Star Raiders (10 page)

Able punched some numbers into his console. “From here, about three standard weeks.”

“That’s too long. We have less than a month to capture Dempster and stop C.O.I.L. intervention! Isn’t there someplace closer?” Damon shook his head. “Most of the outer worlds near Earth or C.O.I.L. space already have more refugees than they can handle. Those planets that might take the children are little better than Verus.”

Greyson thought for a second. “I know where we can take them.”

“Where?” Eldin asked.

Greyson pul ed up a star chart and pointed. “It’s only a few hours away.” Terle swore.

Able shook his head. “That’s an Earth outpost. We can’t take
Independence
that far into Earth space.”

“Yes, we can. I know the commander. Carter Kincaid has little love for ELF, ASP or C.O.I.L.”
Or me
, he added silently. “The risk is minimal. The station is smal and
Independence
is more than a match for it. But even better, you don’t have to take
Independence
in. We can use one of the smal er ships to shuttle the children to the station.”

“And if the commander decides to further his career by taking our craft and its crew prisoner?” Eldin asked.

“I’l shuttle the children down myself. If I don’t come back, you’re wel rid of me.”

“And we’ve lost a ship,” Terle snapped.

“But you have mine in exchange. I’m assuming you’ve got it in your docking bay.”

It was an odd negotiation, Greyson admitted. No one mentioned that al the commander had to do was cal for reinforcements and
Independence
would be trapped.

“How do we know the children wil be safe with this commander?” Damon spoke up. “We don’t know where they’re from. If they’re from the outer worlds, wil he see to their needs or turn them over to ASP? They might end up treated no better than criminals.”

The questions startled Greyson. He wouldn’t have thought the pretty boy would put the children’s welfare ahead of his own. Stil , he had an answer ready: “Carter Kincaid would never let a child come to harm.” Not the Carter Kincaid he’d once known.

Of course, he hadn’t spoken to the man in over five years, and the last words Carter had spoken were a threat to get even. Stil , Greyson didn’t believe Carter would use innocent children to even the score between them. At least, he hoped not.

Eldin nodded. “We’l do it your way. But stars help you if you’re wrong.” Able grinned as he plugged coordinates into the ship’s nav computer. “ ’Cause we sure won’t.”

“Shy’s going to ream us al new ones when she wakes up,” Damon pointed out.

Terle just hunched over his console and swore.

Shy rol ed over and groaned. Her head throbbed in unison with the steady thrum of
Independence
’s engines. What had happened?

She touched the bandage on her temple. Memory came back in a rush of pain.

Her eyes flew open. “The children! My ship! The crew!” She bolted upright, then fel back and closed her eyes on another groan.

“Easy there. The children are fine. The ship and crew are fine.” Greyson’s voice soothed her anxiety as the feel of his fingertips brushing the hair from her forehead eased the ache in her head. She cracked an eyelid and peered up at him. “What happened?” she croaked.

She wasn’t sure why she trusted his words, but she did. Perhaps because no alarms sounded.
Independence
’s engines stil hummed in their reassuringly familiar way.

“You got shot.” His voice wobbled almost imperceptibly. “Grazed your temple.

Slight concussion, related shock issues.”

She didn’t object when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders to help her sit up and held a glass of water to her lips. The cool liquid slid down her throat like a magic elixir, relieving the dryness, but it was the heat of his body against hers that banished the chil of having come so close to death. This was the nearest she’d ever experienced.

“Was anyone else hurt? Were we fol owed?” she asked.

“No.”

Without her volition, she turned her head and pressed her lips to his chest where his flight suit gaped open. He sucked in his breath and started to pul away, but, the need to reaffirm life pounding in her veins, she gripped his arms. If she didn’t know better, she’d almost believe he’d arranged these accidents to stir her libido.

What crazy musings! She almost laughed. As if she needed a reason to crave this man. She’d again take up the reins of command when she was better, but obviously the ship was manned and Eldin had everything under control. For now she’d abandon duty and responsibility. Now was time for her to heal. It was just for her, for what she wanted. And what she wanted was Greyson.

Ignoring his stil ness, she trailed kisses up his throat and over his chin until her lips were a whisper from his. “Make love with me,” she begged.

He stroked his hand over her hair, trailing his fingertips like feathers along the edge of her bandage. “We shouldn’t. You took a nasty blow to the head. A fraction of an inch and you’d have more than a nasty headache.” A ripple of longing went through her. She wound her arms around his neck and tugged him onto the bed beside her. “It’s not my head that aches.” The blanket pul ed away as she leaned over him, and she realized someone, probably Eldin, had removed her flight suit.

Maneuvering, she stripped off her camisole. She cupped her aching breasts, ful er and heavier than before Rian, and lifted them—an offering to a hungry god.

Her nipples peaked in anticipation. The fevered look in Greyson’s eyes as he watched her play with herself promised her victory, in this at least. Later, she’d consider what it meant to their relationship, making love more than once.

Much later.

Greyson knew he should pul away, should refuse what Shyanne offered.

“I want more than your body,” he said instead. Had he spoken his desire aloud?

“Take what you can get, ssssnake,” she said with a distinct hiss. “I wil .” But he wanted more than her body. He wanted more than a momentary release from the tension riding both of them. He wanted what she’d given him so freely ten years ago, something that—once she knew the truth, once his lies were exposed—she’d never offer him again. Her trust. Her love.

She leaned forward, the heat of her lithe body hovering over him. It weakened his resolve, stirred the banked fire burning in his groin. Through the thin material of his flight suit the hard points of her nipples brushed his chest. Moisture seeped through her thin panties and dampened his thigh when she moved to straddle him.

Her unique scent teased his nostrils, the acrid tang of engine oil and laser burn, along with the clean, fresh smel of soap and the heated aroma of aroused woman. With the tip of her moist pink tongue she stroked the edge of his ear and blew. He shivered and groaned in surrender. For this moment he’d selfishly take what she offered. Soon enough she’d hate him again.

He rol ed her beneath him and the battle for control began. He failed, and her thin panties tore. He looked in disbelief at the flimsy cloth dangling from his fingertips.

Laughing, she helped him struggle out of his flight suit. He barely noticed as the fastener scraped the skin of his bel y, leaving an angry red scratch on the tender skin from his navel to his groin, for she squirmed lower, her body undulating along the length of his. His breath caught as her warm tongue laved the length of the mark and eased the sting. Then her mouth closed over him and rational thought burned away.

Her tongue danced and stroked over his engorged shaft until he had to grit his teeth against the explosive need building inside him. When he could take no more, he pul ed away and pinned her to the bed.

“My turn,” he growled against her thigh.

With a laugh she spread her legs to al ow him access. “I’ve always believed in taking turns.”

He nuzzled her. Her warm, damp curls tickled his nose and he breathed in the heady aroma of her desire. He parted the fiery curls with his fingers. Moisture glistened on her swol en nether lips. With slow deliberation, he tasted her. Her hips bucked upward. He pressed her thighs farther apart. His tongue stroked, probed and swirled over her sensitive flesh until she writhed against the bed.

“Come to me! Now!” Her fingers fisted in his hair.

He slid into her heated depths and began to move. Her body surged in time with his. The slick slide of his flesh in and out of hers drove him relentlessly toward his release. The cords in his neck stood out. Every muscle in his body clenched as he held back.

“Ah-h-h!” Her cry of satisfaction fil ed the room as her inner muscles constricted in spasms around him, milked him.

“Shyanne!” In a flurry of sharp thrusts he let go and col apsed over her.

They lay together, bodies damp and limp, limbs tangled. Greyson’s face rested against Shyanne’s throat. Her pulse now beat an irregular tattoo against his lips.

He kissed the throbbing vein and tasted the salt on her skin.

Though he knew they couldn’t last, emotions fil ed him. Fulfil ment. Satisfaction.

Completion. Tenderness. Affection. He could stay this way forever. He snuggled against her warmth, enjoying the feel of her body under his, the smel of sex lingering in the room.

“Ugh. Get off me. You’re heavy, sweaty and you stink.” Shyanne pushed him away and curled into a bal . In seconds he heard her breathing even out as she fel asleep.

He chuckled and stretched. Apparently he was alone in his more tender feelings.

The rarely used communications link in the room squawked for attention, waking Shy. Greyson was shaking his head and coming awake beside her.

She touched her temple, then flinched as her fingers encountered the bandage. She tapped again. Nothing happened. Her com chip wasn’t working. The shot to her head must have damaged it. She’d have to have Eldin implant a new one.

“Shy,” Terle’s voice snarled over the room’s com speaker at the same moment
Independence
’s proximity alert started to wail. “You’d better get to the bridge. Now! And bring that two-timing ASP snake with you. We’ve got company.

And they don’t look friendly.”

“I’m on my way,” Shy answered as she tugged on her flight suit and boots.

“Who are they?”

“Ask your friend,” Terle said.

She shot Greyson a questioning look. He wouldn’t meet her gaze, but he dressed and fol owed her to the bridge.

Once there, Shy quickly took stock of the situation. An ELF fighter stood nose to nose with
Independence
. But that’s not what made her gut burn; the fighter, though heavily armed, was an antiquated model and no match for
Independence
’s firepower. Trouble would come later, when ELF learned of the fight—and Shy didn’t doubt that they would. They were in Earth space.

Just beyond the fighter was an ELF space station. Little more than a far-flung outpost, it had a smal communications array, which was probably already broadcasting
Independence
’s location to ELF, ASP and C.O.I.L.

She whirled on Able. “What are you waiting for? Take out their communications. Now!”

Able looked at Greyson.

“No need to blast them. We used my ASP override code to block their transmissions,” Greyson said.

Shy sensed a
but
, which Terle soon supplied. “Before we blocked them, they sent off an emergency beacon.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Disable their fighter!” she directed Able. “And get us the hel out of here before reinforcements arrive.”

“It’l take a few hours for the cal to be received, and several more for a response team to arrive. By that time we’l be long gone. Terle, would you open a channel?” Greyson said.

Terle muttered something, but to Shy’s surprise he complied. “When did you al decide to mutiny?” she asked.

None of the crew answered.

“No mutiny,” Greyson said. “Just common sense. We need a place to unload the children. This outpost is the closest, safest place, and I know the commander.

He’l see to their wel -being.”

“And why should he just let us unload the children and leave? Capturing the
Independence
would be a coup for an outpost commander. Might even get him a better posting.”

Greyson gave a humorless laugh. “Believe me, ELF isn’t going to promote Carter Kincaid. Even if they did, he wouldn’t accept. He won’t fire on us first, either.

He knows he can’t capture us; we outgun him.”

“Channel open,” Terle said.

“This is Commander Kincaid. State your business, pirate,” a man’s voice demanded over the com. Shy could hear the anger and frustration beneath his control ed tone.

When Greyson didn’t respond, she raised her eyebrows in question.

“It would probably be better if you dealt with him,” Greyson said so only she could hear. “Kincaid and I have…history.”

“What kind of history?”

“Pirate!” Kincaid interrupted whatever Greyson might have answered. “Why are you here?”

Shy keyed the com. “This is the captain of the…cruise ship
Alliance
.” She supplied the false locator ID they were broadcasting. “We have a group of children that need assistance.”

“Cruise ship, my ass. I don’t care what locator ID you give. I’ve got eyes. What game are you playing? This outpost has nothing of value for you to steal. And what little we have wil cost you dearly.”

Shy ran her hand around the back of her neck to relieve the tension. “No games, Commander. We have ten children and one young woman rescued from slavers that we need to unload. Then we’l leave peaceful y.” Kincaid fel silent for a few minutes, then said, “Close your gun ports and dock on port three.”

“I think not.” Shy laughed. “We’l send the children over via a shuttle. And our gun ports stay open.”

“I look forward to meeting you, Captain…” His voice trailed off.

She didn’t supply her identity. “I’l have to forgo the pleasure this time. I’m no fool. A friend of yours wil deliver the goods.”

“What friend?”

She ignored Kincaid’s question, cut the connection and turned to Able. “Strip the
Spitfire
of her weaponry and valuables and get the children aboard.”