The Huntress (14 page)

Warren sat across from them and watched with a little smirk. “I’d take it as a complement to my cooking if I didn’t know you two eat about as regularly as Mea. Who, by the way, hasn’t eaten yet today as far as I know.”

Stone ignored him.

“Why the hell didn’t she take her transceiver?” Neither answered him, and with a sigh the android got up and left the mess.

The two of them finished eating and cleaned up together in a companionable silence. Pouring each of them another cup of brown liquid, Stone led the way back down the corridor and out the hatch. They settled on the ramp, backs against the ship, and watched the sun slowly set in a brilliant flare of indescribable color.

Amazing,
Stone thought to himself,
what you don’t know you’ve missed until it’s right there in front of you.
It had been years since he’d seen a sunset. His shades made it different from what he remembered, but it was still a hell’va sight. He pulled the goggles off when the sun dropped below the horizon, enjoying the subtle transition into twilight.

“So,” Regan began, and Stone fought the urge to grin at her too casual tone. She’d been shooting him looks since they’d came outside, and he was surprised she’d waited this long before starting in. “What is it you don’t like about us?”

“What makes you think I don’t like you?”

“You leave,” she said starkly, not looking at him.

He winced, the urge to smile gone. Leave it to the kid to go straight for the jugular. “I like you, kid. You just need a family, and I’m not it.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but then a shadow slid across her face, and she shut it again. Studying him out of the corner of her eye, she turned the cup back and forth between her fingers. “You don’t like Mea, though.”

He refused to answer that one. She was quiet for a beat or two, but he knew she wasn’t done.

“I don’t get that. She likes you and she’s not afraid of you like Katie was. She’s pretty and smart and you’ve got a lot in common—”

“You sellin’ her?”

She frowned at him. “I’m serious! What don’t you like about her?”

“Look, kid, there’s all kinds of guys out there willing to take the bait. I’m just not one of ‘em.”

“It’s not bait!”

Now she was upset. The force of it was like a pressure on his skin, and he looked away into the growing twilight, uncomfortable. What the hell did he know about talking to kids? He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen one.

“So if you don’t like her and you don’t want to be with me, why are you still here?”

He weighed his options. Telling her the truth might upset her more, but if he didn’t tell her she wasn’t going to shut up about this whole weird liking-the-hunter business. Besides, she was bound to find out sooner or later. “She was hurt.”

“What?”

Okay, maybe telling her wasn’t such a good idea. Regan looked like he’d just stabbed her in the chest.

“I don’t think it was too bad,” he lied. “She was still standing when we left.”

Something about that wasn’t right either, because she began to cry and tucked her chin down. With a grimace, he placed a hand on the back of her neck, thinking when he did how small and crushable she felt.

“Hell, kid, she’s a hunter. She can handle it.”

“Then why are you worried?” she asked in a smeared little voice.

He took his hand back, rubbing his neck uneasily. “Who said I was worried?”

“You said you’re still here because she was hurt—” Suddenly she raised her head, sniffling. She looked like she’d forgotten her tears, a light dawning behind her eyes. “If you’re worried about her, doesn’t that mean you like her?”

Stone could handle killers in the dark. He’d hunted murderers without breaking a sweat in darkness so deep you could almost feel it between your fingers. But he’d never been ambushed like this before. Shifting against the ship, he rallied. “I’m still here because I don’t trust that android to keep a lock on you. If she doesn’t make it back, somebody’s gotta keep a watch on you.”

Regan’s eyes widened, narrow face losing all color. “Not make it
back?”
she whispered.

Stone looked away in disgust. Staring down at his cup, he tossed the rest of the brown liquid over the side of the ramp. He didn’t know what the stuff was, but it was plainly making him stupid.

The sound of a transport saved him from making any more dumb-ass remarks. The machine hummed close and landed in front of the ramp. Regan jumped to her feet and scrambled down to it, Stone following more slowly. Mea got out of the transport, moving with some stiffness, but she smiled at the girl who came to a screeching halt in front of her.

“Are you okay? Stone said you were hurt, and you might not make it back!”

Mea looked up at him, her smile morphing into a disapproving frown. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Hell if I know,” he sighed.

Her expression turned speculative, eyebrows raised, but she said nothing further, to his relief. Tugging Regan over to her right side, she put her arm around the kid and started up the ramp at a slow pace. Stone watched her with a crease in his brow as she pressed the left elbow to her side.

“No big deal, I just have to visit Ema. Just like the one on my shoulder.”

Regan didn’t get a chance to respond. Warren boiled out of the hatch, stomping toward them. “Goddamn it, Mea, that’s the last time you leave without your transceiver! I’ve been worried sick—” He stopped abruptly and looked her up and down. “What’s wrong?”

Mea and Regan spoke at the same time.

“Nothing.”

“She’s hurt.”

The android didn’t hesitate, shifting Regan gently out of the way and then lifting Mea without effort into his arms.

“Warren, for god’s sake! You’re overreacting.” She looked back over his shoulder at the girl as he carried her through the hatch. “He’s overreacting.”

Pushing Regan ahead, Stone stalked after them. Seeing her in the android’s arms made his insides burn as if he’d swallowed acid. He refused to ask himself why.

“Put me down, you big idiot. I’m not wounded in my legs.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t get this taken care of. What’s wrong with the EMU’s at HQ?”

Warren ducked into the infirmary with his charge, Stone and Regan on his heels.

“Because I trust Ema to heal me right.”

“Thank you, dear,” Ema responded, sounding smug.

“Welcome, Ema.”

The android lowered Mea to her feet and plucked at her jacket. With a glare, she slapped his hands away and slowly removed it herself. Stone noticed that she kept her left side out of Regan’s view.

“Regan, honey,” she said in a casual voice, “would you go get me something to drink and maybe some soup? I haven’t had anything all day.”

“Sure.” The kid tone was unenthusiastic and expression reluctant as she backed out of the infirmary.

As soon as she was out the door, Mea glanced at Warren. “Go keep her busy, friend.”

“You don’t need my help?”

“I can manage. Go on.”

She watched him go then leaned carefully against Ema’s table.

“That bad, huh?” Stone asked in a low voice.

She grimaced, working the body suit off her shoulders. “It looks worse than it is, but those two would fuss.”

Kicking off her boots, she began shimmying out of the suit. Stone shoved his back against the wall and crossed his arms tightly over his chest, trying to remember how to breathe. It wasn’t a deliberate strip tease. Her pale, set expression and occasional wince made that plain, but his blood still pumped hard and hot through his veins. He couldn’t tear his eyes away while she slowly uncovered gorgeous expanses of smooth skin and tempting curves.

He was both relieved and disappointed to see that she had underclothes on. A coag pack covered the wound and Stone gratefully focused his attention there. Blood smeared all down her left side and across her flat stomach. He could see why she hadn’t bled visibly—the body suit had held most of it in. As she peeled the pack away, he winced at the sight of the wound. Whatever weapon the attacker used had been jagged and dull. It hadn’t sliced her—it had ripped through her flesh in a long tear up her ribs. The edges of it were purplish and angry red, the center oozing. Here and there, he could see the dull silvery gleam of alloyed rib bone. The coppery smell of blood filled the room.

“Looks worse than it is my ass.”

Coolly she looked up at him, eyebrows raised. “Are you going to fuss?”

“I don’t fuss.” He watched her ease slowly up onto the table with a frown. “You need help?”

Her low chuckle made heat spread up his neck and into his face. She lay on her right side, legs curled and head resting on her right arm. Dropping her left arm behind her, she twisted to give Ema a clear shot at the wound. “Think this one’s going to scar, Ema?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. You left it late enough bringing it to me, you stupid woman.”

“Your concern is astonishing.” She sighed when Ema administered a painkiller and golden flickers moved over the wound. “But I have faith in your delicate touch.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere.”

“I knew it would.”

Stone watched as the wound began to knit together, but it couldn’t hold his attention for long. Not with the rest of her laid out before him like a banquet. He shouldn’t be here. The kid was safe and would stay on the ship with Mea to worry about. There was no reason he should stand there imagining what it would be like to feel that smooth skin and slide his hands over those maddening curves and put his mouth on her, taste her…

Pressing harder into the wall, he took a careful breath, trying to remember that he didn’t trust this woman. What had the android said?
Cave and save yourself the torture
. It was torture all right. He was definitely in pain. It only got worse when he met her gaze.

She ran smoky emerald eyes slowly over him, lighting fires wherever they touched. He couldn’t hide the fact that he was aroused and she took a quick breath, sleek body tensing. Eyes sliding back to his face, she said, “Oh, Bay, I’d love to love you,” in a throaty voice that made him want to growl and pounce.

That was all he could take. He needed to leave
right now.
But if he started moving, it wouldn’t be out the door.

“Stop that! You’re not doing anything for awhile with this wound,” Ema snapped, her harsh tone cutting through the thunder of blood in his ears.

Mea released him by turning her face into her arm with a groan. “Yes, Ema,” she whispered.

Stone bolted. Desperate to get out into the cool night air, he headed for the hatch, but he should’ve known escape wouldn’t be that easy.

“Stone, wait!”

Reluctantly he stopped and looked back over his shoulder at Regan, not turning around. She had a tray in her hands with a cup and bowl on it. She shoved that at Warren and came after him. With a silent curse, he ducked out the hatch into the relative darkness.

Walking down the ramp slow enough for her to catch up, he took deep breaths and tried to clear his head. She came abreast of him and matched his steps for a few moments in silence.

“Are you leaving again?”

He stopped. “Yeah. But I’ll be around, kid.” He didn’t look at her, afraid he’d see those damned tears.

“So if I need you, you’ll be here?”

Her voice sounded muffed, so he reluctantly looked down. She had her chin on her chest and he couldn’t see her face. “Yeah, I’ll be here.”

“What if I need you now?”

Ambushed again,
he thought when she raised solemn eyes to his. This time he knew she wasn’t going to like any answer he could give, so he held his tongue. When he said nothing, her lower lip started to tremble and she dropped her chin again quickly. He was startled when she stepped forward, wrapping thin arms around him in a hard hug.

“I love you, Stone.”

Then she was gone, running up the ramp and into Mea’s ship. He stared after her, unconsciously rubbing a spot over his heart as though it hurt.

Chapter 13

Mea was expecting her, so when Regan burst into the infirmary, she sat up and held out her arms. The girl launched herself into them without hesitation. It hurt her side quite a bit, but she still pulled the child up onto the table and held her while she cried in great, gasping sobs.

“Well, how do you expect me to heal—”

“Shut up, Ema,” she growled and was relieved when the AI kept her peace.

He really had to stop doing this to them,
she thought, murmuring soothing nonsense and rocking Regan gently. She had no idea that she was also crying until Warren wiped her cheeks and wrapped his arms around the both of them. More grateful for his presence than she could ever say, she leaned on him and let the tears fall.

Sometime later, she pushed at Warren and he let them go, brown eyes warm and worried. She gave him a strained smile, wiping tears off her face and Regan’s. The child was done sobbing, but warm liquid still spilled freely from her great, dark eyes. For this alone, she ought to chase Stone down and kick his ass.

“Didn’t you bring me soup?” she asked Warren.

The lines of his face eased somewhat. “It’s probably cold.”

“I’m not picky.”

Eating was the last thing she wanted to do, but it would calm Warren, and her body needed the energy to heal. He brought the tray over and placed it across her knees. Slowly, she ate one-handed, still holding Regan with the other arm.

When she was finished, Warren took the tray and left. Mea gave Regan a squeeze and lay back down on her side to let Ema finish healing. The girl curled up on the table with her, back to Mea’s chest and using Mea's arm as a pillow. They lay like that for a while in silence, and Mea hoped Regan had gone to sleep. She felt completely drained but couldn’t close her eyes.

“Mea?”

“Hmm?”

“What if my aunt and uncle don’t want me?”

“Of course they’ll want you.”

Regan shifted to her back, turning her head to look into Mea’s eyes. “They probably won’t. They’ve never even seen Katie or me. They have a bunch of kids of their own and I don’t think they’ll want another one.”