Alien Savior (Zerconian Warriors Book 5) (7 page)

“And you think he’ll honor that?” Zuma asked.

“To break a vow is a disgrace,” Darac confirmed.

“And the Zerconians are rich,” the quieter male said. “He’s worth a lot more alive than dead. Maybe more than the money we’ll make from this shipment.”

Something in Rye’s expression shifted. So that spoke to him. Money.

“My people will pay well for my return,” he confirmed. Now that he had something to live for he was determined to remain alive.

“All of that means nothing if he keeps attacking us,” the male who had been hidden pointed out. “He broke out of hover cuffs and a thick steel door. Cap, he tossed you around like a toothpick. He’s dangerous.”

“But only if Willa is threatened,” Zuma added. “Or at least that’s what he says.”

“Do you swear to harm no one on this ship?” Rye asked.

“As long as my mate is not threatened.”

“Stop calling her that,” Zuma said. All humor fled from his face. “She is not your mate.”

“She is. I would do anything to keep her safe. If something were to happen to her, I would be lost. I would be a danger. Were that to happen, you must kill me quickly.”

“Nothing will happen to Willa,” Rye told him. “But if you attack any of us again then we will kill you.”

They could try.

“I say we kill him now,” Zuma said.

Rye turned to the quieter man. “Deacon?”

“I agree with Zuma,” Deacon stated.

Darac tensed.

“I say we keep him for ransom,” the fourth male stated.

Rye was silent for a long moment. “I agree with Steele. For the moment, he lives. Put him in a spare bunkroom, Deacon. The rest of you get to the bridge, we’re leaving within the hour.”

Deacon waved his blaster at him. “Come on. Move wrong, I’ll shoot you. Look at me wrong, I’ll shoot you, breathe wrong, I will shoot you.”

Willa pulled herself away from the wall with a sigh of relief. She’d stormed out before she’d remembered that she was needed to keep them from killing each other. So she’d waited outside to see what would happen.

She didn’t know what she would have done if they’d decided to kill Darac. She’d probably have run back in to save him.

Like a too stupid to live heroine.

Why the hell did she keep doing that? She kept stepping in to save him, at the risk of her place on this crew. What had she been thinking? When she heard footsteps, she hastily moved down the passage.

“Willa. Freeze.” Rye’s voice struck her and she stilled.

He came up beside her. “Come with me.”

Meekly, she followed behind him. Maybe if she acted totally repentant he’d forget about his threat to kick her off the crew. She needed her place here. She’d earned it. There was no way she could sit at home and do nothing. Yeah, she could fix racers for Duke, but that still meant she’d be stuck on Joyadan with the same people, doing the same thing day after day until boredom threatened to make her go silly.

“Rye, I’m really sorry about before. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t know why I jumped in front of him like that. I just knew that you couldn’t kill him.”

“Because you’re his mate,” Rye said, raising his eyebrows. “I don’t buy it.”

“You’re not the only one.” That had been a shock. “You think I want to believe any of this? That I want some psycho, beast man claiming to be my soul mate? But I also know you can’t kill him. Maybe it’s about the ransom money.” It wasn’t. “This is crazy. I just met him. I shouldn’t…” What? Shouldn’t be this attracted to him? Shouldn’t want him? Shouldn’t think he was sexy and gorgeous and entirely lickable.

Lickable? Okay, now she knew she was losing her mind.

“Shouldn’t what? Risk your life for him? You’re right. That was a stupid, idiotic thing to do. I didn’t raise a stupid idiot, Willa.”

“I know.” Desperation and fear coiled a knot in her stomach. Was he going to kick her off the crew? She’d disappointed him.

“I raised you to be independent. To never have to rely on a male like some of those poor women on Joyadan. I hope I did not fail.”

She straightened her shoulders, trying to ignore the way her stomach rolled sickeningly. She needed to take a pain inhibitor before this migraine really took hold. “I want to make you proud, Rye.”

“Good. There is something about this male that causes you to do stupid things. You need to stay away from him.”

Reluctantly, she nodded. She would never choose a man over her family. Especially an outsider. “I know.”

“You need to choose whose side you are on. His or ours.”

“Ours, of course.” But her voice wasn’t as emphatic as it should have been. There shouldn’t have been any hesitation. The crew was her life. Darac was nobody.

Rye gave her a searching look and she got the feeling he saw too much. “Just so I know who has your loyalty. Because if he threatens anyone else, I will put him down. No matter who stands in my way.”

She nodded, unable to speak. That migraine was picking up speed.

“I hope I don’t regret not killing the bastard,” he muttered before striding off.

***

Willa lay back on her bunk bed with an exhausted sigh. Today had been long and drama-filled.

Fuck. Fuckity fuck. What a mess.

She had really thought Rye was going to kill Darac. If she hadn’t jumped in front of him she was certain they would have been shoving his dead body out an airlock. She placed her arm across her eyes. She was exhausted and this was the first chance she’d had to sit down all day. Too much excitement.

This migraine was starting to take hold and she needed to find a pain inhibitor. Normally she hated taking them because of how out of it they made her feel. But right now that sounded like heaven. Rolling onto her side, she searched for one in the small drawer beside the bed that was permanently attached to the wall. Her bunkroom wasn’t much. A bed, table, chair and a few drawers for her clothes and other stuff.

No inhibitors. Shit. Either she had to force herself to make her way to medical or call Nolan to bring one to her.

Or stay here and suffer.

As soon as they refuelled they’d be leaving and Rye would need her in the engine room. They were already down one man. So she stood and stumbled out of the room. The headache compressing down on her head was a relief in some ways, it left her little ability to think about the last few hours.

“Damn mess,” she said quietly.

“Willa?”

She squinted, placing her hand above her eyes to shield them even though the passage wasn’t lit that brightly. Steele loomed over her with a frown. “You okay?”

“Fine,” she told him. “When are we leaving Lilan?”

“There has been a delay so we’re here for another four hours. You look like shit.”

He was such a charmer. “I have a headache.”

“You need to get to medical.”

“That’s where I was headed.” She stepped forward to move past him.

“Yeah? Then you might want to turn around and head back the other way.”

She stilled and looked around her. Crap, she was headed towards the engine room. Idiot. Without looking at Steele—he had to have a knowing smirk on his face—she turned.

“Don’t you have something better to do?” she snapped as he followed along behind her. She needed to distance herself from Darac. Make herself care about him less.

“I’m heading to the bridge.”

“Then shouldn’t you run along?” She made a shooing motion with her hand. “Nothing to see here.” Pain and worry was making her grumpy.

“No, only a half-dead fool of a woman who should have gotten herself to medical an hour ago.”

“An hour ago, I was being attacked by that lunatic, Mitch.” God, had that only been an hour ago?

It felt like a lifetime had passed since they had brought Darac’s ship on-board. Part of her wished they hadn’t.

Things would be a lot simpler.

And Darac would be dead.

The thought sent a chill up her spine.

“You need to stop baiting him, Willa,” Steele told her.

She stopped and despite the added pain it created in her head, scowled up at him. “Are you for real?
He
attacked
me
.”

“Yeah, and he’s probably going to lose his place on this crew because of it. We were all warned about what Rye would do to any of us if we even looked funny at you, let alone touched you.”

What?

“What are you talking about? I don’t get treated any differently than any other crew member.”

“Sure, you keep telling yourself that.” By now they were standing outside medical. “This is all Mitch has. He’s jealous of you. Of your family. Something he’s never had. It was a stupid thing to do, granted, and I’m not condoning it. But he’ll be lucky if Rye lets him off with just being kicked off the crew.” Steele grimaced. “I’ve seen your brother when he’s crossed. It ain’t pretty. I’ll let Rye know you safely made it to medical.”

She gaped after him. What was he talking about? Rye had always made a point of treating her like everyone else. Sometimes he was tougher on her than the others. But she understood. No favoritism. Their lives depended on everyone else doing their job and doing it well. Rye didn’t suffer idiots. Much as she disliked Mitch, he was excellent at what he did.

Not that she’d ever tell him that.

Darac kept his eyes closed. He didn’t want to give Deacon a reason to use the blaster he held.

He was confident he could overpower and disarm the other male if necessary. But he had made a promise and he intended to keep it.

Thankfully Deacon was not confrontational or talkative. He blew out a breath, trying to remain calm. Not knowing where his mate was or if she was safe was adding to his unease.

Go to your mate. She is yours.

Darac ignored the voice.

He could see her affection for the other males, especially her brothers. Harming them would have hurt her. Which is why he surrendered. He would do anything to spare her pain.

A knock on the door made him tense. He glanced over at it as Deacon rose. He could jump him now, twist his neck…

No.

He had given his word and his word was everything. If he broke it, he would lose all honor.

“You should not be here, Willa,” Deacon said.

Darac sat up, peering around him to see Willa standing in the doorway.

“Just give me five minutes, Deacon,” she said.

Deacon shook his head. “Rye wouldn’t like this.”

“Rye doesn’t have to know. And you owe me for that little stunt on Toran.”

He sighed then glanced back at Darac. “Five minutes. But you hold a blaster on him the whole time. And you don’t move from that bed.” He pointed at Darac.

Darac scowled at the other male who dared to order him around. Who did he think he was?

Deacon stiffened, raising his blaster and aiming it at Darac. Did he really think he had the upper hand? He didn’t. Darac could take him before his finger even pressed on the trigger.

“Both of you calm down.” Willa slipped between the two of them. She stood side-on so she could see them both.

“I can’t leave you with him, Willa.”

“I can take care of myself. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I can’t.”

“Five minutes,” Deacon said then left.

Willa turned to look at him. He didn’t like her pale appearance. Dark smudges marred the skin beneath her eyes.

She paced back and forth. He noticed her wince then rub her head. Worry filled him. It had been so long since he had felt real emotions. He had gone through the motions. A pretense. But he hadn’t felt much of anything in years. Well, other than anger and duty. “Are you ill?”

“Just a headache. The pain inhibitor is kicking in. Why did you say that I am your mate? Did you think that would save you? You can’t possibly think they’ll believe this lie.”

“It is no lie. You are my mate.” He could sense her upset, but didn’t know how to reassure her.

“I’m not a typical female. I don’t want love and romance and flowers. I don’t understand any of that crap. Most of the time I don’t even understand other people. All I understand is engines. That’s all that interests me.”

“That is good. Because love and romance are things I also know nothing about. The one thing I am sure of is that you are mine, Willa.”

He was serious. She’d kind of convinced herself that he’d been out of his mind when he’d said those things. How could he know she was his with one touch?

Stupid.

Well, he was in for a shock if he thought she’d just accept this, fall at his feet and beg him to take her. He might be the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen, but she didn’t want a man in her life. She had worked hard to earn her place on this crew and she wasn’t going to run off with the first cute man who looked twice at her.

“I can’t be your mate. We don’t know each other. We don’t even like each other.”

“I like you.” There was a hint of offense in his voice.

“How can you like someone you’ve just met? How can you want to tie your life to mine? I might be a horrible person.”

His gaze softened. That crazy side of his wasn’t even evident at the moment. He looked normal. Except for the fact that he was freakin’ huge and devastatingly gorgeous. “You are not a horrible person.”

“Yeah? Sure about that? Maybe I make little children cry and kick puppies.” She didn’t, of course. What kind of sicko kicked puppies? She’d seen images of puppies. They were gorgeous, fluffy, and so cute. If she were lucky enough to ever see one she certainly wouldn’t kick it.

“Puppy?”

“It’s a pet on Earth. Cute and cuddly. I wanted one when I was little, but they don’t have puppies on Joyadan and even if we did Rye wouldn’t let me keep one as a pet.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because we don’t keep pets on Joyadan. Animals all have a use. A pet isn’t useful, it just costs money to feed.”

“That seems harsh.”

She shrugged. “Rye wasn’t telling me anything that I wouldn’t have soon learned.”

“How old were you?”

“Five.”

She didn’t like the look in his eyes. She didn’t take sympathy from anyone.

There was a bang on the door. “Time’s up,” she said. “I can’t be your mate, Darac.”

She wasn’t running away. She wasn’t leaving because she found it hard to think clearly in his presence or because she was imagining leaning in to kiss him, touch him.

Nope, that’s not why she ran out of there as though the fires of hell were licking at her feet.

***

A sudden jolt brought Darac out of his meditation attempts. He opened his eyes, turning to gaze at his guard. While Deacon looked half-asleep, Darac noted the tension in his shoulders.

“We are moving.” He sat up, ignoring the way the Deacon stiffened and raised his blaster.

“Sit down,” Deacon ordered.

Darac stared at him for a long moment, fighting the urge to assert his dominance. Zerconian males were aggressive and needed physical release. Tension filled him, longing to find an outlet. The male would be an easy target.

No. No, he could not. Turning, he leaned his hands against the wall, he concentrated on his breathing. Long moments passed as the ship gathered up speed.

“Sneaking past the Coizils was a foolish risk. You could all be killed.”

Deacon snorted. “We’ve been in plenty of risky situations before. You do know what we are, don’t you?”

What they were?

“Willa said you are from Joyadan.”

“Not where we are from, what we are. We’re mercenaries. We take jobs for whoever pays us the highest price.”

Mercenaries? It was a dangerous career. High money but high risk as well. He had met only a few and none of them older than forty. There was a reason for that. Most mercenaries ended up dead.

“The Lilans paid us to deliver weapons to them. So we did.”

Darac concentrated on his breathing. Calm. He clung to his control. He had promised not to harm anyone as long as Willa was not at risk. He always kept his word. Although if he looked at it from another angle then she had been at risk this whole time.

A strange buzzing noise filled the air and he turned. “What is that? I heard it earlier.”

If Darac hadn’t been watching the other man so closely, he wouldn’t have seen the tension fill his shoulders.

The spaceship continued to move, gathering up speed. The buzzing started to quiet. There, that was better.

“Shit, what’s going on?” Deacon stood, looking worried. His communicator buzzed and he switched it on.

“Cap?”

“Everyone to the bridge. Now.” Rye’s tense voice filled the room. Deacon looked from him to the door.

“Fuck it,” he muttered.

“What is happening?” Darac asked as Deacon paced.

“I don’t know, but that buzzing is our ticket out of here safely. If it fades, we’re dead. I need to get to the bridge.”

“I am coming with you,” Darac stated.

Deacon opened his mouth. Darac stepped forward. “If we are all going to die, then what does it matter what I do?”

“Fine. Whatever. Come on.” Deacon raced out of the room. He followed on his footsteps.

“What is the buzzing?” he asked again.

“Our cloaking device. That buzz indicates that it’s working. Without it we’re screwed.”

***

Willa raced towards the bridge, heart pounding. Oh shit. Oh shit.

She entered, pausing in surprise as she spotted Darac standing off to one side. He turned then ran his gaze over her, studying her. That much intensity aimed at her was enough to steal her breath. Mesmerised, she simply stood there for a long moment.

“Willa,” Rye spoke sharply, jarring her out of her stupor.

“Yes?” She started then turned to her oldest brother. He gave her a quelling look and shame filled her. She’d just promised to put her crew first. Then her first test and she stood there, staring at Darac like a love struck idiot.

“The cloaking device is failing,” Zuma spoke up. “We’re totally fucking screwed.”

She raced over to a station and signed in. “Oh hell.” Not good. Really, not good. “Are we past the shield?”

“Yes,” Rye answered grimly.

There was no returning then.

“Can you fix it?” Steele asked.

“Do I look like Kyle? Of course I can’t fix it. I fix engines not stupid cloaking devices. This is Mitch’s area.”

Mitch. Who was still unconscious in Medical. She purposely didn’t look over at Darac.

“So it’s the Zerconian’s fault that we’re all going to die,” Steele said in a low, cool voice.

The urge to defend Darac was strong. Instead she hunched her shoulders and kept typing. “As far as I can tell, we have four minutes before the cloaking device completely fails.” She turned in her seat, spotting Steele facing off with Darac.

Steele stood about a foot away, glaring up into the taller man’s face. Darac gave nothing away, his face stoic.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” Steele’s voice was icy cold.

“You never had a chance.”

“I had a head shot. I just didn’t take it. More fool me.”

Darac smiled. It wasn’t pleasant. His eyes flashed from brown to red. Crap.

“Yes, you are more of a fool.”

Steele let out a low rumble, tensing. Oh God, he was going to get himself killed. Steele was tough and strong. He was deadly.

But Darac was half a foot taller and probably close to a hundred pounds heavier. Plus, he was damn crazy when he lost it. Like he was about to.

“Stop it. Both of you. That’s an order.” Rye’s voice was stern but calm.

Amazingly, both men turned to him. Then Steele stepped back. The tension in the room dissipated and Willa managed to take a full breath.

“Three minutes left,” she called out anxiously. “Do we try for overdrive?”

“Can we get up enough speed?” Rye asked her.

“We can try.” Maybe. And they could also take up ski-ing in hell.

“You need speed for overdrive?” Darac asked.

“This is an old ship,” she explained. “It needs to be up to a certain speed to shift into overdrive. We could try giving it a power boost. If I shut down everything that isn’t vital that will hopefully give us enough of a boost. But it’ll take me at least five minutes to do that.”

“In which time the Coizils will blast us to pieces,” Deacon stated.

“Unless we convince them otherwise,” Darac stated. They all turned to look at him. “Coizils care about two things. Power and prestige. To capture a Zerconian warrior would bring a lot of prestige.”

“You want us to tell them we have you on board?” she asked.

“Tell them that you captured me and are willing to trade. Your lives for mine.”

“No,” she stated without thinking. She could not hand him over to the Coizils. They would kill him. Everyone knew the Coizils and Zerconians were enemies. The others turned to look at her. Crap. “They’re not going to go for that. They’ll kill us all anyway.”

“Willa’s right,” Rye said. “But it might buy us enough time to get into overdrive. Willa, get down there and do what you have to. Let’s just pray they don’t shoot us immediately.”

“I need to get a message through to my people,” Darac said. “They will rescue us. All we need to do is stay alive until they get here.”

Willa raced down to the engine room. She worked as quick as could to shut down all vital areas of power.

Heap of junk. If they got through this, she was going to beg Rye to find them a newer ship. This one was a death trap. The buzzing faded and she stilled for a moment, listening to herself breathe.

This was it. Either they were about to be blown apart or Rye would do enough fast talking to grab them a few minutes. She pushed herself to move. She couldn’t afford to just stand around and wait. Suddenly the ship jolted, nearly sending her flying off her feet.

“What the hell?” She moved to the central communication system, turning it on so she could hear what was happening on the bridge.

Zuma’s voice came through loud and clear. The words spewing from his mouth were nothing she hadn’t heard before. She’d lived with only men for years, after all. But it was the panic she heard in his voice that made her stomach clench.