Stealing Mercury (Arena Dogs Book 1) (8 page)

She bristled as Drake shoved past her, barreling into the cargo-hold. He came to a halt in the center, twisting around, looking for trouble and gripping a stun-stick in one hand.

“Why in hell was that door code changed?” Drake stormed toward her. “I should be able to get in here whenever the fuck I want.”

His words rose and fell in the sloppy rhythm of a drunk. Sweat matted his hair and slicked his shoulders. He wore only baggy sleep pants, chest bare and sporting more muscle than she’d have given him credit for. Still, next to the Arena Dogs, he seemed small. Puny. But big enough to cause her some serious harm. He’d been an ass from the start, but the longer he’d been on board the more he seemed to be deteriorating. Apparently, the forced idleness of travel didn’t agree with him. And since their discussion in the med-bay he’d started directing more of his venom in her direction.

Samantha pointed toward the auxiliary hatch in the corner of the hold. “I got some anomalous readings on the environmental controls and wanted to check them out. The environmental unit is through there.”

“It’s fucking hot in my quarters. Couldn’t sleep.”

And he’d clearly needed to sleep off the liquor and his foul mood.

“It’s hot everywhere.” When the resistance ship hadn’t shown up, she’d decided to begin laying the groundwork for a slowdown. Maybe give them time. Now that Mercury had explained exactly where they were headed and why, she was doubly glad she’d set things in motion. “It’s probably nothing, but I need to check it.” She shrugged. “I changed the code and locked the hatch as a precaution, in case I find a bigger problem when I start pulling open access panels. Easier to keep things contained. Didn’t want one of you accidentally opening the hatch while I was working.”

“I told you before, you shouldn’t be in here without me or Resler.” Drake gripped her arm and jerked her closer. A chorus of growls went up and his grip tightened painfully on her arm. His pursed his lips in a calculating expression and studied the growling men over her shoulder.

“We’ve argued this to death, Mr. Drake.” She jerked her arm free, drawing his attention back to her. “I’ll do what I think is right where the ship is concerned.”

The hold hatch still stood open and the commotion must have roused Resler. He came stumbling down the corridor.

 Samantha returned her focus to Drake. “Haven’t you told me those cages are secure? Besides, they,” she indicated the men with a nudge of her chin, “seem to know I’m not a threat.” She held her hands out to her side. “No stun-stick, no problem.”

“No problem?” Drake’s face twisted in a parody of a smile and he snickered. Samantha reared back away from his scowl and the sour breath that went with it.

“You’re stupid if you’re not afraid of my Dogs. They can turn on you faster than you can spit.”

Samantha’s heart pounded and her throat tightened. She’d never seen him so enraged.

He shoved her up against the bulkhead just out of arm’s reach of Mercury’s cage. “Yeah, I’ll bet they think you look tasty.” The liquor on his breath made her gag.

Samantha could feel the agitation radiating from the caged men as they growled their protest to Drake’s rough treatment. She struggled, but she couldn’t budge the man. Resler might have more bulk, but Drake knew how to use his strength.

Drake laughed at her efforts. “What do you say, Merc? You think she’d make a good snack? Or are you sniffing after something else from her?”

Mercury snarled and snapped in response. “You’d make a better meal. Perhaps when we reach the hunting grounds, you’ll be the prey.”

Samantha’s gaze locked on Mercury, shocked that he’d respond to the taunts. Mercury barely looked at her. She could hear the others getting louder, then one loud howl drowned out the others.

Resler strutted to the farthest cage where Carnage’s howl ended in a snarl. “Well, if it isn’t our lazy Carnage coming back to life. What’s the matter? You hungry? Or you done missing your bitch and ready to fuck anything with a hole?”

Mercury growled deep in his throat. “Come let me out of this cage, you coward, and we’ll see who ends up fucked.” The words vibrated out of his still rumbling throat.

Drake shoved Samantha down to the floor and stepped across her to reach Mercury’s cage. She ended up on her hands and knees facing Diablo. He dropped to the floor, face less than a quarter of a meter away. Her racing heart stuttered and a shiver raced along her skin. She had a moment to wonder if he’d kill her or leave her scarred, then he spoke beneath the howling that filled the small hold.

“Go, little Sam.” He spoke through gritted teeth, lips drawn back from his prominent canines. “Don’t let Mercury’s pain serve no one. Go. Now.”

Samantha looked over her shoulder and saw Drake shove the stun-stick into Mercury’s cage. Resler taunted Carnage with his matching weapon and a smirk on his face. The caged men backed away from their tormenters, but there was no room for them to escape the stinging weapon.

“Go now,” Diablo growled. “Mercury is strong and we’re used to such things.”

Samantha looked into his eyes. The midnight black had been almost completely eclipsed by the flecks of blood red. His thin lips curled back to show his teeth and rage danced in the depths of his eyes.

Fear made her arms shake as she pushed up from the decking, but she wouldn’t let any of them be tortured. Not again. Instinct had her launching herself at Drake, making a grab for the weapon. Drake shook her off, throwing her at Resler. The brute caught her around her waist, arms like steel cables. Luckily, the man was still unsteady on his injured leg. She swung her feet and kicked against Carnage’s cage. Unable to balance her shifting weight, Resler dropped her.

Pain radiated up through her hip. Damn! What had she been thinking? She knew she couldn’t take on both Drake and Resler.

Staying low, she reengaged her brain and scrambled past them. Mercury’s snarls rang in her ears as she dashed through the hatch. She ran through the halls, slamming blast doors closed behind her to give herself time when they came after her. And they would.  She’d make sure of it.

When she reached the pilot’s station, she threw herself down into the seat. Still panting for breath, she hooked her feet under the bar beneath her chair as her fingers flew across the controls. The
Dove’s
environmental system and grav-generators faltered in response. Anything that wasn’t tied down tumbled across the deck, then the world dropped out from under her and everything started floating, suddenly weightless.

Samantha’s lungs started to burn from the sudden drop in oxygen levels. The temporary outage might be drastic measures, but she’d promised herself she’d keep the Arena Dogs safe. Grateful for her habit of wearing her deck-boots at all times, she slogged her way back down the corridor. The moment the grav-generators came back on, she dropped to the floor. Gasping for breath, she counted the seconds until the oxygen levels normalized.

She needed Drake to believe she’d dropped on the way
to
the controls, that she hadn’t yet made it to the pilot’s station, so she pulled her body around until she lay face down as if she’d dropped on the way forward. That done, she lay there, gulping air, and waited.

After a few minutes it got easier to breath and the darkness at the edges of her vision receded. The sound of boots stomping toward her echoed along the corridor like the thumping pistons of a transgalaxy engine.

Drake lifted her up and set her on her feet. “What in hell was that?”

“Told you.” She panted, exaggerating for effect. “Environmental contols are acting up. Help me get to the pilot station so I can take a look.”

Lifting her arm over his shoulder, Drake dragged her to the empty seat and shoved her into the synth-upholstered polycarb. Drake cuffed her across the side of her head and she saw stars. “Get it fixed. We don’t have time for delays.”

She tapped in a few commands then realized he still stood looking over her shoulder. “I’m trying, so lay off.”

“Get it stable,” he said. “Then we’re going to talk about your pointless stunt.”

Samantha cringed. Damn it, if he knew what she’d done—

A loud thump jerked her attention back to Drake and the fist he slammed onto the console beside her. “What in the hell were you thinking, getting between me and my Dogs?”

“I-” Samantha stuttered, unprepared for the accusation when she thought they’d caught on to something far worse. “I didn’t want to see anyone get hurt.”

“You have no fucking idea what you’re dealing with.” He paced, hands raking through untidy hair.

“I swear they must put out some kind of pheromones. Women back on Roma fall all over themselves to get at them.”

She didn’t know what to make of that, so she counted to five then tried to ratchet down the tension in the room. “Listen. Let’s calm down. I don’t have time to deal with whatever drunken craziness is sloshing around in that whiskey soaked brain. I need to deal with the ship.”

Drake’s attention fixed on Samantha with a laser focus that made her squirm in her seat.

“Your sympathy is wasted on those animals.”

Resler grunted from the corridor where he’d appeared. “Yeah, just ask that sexy brunette who tried to get cozy with Diablo. She was a knockout until he got a hold of her.” Resler used his sleeve to blot away the smudge of blood on his forehead. He must have hit his head when the ship jolted. “Maybe we should throw this one in with that devil. We could make a bet on whether he slashes her up or fucks her.”

Drake frowned. “Don’t be vulgar.”

Samantha wanted to shout
pot meet kettle
, but the sound of his own condemnation seemed to shake Drake. He leaned against the nearest wall, letting his head thunk back against the bulkhead.

Samantha watched, relief easing her breathing, as Drake smoothed hands over his hair, scratched at his beard and shook himself before standing straighter, all traces of the wild man of moments earlier gone from his eyes. It was as if Resler’s crudity had snapped him back from the edge of some dangerous precipice.

“I’m a respectable business man,” he said. It wasn’t clear if he was talking to Samantha or reminding himself. “Just doing a job. I thought you’d respect that, Sam. We both know the value of hard work, you and me. I’m not the animal on this ship. Those Dogs are the animals and they’re my responsibility, not yours.”

He thought he knew her. He couldn’t be more wrong. She wasn’t like him—only out for himself. He’d read her file and thought that told him everything he needed to know. She might have come up hard, but her experiences had taught her first and foremost to value freedom and humanity. Humanity had nothing to do with being born human.

Keep your head down, Sammie. Don’t go looking for trouble.
Her father’s words. But she wasn’t her father. Maybe she relied too much on her gut as he always had. Maybe she’d suddenly developed his habit of letting attraction cloud her thinking. Maybe she was impulsive and took too many risks, but she would never look the other way and profit from the suffering of others. She would never be as cold as Drake.

“You’re right. I do know about hard work and I have work to do, Mr. Drake. You should go back to your cabin and get some rest.”

He scrubbed a hand across the back of his neck and gripped the edge of the hatch with the other as he paused on his way out. “Just do your job, Sam. Get us where we need to go and forget about the Dogs. They’re already dead, but you still have a chance to make something out of this mess. I know I acted like an ass earlier and I’m sorry. I don’t want us to be at odds. We could be a good team. Be smart. Stay out of things that don’t concern you and stay away from my Dogs.”

The Dove

Earth Alliance Beta Sector - Gollerra Border

2210.157

Two days.

Mercury paced in what space he had. Sam hadn’t returned for two days.

“You should conserve your energy.” Lo watched him from the closest corner of his cage.

Mercury stopped, wrapping his hands around the bars as he glared back. “You mean since she isn’t bringing us food anymore?” His muscles burned with tension.

Lo dipped his head, not meeting his eyes, and made a low whine of apology in acknowledgement of Mercury’s dominance.

Carn’s voice rumbled up, sounding strained. “She’s their pilot. I’m thinking a pilot is not property. Not owned. They won’t kill her.”

Mercury resisted the urge to throw his head back and howl. “They can do much harm without killing.”

“Yes, but she’ll live.” Pain and sorrow muted the verve that once filled Carn’s voice.

Mercury knew Carn was thinking of Hera. Lo’s cage between them made it difficult for them to see each other clearly, but Mercury knew his friend would hear the regret in his voice. “I should have found a way to keep you together.”

“The masters are too cautious, too well armed, too devious. There was nothing to be done.”

Mercury choked back his shame. At least Carn was on his feet again. “I’d give my life to save any one of you.”

Lo snarled. “It’s not for you to defend us. We stand together. The female clouds your thinking.”

He growled back instinctively. “She’s also mine to protect.”

Lo shook his head. “She brought us
all
food. You speak of her as if she’s your mate. As if she’s
your
responsibility. You take on too much.”

Mercury feared Lo was right. That he was unworthy to claim a mate of his own. That he was unworthy to lead them. But he couldn’t simply stop trying for them, not now when they needed him most. And his worry for Sam wasn’t something he could easily let go. “You know what price she might pay for aiding us. They can do worse things to a woman than kill.”

Carn spoke over their growls. “She’s clever. She knows what she risks. That’s why she hasn’t been back.”

Lo snorted. “She’s not one of us, Merc. Don’t forget that. Their females can be more devious than their males.”

The urge to snarl and snap at Lo’s accusations crawled up Mercury’s throat, but he knew something of the unbearable experiences that had made his brother so mistrustful of human females. He couldn’t judge his brother when he knew the man’s rage was fueled by bone-deep pain.