Terri balked as one of the males drew up beside her. Krono snarled and the male promptly shot the dorashnal, dropping him to the floor. A scream tore from her throat, and her mate whipped around, but stilled when the male set his plasma pistol at the side of her head.
“Do not do anything stupid,” Egbor snorted. “The animal is currently stunned so that it can be safely caged. I would rather not kill until I am required to make my point. It is a messy business… and besides, the animal can be sold for a considerable amount of credits. Bring her here, Irgnar.”
The growl grew more vicious, which prompted Egbor to smile down at him. “Do not worry. I will not be touching your mate, not unless I have to. This is far more effective of an arrangement. You do what you are told, and your mate suffers no harm.”
“Do not come between an Argurma and what is his,” Veral warned.
“Oh, I know. If it were not for the fact that I am in need of a skilled salvager, I would have chosen an easier target. But as it happens, I require your particular skillset.”
“This was a trap,” Terri whispered in horror.
Egbor turned toward her, his expression curious as he yanked back her hood. His brows raised, a red flush streaking through his scales.
“Well, I see why you hide her. Terrible scarring from a fire was a good ploy. So exotic. There are of course worse fates that death for a specimen such as this. I could sell her or give her over to my crew. There are all kinds of possibilities that you have within your power to avoid. And yes, little female, it was a trap. One that we have employed many times and has served us well. But hearing of a great treasure to be found on theEvandra… well…” He left the words hanging as he shrugged with a hard smile.
Cheerfully, he wagged his pistol toward the door. “I do believe it is time to dock with my ship. Your proximity alerts should be detecting its presence—” An alarm trilled, and his smile widened. “Now.”
With a dark glare, Veral rose to his feet and allowed himself to be led to the flight deck with Terri hauled between the two lackeys at the rear. Any attempt to twist away was met with a tightening, painful grip on her arms until she stopped. They half-dragged her through the corridor after her mate, her feet barely able to keep up with their long strides.
Mentally, she cursed the men holding her, relishing the thought of when Veral would tear them apart. The thought withered and died when she entered the flight deck and got a look at what exactly they were facing. Terri’s eyes widened at the enormous gray ship that filled the viewing screen. It had to be crewed by hundreds.
Her mouth went dry. They were so fucked.
5
Vibrissae rattling, Veral stalked through the flight deck, the three Blaithari trailing close behind him, holding his mate captive.Pirates!His mandibles clicked with self-disgust. The traveling noble disguise had been a clever ploy and was executed convincingly. He never would have guessed that they were anything other than what they said, their sickening, privileged behavior the one thing that successfully persuaded him to avoid their company. Not even on the vids at any time had they broken character. It had been flawless.
Still, he should have suspected something—anything.
There had been no cues that he picked up on. Instead, he had been enraged at their presence and offended by their presumption. He had even pressed his engines as hard as he dared, despite his words to Egbor, with the goal of arriving at Janilik earlier than planned.
He had been right, although for entirely different reasons. He should have thrown them out of the airlock.
At the nudge of the weapon firmly at his back, Veral stiffened and cast a concerned glance at the males crowding close to him. Terri’s face was pale with fear, but when she met his eyes, he could see the spark of anger in their amber depths. Her eyes lifted away from him and returned to the viewing screen, and her lips thinned.
He wanted to tell her not to look at it and assure her that he would get them to safety. His desire warred with the practical side of him that sneered at the sentiment and demanded to know just how and when he was planning on doing so. The pirate ship filling the viewing screen carried a large crew to successfully pilot it. He could kill Egbor, but if he did, the other males would kill Terri before he had the opportunity to reach her.
Even if he managed to save her, the ship’s systems alerted him to the fact that the pirate vessel was locked on to them. He had no choice but to bide his time and wait for the most opportune moment to strike.
Egbor waved his blaster lazily toward the control panel, belying the sharp focus of his gaze as he grinned. “Begin docking procedures, Argurma.”
With a clicking growl, Veral approached the display to manually to put in the codes. The male obviously did not realize that Argurma warriors had the ability to sync to their vessels. Veral did not need to touch the control panel to begin the sequence, but he would not enlighten the male otherwise. That ignorance worked to his benefit. For once, he wished that he was less scrupulous, like his cousin Kaylar, who entertained himself with creating virus codes to infect enemy ships.
He hated to involve his cousin. No doubt the male would have heard of the bounty and could be tempted to turn Veral in to claim it. That possibility was not something he could concern himself with that at that time. As much as he hated it, he needed Kaylar’s help to keep Terri safe. That the Blaithari pirates knew nothing of Argurma implants assured him that at very least he could get a message out on their private family frequency. His cousin would have the means to disable the pirate ship. All Veral needed to do was stall the pirates and wait.
“Perhaps Argurma are as intelligent as everyone says. Cold logic, rather than passionately trying to rip your female away. Very good. Now upload the schematics into my comm uplink.” With one hand pointing his blaster still, he stepped over to the uplink port and attached his comm with a sharp jerk of his hand.
Veral suppressed an agitated growl as his ship’s systems established the link. Egbor’s tech felt invasive and filthy to him. An unwanted intruder. Stealing a quick glance at his mate’s face, her expression twisted with anger. Despite the flare of fear in her eyes, he maintained control over his reaction. Instead, he met Egbor’s eyes and, with a flick of his finger on the control, sent the schematics outlining the ship’s resting place over to the pirate. The male grunted in satisfaction, the hum of the engines as the salvager ship drew into the cavernous mouth of the pirate ship the only other sound.
He was uncomfortably aware of Terri’s hard, nervous exhales as the darkness engulfed them. They were dragged into a docking area that was pitch dark when the hatch closed. Once it snapped shut, so many lights shot on that it blinded him. At Terri’s cry, he looked over at her, concern rising within him as she screwed her face up, her eyes clenched shut. The pain and disorientation were intentional. Veral closed his inner lid, filtering out the worst of the light until, as predicted, it dimmed to a more comfortable level. Only then did he lift his inner lid to glower at his surroundings.
From the viewing screen, he could see a number of pirates from the less savory dregs of space milling around. None of them were anywhere near as well dressed as Egbor. In fact, many of them wore tattered, ill-fitting clothes that might have once been fine before being soiled with blood, food, and sweat. Igwin males with long jointed limbs prowled, large heads swiveling and mouths stretching in wide grins as they paced like beasts waiting to be fed.
While there were many Igwins, they were not as numerous as the Blaithari and the Turogo, a vile, squat race that lived in their primitive swamps. Pirates recruited among them, promising them treasures, taking advantage of the males’ drive to collect gems and gold with which to line their muddy hollows in hope of attracting mates. What they lacked in intelligence they made up for in thick, muscular bodies and venomous teeth and claws. Even their long tails could loop around another being to squeeze the life out of them.
Veral growled and attempted to place his body directly between them and his mate as they were forced to disembark into the belly of the pirate ship. It did little good as Egbor made certain to keep him separated from his mate. Veral’s vibrissae rattled in a warning hiss as he snarled and clicked his mandibles in clear threat at any male who so much as looked his mate’s direction. A threat was all it amounted to, and the males knew it, but it did give some among them pause.
Egbor opened his arms wide, a satisfied smile on his face as he addressed the crew. “Miscreants, look at what your own captain has secured for the benefit of all of us: a way to find the resting place ofEvandra.”