Chapter 21
Irena
I didn’t think I could feel this angry. Always, I’d been levelheaded and quiet, the person everyone counted on to listen to their troubles.
Since my abduction and time with the pirates, I’d learned to be quiet and timid, to never fight back outright, but to rebel in quiet ways.
Seeing Flack get captured had woken something in me.
It felt like a beast, like a wild, feral sort of fury I had no name for.
Was this what Flack had felt when he’d shifted and defended me back on the Vidu?
What he’d felt going out into the night to fight pirates too numerous to defeat?
It felt like the kind of fury that came from being pushed down too far, too hard.
A dam had broken, and my limits had been reached.
With freedom this close, with a bright and beautiful future gleaming in the distance, I simply could not allow it to end this way.
Though I’d never fired a gun before, let alone a high-tech laser pistol, I did so now, not hesitating as I drew the weapon from where I’d bound it to my thigh.
I shot at the guys who had captured Flack, and even tried to hit Xathena, but she was too well guarded.
Then I shot at the guys coming for me. The pistol kicked roughly in my hands with each shot I fired and smelled of fire, but not-fire.
I fumbled it when it became hot, but with fury still riding me, I squeezed off another shot at the guy suddenly leaping out of the bushes on top of me.
I fought wildly when they dragged me from my hiding place, but even with only one alien holding my arm, I could not free myself.
They’d slapped the gun from my hands like it was nothing, and in the dark, I couldn’t even tell if I’d managed to injure anyone.
Xathena stood over Flack’s collapsed form, a triumphant Amazonian warrior.
Her boot was on his chest like she’d conquered him, and her smile was wide and vicious as I was brought before her.
Flack had a dozen red-feathered darts sticking out of his white pelt.
Just as many as last time. Blood stained his claws and painted his sharp, fox-like mouth red.
His blue eyes fought to stay open, locked onto my face, and were full of horror.
For the first time since we’d met, Flack believed we’d been defeated.
“You’re the key. I should have seen that sooner,” Xathena said to me.
“He’d do anything for you, that one,” she added, and kicked Flack’s now-unconscious body in the ribs.
I raised my chin, trying not to give anything away, but it didn’t matter anyway.
She was eager to talk, it seemed, to bask in this moment of glory.
With no sign of Dimon anywhere, I had a sinking feeling it was because she’d finally taken over. She was the one in charge now.
“Always been his weakness, rescuing slaves. You’re even more than that, though, aren’t you?
You’re his mate,” she mused, her black nail tapping the lush green of her full lower lip.
With the shuttle right behind her to provide light, she was posed for maximum effect, and it was working.
I was still angry, but I was terrified too.
At the same time, there was nothing but adoration on the faces of the pirate crew Xathena now commanded.
“You can deny it all you want,” the woman continued, though I’d said nothing.
“I know this is true. With you in my power, he’s going to steal all my heart desires, and it desires a lot.
Get them onto the shuttle. We’ve got places to be.
” They scrambled to do her bidding while she swept into the shuttle with a dramatic flick of the long, golden-tipped hair hanging over her shoulder.
They dragged Flack inside and shackled his wrists as they pushed me into a jump seat without bothering to secure me.
Xathena sat across from me, laser pistol drawn and carefully aimed my way.
“I knew I should tag the slippery bastard,” she said smugly, her foot nudging Flack’s side where the stab wound had previously been.
“Stuck that sucker deep so he’d never find it.
” That got a reaction, a sense of guilt and horror washing over me when I puzzled out what she meant.
That stab wound, I’d healed it with the tissue regenerator.
If he’d been in control of that himself, I had no doubt he’d have found the tracker, but he’d trusted me to do it.
It was my fault Xathena had been able to track him.
“Yeah, didn’t think of that, did you?” She was so smug, I wanted to reach across the shuttle and slap that grin off her stupid face.
Instead, I bit my lip and stayed in my seat, my knuckles turning white as I clenched them around the edge of the chair.
Still not tied up, I just needed to wait for the right opening. On the Vidu, I had a shot at escaping.
“Now, tell me where the Verana diamond is. I know you’ve got it.
Flack would never pass up the opportunity to steal it.
” She knew him better than I wanted to give her credit for.
The truth was, I really didn’t know. He’d slipped it into a pocket, hidden it on his person, and I knew well how hard it was to find a pocket, even with directions.
“Fuck you,” I said. Her expression tightened, but she didn’t respond.
She left me simmering in fear and rage while she ordered the shuttle to take off and her men to search Flack for the diamond.
They weren’t gentle about it, and I winced each time they shoved him, searching his pants with no success.
How he managed to hide a diamond the size of his fist on his person, I had no clue, but even unconscious, he was still thwarting Xathena’s plans.
I’d felt insignificant and useless a lot, helpless to defend myself or change my fate.
Today, I was grateful they thought so little of me that they had not even bothered to tie me up.
When the shuttle landed in the Vidu’s hangar bay, everyone was focused on getting Flack out without letting him escape.
Only one lone man was assigned to bring me to Xathena’s quarters.
One guard. Enough to capture me, but was it enough to keep me?
They carried Flack off the shuttle first, and I was dragged along behind him.
My odd, jewel-studded boots sank into sticky blood as soon as I stepped off the shuttle’s ramp.
I stared, and despite not being new to it, still felt my stomach clench with horror.
Dimon’s body lay there, sightless eyes staring up at the hangar bay ceiling.
His throat slit from earhole to earhole.
Flack stirred ahead of us, far sooner than he should have.
His body twisted in the grip of those carrying him, and a snarl ripped from his massive, fur-covered chest. The sound made several people jerk, and some dropped him before they rushed to sedate him again.
My lone guard jerked too, and his grip on my arm loosened.
I slipped out of the thick fur coat, and that was enough to throw him off.
While he was still figuring out he only held an empty piece of clothing, I darted across the hangar bay and vanished behind some crates.
Shouts went up, but Flack’s stirring had caused a better distraction than I could have ever asked for.
By the time my guard chased after me, I’d already slipped into a maintenance shaft and disappeared.
This time, I knew they could not trace me; they were all out of aliens with sharp noses, and the life-sign detector hadn’t been miraculously fixed in the meantime.
I knew I couldn’t go to any place they knew I’d hidden in before.
My little hidey-hole with all the food was out, but that didn’t mean I was without supplies.
Flack, more paranoid than I’d given him credit for, had made me hide what I’d stolen beforehand.
I might now be without a weapon, but that didn’t mean I was helpless. No. Never again.
I circled around the ship, this time to carry out some sabotage I’d never dared to attempt before.
Fueled by anger at what they had done, and were doing, to Flack, I reached the engine room before anyone thought to look for me there.
A pirate was asleep behind the humming engine, the engineer who was supposed to keep the ship running.
He didn’t even notice my presence when I tiptoed past him, my fancy boots in one hand so I wouldn’t make noise on the metal floor.
Reaching some very vital-looking panels I was pretty sure controlled more of the internal sensors, perhaps even the camera system, I tore open one.
I dug around inside and pulled out a few very key-looking components, which I dumped in the trash compactor’s receptacle.
Then I slipped away again. I couldn’t be sure it took care of all the cameras on the ship, but it would definitely make it even harder to find me.
My next stop was a remote comm station. I had the symbols for Flack’s ship memorized, but I’d also tucked the paper with the call sequence into the bag of supplies Flack had me hide.
I’d call them again, terrifying as the guy I’d spoken with last time had been.
That was going to be well worth it if I could inform them that Flack was still captive.
I had to know how long we had to wait for rescue from that end, if it was even coming.
Flack hadn’t acted like he was counting on it, even if he’d been quite urgent about the need for me to place that first call.
I briefly hesitated when I reached a hallway that could take me toward the brig.
I had to assume that’s where they’d put him, and I really wanted to know he was okay.
Xathena might be expecting that, and I couldn’t risk it, not yet.
Not until I’d given them a hell of a lot more chaos to deal with as a distraction.
So I retrieved my supplies, just to make sure I wouldn’t mess up calling the Varakartoom.