AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I hesitated, wishing desperately that I had another option. Any other option would do. Looking out to the sky, Tayla’s ship was already an indecipherable speck in the distance, growing smaller by the second. Down below, I heard guards taking to the streets, bellowing orders to secure the prisoners who remained.
Knowing that I had no choice, I placed my hand in his, reluctant but desperate to be away from this place. It was only then that I realized the other problem. This ship only had two seats, and one of them was currently occupied by the surly form of Torgus. He sat with arms and legs crossed, watching me with distrust as I tried to figure out how I was supposed to get in.
“Come on,” Malik said, patting his own lap with a devilish smile on his lips that made me hate him all the more. Or maybe that feeling rumbling around inside me was simply disgust with myself at having been drawn in by this mysterious man so easily. Despite this, I slid down against him, our bodies pressed much too tightly together in the confines of the pilot’s seat. I needed to get out of here one way or another, and if I had to sit in the lap of a strikingly sexy space warrior to do it, so be it. “Just try to keep your feet out of the way when I hit the brakes,” he said, his breath hot against the side of my face as he spoke, filling me with sensations that were completely at odds with the simmering irritation that singing in my veins.
“Let’s just get out of here,” I said, glaring back at Torgus who had stretched himself out with a satisfied look. Failing to find a better way to sit, I rested my head against Malik’s chest and told myself that this was only temporary. It would all be over soon.
6
MALIK
I did not haveto meet Torgus’s eyes to know what he was thinking. I could practically feel him staring daggers into my back, his disapproval filling the cramped cabin like a heavy fog. As soon as we were on solid ground, I was sure to get an earful from him. I knew what I was doing was foolish, but with her firm ass on my lap and her head tucked against my shoulder, I couldn’t care less as the wayward wisps of her curly hair tickled my jaw. If it weren’t for Torgus, I wouldn’t have been down there in the first place, and I never would have met this woman. How could he blame me for that?
Still, having her onboard presented more problems than just the lack of space and the inevitable complaints from my brother. There was also the matter of my primary mission and the question of who she was really working for. Brave or not, I had my doubts about her story. In all my time fighting the Sovann’ash, I’d never seen a crew made up entirely of women. I may have given her false hope by suggesting that we could eventually meet up with her friends, but I wasn’t stupid. I had more enemies than friends in this universe, and I knew there were bounties on my head. In a perfect world, the enemy of my enemy was a friend, but here in reality, I knew I could count on being stabbed in the back more often than not. If not by her, then perhaps by whoever was running her crew. There would be no meeting up with her friends until I was sure I could trust them, and it would take a lot more than a few verbal reassurances from her to get me there.
I flew in silence for a long time, glad to be away from the outpost and the security beacons. I scanned my radars continuously, expecting another round of drones or perhaps a couple of fighters to come after us. It was difficult to pilot my ship with the distraction of her body so rigid against mine. If she would just relax… but I suppose that was a lot to ask. Instead, I tried my best to work around her without jostling her back and forth.
In truth, I was spoiling for some kind of fight. The adrenaline of the near-impact and the rush of having Cosma’s body so close to mine was leaving me dizzy. I hadn’t felt this way in such a long time, and if I didn’t get it out of my system, I was going to make mistakes I couldn’t afford to make.
Several times I thought to ask Cosma about her friends, but I stopped myself. That was a conversation better had when we were not pressed so closely together, and especially not when she was still so suspicious of me. No matter what words fell out of that gorgeous mouth of hers, I couldn’t believe them. I couldn’t trust that she was telling me the truth. And when I pressed back, questioned her intentions, I knew she would grow irate with me. That was the cost of staying alive out here, on the edges of the Sovann'ash’s radar, skipping between the stars to stay one step ahead of them at all times. There would be no friendly conversations between us. We were both vying for answers that we couldn’t have.
I had never let myself get close to anyone, ever. The only person I trusted implicitly was Mia. Not even Torgus got a free pass in my book, a fact that rankled him endlessly, I was sure.
A soft sound made me look down, and I realized a second later that Cosma was asleep. She was snoring softly, her head tucked against the curve of my shoulder and neck, her hair tickling me as she breathed in and out and I let myself enjoy the feeling for a moment. I rested my chin against the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her, berries and something sweet, and I let it soothe something inside of me I didn’t have a name for.
“I see what you’re doing,” Torgus grumbled from the back, just low enough for me to hear without disturbing my sleeping pet. “You’re going to regret it.”
“Worry about yourself,” I snapped.
He snorted. “I am worrying about myself. That’s why I’m telling you this. If you go down this road, we’re both going to pay the price one day.”
“It’s not like I’m falling in love. You’re just jealous you have had nothing this sweet since Val,” I murmured, trying not to wake Cosma.
At that, he let out another menacing growl, and I knew I’d won. Valarae had been Torgus’s first love, and he’d fallen hard. But when the opportunity came to marry up and into a legitimate enterprise, she took it, leaving Tor behind without so much as a goodbye. It was a sad story, but I would not let it stop me from enjoying my vitality while I still had it. Besides, Cosma didn’t seem like the kind of woman who was looking to settle down. If she found her way into my bed before I took her back to her little friends, it was no business of Torgus’s or anyone else’s.
The rest of the flight was quiet and tense, save for the sounds Cosma made whenever she adjusted herself against me before settling back into her dreams. All the while, I tried to keep my mind occupied with other matters. Occasionally, I would slip and I would catch myself wondering what it would be like to have a woman like this, someone to roam the skies with, but I quashed those thoughts mercilessly. I had a reputation to uphold, and I had yet to meet a woman who was brave enough to join our outfit. We were the Vaclan Brotherhood, and we were not welcome in most parts of the universe. We were the outcasts, the unwanted. But we were here to stay, and we were going to keep fighting for our people to the very last breath. No outsider would ever understand what it meant to be a part of this. How could they? It wasn’t their land and their livelihoods that had been stolen from them. That was why so many of my brothers remained alone all their lives. Even those who fell in love rarely voiced it. It was dangerous to be loved by one of the Vaclan, which is why I would settle for a little entertaining and nothing more.
As we approached Vaclanheim, I nudged Cosma awake.
“Hm?” she said, looking around a little bewildered.
“We’re about to land. You’re going to have to hold on and watch yourself while I bring us in.”
She nodded, yawning as she pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around my neck. I tried not to enjoy the feeling too much, focusing all of my attention on the directives that were coming across my console. After all, I’d told her to hang on, and there wasn’t much to hang onto up here. She meant nothing by it. Of that, I was sure, even if it filled me with a new sense of yearning.
“Vaclanheim, this is brother one-eight-one-four. Requesting clearance for docking.”
“Cargo?”
“None.”
“Passengers?”
I hesitated. “Two.”
There was a brief hold, and I caught a worried look from Cosma.
“Bring it in.” I relaxed when the order came through, although I was sure this would not be an ordinary docking. If I had my guess, one of the Vaclan commanders was going to be waiting for me on deck, and I was going to have some explaining to do.
