Temporal Shift (Entangled Select Otherworld) (25 page)
Read Temporal Shift (Entangled Select Otherworld) Online
Authors: Nina Croft
Tags: #Temporal Shift, #sci-fi, #PNR, #paranormal, #romance, #science fiction, #Select Otherworld, #Entangled, #Nina Croft, #Blood Hunter
“They won’t let me go,” Saffira said, her hand tightening on his. “They can’t let me live—I’m too dangerous.”
That sounded scary, but he’d worry about the love of his life being scary later. He squeezed her fingers. “I like dangerous. And maybe they won’t have a choice.”
The ship glided down to a smooth landing at the entrance to the valley, and they hurried across the open ground. His skin tingled in anticipation, every second expecting something to zap his mind, but they reached the ship safely.
At the top of the ramp, Saffira turned. “Devil, come!”
The little dog had been hiding in the lee of the rock face, now he scampered after them and up the ramp. As soon as they were inside the docking bay the doors closed and the ship lifted off.
Devlin braced for a fast getaway, but the ship continued to hover.
Saffira seemed to peer inside herself. She blinked. “They waited until we’re all together. Now they can take out the whole lot of us in one go. Come on, we need to go see what’s happening.”
Rico and Daisy were alone on the bridge. Rico glanced up as they entered, then did a double take as he no doubt took in their violet eyes. “Welcome back. But I think we may have a problem.”
Devlin stood beside Saffira in the center of the room and studied the screens—things didn’t look good. High above the planet’s surface, the great winged creatures crowded the sky, forming a solid barrier between the
Blood Hunter
and open space. One darted closer and flame shot out of its jaws, filling the screen with flickering white and orange light.
“I’d push straight through,” Rico said. “But I don’t know what we’re up against. Those things look pretty solid and, according to the sensors, that fire is hot enough to burn right through us given time.”
There was movement at the edge of the room. Devlin turned as Tannis, Callum, and Skylar entered.
“I thought you were lying down?” Rico said.
“And miss this?” Tannis stared at the screen. “Well, we always knew it was a bad idea.”
“All the same,” Devlin said. “Thanks for coming back.”
“I’d say my pleasure, but right now…” She shook her head. “Fucking dragons. Who would have thought it? But I suppose if you have to go…”
Devlin had always thought he’d die alone. Now he was amongst friends. He wasn’t sure which was better. Then he looked at Saffira and knew that wasn’t true. She caught his gaze and held out her hand. He took it, wrapped his other hand around her waist, and pulled her close as another wave of fire hit the ship. The heat radiated through the walls and shields, warming his skin.
“Shit.”
This time it really was the end. It looked like they weren’t going to get to kill Hatcher after all. Damn. “I say go for it. Let’s just blast through the fuckers. It’s better than waiting for them to roast us.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Rico swiveled his chair back to face the front. “I’m not sure it’s worth strapping yourselves in, so here goes—”
“Wait,” Saffira said.
“Wait?”
She tugged free and went to stand in front of them all. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but I think I can get us out.” She bit her lip. “I’ve just never done it before.”
“Honey, I’m not sure what ‘it’ involves, but who cares. Right now, anything but this”—Rico waved a hand at the fire-filled screens—“gets my vote.”
“And mine,” Tannis said. “Though I have no clue what you think you can do.”
“But whatever it is, fast would be good,” Callum added.
She turned to Devlin, but already her gaze had shifted inward, and he got an inkling of what she meant to try. Oh hell, no.
“Devlin?” she asked.
He swallowed. “Go for it.”
She gave a quick nod. “Everyone concentrate on the other side of the black hole, where we want to be.” She glared at Rico. “And this time don’t get sidetracked.”
“I won’t. But what—” He broke off and stared at something on the screen in front of him.
Devlin followed his gaze. Through the flames that filled the sky, a ribbon of darkness rippled and twisted. At first, its movements were random. Then, as if it had sniffed something interesting, it turned its attention to the
Blood Hunter
.
Yup. It was official. The love of his life was seriously scary.
The dragons must have sensed something, seen the wormhole, and they upped their attack. Sweat broke out on his forehead, trickled down his face.
The wormhole was close now, the gaping mouth taking up one full screen, sparking with white lights and shooting flashes of the violet interior. A roar filled the bridge.
Saffira’s eyes were scrunched shut, her teeth clamped on her lower lip. Devlin held her tight against him as her knees buckled.
“Right, we’re going in,” Rico yelled above the roar. “Maybe you should have strapped yourselves in—no time now—just hold on to something.”
Devlin held onto Saffira as they whirled into the darkness.
Epilogue
Saffira stood in the center of the bridge and studied the screens that circled the room. Through the rear scanners, she saw the black hole, a whirling mass of iridescent lights. Behind them.
Fucking hell—she’d done it.
The
Blood Hunter
was through, a little battered perhaps, but still functioning.
They were in the other universe, and eternity stretched out before her. Eternity with Devlin and a whole new world to explore. But first, they had some religious types to kill. Or maybe, as founder of the Church, she could just disband it or something.
Devlin had been checking the systems, now he came up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders, pulled her back against him as he, too, stared at the screens. “Welcome to my world,” he murmured.
Rico was in the pilot’s seat, Skylar beside him. “You know, I’ve been thinking,” he said. Leaning back in his chair, he rested his booted feet on the console in front of him and eyed Saffira lazily.
“Shit,” Tannis muttered. “That’s never a good thing.”
Rico ignored the interruption. “I’ve been wondering, what exactly was it that destroyed the Earth? They never did tell us at the time. Of course, speculation was rife, everything from plagues to being slammed by an enormous comet, but no one knew for sure. So what was it?”
Saffira shifted and fiddled with her hair. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
Rico sat forward in his seat, his eyes narrowing. “What do you mean—you don’t know? How can you not know?”
“I never saw it—the destruction of Earth, I mean.”
Devlin released her and came around so he could see her face. Everyone was watching her now.
“I never actually saw that. I only saw me warning the President and so I knew it must be going to happen.”
Rico rose to his feet and came toward her. “You never saw it happen? Not even a little peek?”
She shook her head.
“You just saw yourself warning this guy that the Earth was going to end and ergo the Earth was going to end.”
“Why the hell else would I have warned him?”
Devlin answered. “Because you saw yourself warning him…” He ran a hand through his hair. “Shit, this time travel thing does my head in.”
“Get used to it,” she muttered. She chewed on her lip. “It must have happened.” She sounded defensive now. She couldn’t believe this had never occurred to her. But it couldn’t be true. Earth had been destroyed. Hadn’t it?
Rico threw back his head and laughed. “This is just so good,” he said. “You dragged those poor Chosen Ones halfway across the universe…for nothing.”
“You don’t know that. Not for sure.”
“So maybe mankind didn’t need saving?” Tannis asked. “It was all for nothing.”
Rico chuckled again. “Well not for ‘nothing’.” He waved a hand around their surroundings. “None of this would have happened.
You
wouldn’t have happened.”
Tannis ran a hand through her short spiky hair. “Shit, I think my head just exploded. So somewhere, a long way off, the Earth is still going happily on its way.”
“Perhaps,” Rico said. “Maybe one day we’ll get to find out.”
Saffira plonked herself down in a chair. “Well, I don’t believe it.”
“Don’t worry,” Devlin said. “We won’t tell.”
“Piss off.”
He laughed. “So what’s next? You know, I was sort of expecting a welcoming committee.”
“They probably think we all died in the black hole,” Tannis said.
“Maybe.” Devlin didn’t sound convinced.
Tannis crossed to a console and tapped something in. “Fuck. It looks like we’ve lost a few years.”
“What?”
“It’s twenty-one freaking years after we dived into that black hole.”
Saffira glared as everyone turned around to look at her. Again. “Hey, it wasn’t me.” At least she didn’t think it was her. “You just weren’t concentrating hard enough.”
“Well, we’d better try and find out what we’ve missed.”
“And let’s hope nobody’s killed Hatcher while we’ve been gone,” Devlin added.
Saffira sat back in her seat and let the conversation wash over her. She was part of this now. Part of the crew of the
Blood Hunter
…a space pirate!
Devlin came and sat beside her, took her hand, toyed with her fingers. “So it seems we’re not finished yet. Are you ready for another go at eternity?”
She gazed into his inhuman violet eyes. She missed the blue-green of the ocean but it was a small price to pay. “With you?”
“Why not? I’m beginning to believe there might be something in this destiny crap. Let’s go out there and see what else it has in store for us.”
A whole new life, and best of all, Devlin finally believed in destiny.
All the same, perhaps she’d leave it a little while before she mentioned her latest vision. A consciousness flickered at the edges of her mind, ancient and powerful. They weren’t finished with her yet. Perhaps she wouldn’t mention that either.
Just for a little while. They deserved a honeymoon period.
After all, time was on her side.
They had eternity.
The End
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Acknowledgments
To everyone at Entangled Publishing for persevering with my favorite series.
To all the great women at Passionate Critters for reading my stories and letting me know what they really think.
And also a huge thank you to my long-suffering husband, Rob, who has to put up with me regularly zoning out of the real world and playing around in worlds of my own making. He even manages to listen to my plots and refrain from telling me: it’s not real, you know (at least after the first time!)
About the Author
Nina Croft grew up in the north of England. After training as an accountant, she spent four years working as a volunteer in Zambia, which left her with a love of the sun and a dislike of nine-to-five work. She then spent a number of years mixing travel (whenever possible) with work (whenever necessary) but has now settled down to a life of writing and picking almonds on a remote farm in the mountains of southern Spain.
Nina writes all types of romance, often mixed with elements of the paranormal and science fiction.
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Nina Croft
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