Knight, Dee S. - Bride of the Pryde (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (6 page)

Charlie settled back in his chair. “Can we get through Heron’s space without detection?”

Adam shook his head. “Not likely.”

“Can we negotiate?”

“I won’t ask those bastards for anything,” Erik said. “They not only didn’t pay me for the load I brought them but stole the rest of the freight we had on board while we sat in a Heron jail. Have you forgotten the shape we were in when they finally let us go?”

Adam nodded. “And not only us but the ship. If it hadn’t been for Dilly, we would have broken apart in open space.”

Charlie sighed. “Yeah, okay. If I ever forget, all I have to do is look in a mirror to see the scar across my chest.”

“If not for Jackal and the Herons, I’d have a new ship.” Erik patted the console lovingly. “Not that there’s anything wrong with you, girl. You’re the only woman in my life that hasn’t screwed me royally, one way or another.”

What the fuck should they do? They barely escaped with their lives after the last encounter they had on Heron. This time they would be looking for treachery, but would that help? Shit! This was supposed to have been an easy run.

Danessa stomped back onto the bridge. “I resent being treated like a prisoner. I
paid
for transport.”

“Someone did,” Erik muttered without really paying attention.

“I wanted to go back to my cabin for a moment, and do you know what that…that
thing
did?”

“I tried to stop her, Captain, but the
female
was insistent on retreating to her cabin.” Dilly came right on her heels.

She turned on him. “And don’t try to restrain me again, you tin-can computer.”

“Captain, I want to object to keeping this woman on board any longer. Can’t we put her off at the next port?”

“Dilly, be quiet.”

“But—”

“Quiet!”

Dilly harrumphed and shot a disdainful glance at Danessa before leaving.

Erik shook his head and addressed her. “You’ve only been on board a few hours and already I have a killer headache.”

She crossed her arms, emphasizing those fabulous breasts. “Just keep your steward away from me.”

He looked to Adam and rolled his eyes. How would they ever make it through months in space without someone getting hurt?

“Captain!”

It was all Erik could do not to groan. “Yes, Dilly.”

“I found this in the
guest’s
suitcase.”

Danessa shot to her feet. “What were you doing going through my things?”

“I was being a good
steward
, helping you unpack.”

“Snooping, you mean.”

“Whatever.” He held out a vial. “This was hidden inside the lining. An unmarked vial can only mean something regulated.”

“What?” She stared at the vial as though it held a venomous Earth creature. “You found that in her suitcase?”

Erik laced his fingers and folded them under his chin. “Don’t you mean
your
suitcase?”

She blinked rapidly and thinned her lips in a frown. “That shit isn’t mine. I would never—” She grabbed for it, knocking it from Dilly’s hand. It fell and splintered on the floor of the bridge.

“Oh, shit! Oh shit, oh shit,” Danessa said.

“Was that
glass
? Who the hell uses glass anymore? And what is that green stuff?” Erik asked, staring at the mess on the floor of his bridge.

“Don’t touch it!” She sank to her knees, her hands hovering over the greenish liquid pooled amongst the glass.

Dilly tsked. “Last-millennium glass is the last thing to bring on board a modern ship, you foolish woman. I’ll take care of it.” He picked up the largest piece of glass at the same time she waved him off. The glass sliced the tip of her thumb.

“Shit! You cut me, you—” Danessa leaned back on her heels and all color drained from her face. “Oh, my God, you
cut
me!”

What’s the problem now?
The woman was one bit of trouble after another. Erik looked at the other two men. They looked as confused as he felt. Even Dilly looked perplexed. “I’m sure we can take care of a minor cut like that,” Erik said.

“It’s not the cut, you idiot, it’s what was on the glass. And it’s in the air. We’re all exposed, we’re all affected. Though”—she examined her thumb—“I don’t know what will happen to me. It’s in my bloodstream.”

“For God’s sake,” Erik exploded. “What the fuck are we talking about?”

“Pheron,” she whispered. “We’re all infected with Pheron.”

Chapter Five

Pheron!
Susan revised her assessment of Danessa Vanessa. She had seemed nervous but also a little innocent, despite having been a dancer and being willing to hop off to a planet she’d never visited to marry a man she’d never met. If she knew how to get Pheron, however, Danessa was no innocent.

Then she remembered Danessa’s saying something about having to get her husband’s
juices running
. He was old, she’d said. The fool probably thought Pheron, combined with her “dancer’s” body, would be enough to make even an ancient man get it up. She must not have known that Pheron worked on whatever hidden emotions a person harbored. Her new man could just as easily have slapped her around as fucked her.

Good thing Danessa hadn’t had the chance to use the Pheron on her hubby.

Bad thing Susan had the poison working its way through her bloodstream.

“What does this mean, exactly?” Erik asked.

Susan wanted to vomit. No denying it, she was scared, more afraid than when she’d been running from those guys back in Centre City. Guns and shooters she knew, she understood. This was her first personal experience with Pheron. What she knew secondhand had been enough to frighten her half out of her mind.

“It’s not good news. Considering where she’s from, there’s no guarantee it’s not some kind of homemade batch.”

“So you admit that you’re not Danessa Vanessa, the woman who was
supposed
to be our passenger.” Dilly sounded way too smug, but then why not? As a robotic life-form he was unaffected by the Pheron.

“If it hadn’t been for you, you useless bucket of bolts, we would all be safe right now.”

“You mean, if it hadn’t been for
you
, sneaking onto our ship. We would—”

“Enough!” Erik’s tone brooked no argument. “What does this mean for us, being around the Pheron?”

Susan stood, accepting the piece of material Charlie conjured from somewhere. She didn’t know whether to stop the bleeding or try to leech the Pheron out by forcing the wound to bleed more. Squeezing her thumb to encourage the flow of blood, she hoped most of the Pheron would flow out, too.

“You know the effects, generally?” Erik, Adam, and Charlie nodded, almost as one. “It somehow discovers your deepest inhibitions and does away with them. The thing you most keep from the world, it unleashes.” She held in a shudder, thinking of the violence she needed for her work but tried hard to keep hidden. “The Pheron is usually poured into a small bowl and inhaled. The effects take place on a single person or a roomful. How long it takes for it to work and how long the effects last depends on the amount and time of exposure. This is, I’d say…” She examined the volume of liquid still on the floor. “There might be enough there to start work within an hour.”

“Right.” Erik sounded grim. “Dilly, get this mess cleaned up, please. Contain the glass and liquid, but don’t discard it. We might need it later as evidence for the police. Then—”

Susan straightened up and shot an indignant glare at Erik. “Wait a minute! I didn’t buy this crap, and I didn’t bring it on board!”

He glared back. “Technically, you did. And lady, I don’t have any idea in the world who the fuck you are, so forgive me my little paranoia.” He scraped his gaze across Charlie and Adam and then back to Dilly. “Give your keys to the weapons locker to Dilly. Dilly, get out a P38 and keep it with you at all times. If one of us gets out of hand, stun us, using whatever power it takes to secure the ship and all of us.”

“Do you think that’s necessary?” Susan asked, knowing that with her background and tethered emotions it really was a good idea. Erik ignored her. She watched as Adam and Charlie handed over their keys without question.

“Prepare a lunch we can easily eat in our cabins. I think it’s a good idea to quarantine ourselves until we’re sure the Pheron’s power is diminished.”

“Aye,” Charlie said. He stopped at Susan’s side and squeezed her arm. “Don’t worry. The captain will get to the bottom of this. It wasn’t your fault,” he said and then left the bridge.

Did the man ever lose that sweetness? Susan shuddered at what he might keep hidden deep within, something that might be released now that he had Pheron in his system.

But damn, he was cute, with his magnetic green eyes and tall, muscular body. She shouldn’t have been so mean to him on the hover craft. Sometimes she could be a bitch, it was true, but she shouldn’t be bitchy with good-looking, delicious men like Charlie.

Where the hell did that come from?

Criminy, the Pheron must already have started working. Becoming distracted in dangerous situations was totally alien to her nature.

Adam stared at her for several moments before passing by. She felt the tug of a mind probe but thankfully kept up her barriers. He nodded and left the bridge behind Charlie. Dilly knelt at her feet, wiping the glass and Pheron into a HazBag. She looked up to find Captain John Erik watching her through hooded lids.

She once again sensed the power emanating from him. His command of the ship and the loyalty he enjoyed from his crew—two men who were no slouches themselves, not to mention the walking, talking formation of nuts and bolts—impressed her.

And then there were his looks. He reminded her of a Viking from an ancient fairy tale her mother had read her as a child. Vikings were reputed to roam the northern latitudes on Earth long, long ago. Like the pale northern sunlight, their hair glistened like gold.
L
ike pack ice, their eyes gleamed blue. They wore the skins of monstrous bears and had the strength and shape of those same animals. They had seemed mystical to her, listening to her mother those many years ago, but now she knew they were not mythical creatures shrouded in mist because one stood before her. If she were a normal woman instead of one steeped in intrigue and peril, she might have fallen in love with such a man.

She had long ago given over her life to her government, forsaking her own desires and womanly needs for the greater good. In the beginning, the constant adrenaline rush that came with the job kept her focused on things impersonal. Lately, though, her work had lost its appeal. The more she tried to do, the less it seemed she accomplished. No matter what evil she helped to eradicate, something just as bad—or worse, like Pheron—popped up.

Had she made the right choices, especially in denying her softer half? She normally banished the doubts and second guesses. But sometimes, in the dark of night, they stole into her mind and weakened her resolve. In those times, did she dream of a man striding out of the mists to claim her, body and soul, a man wearing an animal skin and looking much like John Erik? Yes, and more. She yearned for him to rescue her, to give meaning to her wasted life, to make her a woman by filling her body and her soul. By giving her laughter. By giving her peace. Maybe by giving her a child.

Susan closed her eyes on a gasp at the stab of loss and emptiness. She shook her head to clear the images. This had to be the Pheron acting on her.
Idiot! Stay focused.