1. Donna #2
I tore through the trees toward the glow of purple lights, not once looking back even as the forest came alive all around me, my chest aching for air as I pushed my body too hard.
But I didn’t stop until the ship came into view, a small, elegant thing with a loading door in the process of lowering.
I didn’t care that it was only half down; I threw myself at it, clawed my way over it, and slid down the other side, swearing and panting for breath.
A thump beside me told me the Di Vaur had embarked too, and then the ship hummed beneath us, dizziness flaring in my head as we took off, slashing through the sky above the planet.
I didn’t look through the sliver of glass as we left the planet, as the loading door thunked shut. I just laid there, panting, piecing myself back together.
“I kinda hate you,” I wheezed to the man slumped beside me, rubbing his face with crystal-flecked hands.
He snorted softly. “You got off-planet, didn’t you?”
I grunted. He wasn’t wrong. But really … a heart eater? He couldn’t have warned me I might end up on that creature’s radar if I went with him?
“That was close,” a jovial voice remarked, and I slitted my eyes open to watch a tall, rakish man jog across the loading bay. “Olan almost caught you that time. And who’s this enchanting creature?”
“Piss off,” I muttered, rubbing my hip where I’d slammed into the bay door.
The newcomer only snorted. He looked alike enough to the first Di Vaur goon to be his brother, but where the brawny man’s hair was dark and long, this man had hair a few shades lighter that fell messily to his jaw and bright turquoise eyes the same shade as the luminescent crystals that trailed down his arms and hands.
And unlike my first companion, he wasn’t the silent and stoic type.
More the smartmouth, irritating type. I gave him a wary look as I pushed to my feet, not letting him see how achy I was.
“She needed a ride,” the bigger Di Vaur grunted, shoving to his feet. His yellow crystals had gone dull, his magic fading, but I remembered exactly how it had looked thrust through the belly of the heart eater. I didn’t want to get on his bad side.
“And we’re known for being good, upstanding citizens that offer poor, unfortunate women rides,” the turquoise brother drawled, his eyes glittering.
The first brother shrugged. “She offered to pay.”
No mention of the sexual services I’d offered. Interesting. Was the big, bad Di Vaur a touch embarrassed by sex? I wondered if he’d blush if I told his brother about our arrangement. That’d be kinda cute.
“Oh, well, then,” the second—younger?—brother said, grinning as he swept into a bow. “Welcome aboard the Comet then, miss.”
I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms over my chest and resisting the urge to check that the skull I’d stolen was unbroken. “Do I look like a miss to you?”
His turquoise stare poured down my body, his smile crooked. “Would you prefer ma’am? Mistress?”
I snorted. “Only if you’ve been a very bad boy.”
His eyes flashed with delight and he prowled even closer, but the ship twisted suddenly to the side, and all three of us tumbled into the wall with a hard crash.
I ended up plastered to the bigger, golden brother, surprised when his muscular arms came around me and stopped me slamming into the opposite wall when the ship rolled back.
“Thanks,” I muttered, embarrassed but grateful. And not hating the way I was pressed up against all that muscle. I braced my hands on his bulging arms, sliding up his body to murmur in his ear, “My hero.”
I felt him shudder, even if he locked down the movement after a millisecond, his hands flexing on my hips. “Just don’t want you getting a concussion before you can deliver your payment.”
The money or the blowjob? I grinned, spotting a handhold hanging from the ceiling and grabbing onto the reinforced nylon as I moved away.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get your payment.
” I gave him a sultry look, my eyelashes sweeping my cheeks, and realised that even though this job had gone so far sideways it was upside down, I was enjoying myself.
I was having fun flirting with this big lump of muscle and protective instincts.
“Why do I get the sense that she offered sex?” the younger Di Vaur asked, nudging his brother.
“Shut up,” the elder muttered, crystals flashing once as he shoved off the wall and made his way unsteadily towards the door, not seeming to care about the ship still jolting about all over the place.
“Who’s driving this thing?” I muttered. “I could fly better than this a week into my training.”
“You have training?” the turquoise brother asked, his eyes heavy lidded at the suggestion of sex. “What academy did you go to?”
I snorted. “I’m a thief, buddy. I learned on the job. Work experience.”
His eyes lit up, and he moved closer to me, bracing against the wall as the ship rocked again. “What kind of thief? Objects, people, or magic?”
I frowned, resisting the urge to look him up and down. He wasn’t as bulky as his brother, but he was every bit as sexy, in a roguish, wicked way. And the added glint of danger of him working for the Di Vaur family didn’t hurt my attraction. “You can’t steal magic.”
His expression darkened, and I got the sense I’d stepped on a landmine. “Trust me, little thief, you can.”
His smirking grin back in place, he let go of the wall and moved for the door, and I followed, refusing to be left alone and not trusting them to not hand me over to the monks. Or any of the other people who wanted me dead, captured, or forced into their employ.
The ship was as sleek and elegant on the inside as the exterior, all curves and purple-lit chrome, with four other doors as well as the loading bay and a large bridge with six chairs and a curved glass wall looking out over the stars.
“What’s this treasure you’ve stolen?” the pilot asked, turning his chair a split second to meet my eyes, giving the youngest brother a curious look before spinning back to face the window and the rows of controls.
“Nothing to do with me,” the turquoise-eyed brother laughed, holding up his hands. “Take it up with Aszher.” So that was the bigger brother’s name—Aszher. I committed it to memory.
“She needed a lift, and offered to pay,” Aszher explained, sinking into a chair beside the pilot and taking a leather flask from his pocket, throwing it onto the console.
Like the other brothers, the man piloting the ship had gems in a row of spikes down his hands and up his tanned arms, and I could see small ones on the back of his neck under his short dark hair, too.
The similarity to the others was enough to tell me he, too, was a brother, probably the eldest judging by the lines around his eyes and his bearing, the grounded calm that surrounded him.
I stepped further into the room, meaning to take a seat, but my eyes were drawn to a flashing red dot on the radar. “Well, that explains all the rocking and rolling. I take it the heart eater’s on that ship.”
The captain nodded. “Olan.”
“And what did you do to piss this Olan off?” I asked, watching the pilot navigate us out of the path of a missile. It only just missed us, his reactions too slow, and I narrowed my eyes.
“Let’s just say we wanted a little detour from the family,” the youngest brother said, sinking into a seat beside me, his legs sprawling out across the metal floor. “And they weren’t so keen on the idea.”
“They sent Olan to take us back,” Aszher added, jerking his chin at the ship on the screen. I leaned closer to see it. It was twice as big as ours, which made it slower but more powerful. And it had a lot more fire power.
“This is a Irax-G, right?” I asked, peering over the pilot’s shoulder, my mind running.
“Yeah,” he replied, sparing me a glance. “How did you know?”
“Let’s just say ships are my hobby. You only have two guns on this thing, but he’s got six cannons on his Hukeir 7. You’re gonna have to outmaneuver them.”
“We’re fucked,” the youngest muttered.
“What’s your name?” I asked, giving the oldest brother a tap on the shoulder.
“Daxer. Why?” He rapidly flicked controls, gripping the joystick that controlled the ship’s steering with white knuckles. I barely held back an eyeroll. All he was doing was slowing us down.
“Get out of the damn seat, Daxer.” I shoved his bulky shoulder. “Your flying’s shixsun.”
The youngest Di Vaur snorted. “She’s not wrong, Dax.”
“Shut up, Blitz,” Daxer muttered, swearing as the other ship powered up their weapons again.
Now I had all their names—Aszher, Daxer, and Blitz. Strange names, but I didn’t know anything about their planet or their family. Except that the Di Vaur were akin to space mafia, and you didn’t get on their wrong side.
“You can fly this ship?” Daxer asked, engaging autopilot as he twisted to look at me head-on. Damn, he was hot, all rugged features and scruffy facial hair, something about him so composed and in control. I kinda wanted him to control me.
But dammit, now was not the time.
Later, I promised my pulsing clit.
“I can,” I confirmed. “And no offense, but I can fly it a thousand times better than you.”
He laughed, his eyes—a violet so bright and sparkly they should have been illegal—crinkling. “Alright, treasure,” he said, and unbuckled himself, giving me the pilot’s seat and surprising the hell out of me. “Let’s see what you can do.”
“You’re mad,” Aszher muttered. “Letting a complete stranger take the Comet’s helm?”
“You’re the one who brought her aboard,” Daxer replied with cool amusement. “And I have a good feeling about her. There’s no malicious intent in her aura.”
I paused in the act of strapping myself in. “You guys can read auras?”
“Just Daxer,” Blitz corrected, leaning forward to watch as I undid almost everything Daxer had done to the console, taking the pressure off the poor engine and diverting power to the shields.
We’d need them if we were going to outrace the bigger ship looming over us.
“But the rest of us have our talents, too,” he purred.