Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Dark memories crowded into Eos’ head. Of a time she’d been dragged kicking and screaming from her bed. Told her mother was dead and she was all alone.
But she wasn’t a child anymore.
She dropped her body weight, and heard a grunt behind her as her attacker stumbled. But then the assailant started dragging her backward, her feet leaving a trail in the dirt.
Her scream was silent and she stared back down the lane. She saw Dathan’s back. He was still at the colorful tent, and she willed him to turn around.
She saw him lift his head, was certain he’d glance her way. But he adjusted the bag on his shoulder and disappeared into the fortune-teller’s tent.
Gone.
Eos struggled with all her strength. Saving herself was up to her. Her attacker dragged her into a nearby building. A dilapidated wooden structure, empty except for a few crates.
Suddenly she was shoved forward. She smacked into the ground, her forehead striking hard. She spun, backing up on her hands and butt.
She looked at her attacker and her pulse jumped. She swallowed at the lump lodged in her throat.
A tall, lean figure encased all in black body armor loomed over her. Even his head was covered by a helmet and visor. He looked scary without even trying.
“What do you want? E-creds?” Eos grabbed the Sync she had in her pocket. “Here.” She tossed it on the floor. “I’ll give you the code to access what I have.”
Her attacker stepped forward, crushing the communicator under black knee-high boots. “I want Star’s End.”
Oh no. The eerie electronic voice made Eos’ chest constrict. “I don’t have anything to tell you.”
The man pulled a long slim baton from some sort of holster on his back. A quick shake and the baton elongated. A sharp silver blade emerged.
Not a modern energy weapon but an old-world sword.
Eos’ heart hammered against her ribs. There was no way she was giving up Star’s End.
It was all she had left.
She jumped up, launched forward, and tackled the man.
The sword went flying and they both hit the dirt hard. But the man was as quick as a Vedian asp. He pushed Eos off and leaped to his feet in a single lithe move. He snatched up the sword.
Suva help her. Eos backed up. Then she turned and ran.
She sprinted through the building, dodging around some crates. Her attacker didn’t make a sound, but she knew he was close behind her.
Ahead, she spotted a doorway. If she could get back out in the crowd, she had a chance.
Then something fell from the ceiling.
Eos dived and rolled. A big body slammed into the figure in black, taking him to the ground.
Dathan. He wrestled the other man in a quick deadly fight. Neither held back. As Dathan got punched hard in the ribs, Eos winced.
He rolled away and got to his knees. “Didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
The figure in black straightened. “Nice solarburn.”
Dathan rose. “I owe you for that.” His hands flexed. “And for taking my treasure.”
“I’m not here for you.”
“No, I’m well aware you prefer one-upping my brother.”
“Your brother is a worthy adversary.”
“Well, you’ll have to make do with me.”
They crashed together again.
Eos looked around, searching for a weapon. The sword was under the attacker’s feet. She scrambled closer to a pile of crates. One was partly broken. She snapped off a piece of wood. It was long and narrow but solid. She hefted it like a batter for the Inter-system League.
Neither of the men looked up. As they rolled into her legs, she aimed for the black helmet.
Whack. The man recoiled, and Dathan leaped up.
“Come on, Doc.” He grabbed her hand and yanked her.
They ran. Hard and fast.
They hit the street, took a sharp left and merged into the crowd. Dathan was a damn fast runner, all liquid, athletic grace. Eos could barely breathe as he pulled her into the thickest part of the crowd.
They moved into narrow, twisting alleys. She saw him glance behind them repeatedly and up at the roof lines. Once, she risked a glance back.
And saw the man in black pursuing them with a fast, efficient run.
Oh, Suva.
Dathan yanked his backup Sync communicator from his vest. “Z, we have company and need a rapid pickup.”
“Be there in two, bro. If you can get high, it’ll help.”
Dathan slipped the Sync away. “This way.” He pulled her into another alley.
“It’s a dead end,” she yelled.
He pointed ahead. A ladder leaned against a stone building.
He gripped it. “Up. Get to the roof and don’t stop.”
She took the rungs as fast as she could. She felt the ladder move as he followed her up. She stepped onto the flat roof and looked down. The man in black was at the end of the alley, holding something in his hand.
The next second, a shuriken embedded into the wall beside Dathan’s head.
Eos leaned down. “Hurry.”
“Move it, Eos. I said not to stop.” He clambered onto the roof. He spun on one knee, yanking a blaster from his utility vest. A hard look settled on his face. She couldn’t see the carefree treasure hunter anywhere in this hard, dangerous man.
The thermal carbine made a loud roar as he fired.
Down below, their attacker ducked behind some crates, then jumped up, aiming at them again. A rain of shurikens whizzed past them.
“Eos, go. Now. Zayn will track you and pick you up.” Dathan returned fire. “If I’m not there in thirty seconds, tell Z and Nik to leave.”
“No.” Everything in her rebelled. He was a selfish, greedy treasure hunter. He wasn’t supposed to risk his life for her.
Whatever he was, she wasn’t going to leave him here.
Ignoring him, she knelt and grabbed the butt of his backup laser pistol tucked into his pants.
She heard him curse but she just aimed at the man in black and fired. They worked in tandem, coordinating their attack.
When their pursuer scuttled backward and disappeared out of the alley, Dathan laughed. His reckless grin made Eos want to smile.
“You’re not bad with a weapon, Dr. Rai.”
“The Institute trains everyone who goes into the field.” Suddenly, laser fire ripped past them.
They flattened against the roof. A quick glance, and she saw four armed men headed for them on the neighboring roof.
“Time to go.” He gripped her arm. “Stay low.”
They ran along the line of the roof.
“Up there.” He pointed to some sort of tower topped with a small terrace.
She followed and resisted looking down. She wasn’t afraid of heights, but she didn’t love them either.
Suddenly there was the loud roar of engines. Dathan’s salvage ship, the Infinitas, hovered above them. In the cockpit at the front, she spotted Zayn at the controls.
A line fell down in front of them. Dathan clipped the end onto a hook on his belt. “You’ll have to wrap yourself around me.”
She didn’t hesitate to wrap her arms around his neck.
“And the legs. Don’t want to lose you on the way up.”
He helped boost her up and she wrapped her legs around his lean waist.
She forgot all about being chased. As the line retracted and they whizzed upward, she stared into his blue-green eyes.
That handsome, battered face was so compelling. It was filled with so much life. Adrenaline and the flush of success zinged through her veins. It felt good.
He was hot and hard and pressed against her in the most intimate way. If she moved her hips, she’d feel the hard ridge of him settle against the space between her legs.
She was attracted to him. To a man she wasn’t sure she even liked. But he was just so alive; he leaped into adventure, into life, in a way she never had.
It had to be the adrenaline making her feel like this. Nothing else.
They jerked to a stop. Niklas hauled them aboard the ship. “You two okay?”
She nodded, releasing Dathan and standing on shaky legs.
“There a reason Eos was wrapped around you like a pleasure worker? You could have used the secondary harness I sent down.”
Her gaze dropped to the second harness rigged to the bottom of the line. She smacked Dathan in the stomach. “Idiot.”
She expected that roguish smile. Instead, his face was serious. “You’re bleeding.” He brushed her forehead.
She felt a slight sting. “That guy pushed me and I bumped my head. What about you? You took some blows.”
Niklas raised a brow. “Darc beat you up again, Dath?”
Eos’ head shot up. “That was Darc?”
Nik nodded. “Nera Darc. Treasure hunter and pain in the ass.”
“And she has a thing for Nik’s ass, although I seem to always get caught in the cross fire.” Dathan frowned. “I know you two keep trying to one-up each other, but this is getting ridiculous. Did you kill her dog or something?”
Niklas’ jaw clenched. “No.”
Dathan shook his head. “I’m worried about this thing you two have going on. It’s going to get one of you killed and believe it or not, I’d prefer it wasn’t you.”
“Just drop it, Dath.”
“Darc wasn’t after Niklas,” Eos said.
Both men’s gazes locked on her.
“She wanted Star’s End.”
Now they both cursed.
“It’s not a surprise,” Niklas said. “We knew Braxx and Darc likely had the mining scans.”
Dathan’s mouth twisted. “And she suspects Eos has more intel.”
“We’ll have to stay one step ahead of her.”
Dathan snorted. “We aren’t very good at that.”
“She’s not getting Star’s End.” With that, Niklas strode off.
With a sigh, Dathan lifted the edge of his shirt. A huge bruise mottled his ribs.
Eos sucked in a breath. “Where’s the medscope?”
He nodded toward a medical alcove. He touched a button and a seat extended from the wall. He sank onto it.
She held up the medscope. “Shirt off.”
“Knew you’d eventually be getting me out of my clothes.” He shot her a lopsided grin.
The man had serious charm when he deigned to use it. She reminded herself he’d been flirting with the trollop of a fortune-teller. She turned on the medscope.
As his skin turned from purple back to his normal tan, she realized she was standing in the V of his strong legs, her face inches from his bare chest and abdomen. Damn, he was put together nicely. Toned but lean. Sinewy muscles earned from hard work, not paid for in a shaping salon.
“You did a great job out there,” he said. “Didn’t once lose your cool.”
“Thanks.”
“Aren’t you going to thank me for rescuing you?”
She snorted. “I was doing a fine job of rescuing myself. But consider me patching you up as thanks.”
“I could get used to you fixing me up.” His voice was raspy.
She looked up into aquamarine eyes and fought back a shiver. “Before Darc showed up…”
“You referring to that scorching hot kiss?”
“We’re so different. You jump into life, Dathan. You take risks I would never even dream about. I like to measure things, mull them over. I don’t leap.”
He was silent, his eyes considering.
“We have an important mission.” She stiffened her spine. “We need to focus solely on that.”
He made a sound. “I think my ribs are all better, Doc.”
“Oh, right.” She turned off the medscope.
“But feel free to keep looking. I like it when you look at me.”
Her gaze snapped to his face. He was still flirting. “I suspect women look at you all the time. Like Ms. I’ll-tell-you-your-destiny.”
“Yeah, but I’ve never really cared that much if they did or not.”
They stared at each other, and Eos felt every hard thud of her heart.
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Scared the hell out of me when I saw Darc dragging you into that building.”
“Scared me too.” She looked at the floor. “Took me back to when they came for me as a child after my mother died. They dragged me out of bed and took me to an orphanage. I couldn’t take anything.” None of her toys or books, nothing of her mother’s. “They left me with nothing.”
“Hey.” He tipped her chin up. “The Eos Rai I’ve seen seems to go after exactly what she wants.
Once you find Star’s End, you’ll be famous.
The bigwigs at the Institute will trip over themselves to have you back.
Everyone in the galaxy will want a piece of you.
You’ll have more than you ever dreamed of. ”
She nodded. “When Darc took me, I thought you hadn’t noticed.”
“I notice everything about you.” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t want to tip Darc off.”
She shouldn’t feel this jittery, this out of control. “Right.”
“Here.” He slid off the table, and for a second they were pressed together. “Let me fix your cut.”
She let him wave the medscope over her wound, although she could have done it herself. “Here we are again, healing wounds.”
“Hazard of the business.”
“I guess you get hurt a lot.” The thought didn’t sit well with her.
“A bit, but not every hunt. Some are downright boring.” He set the scope aside, his gaze tracing her face. “But so far this hunt has been anything but boring.”
“Someone has to keep you on your toes, Phoenix.”