On a Rogue Planet (17 page)

“Got it, Zayn,” the computer answered. Then her voice came over the loud speaker. “Sixty seconds to interstellar speed. Please strap in for transition.”

Seconds later, Malin and Dathan slipped into the chairs behind the pilot’s seat. “Hey.” Malin shot Xander a smile.

“Malin.” He wanted to touch her.

Her gaze moved to Niklas and her face turned troubled. “You okay, Nik?”

“You’ve asked me that ten times.”

“Actually, she’s asked you twelve times,” Xander said.

“And you haven’t given me an answer once.” She sniffed. “You keep answering with some prevarication.”

Nik let out a deep sigh. “I’m not. But I will be.”

“Interstellar speed now,” Zayn said.

In the windows, the pinprick stars turned into a stream.

Dathan crossed one leg, resting his ankle on his knee. “Best you steer well clear of Darc from now on, big bro.”

Nik made a sound, which Xander guessed could be agreement or not. He also suspected it was another prevarication. Xander hadn’t mentioned to anyone that he’d detected elevated levels of testosterone and vasopressin in the oldest Phoenix brother back in the club, both indicative of sexual arousal. Whether he wanted to be or not, Niklas was extremely attracted to Nera Darc.

“How well do you know Darc?” Xander asked.

It was Dathan who answered. “She appeared on the treasure hunting scene about seven years ago. Out of nowhere. At first, we didn’t pay her much attention. Wanna-be treasure hunters come and go.”

“But she didn’t go.”

“Nope. To my ever-living regret.” Dathan shot a quick glance at his brother. “Then she started targeting our hunts. Not every one, just the really valuable ones. And started taking an unhealthy interest in all things Phoenix.”

Niklas stayed quiet.

“Centax Security has records on her,” Xander said.

Nik’s head shot up. “What?”

“She’s brushed up against us a few times, stolen some artifacts from a neighboring allied planet. We took interest.”

Nik’s jaw worked and finally he said, “What do you know about her?”

“Not much,” Xander admitted. “I suspect she created the identity of Nera Darc.”

Nik’s shoulders slumped.

“And I don’t blame her.”

Malin leaned forward, brow creased. “What do you mean?”

“The only thing we could find was a minor reference linking her to two planets.”

“What planets?” Nik asked.

“Novalia and Klavinoi.”

“No,” Malin breathed.

“Never heard of them,” Dathan said.

“Novalia is a military world. Children are bred and raised to be soldiers,” Xander told them.

Dathan tapped his fingers against his knee. “Darc is deadly and well-trained but I can’t see her following orders.”

“And Klavinoi is—”

Niklas leaped to his feet, his body singing with tension. “It’s a fucking slaver world in the Byzantium quadrant.” He slammed a fist into the back of his chair and stalked off.

“What am I missing?” Dathan asked quietly, staring at the doorway where his brother had disappeared.

Xander sighed. “The ruling aristocracy of Klavinoi buy slaves for everything. Household work, farming, industry.”

“Okay.” Dathan watched him intently.

Malin shifted in her seat. “I’ve heard of Klavinoi. Dad had the opportunity to visit the salvage yard there. He turned it down. They collect the most beautiful girls in the galaxy and…train them in all the…sensual arts. They’re renowned for their sex slaves.”

Zayn turned around. “Shit. Black heart aside, they don’t come more beautiful than Darc.”

Dathan rubbed a hand over his face. “Well, I can’t see Darc as a slave either.”

“We could find no definitive record that she was ever on either planet. But without knowing what her real name is…” Nera Darc would remain a mystery.

Conversation moved onto other topics. Niklas never returned to the cockpit.

Then BEll’s voice interrupted. “The bridge portal is coming into view.”

They all leaned forward. Xander was the first to see it. A small smudge of silver light straight ahead.

It looked like a funnel made of shimmering silver. Similar to a huma-field, but wilder, more energetic. The large mouth of the portal was a huge circle and the tail of it seemed to disappear into nothing.

“Markers are embedded at the mouth of the portal.” Zayn didn’t look up from the controls as he slowed the ship and lined them up with the entrance. “The portal is a natural formation but the tech holds the portal open and steady for ships to transit through.” He tapped the screen again. “I enter the gate codes and it locks us on the right trajectory for a smooth entry.”

“Can you enter without the codes?” Malin asked.

“Yep.” He shot a grin back over his shoulder. “A few crazy buddies in the Strike Wing tried it. They said it was a hell of a rough ride. Puked all over their cockpit. Not to mention you risk smashing into the side of the portal, which wouldn’t be a pretty way to go.”

“Eww,” Malin said.

“Yeah, eww.” Zayn’s grin widened. “Worse still, you enter the bridge on the wrong course and you could get spat out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Not good.”

“Nope. Okay, one downside of bridge travel is that communications are delayed. We won’t have instantaneous contact. We’ll be able to send static messages but they’ll have to travel to the portal and the portal markers will transmit them. So if anyone needs to contact their wives, do it now.” Another grin, this one a little soppy. “I’m calling my sweet assassin.”

Dathan stood. “I wouldn’t let her hear you calling her that. I’ll call Eos.” He pulled a face. “And no doubt spend most of the call talking with the pink-haired horror.”

The affection Xander detected in the man’s voice told him that Dathan wasn’t too upset about spending time talking with Lala.

“No one to call?” Xander asked Malin.

“No.” Her sigh was almost silent.

“You wished you did.”

“All girls want to fall in love, Xander. I know you don’t believe in love, but I want to have someone who cares for me.” Her gaze turned inward. “My mother died when I was four. I only remember her a little, but what memories I do have are her and my father kissing in the kitchen. They were always smiling and holding hands.” Now her face turned sad. “After she died, that’s when Dad starting traveling the galaxy collecting salvage. It was like he just couldn’t sit still, the memory of her was too strong. He never had a romantic relationship with anyone ever again. He loved her that much.”

Xander watched Malin’s expressive face and knew that even if he did believe in love, a love like that was not possible for him. His duty to Centax was his reason for being. Not another person. He felt that sharp pain in his chest again.

Malin turned to him, purple eyes luminous. “I want to be the center of someone’s universe. To know if I’m in trouble or hurting, they’ll come for me. To know that nothing else is more important to them.” Her shoulders slumped. “A nice little daydream, but I’m thinking I might be reaching for the impossible.”

Xander hated seeing her like this. “Malin—”

Zayn strode back in. “Coming up on the bridge portal now. Strap yourselves in. This should be smooth, but you never know.”

As Malin turned away, Xander swallowed a curse and sat. Everyone strapped in and watched the shimmer of silver fill all the ship’s windows.

“Here we go,” Zayn said.

The console was beeping. Zayn adjusted the controls with practiced ease, and smooth as silk, the
Infinitas
slipped into the bridge portal.

Star-studded space disappeared, replaced with a stream of silver outside the windows. Xander stared at it. It was like flying through a cloud.

It also seemed to dampen noise on the ship, leaving a muted, hushed quality.

“Welcome to the Via Maris Bridge.” Zayn unbuckled and stood. “Now, everyone kick back and relax. We have nothing to do for four days but wait, prepare and maybe play a few games of Crossfire.”

Xander felt a need to scowl. Waiting was not his strongest skill. He wanted the Antikythera in his hands.

The sound of Malin’s multi-tool striking metal echoed in the cargo hold.

Thank the stars Zayn had salvaged parts for the
Infinitas
in here that needed stripping down or she’d be going crazy.

They’d been on the bridge for twenty-four hours. For the first few hours the hushed transit had seemed…relaxing.

Now it was excruciating.

The only thing saving her sanity was the familiar weight of her coveralls, the grease staining her fingers, and her work. Reaching over a section of engine, she grabbed a fuel filter and worked it back and forth until it came loose. She blew on it to dislodge some dust, then set it aside.

She wasn’t the only one feeling the strain. Niklas was brooding. Dathan was driving everyone nuts because he couldn’t sit still for longer than thirty seconds. Zayn was inundating BEll with diagnostics requests on the ship—which left BEll unhappy.

And Xander. Well, the others thought Xander was just fine.

Mal begged to differ.

She’d once been salvaging a crash site on an un-named jungle world in the Rico system. A monsoon storm had built up in just a few hours. The blue sky had gone from clear to churning with dark, boiling clouds in moments. Then the storm had hit with a ferocity that had shocked.

She could sense the same with Xander. Something was brewing in him and if it broke...

She knew he was worried. About his friends, his brother, his planet. About this mission.

“Hey, BEll?”

“Hey, chickie,” the computer responded instantly. “How’re those parts coming along?”

“Fine. They’re keeping me…occupied.”

“Well, at least you picked something less likely to result in bloodshed.”

Mal stilled. “Care to explain that?”

“Dathan and Niklas decided to spar in the gym.”

The gym was a corner of the other cargo bay where Zayn had tossed some mats down. “Doesn’t sound too bad. Nik’s in a bad mood and I think everyone underestimates exactly what lies beneath the mild-mannered astro-archeologist. But Dathan’s sneaky.”

“Oh, they aren’t sparring each other.” BEll’s voice was dry. “They’re sparring with Xander.”

Mal’s hand froze. That was…not a great idea. Her thoughts spun before she drew in a breath. “They’re all big boys.” And secretly, she thought it might be good for Xander to blow off some steam.

As long as he didn’t kill one of her cousins.

She tensed again. Okay, maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

She forced herself back to work on the parts. Hit her thumb three times and scraped the side of her hand. With a curse, she went to stick the throbbing digit in her mouth, but remembered the grease. She grimaced and shook it instead.
Not going to think about the men. Not going to worry about them.

“Mal!”

Mal jerked and her hand hit the side of her face. BEll sounded…panicked.

“What is it?”

“You need to get to the gym. Now!”

Mal was running before she realized it. Her tools clattered to the floor and she hit the corridor at a sprint.

She slammed through the doors to the cargo bay housing the gym and skidded to a stop.

Xander had Dathan pinned to the wall with a forearm pressed against her cousin’s neck. Dathan was fighting hard. Twisting and turning. His face was turning an alarming shade of red.

Niklas sat on a mat nearby, shaking his dazed head and cradling an arm.

After taking in a shaky breath, Mal moved forward slowly. “Xander?”

He didn’t respond.

Gathering her courage, she slipped between Xander and Dathan, pressing her hands to Xander’s chest. “Hey, let him go.”

Xander’s eyes were glowing bright green, the human side of him lost in his cyborg functions.

Rising up on her toes, she cupped his cheek, pressing her body in close to him. Even now, with a current of fear inside her, she loved the hard heat of him, the scent of healthy male sweat.

“Xander. Let him go.”

Xander released his hold. Dathan dropped to the ground, sucking in air.

“Go,” Mal said without looking away from Xander.

“Mal—” Dathan started coughing.

She waved at him and Nik with one hand. “Go. Now. I’ve got this.”

She felt their disagreement vibrating off them but she continued to stare into Xander’s eyes. He stared back, head tipped to the side studying her. The neon glow hadn’t faded yet.

Dathan whispered a curse but she felt him move away.

“You better be right about this, Mal,” Nik said darkly.

Their footsteps echoed across the bay, then the door whooshed shut behind them.

“Xander.” She ran her fingertips over his eyebrow, then traced his cheekbone. “What happened?”

She thought—hoped—the neon faded just a little.

“Lost…control.” His voice was strained.

She smiled a little. “Yeah, I got that bit. Why?” Even if Dathan was taunting him, Mal knew it wasn’t Xander’s style to lose it.

The neon died away. Xander let out a shuddering breath. “My emotional filters…they’re in tatters. Burned out.”

She blinked, her hand clenching in his T-shirt. “What’s that mean?”

“I’m completely inundated by feelings, emotions, everything.” He clamped one hand hard around her waist. The other he ran over his hair. “I’m feeling everything and it’s magnified. I’m not used to dealing with all the sensation. I usually feel nothing, or just the barest taste of it.”

She patted his cheek. “Is it so bad to feel?”

His hand whipped up and circled her wrist. “This is dangerous, Malin. I could hurt someone. I almost hurt Dathan.”

“But you didn’t.”

He lowered his head, nuzzled her neck. “I could hurt you. I’m stronger, can kill in a hundred different ways.”

“You won’t,” she breathed. Every nerve was on fire, wanting him.

He rubbed a thumb over her lips. “I can’t fight you anymore, fight what I feel.”

She moved against him, her hips rubbing against the hard length she felt swelling at his crotch. “Good. I don’t want you to.”

He smashed his lips against hers, his tongue thrusting inside. She gripped him, kissing him back. Sweet scrap, he tasted so good.