This jump was no different.
He was in the small Starpod with Ryko Primus and Bakiel again. He had the warning of the freighter coming out of a jump in an unauthorized position. That wormhole had been sealed for as long as he remembered, deemed unsafe thanks to a sudden influx of astral dust. The freighter came out of the jump at alarming proximity and Ryke recharted his course so he wouldn’t collide with it.
The freighter apparently recharted its course, because collision was still imminent.
“It’s fine,” he told his son, hoping to reassure his fears. Ryko Primus gave him a pitying glance, old enough to not be easily pacified.
“I don’t think so.”
The console was flashing, a warning was sounding, and Ryke was recalculating trajectories as quickly as he could. It didn’t matter what he did. No matter how he changed course, the freighter loomed larger and larger on his display.
When he saw its hold open, gaping wide in the freighter’s side, he knew who he confronted.
The Gloria Furore was on another slave raid.
And by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he’d become their target.
There were no other vessels in the vicinity. There was no one to come to his aid. He was at exactly the worst point in his journey for trouble, equidistant from departing point and destination. He tried to out-distance the freighter, but knew he’d eventually lose.
The Starpod was running out of fuel. Because of the embargo, he’d been allotted enough for his planned journey and only five per cent more. It wasn’t enough. The engine fell silent and Ryke’s heart rose to his throat. He stared unblinking as the view of the freighter filled his display, the gaping maw of its hold obliterating everything else.
There was darkness inside the hold.
And danger.
He knew he would have the choice of whether to willingly dock his vessel inside the hold or remain unmoored. It was one of the notorious space pirates’ favorite games. He could wait for the oxygen supply in his Starpod to run out and die in his vessel in their hold, or he could moor, breathe, and potentially regret every moment of his life that followed. They didn’t really care. They’d sell whatever was left, either way.
“Dad?” Ryko Primus whispered, his voice rising in fear so that he sounded much younger.
“It’s the Gloria Furore,” Ryke supplied, his heart heavy. His son nodded even as he stared at the display in horror. “Don’t worry. Your grandfather will pay your ransom. It should be quick.” He nodded at Bakiel. “And your ransom will be paid, as well. Custos are always defended.” He didn’t note that this was because they were of use only to umbros.
“But what about you?” his son asked.
“I’ll be fine, too,” Ryke said, but there was no conviction in his words. He’d been publically disgraced. He’d lost all his honors. He’d abducted his son. No one paid the ransom for an outlaw.
He avoided Bakiel’s gaze, knowing that his custo had guessed the truth as well. Ryke was going to die, slowly and painfully.
As the hold closed around the Starpod and a chill filled the small cabin, Ryke hoped he could ensure the survival of his son and custo first.
Anguissa opened her eyes slowly, recalling all too well that galactic workplace standards advised against jumping more than once a month in any organism’s familiar time frame. She sometimes thought she had no familiar time frame anymore, not after so many years of space travel, but after three jumps in comparatively rapid succession, she knew otherwise.
She’d jumped home to Incendium. She’d left Incendium with Thalina and her robot and jumped back to the quadrant with the Armada Seven. And now she’d jumped from the vicinity of the Armada Seven to someplace else.
She hurt in places she’d forgotten she had.
She supposed it was better than the death that would have befallen her if Hellemut had caught her again, but she wasn’t entirely sure.
Anguissa found water in the console and drank, knowing it was the only cure for her woes. Ryke was still apparently unconscious, though Anguissa didn’t know whether to believe in appearances. Maybe he was just pretending. He certainly didn’t look vulnerable.
Why had he saved her? She didn’t know nearly enough about umbros and what she did know wasn’t good. She stroked the film computer attached to her inner arm, but it was unresponsive. Those energy beams had probably affected its power supply, which meant that she had no ability to research or translate until it was repaired.
It was a kind of isolation that Anguissa didn’t like.
She took a deep breath and found the scent of the Seed invigorating. Could she just seduce Ryke and abandon him?
It was a tempting possibility, although she thought she might always wonder about his mysteries. Anguissa frowned. He was the Carrier of the Seed, no more and no less. She needed to seduce him. There was no promise of a love affair or a permanent relationship. She didn’t need a HeartKeeper. She just needed to satisfy her destiny and claim the Seed.
They had no fondness for each other’s kinds, which probably made the whole transaction simpler. She could claim the Seed and they could part ways forever.
Where were they, anyway?
With one or two false starts, Anguissa opened the display to survey their vicinity. The Starpod was on a trajectory toward a small planet that glowed yellow in the light of its system’s sun. That star had to be behind them, given the light and shadow. The planet appeared to have many, many small moons. Too many. Moons that shone in the light of the sun.
They even seemed to glitter.
Anguissa magnified the display and leaned closer, surprised to discover that they weren’t moons at all.
They were ships.
Star vessels of all shapes and sizes orbited the planet. Were they occupied? Why were they here?
“Storage,” Ryke said, his voice sounding as rough as she felt. Anguissa was surprised that he seemed to guess her thoughts. She glanced over to see him rub his face, then shove a hand through his hair before reaching for the controls. He had a deft touch, even though he had to be at less than his best. She found herself watching his hands and imagining them on her skin. She licked her lips, simmering, then shook her head.
The Seed was too distracting.
The sooner she had him, the better.
“The Gloria Furore keep part of their inventory of pirated vessels here,” he said. “It’s a great place to shop.”
“Shop?”
Again, she caught a flash of a smile, and one more time, she thought it was too brief a glimpse.
“Borrow,” he ceded. “Seems only fair since they took my Starpod.”
“Is it here?”
“No. Too small for their purposes. They sold it.”
He was impassive and she wondered if he really felt so little, or if he felt so much that he was hiding his reaction. He had to have learned to disguise his feelings in the service of Captain Hellemut.
Assuming that he wasn’t still in her service.
“You’re going to steal from the Gloria Furore.” Anguissa let her skepticism of that plan show in her voice.
“We already have, Snake-Eyes.”
Anguissa gave him a look. “You should call me Captain Anguissa.”
“You might not have noticed, but you aren’t in command of a ship anymore.”
“Princess Anguissa then.”
“No princesses for me.”
“Then call me Anguissa.”
Ryke shook his head. “No way. Too personal.”
That was an interesting and unexpected admission. Anguissa decided to think about that before she pursued it. “I’m sure their inventory isn’t undefended...” She had time to say before the first satellites blossomed like silver sunflowers. They began to pivot toward the Starpod, so clearly targeting the vessel that Anguissa sat up a little straighter.
“We’re a small target,” Ryke said, as if to reassure her.
Anguissa knew better. “It’s a big Starpod. Quite a nic
e target, really.”
“One tiny fraction of misalignment and, given the distance, the laser will miss.”
“I find it hard to believe that the defense satellites of the Gloria Furore make even tiny fractional misalignments.”
“Probably not. But that just means I have to be faster,” Ryke mused. His fingers were dancing over the console as he programmed the nav system.
“Faster than a defense satellite programmed by the Gloria Furore? They aren’t known for their poor response times.”
He grinned. “Neither am I.”
“It must be terrible for you to go through life with such a lack of confidence.”
Ryke actually chuckled. He nodded to the far right. “We’re going over there, to that freighter...”
“No,” Anguissa protested. “Take the Mongossian Star Fighter. It’s an older model but still has good performance...”
“But the freighter will remember me.”
“Remember you?”
He slanted her a quick look, his eyes gleaming. “Nobody forgets me, Snake-Eyes.”
Anguissa snorted. “In my experience, males of all species believe that and the vast majority of them are wrong.”
“Not me, though. You’ll see.”
“Do you leave anyone alive to remember you?” Anguissa had to ask. “Umbros aren’t known for letting hosts survive, much less with leaving them happy memories of shared time together.” She couldn’t hide her disgust of his predatory nature.
Ryke appeared to be amused. “Are you afraid of me?”
“No, but I’m wondering if I should be.”
“The feeling, I assure you, is mutual.” It was a strange thing to have in common, and stranger still that Anguissa found even that to be reassuring.
He gave her a sharp look, one that made her wonder whether she’d even know if he slipped into her mind.
Had he done it already?
Anguissa recoiled as he held up a finger. One of the satellites flashed red in its middle and Ryke immediately launched the nav system.
The Starpod shot fast to the right, then up, down and to the left. It spun, it zigged, it jigged and it jagged, it wobbled and it skipped until Anguissa was sure she’d lose whatever was left in her stomach. She saw the red flash of the lasers, then the Starpod ducked behind the Mongossian Star Fighter and stopped there.
“Oh no,” she whispered, because she had a fondness for the vessels. Light flashed and the Star Fighter imploded. The Starpod zipped toward the freighter Ryke had pointed out and he opened the hailing frequency.
“Surely, there’s no one aboard,” she said beneath her breath, thinking of his comment that the ship would remember him.
A heartbeat later, a window opened on their display, showing the deck of an old freighter. A vintage android was in the captain’s post, two burning red lights where a human would have eyes. “Who hails the Magnetawan?” it asked in a mechanical voice, using the universal language.
I hate robots, she mouthed, thinking it more prudent than saying the words aloud.
Ryke lifted a brow but otherwise ignored her.
So did the robot.
“Lieutenant Ryke of the Gloria Furore,” Ryke said.
Anguissa blinked. Ryke had said he wasn’t one of the Gloria Furore. He’d said he was slave labor. Had he lied to her, or was he lying to the robot?
She knew which answer she liked better.
“Welcome, Lieutenant,” the android replied. “All is in readiness for your return. Please use bay 7C, as planned.”
“I will, Piper Twelve. Please prepare to jump after we board.”
“Of course, Lieutenant,” the android Piper Twelve replied. “We merely await your arrival on deck.”
The hold of the Magnetawan opened slowly as the Starpod rounded the enormous vessel. Ryke accelerated so that the Starpod just zipped inside as a blaze of laser shot past them. He really was an exceptional pilot. The hold doors closed behind them, the Starpod already locked on a tractor beam to the mooring gate. There were no other vessels in the hold, which was smaller than Anguissa might have expected.
“What exactly did you do on Centurios?”
“We’re all warriors.”
“But you have specialties, I’m sure.”
“Code,” Ryke admitted easily. “My area of expertise was viruses that infect the host without leaving any sign of their presence.”
Anguissa’s heart chilled at this confession. Was he the one who had brought her back to the Armada Seven? If so, there could be more danger to her than she’d realized.
He spared her a wry smile that made her heart leap. “Strangely enough, I forgot to mention that to the Gloria Furore.”
“When they captured you.”
“Just another recruitment raid,” he admitted, the corners of his mouth turning down.
“How long ago?”
“I count six years, but I’m not sure I remember all of it. It might have been longer.” Ryke lifted his gaze to hers for a fleeting instant and Anguissa guessed it hadn’t been an easy captivity.
“At least they didn’t sell you,” she said, wanting to see that rakish smile again.
“It might have been kinder if they had,” he muttered. “But then, there aren’t many buyers for my kind.”
“Umbros?”
“Outlaws.” He winked, probably knowing he looked disreputable, dangerous and unreliable. Her heart skipped, even as she wondered whether he was teasing her or if it was true.
“What does the Magnetawan carry?”
“Contraband, usually, but it’s empty now,” he said, clearly having no issues with its former trade. “It’s a good thing they cleaned it out, because it’ll jump farther that way. We need all the distance we can get.”
It seemed unlikely to Anguissa that they’d get much distance at all with such a monstrous ship. A lot of the wormholes wouldn’t have the capacity for it, and judging by its outward appearance, the stress of the jump might make some of it collapse. Ryke was out of his seat before the docking was completed, waiting at the door for the locks to engage. His confidence was unnerving.
At least he was going first.
If the reception was hostile, he’d be the one to take the hit.
One less umbro would make the universe a better place.
Her only regret was that she hadn’t already claimed the Seed.
“Why did you save me?” she asked as the lock was engaging.
He glanced back at her. “Who says I did?”
“Not me,” she admitted.
He glanced down, surprised, then leaned on the frame. “Then why did you run with me?”
“Going with you seemed like a better bet than staying on the Armada Seven. I could be completely wrong, though.”
“Inclined to make mistakes, Snake-Eyes?”
“Not me. I never make mistakes.”
He leaned closer, his eyes gleaming. “Nav system incinerated,” he reminded her. “Which left you with no escape.”
“Maybe I was counting on you.”
“Bad idea. We’re not known for being merciful.”
“Soul-snatchers,” she said.
“You should be so lucky if that’s all you lose to an umbro.”
“Why didn’t you take one of them?”
His lips tightened to a grim line. “Because they wanted me to. They wanted to use me as a weapon and I refused to be used. I pretended I couldn’t slip at all.”
“And now?”
He smiled, looking wicked, unpredictable and delicious. “Now I have nothing left to lose. Sure you don’t make mistakes?”
The Seed might have landed her in serious trouble, but she still couldn’t silence its call. She reached out and touched his shoulder, feeling his strength, and nearly purred with desire.
There wasn’t time for that, so Anguissa changed the subject. “How did the Magnetawan remember you?”
“I parked it here. And before I returned to the Armada Seven, I slipped a little worm into its
master system, something no one would detect until I needed it.”
“Just like the worm slipped into the nav system of the Archangel, the one no one detected until it brought me back to the Armada Seven.”
Ryke’s vivid green gaze locked with hers. “Just like.”
“Did you create it?”
He grimaced. “I told you. I never admitted my skills with code to the Gloria Furore. They trusted me only as a pilot.”
“Did you install the worm in the Archangel?”
“No.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because it’s true.” The door slid open, revealing a small chamber with an airlock on the other side.
“And where are we going, Ryke?”
“Home. Of course.” He shrugged. “At least I am. I don’t know where you’re going.”
“For the moment, I’m going with you,” she said, following him out of the Starpod.
He gave her a cocky grin. “Because you want to repay me for helping you escape?”
“Because you have something I want and once I have it, we can go our separate ways.” The more she learned, the more Anguissa was determined to keep her relationship with Ryke as short as possible.
“And what would that be?” he asked as they stepped through the airlock into the next sealed chamber. “Information? Directions? Fabulous sex?” It was clear he said the last as a joke, but Anguissa smiled at him.
“Lots of sex.” She backed him into the wall and caught his face in her hands, staring into his eyes. “You could consider it your reward. I know I will.” She didn’t give him a chance to answer, but kissed him fiercely to silence.
It took less than a nanosecond for Ryke to wrap his arms around her and draw her tightly against him, then angle his head and deepen their kiss.
The scent of the Seed surged to new power and Anguissa considered the merit of having him right then and there.
Anguissa’s first kiss had been only a taste of her fire. This second one made Ryke sizzle right to his toes. He’d been celibate too long by any accounting, but Anguissa’s kiss more than made up for whatever he’d been missing. The strange thing was that he liked that she wasn’t shy and that she demanded exactly what she wanted. He liked that she seized him and kissed him and slid her tongue between his teeth. He preferred passive and compliant women—that’s what he knew best—but there was something electric about Anguissa’s bold demands. Those fabulous breasts were crushed against him and he grabbed her perfect butt, lifting her against him.