Trapped: A SciFi Convict Romance (The Condemned Book 1) (19 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Bella hit the ground hard, her chin slamming into the dirt.
She blinked back the fog as hands clawed at her, flipping her over. A
dark-haired man with one grey eye and a puckered scar loomed overhead.

“Gotcha,” he leered.

She swung, but he was faster. Her head twisted sideways as
his brutal punch rocked her cheek. His hands tore at her thighs. She raised her
fists to fight back when her attacker toppled. Winthrop stood above.

He stuck out his hand. “Come on.”

Dizzy, grateful, she reached for his hand. Only to have it
wrenched away as another prisoner plowed into Winthrop, slamming him to the
ground. Another hard weight crashed into her, stealing the breath from her
lungs.

Rough hands raked at her flesh, pinching, slashing. Too many
for her to fight at once. She tried to curl up in a ball, but they were pulling
at her limbs, grasping at her skin. Her ankle snapped. She screamed in agony.
Tried to picture
Caine’s
face. Tried to remember
better times. Joy. Pleasure. All that she’d had.

Her legs were wrenched apart. Fabric ripped.

Then a roar sounded, louder even than the prisoners’ shrieks.

The press of bodies disappeared.

She blinked. Certain she was dreaming.

Caine
, blood running down his face,
his chest lashed with cuts, loomed above. A pile of bodies surrounded him.

He’d come for her.

He drove his spear into the nearest body. Then another. Until
no one around her or Winthrop moved.

“Hold on.”
Caine
reached down and
scooped her up, cradling her against his chest as he ran. Winthrop limped right
behind.

She didn’t ask how
Caine
had found
her or bother protesting that he put her down. She couldn’t run, and she knew
he wouldn’t leave her. They’d only lose precious time arguing. Instead, she
surveyed the path to the shuttle and shouted out a warning whenever a prisoner
approached. Holding her breath as
Caine’s
spear
whizzed through the air, cutting down anyone who tried to stop them. Whatever
happened next, she was just glad to have
Caine
close,
his warm skin pressed against hers, his steady heartbeat thumping in time with
hers.

Still, the pounding of his boots on the gangplank was the
sweetest sound she’d ever heard.

“Don’t shoot. We’re the good guys.” Winthrop waved his arms over
his head, seeking to calm the guards manning the gangplank. They’d been mowing
down any prisoners who got too close. “Council mission D25642.”

Hope washed over her. They were going to make it.

Then a flash of light, a grunt from
Caine
,
and his hold loosened. She gasped, clutching at his shoulder as she started to
fall, but he managed to regain his grip, hoisting her higher. “Don’t worry.”
His steady voice was a whisper in her ear. “I got you, fighter girl.”

She was about to smile when Winthrop’s words made her blood
run cold. “You’re hit.”

“Where?” Panicking, she ran her palms over
Caine’s
chest, searching for a wound. “Put me down. You
shouldn’t be carrying me. I can make it. We can make it together.”

“It’s a scratch. Nothing to worry about.” But he let her slide
down his body.

Blood dripped from his thigh. There wasn’t time to attend to
it. Not with the shrieks of the attacking prisoners growing ever closer.

Slipping under his shoulder to offer support, she and
Caine
limped the last few steps up the gangplank toward the
shuttle door. Winthrop right behind. The two guards covering their backs.

Suddenly, Pogue appeared in the doorway. “Not him.” He
pointed his gun at
Caine
. “He’s one of them. A filthy
Dragath25 prisoner. Throw him back.”

“No,” she protested, stepping in front of
Caine
.
“You can’t.” She was pulled behind him in the next second.

Winthrop was yelling at the same time. “This man’s a hero.
He’s with us.”

Uncertain, the guards’ weapons swung back and forth between
Caine
and Pogue. They had seconds to make a decision before
the next wave of prisoners stormed the gangplank.

“He saved me from being torn apart,” she insisted. “He saved
you, too.”

Thankfully, the rescue soldier’s weapon landed back on Pogue.

“Put down your gun,” the soldier told Pogue. “We’re all
coming aboard.”

“You’re taking a criminal’s word over mine?” Enraged, Pogue
pressed the trigger. “I’m the hero, not him.”

“No!” Bella screamed.

But it was too late.

Even as the soldier’s weapon fire slammed into Pogue and he
toppled from the gangplank, his gun discharged, slicing through skin and
muscle. The acrid scent of burnt flesh tinged the air.

Winthrop crumpled to the ground.

He’d leapt in front of
Caine
.

“No.” Bella dropped to her knees, her hand hovering over the
gaping wound that had once been her superior’s chest, afraid her touch would
only hurt him more. “Don’t—don’t move. It’s going to be alright.” She’d wanted
him to get all he wanted. She’d wanted to see him save Earth and find the right
girl like he’d always dreamed. She wanted him to be the leader he always could
have been.

“Even…even you can't…save me this time.” Winthrop’s voice was
a weak rasp, his smile sad and kind, just as when she’d sat beside him on that
metal bench so long ago. “At least…I got to be a hero, after all.” His words
grew fainter as his eyes sunk shut. “Find Ava…..she deserves a hero, too.”

Bella hadn’t realized she was sobbing until she tried to
speak. No words came out.

Then there was no more time as another prisoner leapt on the
gangplank. Two more right behind.

“We have to go.” As if choreographed,
Caine
scooped her up, handing her off to one of the other soldiers. He slung Winthrop
over his shoulders. “We’re not leaving him behind.”

The other soldiers seemed to understand. Without another word,
they shielded
Caine’s
back, guarding Winthrop’s body
as they crossed the threshold into the shuttle.

“Survivors retrieved,” hollered one of the rescue team as
they stumbled inside. “Shut the doors. STAT.”

Bella’s boots vibrated at the shuttle rose, the doors still
closing. The screaming below faded over the roar of the engines. The calm,
methodical whir of the ship was disorienting after so much chaos. Dazed, she
slumped against the metal shuttle wall, balancing gingerly on her one good
ankle.

Out of thirty-five crew, only she had made it back alive.
Winthrop was dead. Ava still missing. A sob ran through her. Then her gaze
found
Caine
.

He was gently passing Winthrop off to two soldiers.

Her heart leapt. Yes, there’d been too much death, too much
waste of good life, but something wonderful had happened, too.
Caine
had made it off Dragath25 alive.

At least for the moment.

It didn’t escape her notice that two soldiers’ guns remained
trained on him, their gazes wary.

“Put your guns down,” she insisted. “He’s the one who saved
your lives. Without him, your engines would have stayed jammed and you’d be
down there defenseless against those monsters.”

A stern-faced man with salt and pepper hair, a crisp Council
uniform, and a Captain insignia stepped forward. “Is that true?” His question
was for
Caine
.

“I was able to create a jammer from spare parts to counteract
the machine that brought the other shuttle down, Sir.” In his rapid,
no-nonsense response, it was easy to hear the soldier
Caine
had always been.

“And who are you, ma’am?” The Captain asked her, his
assessing gaze traveling the length of her.

She tugged at her hem, suddenly well aware that she was in
nothing but
Caine’s
big, old-fashioned shirt. No
official Council uniform in sight.

Putting as much steel into her spine as she could muster, she
offered an official Council salute. “I’m Cadet West. One of the junior
scientists under Dr. Winthrop,” she managed to say his name with only a
tremble, “assigned to the previous research mission to Dragath25. When our
shuttle crashed,
Caine
saved my life. He did the same
for a number of other colleagues as well.”

“So this man here is a prisoner and not mission personnel?”

She exchanged a quick glance with
Caine
.
If he wanted her to handle this differently, he wasn’t giving her any clue.

“That’s right,” she admitted. “But his initial sentence was a
crime in itself and his efforts these past two weeks saved not only my life,
but the life of your crew.”

Painful seconds ticked by while the Captain considered her words.
Finally, he nodded, his gaze locking with
Caine’s
.
“Seems we owe you our thanks.”

She let out a deep breath. Especially when the guns trained
on
Caine
dropped.

“I’d like Cadet West to be examined by a doctor,”
Caine
said, “and then we can discuss what you want to do
about me.”

“Do about you?” she echoed. “There’s no question. You need to
be looked at, too,
Caine
. You’ve been shot. Then
we’re going back to the space station and then to Earth, and we’ll make sure
the world knows what you’ve done for us today.”

“One thing at a time,” said the Captain—his gaze flickering
between them as if trying to ascertain the exact nature of their relationship.
“You both look pretty banged up. Medics will see to both of you. Then they’ll
show you to some quarters where you can get cleaned up and rest. But tomorrow
morning at eight hundred hours, I expect you in my quarters. I’ll need a full
report. A lot of people are going to be wondering just what the hell happened
here. Especially why I’m bringing back a Dragath25 prisoner as one of my only
survivors.”

“We’ll be there,” answered
Caine
,
his warning stare restraining her from saying anything more.

The Captain started to step aside so the medics could do
their work. He stopped suddenly. “There was a lot of hope for Earth’s future
riding on your mission, Cadet West. Any chance you have good news?”

“Yes.” It was a wonderful feeling to be able to give such an
answer—and her chest squeezed again as she wished Winthrop and Ava were there to
give it with her. “Our mission offered some real possibilities for making Earth
habitable and healthy once again.” She took a deep breath, “I intend to make
sure every bit of that information is passed onto the Command Council—once I’m
assured everything with
Caine
has been squared away.”

The Captain’s eyebrows rose. Off to the side, she heard
Caine
issue her name in a warning growl. She didn’t care.
He’d protected her and her colleagues as best as he could. Now it was her turn
to do the same for him.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The rumble of voices in the hallway woke Bella. She sat up,
her heart beating fast, her gaze taking in the gleaming metal walls of the
sparse ship quarters, the empty bunk beds to her left and right, the half lit
artificial lighting that never turned completely off, and her clean, new
Council uniform.

She hadn’t been dreaming. She and
Caine
had really made it off Dragath25 alive.

Careful not to knock her ankle cast, she rose awkwardly and
limped toward the door. The medics had finished fixing her up far faster than
Caine
. After a shower and some food, she’d lain down on the
bed to wait for him. Obviously, she’d fallen asleep.

That he hadn’t come to wake her only made her more uneasy.

Her door slid open with the press of her palm.
Caine
stood across the hall, two Council guards flanking
him. Obviously, the Captain still wasn’t quite sure what to make of him. She’d
been shadowed by guards as well, but they’d left her once they’d brought her to
her quarters.
Caine’s
appeared intent on sticking
around.

“Hey,” she said, leaning against the doorframe for support.
Showered and dressed in someone’s loaner Council uniform, his clothes
emphasizing every inch of his broad shoulders and long legs,
Caine
looked unbelievably handsome—and more removed from
her than ever.

“You’re up,” he turned toward her, leaving the guards in
front of his door, his usual graceful gait marred by a slight limp. Still, the
medics had done a good job. All his cuts and bruises had been treated and his laser
wound dressed. His gaze traveled from her head to toe. “You okay? The medics
refused to tell me about your condition.”

That he’d asked went far toward soothing her worries.

“I’m fine. Just a bad ankle sprain.” She reached up and
rubbed away a water droplet that clung stubbornly to his spiky hair. He sucked
in a harsh breath, his eyes hungry. The moment reminded her of the first time
she’d really seen him. When he’d dunked himself in that first cave and revealed
the man beneath. It was amazing to think how badly she’d come to want that man
to be hers. Not just for short-term protection, but for a lifetime of whatever
life chose to send their way. He’d become her world. “What about you? How’s
your leg?”

“Just a scratch.”

She hadn’t expected him to say anything else.

A heavy silence fell between them.

She could see the concern in his gaze. But there was
something else, too. The same wariness he’d had when they first met.

She eyed the guards. They were kindly trying to appear as if
they weren’t listening.

“You want to come in?” she asked
Caine
.
She didn’t care where the Captain thought
Caine
should sleep. She wanted him with her.

He stilled, as if she’d surprised him. “Probably not the best
idea. We, ah…we should probably give it some time.”

Was there anything more painful than a guy who didn’t want to
hurt your feelings? Still, she wasn’t about to run from the truth. After
Dragath25, she knew she could handle anything.

“Give what some time?” she pushed. “If things have changed
now that we’re heading back to Earth and you don’t want to be with me anymore,
just say it.”

She wasn’t going to let him do that distance, all-business
thing again. Last time, he’d said he’d done it because he was afraid of losing
her, but that excuse wouldn’t fly now. She was standing right here. Available
for a lifetime. If only he’d reach out and touch her.

His big hands closed around her forearms. “Of course I want
to be with you.”

“Sir?” One of the guards spoke. The other was already
reaching for his weapon. “Is there a problem here?”

Caine
tensed, but he didn’t drop
his hands. “No problem at all.” His voice was an angry rumble. “Can we get a
minute?”

It had to be weird to have to answer to others after eight
years of being entirely on your own.

“We’re fine,” she seconded, knowing the guards would need to
hear it from her, too. “We’ll talk inside my room. It will be less awkward for
all.”

The guards exchanged an uncertain look.

“Please. It won’t matter if you stand outside my room or
his,” she coaxed, “as long as you’re keeping watch.” She’d been dealing with
Council protocol her whole life. She knew how to work around it when necessary.

Neither guard looked particularly happy, but they didn’t
protest as
Caine
walked her backward through her
doorway, the door sliding closed with a definite whoosh.

They stared at each other in silence.

“You say you want to be with me,” she said at last, “so why
are you pulling away?”

“I’m not pulling away.” He looked frustrated. “I just…I want
to give you some time to make sure I’m what you want. The way those guards
reacted…the way people are going to see me...that’s how it’s always going to be
if you stay with me.” He shook his head. “We’re not on Dragath25 now. You have
choices.”

She should have known. But that’s what you got when you fell
for a real hero.

She moved closer, pressing her body against his, her arms
slipping around his waist. “It wouldn’t matter where in the universe we were.
You are exactly what I want,
Caine
. You. No one
else.”

He swallowed hard. His arms remained by his side. “If I’d
been any kind of real man, there wouldn’t have been a deal between us from the
start.”

His words hit like a punch. “I don’t understand.” She didn’t
want him to regret their deal. Being with him was the only good thing that had
come out of crash landing on Dragath25.

“I saw you. I wanted you. So I took. I told myself it was the
Dragath25 way. It wasn’t right.”

Now, she understood. Guilt was eating at him. Making him
question whether he deserved a better ending than a lonely death on Dragath25.

“Should I feel guilty, too?” she asked, her palms curling
against his chest, the steady pounding of his heart comforting beneath her
hand. “I didn’t know you, but I asked you to risk your life for me and my
colleagues. I bartered on your good will and your loneliness. I took and took.”

“No.” His hands curled around her shoulders. “You gave me so
much.”

“Then we’re even.” She stared into his eyes, willing him to
see things her way. “It was a fair deal. Don’t make yourself out to be the bad
guy when you weren’t. It was something good. For both of us. Don’t regret it.”
Her voice cracked. “Please.”

A firm hand gripped her chin. “I could never regret being
with you. Ever.”

Relief whispered through her. “I love you,
Caine
.” She couldn’t keep it inside for another second. She
needed to tell him again. Needed to hear him tell her, too. Now. When they were
off Dragath25 and anything was possible.

She held her breath.

He pressed his forehead to hers, his eyes crinkling in that
sweet, sexy way. “I never thought I’d say that ending up on Dragath25 was the
best thing that happened to me, but every single one of those miserable eight
years was worth it since I met you.” He cradled her face in his hands. “You’re
everything to me, fighter girl. I’d die for you.”

“But will you live for me, too? Will you fight whatever’s
coming to be with me?”

“I told you. I love you. Plain and simple. If you want to be
with me, I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you always.”

“So will I.” She ran her finger down the seam of her uniform
opening, relishing the way his dark gaze locked on each bit of skin slowly
revealed. Relishing the wonder and need he didn’t even try to hide. “There may
be some challenges ahead, but I believe in us. There’s nothing coming so bad
that we haven’t already faced on Dragath25. Together.”

He laced his palms with hers, drawing her close, skin to
skin. “Wherever we are, Bella, wherever we go, you’ll always be my home.”

She hadn’t expected to find something so beautiful or perfect
on Dragath25, but there it was. A thousand questions remained about Earth’s
future, about Ava’s fate, about
Caine’s
sentence, but
she knew they’d deal with them as best they could. She and
Caine
had been tested by Dragath25, and they’d emerged stronger and better. United by
a bond that could never be broken.

From the seeds of destruction and danger, something
miraculous had grown.