think I liked things better when you were being tricky. At least I know you’re up to something. This earnest face thing is really disturbing. ”

“That is behind us now. Over the next hours our bond will intensify. It can become difficult to handle. I will try to be a comfort to you.”

“God, I feel so thirsty all of a sudden. Is the bite doing this?”

“No. It is because I am thirsty. You are feeling my thirst.”

“Holy crap. Am I going to have to feel what you feel? Is that what the bite does?”

“Yes.”

“Is this for real? I have to share thoughts with you? I suppose I have no say in this matter?”

“I apologize. Our situation is highly unusual. In my culture, a claim bite is only shared between consenting parties who know each other well. This was an emergency.”

“You’re a fucking opportunist! How dare you.” She landed in the captain’s chair with a hard plop. “I did not consent to this, and you’re crazy if you think I’ll go along with your outrageous statements without putting up a fight. I’m taking you straight to X57, dropping you off, and washing my hands of all this Kironian nonsense. I’m a professional. I won’t freak out or fall for any of your bullshit.” Gemmina dug through her pocket to retrieve the handheld scanner, punched the activation button, and waved the device across her throat.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking a reading on whatever the hell was in that bite of yours. I want to know if it’s toxic.”

“It’s not.”

“How do you know? Have you ever bitten a human?”

“I can tell by your scent that we are a match.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Romeo. There could be an antidote.”

“Not once my pheromones mix with yours. I am certain this has already happened. You and I will have to ride it out.”

“God damn you! The scanner isn’t even picking up on anything unusual. There’s nothing in its databanks about Kironians. I don’t know what to do.”

“Remain calm. You will soon see that I am not only innocent of harming others, but I would be a good choice of mate for you.”

“Whatever. You do have confidence and think highly of yourself, I’ll give you credit for that. However I insist you not engage in mental chatter and allow me to finish the systems safety checklist on old Rudra here or else we are going to be Jason Naveen’s long-term houseguests or, worse, turn into flaming confetti falling from the upper atmosphere and I don’t want to be either. You’re going to X57, no arguments, so let’s get this show on the road and get it over with.”

Syan lowered his face and did his best to not communicate telepathically.

She experienced every painful moment of his enforced silence. It was difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. Within minutes, she had zipped through a systems check. A few annoying anomalies were spotted, but nothing that would ground them. The worst-case scenario was that Naveen had installed spy programs all over the ship to watch and listen to everything that transpired during transit. It wasn’t a big deal, especially with a triple-triple fee. After this she could afford to replace all the aging parts of the ship and even wipe clean and upgrade Rudra’s main brain, which she’d wanted to do for a long time.

Gemmina glanced at Syan. “Ready?” With a firm grip she wrapped her hand around the throttle and pulled. The ship lifted off the beach and hovered blowing whirls of silica beads into the air. “I’m going to punch it. I don’t want that stuff getting sucked into the intake.” Her arm straightened and pushed the throttle down with hammer force. The ship took off across an expanse of jungle like a high-strung racehorse released from the gate.

“Get vertical!”
he cried out in his mind.

“Don’t tell me how to fly.” The skimmer shot above the jungle at such a low altitude it clipped the treetops. The resulting shockwave sent a flock of startled birds bursting into the sky in a fluttering swirl of vermillion. “I didn’t get the opportunity to stretch my legs and hunt. At least let me enjoy a quick tour of the planetoid. I want a glimpse of what I can’t have. All my hunts take place in the cities these days, and mostly the underground at that. I’m so sick of stalking people in sewers. Look at this— trees, ocean—this is paradise. You have no idea how badly I needed this.”

“It’s a stolen paradise.”

“
What do you mean?”

“I mean this was stolen. Everything you see once belonged to Sarna.”

“I don’t think this was stolen in the literal sense. Do you mean genetically copied? This is terra-engineering.”

“No, this is stealing. Jason Naveen stole all these living things without permission or compensation.”

 
The skimmer
hit a fierce patch of turbulence that made the ship shudder.

“You better start climbing. Naveen’s atmosphere is dense but narrow. There are magnetic buckles in the atmosphere as well. We hit one on the way in.”