Raines, Elizabeth - Marooned [Wicked Missions 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (8 page)

“An asteroid field,” Betinsa replied. “And I don’t expect you to sneak me off. I shall face my due punishment, but my mates—” Her mouth closed fast enough her teeth clicked.

“Your…mates? Did you just say these guys are your
mates?
” A laugh slipped out of Hannah. “Oh, hell, Betinsa. I never thought you’d take the marriage plunge!” Her gaze shifted between Matt and Drake. “And with
two
guys…? Didn’t think you were that culturally strict. I mean, you work for E.B.I., for pity’s sake. But you took two mates?” She pumped her fist in the air. “Way to go, girl! Why didn’t you make them take your last name then? Isn’t that what Fraiquans do?”

Blue eyes raked first Drake and then Matt from head to toe, making Matt feel like he stood there without a stitch of clothing. He knew men made that kind of visual appraisal of woman all the time, but he’d never been on the receiving end of such intensely sexual scrutiny. Why did he suddenly feel like he wanted to cover his groin with his hands? Having Betinsa stare at him was one thing—it made him hot to see the appreciation in her eyes—but this lady made him feel like she had X-ray vision. She was human, wasn’t she?

Hannah heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Two handsome guys you got there, Indigo. God, I envy Fraiquan women. Humans only get one guy, and far as I can tell, there’s not a human male worth a damn who isn’t already taken.”

She
was
human. When he glanced over at Betinsa, Matt saw her cheeks had turned a deeper shade of blue, her version of a blush. As quickly as she’d suddenly stopped her words when she’d let the word “mates” slip out, he figured she hadn’t meant to reveal so much about what had happened between the three of them.

So caught up in Hannah’s arrival he had barely been able to think straight, his brain finally kicked back in. “You said Betinsa called you here? When?”

“Got the message a few hours ago,” Hannah replied. “Was already in the Rhotan System—on my way to Tiber to try and pick up a guy so I can finally collect that bounty, but—”

“You’re a bounty hunter?” Matt knew a lot of mercenaries who made a fortune hunting for criminals or for people and aliens who’d done things like skipping out on debts or court dates. But he’d never known someone as delicate as Hannah who could make a living bounty hunting. She was so tiny—the top of her head would barely reach his shoulder. Sure, she was lightly muscled, her arms well-defined despite her slender build. She was probably damn strong for a woman.
But a bounty hunter?

Hannah crossed her arms over her breasts and narrowed her eyes. “Shit, I get sick of that look.”

Matt threw her a frown. “What look?”

“The same look big guys like you always give me when they find out what I do—like you think I’m some poor, helpless female who couldn’t possibly catch someone with a bounty on his head. I can’t wait ’til you see Lincoln. Betcha won’t think he’s a bounty hunter, either.”

“Who’s Lincoln?” he had to ask.

“My partner—more like my adopted son. Been with me since he was a cub. Rescued him from a hunting party on Odirus. He’s my best friend now.”

That sounded…interesting. Instead of asking, Matt yawned, figuring he’d find out what she meant about Lincoln being a “cub” as soon as he came face-to-face with her partner. “Looks like we’ll have company for the night.”

“I have to stay up here? How long before those groan-tails—”

“Gremtils,” Bentinsa corrected with a giggle. “You never get the names of things right, do you?”

Hannah shrugged but smiled. “Whatever… How long before they crawl back underground?”

“Several hours,” Drake replied. “You might as well catch some shut-eye with us.”

“I don’t know,” Hannah replied. “Do you mind me sleeping with your husbands, Indigo? You can have first choice. I’ll take the leftovers.” She wiggled her eyebrows.

Matt liked her pluck and her sense of humor. No wonder she was a close friend to his partner. Which might explain why Betinsa had reached out to her. “Tinsa, you ever gonna tell me how you sent Hannah a message? I assume that’s what you were doing when you needed time alone on your ship, right?”

Having never expected Hannah to arrive so quickly, Betinsa hadn’t thought of how she could explain to Matt and Drake what she planned to help get them off Katenya. “Yes. I sent her a message. I had to rewire what little was left of the power to the com, and I didn’t need you to know at the time because I feared how you would react.”

“Why?” Matt asked. “Sure, this has been…fantastic... But we have to get back home eventually. The only thing I might’ve said if I’d known there was any power left was to ask you to wait a while. Katenya has been…paradise. Wouldn’t mind staying here…with you…a little while longer.”

“What aren’t you telling us,
lamanna
?” Drake asked, parroting back the endearment she’d used earlier. Could he possibly know what it meant?

No
. He was simply acting on instinct, being an ambassador by trying to put her at ease with her own language.

“She’s calling in a favor—a blood debt,” Hannah replied. “She saved my ass once upon a time, and now I’m returning the favor. No other way I’d have risked landing here. The Fraiquans find out, I’m toast.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Matt’s gaze kept shifting between Betinsa and Hannah, his investigative mind probably trying to connect all the clues.

Betinsa loved her mates and owed them her honesty, especially about something as important as this. “I asked for Hannah to come because I needed her help. She can get to places undetected and get out quickly. I want her and Lincoln to get you and Matt off this moon and back to Earth before the shaman knows you are here.”

“Wouldn’t your planet’s security already have tracked us?”

She answered with a shake of her head. “Our ship would have been off their grid whenever we drew close to Katenya. They might have guessed we crashed or burned up on entry, but it’s forbidden to scan the moon’s atmosphere or surface. They would never think we would
land
—no Fraiquan ship would dare such audacity. No, they would believe I’d destroy my own ship and take all of our lives rather than desecrate sacred ground.” No radar would detect them.
But a shaman?
He would know. He would send the Charhock to punish her. And she would deserve death. “Hannah, you must take Matt and Drake back to Earth as soon as possible.”

“What about
you?
” Drake asked, taking Betinsa’s hand in his. She loved the worry in his voice for it revealed that he had feelings for her. Surely not the same kind of love she held for him, but at least there was affection. “You meant take
all
of us back to Earth. Right?”

“I must go to Fraiqua to answer for my trespass.”
Or die at the hands of the Charhock...

“No one knows we’re here,” Matt countered. “If they did, we would’ve been rescued or captured or…
something
by now.”

If it was only that simple…
“They wouldn’t come for you,” Betinsa replied.

“I want the whole story,” Matt said, settling his hand on her shoulder and squeezing. “I know you, Tinsa. You’re my partner. There’s something you’re not telling us.” His hold on her tightened. “Out with it.”

“’Tis the Charhock. It must have…time. Time to…decide.”

“What the fuck’s a Charhock?” Hannah asked. Her narrowed eyes told Betinsa that she knew her as well as Matt—both realized that her evasiveness was ominous. “Like Matt said, Betinsa. Out with it. What’s going on?”

“The Charhock is our savior. His arrival brought an end to the wars and will bring prosperity to Fraiqua. I’ve…defiled his home. He must be given time to decide my punishment. Should he wish my sacrifice, he’ll destroy me. Soon. Should he wish I be brought to justice on Fraiqua, he’ll spare me and signal the shaman to come and fetch me.”

Drake put his hands on his hips and frowned. “Signal? How will he
signal
anyone? The thing can only roar.”

“The same way he told of his arrival—he can communicate with the head shaman to make his wishes known.”

Drake had heard enough. If there had been any doubt in his mind that he would stay by Betinsa’s side, it vanished at the thought of anything happening to her. He might be an ambassador, and he might have sworn to put the best interests of the United Continents ahead of all things, but that didn’t mean he’d surrendered all of who he was to his home planet. While his loyalty and his allegiance would always be to the U.C., he now realized his heart belonged to Betinsa. He gathered her into his arms and held her tight. “There’s no way in hell I’m leaving this moon without you.”

Matt put his other hand possessively on Betinsa’s shoulder and stared Drake in the eye. Drake could read the agent’s mind as clearly as he could hear his own thoughts. They were both claiming this woman, and somehow that seemed like the most natural thing in the universe. Drake gave him a curt nod.

“Neither of us is leaving Katenya if you’re not with us,” Matt said.

“Um…hate to break up this little…party,” Hannah said with a chuckle. “But if you think no one but you three lovebirds has set foot on this…sacred planet, you’re crazy.”

Betinsa turned to gape at Hannah. “What are you talking about? No one has been on Katenya—none but the Charhock may be on this sacred moon.”

“Well, no one told the Dracorians that. ’Cause they’re hanging out about twenty kilometers from here.”

Betinsa gasped. “Dracorians? No. No, you’re wrong. There can’t be… Here? You saw them
here?
”

“The yellow bastards had a camp. Saw it all when I flew in. Actually, Lincoln saw it. His vision’s fantastic.”

“Did they see you?” Matt asked.

“Nope. Flying stealth, looking for Indigo, and trying not to disturb the wildlife.”

The ambassador in Drake asserted himself. “Dracorians? You’re sure?”

“Fuckin’ positive,” Hannah replied. “Took every bit of my self-control not to launch a photon grenade or two at ’em. Didn’t figure I’d be paying Betinsa back if I bombed my way to her rescue.”

He was having a hard time believing it because the ramifications were mind-numbing. Millions of souls had died in the wars. Should the fighting begin again, millions more would perish. “They’re the ones who committed most of the war crimes against the Fraiquans. The United Continents has condemned their government. One of the reasons I was heading to Fraiqua was to bring back a terrorist who conspired with the Dracorians to attack Earth.”

Drake swung his head around to Matt’s growl. For the first time since he met Matt Newton, Drake saw the Earth Bureau of Investigation agent he’d heard so much about—the one who methodically brought down anyone he was sent to capture. Gears were turning in the man’s head, and an angry flush rose on his cheeks. “Then what the fuck are they doing on this moon?” Matt asked. “And what the fuck are we going to do about it?”

Chapter 7

Sleeping was impossible. Matt tossed and turned, his mind unable to turn off the tumbling, troubling thoughts.
Dracorians. On Katenya
. There was only one reason he could figure for why they would have the audacity to land here—they were planning a new attack on Fraiqua. Soon.

And he was damned well going to stop it!

Matt had always believed everything happened for a reason. It was no coincidence that they’d crashed on this moon. He and Betinsa were here to do their job. Catching terrorists. Having the help of an ambassador and a bounty hunter would only make their task easier.

A noise drew his gaze to Hannah, the first to get to her feet as she stood and stretched her lithe body. Betinsa was still snuggled up against him with Drake pressed to her back, his arm and leg draped over her. Far as Matt could tell, they were both still asleep, their breathing deep and even.

Footsteps sounded, drawing closer. Matt looked up to find Hannah staring down at them in the first light of the morning suns. She smiled. “I’m heading back to my ship. I need to see how Linc’s doing and get some supplies.” Her smile grew to a smirk. “I’ll be gone an hour. Maybe more.”

“You’re telling me this because?” Matt whispered.

“So you can get it through your thick male skull that you three can be alone for a little bit. No one to bother you. Perfect privacy. Can do what comes naturally and all that...”

“My thick male skull understood exactly what you meant when you said you’d be gone an hour.”

“Then stop asking stupid questions.” She strode over to the edge of the platform, the soles of her combat boots clomping against the wood. “And here I thought all guys were stupid.” With that, she sat down, flipped around to grab a branch, and dropped over the edge. The noise of her shimmying down the tree slowly faded away.