Caught by Menace (17 page)

various versions of the same uniform. Looking down at

her somewhat ugly outfit, she couldn’t help but wonder if

she would have such limited choices for clothing too.

she would have such limited choices for clothing too.

“Come on.” Menace had shoved his feet into his

boots. He grabbed her hand and shot a quick look at her

bare feet. “They were out of shoes in the size range that

fits your women. I have them on backorder. Just keep

close to me. I’l keep your toes safe.”

Clinging to his hand and wincing with every squawk of

that awful blaring alarm, Naya folowed Menace out of

their quarters. She had been planning to ask him to show

her more of the ship, but not like this. He looked down at

her and smiled reassuringly. Naya burrowed a little closer

to his side and took a step across the threshold of his

home into her strange new world.

Menace was glad to be with Naya during her first

evacuation dril. They had recently changed the schedule

to coincide with the Grabs and the new brides coming

onto the ship. Vicious had apparently heard an earful

after Halie had been forced to navigate her first

abandon-ship dril alone.

Even though he wasn’t absolutely certain Naya

wouldn’t try to escape, Menace showed her how to

folow the red lines painted on the floors to the nearest

evacuation-staging area. He pointed out the scanners

mounted in the ceiling that would read her ID chip and

confirm her movements during an evacuation. The

records were instantly transmitted to the guard ships

accompanying the
Valiant
to aid in recovery of the life

ships.

“What happens if I can’t make it to one of the staging

points?” Naya hugged his side as he steered her down a

corridor quickly filing with people.

Menace didn’t want to lie to her. “The
Valiant
is

designed to close off any damaged sections that pose a

designed to close off any damaged sections that pose a

threat to the integrity of the ship. There are emergency

life-support systems like that one,” he pointed to a red

box that contained an oxygen mask, “but those are a last

resort. Once depressurization begins, death is

inescapable.”

Her fingers tightened around his. “And what happens if

we get separated?”

Menace stopped so fast she slammed into him. He

cupped her chin. “You keep moving to a life pod. Do

you understand? You get to safety.” Wanting to soothe

her fears, he added, “If this ship was ever attacked, it’s

likely I would be on duty and you would be in our

quarters. The odds of the two of us reaching separate life

pods and safely leaving the ship are extremely high. I

would find you as quickly as possible once we’re

rescued.”

She looked reassured and squeezed his hand. He led

her to their evacuation-staging center. Once there, he put

her with the other wives and young children and moved

to the front with the other officers. He outranked the pilot

from the sky corps who lived on their floor by four

months, so it fel to Menace to take control of the

months, so it fel to Menace to take control of the

evacuation dril procedures. He assigned officers to each

pod and quickly separated the groups of mock evacuees.

To make this as similar to real life as possible, he put

Naya in a group headed by another sky corps officer.

She frowned at him but got in line with the others and

filed into the life pod. He took control of his group,

ushered them inside and shut the door. Once everyone

was in their seats, he contacted the bridge. They

exchanged a series of transmissions and then checked his

pod off the list.

Within half an hour, the al clear was sounded.

Menace made sure his people were safely out of the

pod, shut down the controls and exited the spacecraft.

He searched the miling crowd for Naya’s face and found

her chatting with another woman. Both were wearing the

white colar of a new bride. He hung back and let her

have a moment to speak with someone from her past.

When they finished talking, Naya backed away and

watched the other woman return to her husband. Naya

stood on tiptoes and scanned the crowd. He raised his

hand to catch her attention and strode toward her. The

moment he was close enough, she reached for his hand

and interlaced their fingers. Her smile and the way she

and interlaced their fingers. Her smile and the way she

clutched at his hand made his stomach flip-flop.

“Was that a friend from home?”

“Not exactly,” Naya said and fel into step beside him.

“An acquaintance is probably the right term. Her mother

and I did business.”

“Oh?” He liked hearing about her life back in

Connor’s Run.

“Zhaneh’s mother ran a smal bakery in town.

Sometimes she’d come to me for short-term loans to buy

supplies, especialy when the prices on flour and butter

and milk out of Harper’s Wel and Grogan’s Mil

skyrocketed.”

“Why is there such a fluctuation in prices?”

She glanced at him. “Your quotas.”

“My quotas?” He realized she meant his people. “Oh.

I see.”

She nodded. “There was a long drought that ended

three years ago and some kind of fungus kiled quite a

few crops last year. I’m not involved in farming so I

don’t know the specifics, but I understand The City

government takes the Harcos quota first. We have

whatever is left over.”

whatever is left over.”

Naya’s revelation made him feel uneasy. The

intricacies of the various treaties his people made with

other planets had never realy interested him. Now he

wondered what negative effects their terms had on other

people. It didn’t surprise him that some of the Harcos-

controled territories had risen up to fight with the Splinter

forces threatening their way of life.

“Speaking of food,” Naya said as they rounded a

corner, “do you think I could maybe get some breakfast

soon? I’m starving.”

She said it with a playful grin but Menace stil felt a

twinge of guilt. “Yes. I’l feed you as soon as we reach

our quarters.”

She laughed and rubbed his arm. “That sounds like

I’m your pet.”

“Sorry.” He caught sight of two familiar faces lingering

near his front door. Vicious and Halie waited in the

halway. Knowing Halie, she’d probably pestered

Vicious to bring her down to see Naya.

Menace knew the second Naya spotted them. Her

step faltered. He glanced down at her and winked.

Drawing close to the couple who had inspired him to

take this step in life, Menace grinned. “Vee.”

take this step in life, Menace grinned. “Vee.”

Vicious flashed the briefest smile. “Menace.”

Menace made the introductions. “Naya, this is General

Vicious and his wife, Halie.”

“Ma’am.” Vicious nodded in Naya’s direction.

“Welcome to the land corps family.”

Halie roled her eyes and stepped forward. She

grasped Naya’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Naya.

How did you like your first evacuation dril?”

Naya returned the handshake. “Not so much. The

alarm almost gave me a heart attack.”

Halie shot her a knowing smile. “I nearly fainted the

first time I experienced one. Plus I was al alone in our

quarters and I’d just gotten out of the infirmary.

Someone,” she glared at her husband, “forgot to tel me

about the drils. Talk about a nightmare.”

Vicious narrowed his eyes at Halie but she just

smiled. He turned his attention back to Menace. His

expression became grim. “Menace, we need to talk. In

headquarters,” he added. “You’l need your uniform.”

A chil raced down his back. “Am I being deployed?”

“No.” Vicious’ instant reply calmed him, but when his

friend’s gaze skipped to Naya, the worry returned. “It’s

friend’s gaze skipped to Naya, the worry returned. “It’s

about the Grab.”

Menace slid an arm in front of Naya and pushed her

behind him. He squared his shoulders. “You’re not taking

her from me.”

Vicious clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Orion and

his men wil have to go through me before they take a

bride away from one of my soldiers.”

Menace frowned in confusion. “Admiral Orion? What

does he have to do with the Grab?”

Vicious let his hand fal. “It seems your woman caused

an injury on the field. A bad injury,” he clarified.

“Career-ending, possibly.”

Menace turned to face Naya who looked shocked by

that piece of news. He remembered the way she’d

tackled him. She’d caught him unawares and taken him

down, but she hadn’t hurt him. It would take more than

her smal body weight to hurt a Harcos warrior. “Did you

take a weapon into the forest?”

She reeled back, aghast. “No!”

There was no deception in her voice or on her face.

“Did something happen to one of the men chasing you?”

“One of them fel,” she said. “I ran across this tricky

“One of them fel,” she said. “I ran across this tricky

little spot in a dry creek bed. He folowed me like a

dumb-ass and slipped on a loose log. I saw him go down

but I kept running because I didn’t want to be caught.”

Her panicked gaze tore at him. “Menace, I didn’t think

he’d get badly injured. I only wanted to slow him down.”

He brushed his fingertips down her face. “I believe

you.”

Voice lowered, she moved closer and raised fear-

stricken eyes to his face. “Don’t let them take me away

from you.”

Her pleading tone pained him. It must have taken a lot

for Naya to ask that. “I won’t. You’re mine. That’s not

going to change.”

“Naya,” Halie said gently, “would you like to come

back to our quarters while the men sort this out? We

could talk. It would be nice.”

Menace was grateful for Halie’s kindness. He didn’t

want to leave Naya alone in their apartment while he was

fighting for her. She was just nervous enough to rabbit on

him. Halie would keep her busy and secure.

Naya glanced at him and he communicated his

approval with a nod. She smiled at Halie. “Sure.

Thanks.”

Thanks.”

Halie pointed toward the end of the halway and the

elevator bank. “We’re two floors up. I’l add your chip

ID to our guestlist so you can come up to see me

whenever you feel like it.” Her gaze fel to Naya’s bare

feet. “Let me guess? Shoes on backorder?”

Naya managed a laugh. “Apparently.”

“We’l raid my closet and find something that fits.”

Menace watched Naya until she entered the elevator.

When the doors closed, he steeled his jaw. “They aren’t

taking her from me, Vee. We’ve already spent a night

together. Our laws are very clear on that account.”

“I meant what I said, Menace. Even if you weren’t

one of my oldest friends, I would stil fight for you. No

whining little puke of a flyboy is going to order one of my

men to give up his woman just because he tripped and

fel.” Vicious slashed his hand through the air. “It’s not

happening. Not on my watch.”

Menace opened the door to his quarters. Vicious

folowed him inside. “I won’t be long.”

He made quick work of changing into his duty uniform

and switching his boots. He found Vicious standing in the

same place he’d left him. “I’m ready.”

same place he’d left him. “I’m ready.”

“She’s very pretty,” Vicious said as they left the

apartment. “She suits you.”

“Yes.”

“She’s not nearly as feral as I’d been led to believe.”

Vicious couldn’t keep the smile from coloring his voice.

“I hear she has quite a mouth on her.”

Menace exhaled loudly and stepped into the elevator.

“She’s melowed considerably since being Grabbed.”

“Clearly.”

Now it was Menace who smiled. “What can I say?

Apparently I have the magic touch.”

Vicious snorted. “Give it a week. I’m sure she’l be

threatening to kick your ass again. Or was it shove that

gag so far up your—”

“Yes,” Menace interrupted. “I don’t need a replay.”

He remembered with extreme clarity the way she’d

verbaly abused him on the transport ride. She hadn’t

exactly shown the nicest side of herself. “I think she was

just scared. Lashing out is her defense mechanism.”

“And is she scared now?”