“I suppose you’ll be needing a guard dog?” Mort sighed, clearly bored by the prospect.
“Are you volunteering?” I replied.
He shrugged, shifting back into his natural state. “Might as well. This looks like a decent place to guard from,” he said, moving over to a squishy, velvet armchair that faced the bathroom door. He sank down into the cushions, pooling his flesh across the armrests.
“Well, make sure you actually keep an eye on things. We don’t want him getting out and sounding an alarm,” I warned.
“This isn’t my first rodeo, sweet cheeks. I can guard with the best of them.”
Shaking my head, I wondered whether to follow Navan, or head to the cockpit to see what was going on with Bashrik. A sudden, startling whine made me freeze. It was a weird sound, like a cat yowling, but I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Had we triggered a sensor by coming in here? I’d watched Killick turn off the alarm system, but maybe there was a backup, and that sound was the whine of our time running out.
“What is that?” I muttered, stalking around the room to try to root it out.
“It’s coming from your pants,” Angie said, staring down at the pile of clothes she still held in her hands.
I walked over to her and removed the strange compass from the pocket of my pants, squeezing the sides so that the celestial map shot up in front of us. The same two green dots flashed in the center of the holograph, but another one had appeared on the map, moving toward the farthest edge of the image.
Angie and I exchanged a look of nervous excitement, and the two of us were soon running into the cockpit to show Bashrik.
“It’s another human!” I shrieked.
Angie nodded. “It has to be Lauren!”
“Then let’s go after her,” Bashrik said, noting the spot on the map and charting a course for the same location, his hands moving rapidly across the controls.
Navan and Ronad came back, holding a cluster of circular devices in their hands, a tangle of wires protruding from the back of each one. They stared from the celestial map to the controls, and back again.
“You found her?” Ronad asked.
“She’s on the map! We just need to chase after her before she disappears again,” I urged, looking to Bashrik. “We’re wasting time!”
Bashrik arched an eyebrow. “You got all the sensors?”
Navan nodded. “I’m pretty sure we got them all. We burnt out the circuits, but we should probably chuck them out of the airlock when we get into deep space.”
“Then let’s go get our girl back,” Bashrik said, as Angie looped her arms around his neck in gratitude. The engine pulsed into life, the vessel slowly lifting up and away from the docking bay.
“Cruiser Loligo, state your intent,” a voice crackled through the loudspeakers.
Bashrik pressed the comms button. “This is Killick Loligo, preparing to leave. Please advise.”
“You are clear to exit, Mr. Loligo. Please use the purple route upon departure. Docking clamps have been removed,” the voice confirmed. “We hope you’ve enjoyed your stay with us on Wander, and we hope to see you again.”
“Thank you for your generosity,” Bashrik responded, before turning off the comms. The ship jolted as the clamps came away, allowing the vessel to rise freely through the gap in the yard roof. Bashrik navigated it smoothly away from the wealthy side of the port-planet, pushing the throttle and shooting us out into the anonymity of space. Even I could tell this thing had more power than any of the vessels we’d previously used. The cruiser moved through the atmosphere like a hot knife through butter.
“You mind if I copilot?” Ronad asked, taking the seat beside Bashrik.
“Not at all. Feel free to take the helm,” he replied, as Angie sat herself down in his lap. His arms encircled her waist. I wished I could talk to her like I used to, but things were still awkward between us after the Xiphio incident, and neither of us had made the move to apologize.
Navan had disappeared, too, though I hadn’t heard him leave. It was weird for him to have gone without saying where he was headed, but I was too tired to give it much thought. All I wanted to do was find a room and curl up, forgetting everything for a short while. Wearily, I turned to head out of the cockpit, when Bashrik’s voice stopped me.
“Can you leave the compass? I might need it to keep a tail on Lauren,” he said.
Nodding, I handed the device over, noting the embarrassed flush in Angie’s cheeks as I did so. She couldn’t look me in the eyes, and I knew why. She would never have admitted it, but the fact that a third green dot had shown up meant one thing: I had been right to steal the compass. And even though she wouldn’t apologize for being wrong, it didn’t matter. It had given us back our hope, and that meant more than the rift between us.
“I’m going to hit the hay,” I announced.
“Sleep tight,” Ronad replied kindly.
“Yeah, goodnight, Riley. You’ve earned a rest,” Bashrik added. “This is all because of you.”
“I couldn’t have done any of it without your support,” I said quietly, knowing I’d be waiting a long time if I wanted a similar sentiment from Angie. “Wake me up if anything happens, okay?”
“Will do,” Bashrik chirped. “If you’re looking for Navan, I think he already claimed a room. Last door on the right.”
Thanking him, I left the cockpit, picking up my clothes and heading through the corridors toward the room he’d mentioned. I couldn’t wait to feel Navan’s arms around me, letting me know that everything was going to be okay.
I pushed open the door at the very end of the right-hand hallway, which opened into an expansive bedroom. My jaw dropped as I took in the lavish quarters. Truthfully, “bedroom” was an understatement—this place was more like an apartment, with a huge bed in the middle, surrounded by rippling streams and pools, and a kitchen on the far side. There was a fully stocked bar, too, and what looked like a heart-shaped jacuzzi, tucked away in the corner. A bathroom seemed to be across from me, as well, though steam rose out of the door, startling me. Had we missed some of the on-board staff, after all?
Tentatively, I approached, knocking lightly on the door. “Hello?”
Through the mist, Navan appeared, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. His muscles trickled with moisture, his mouth curved in a seductive smile. He slid his hands over my hips and pulled me to him. I could already feel his excitement through the fabric of his underwear, and his expression was ravenous.
“That dress,” he growled. His eyes had darkened, his fangs showing, as though he was somewhere between his usual self and his beast mode. With a groan rumbling in the back of his throat, he ran his hands through my hair, tilting my head to one side so he could kiss my neck. He grazed his teeth across my skin, sending a ripple of pleasure through every single nerve ending.
“You like it?” I murmured, closing my eyes, relishing the feel of him against me.
“It’s driving me crazy,” he whispered in my ear, before nipping gently at my earlobe. “I wanted to throw that merevin across the room when I saw him looking at you like that. Then again, who could resist looking at a goddess?”
“You know what’s better than me in this dress?” I looped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips to his, catching his mouth in mine, feeling his tongue begin to explore. My heart was pounding, every cell aching for his touch.
“What?” He trailed his fingertips down the front of my dress, before pressing me up against the wall, his hand continuing down from the lowest point of my neckline, eliciting a gasp from the back of my throat.
“Me without this dress,” I whispered into his ear, my body writhing against him. I had no idea what it was like with a human, and I never wanted to find out. Navan did things to me that were beyond belief, taking me close to what I imagined paradise felt like. We didn’t have any herbs, but I didn’t care.
He laughed huskily, looping his thumb into the slender strap of my dress and sliding it down o
ver my shoulder. His lips followed the action, tracing delicious kisses across my skin, sending a shiver of excitement up my spine.
Right now, only the two of us existed.
Chapter Nine
“So, what should we do with our fishy friend?” I asked, sitting down on a plush sofa in the observatory—a glass-paneled room at the far end of the left-hand corridor, which branched away from the main space. With the cruiser on autopilot, everyone was gathered to eat breakfast and discuss our plan of action. My spirits had been buoyed up after the night of love-making Navan and I had enjoyed. I felt on top of the freaking world, reveling in a sexy, warm glow.
After successfully stealing the ship from Wander the previous day, a positive atmosphere had settled across the group. We were still trailing the green dot, which continued to stay a short distance ahead on the celestial map. Where before we’d had nothing, now we had a faint hope of finding Lauren. Moreover, we were closer to getting Yorrek’s notebook back, as long as Stone hadn’t sold it yet.
“Can’t we find out where his home planet is and drop him off?” Angie suggested.
“Realistically, we don’t have time for that,” I said.
“I just feel bad for the guy,” Angie muttered. “Being so far from home, surrounded by strangers… You’ve got to understand how crappy that feels.”
“Of course I do!” I said, crossing my arms. “But we need a quicker solution. Why don’t we put him in the escape pod and release it to a nearby, populated planet? I’m sure he could pick up a ship, or at least a ride home. This thing has an escape pod, right?” I turned to Bashrik, who nodded.
“It’s got three.”
“Cool, so we put him in a pod and send it off to somewhere nice. No harm, no foul,” I said, satisfied.
Angie shook her head. “That’s beside the point. What if he can’t get back to his home planet? What if he ends up stranded wherever we drop him?”
“He’s got money. He’ll be absolutely fine!”
“You can’t guarantee that,” she insisted. “I don’t like screwing over innocent people like this.”
“We need to do whatever it takes to find Stone,” I said firmly.
“Whatever it takes?” Angie asked, her voice disbelieving. “Lauren wouldn’t have wanted us to steal and kidnap for her sake!”
“Look, maybe we should take a few minutes to think of another way to deal with the merevin,” Navan suggested tentatively. “Perhaps there’s a midway option that we’re missing.”
“The notebook is out there, too,” I retorted, not taking my gaze off Angie. “There’s more at stake here than just Lauren. We can’t get caught up in right and wrong when the whole freaking universe’s safety is at risk.”
“So you don’t care how many bystanders you mow over in the process?” Angie whispered, turning her gaze toward the glittering velvet of space. “All right then.”
I felt a flush rise to my cheeks. Everyone was staring at us—or, more specifically, me. Mort looked like he was fighting laughter.
“I’ll go talk to Killick,” I said, striding out, my boots thudding against the metal walkway. The last thing I needed was a bunch of awkward guys standing around, twiddling their thumbs, trying to come up with something neutral to say.
With Killick already on my mind, I walked to the main kitchen to make him something to eat. Undoubtedly, when he finally woke up, he’d be starving. Plus, there was a food-printing machine on board, which Navan had shown me how to use after our exertions last night, and I was dying to use it again. It was a big, expensive-looking beast of a machine that made anything the heart desired, catering to every species imaginable. Even better, it was voice-activated, understanding most languages.
“Merevin delicacy,” I said, not sure what Killick might like to eat. The machine hummed to life, a shower of bright lights firing up. Realizing I’d forgotten to put the nutritional molding block in the central container, I pulled one out of the cabinet below the machine and lifted the flap, putting the block in and pushing it right to the end, precisely the way Navan had shown me. I was just removing my fingers when the flap closed on them, a sharp edge cutting into my skin.
Cursing loudly, I yanked open the flap and pulled out my fingers, before lifting them to my lips and sucking away the beads of blood. It was just what I deserved. I mean, stealing the compass had worked out in the end, and we wouldn’t have this ship if I hadn’t done the con. But I couldn’t shake the guilt.
The food-printing machine was almost finished when I heard the kitchen door sliding open and someone entering behind me. I smiled, awaiting the delicious sensation of Navan slipping his arms around my waist, reassuring me that everything was going to be fine.
“Come suck this blood off my finger,” I murmured, giggling flirtatiously. My face morphed into a mask of horror as I turned to see Angie standing in the doorway.
“Not really my thing,” she said, flashing me an amused smile.
I swallowed hard, turning away from her. “Sorry, I thought you were Navan.”
“Just be glad it wasn’t one of the guys coming in here. Mort never would’ve let you live it down.”
She was being nice again, all of a sudden. “What’s up?” I asked.
“We took a vote and decided to kick Killick off in an escape pod, as soon as possible.”
“Oh.” I looked at her, surprised. “And you’re okay with that?”
A pained expression crossed her face. “No, but I get it. I shouldn’t be all up on my moral high horse when we don’t have many other options.” She sighed. “Normally, all this stuff wouldn’t faze me—tying up police officers and seducing dudes. But I just keep thinking, ‘What would Lauren say?’ You know?”
I nodded, my throat tight. “I know I’ve made some bad choices,” I said quietly. “I’ve been telling myself that the ends justify the means, but…”
“You always try to do the right thing, Riley,” Angie said, her eyes brimming with tears. “You’re a good person, and I’m sorry if I’ve made things harder—by blaming you, by throwing the compass…”
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry,” I said. “I’ve been a class-A bitch. You’re right that we should try to be kinder to people, just like Lauren would be.”
Angie closed the gap between us and threw her arms around me. I gripped her tight, listening to the sound of her sobbing in my ear. Tears were falling from my own eyes as we comforted one another.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Angie gasped, pulling away.
“She has to be,” I said, hiccupping. “She has to be, because the universe will never be right again if anything has happened to her.”
Chapter Ten
Picking up the plate of food that the printer had made, I stepped out of the kitchen and headed for the bathroom in which we’d locked Killick. The dish was pungent, smelling like rotting fish. It didn’t look much better, either. Still, it was supposed to be a delicacy of the merevins, so hopefully he’d like it.
All the rooms on the ship were extravagant, and the bathroom was no different. It had a huge tub about the size of a small swimming pool, and a jungle shower that gushed out water like an actual waterfall, complete with rocks, and a seat cut into the stone façade. The whole thing looked like a tropical rainforest, with plants and ponds. Killick being a merevin was probably why most of the rooms incorporated water in some way.
Mort was back in the cozy armchair outside the bathroom, snoring softly. His floppy skin had practically molded to the shape of the chair, his fleshy pouches draped over every available space. I rolled my eyes at him, before removing the wedge that kept the door shut and slipping inside.
“Some sentry you make,” I mumbled, casting a look back.
To my surprise, the merevin was awake, sitting on the edge of a full tub of water, kicking his feet to splash the surface. He turned as I approached, his eyes surrounded by a strange shade of purple that hadn’t been there before. He snuffled softly, making me realize that he’d been crying;
the purple around his eyes was the irritation from the tears. For the second time this morning, I felt a twist of guilt in my stomach.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, keeping my distance until I could gauge his reaction.
He turned away. “As if you care.”
“I do, Killick. I’m sorry about knocking you out. I didn’t know your kind had such sensitive nervous systems,” I said softly.
“Have you put out a ransom for my father to pay?” the merevin asked nervously, fresh tears tumbling from his eyes, dripping into the tub below. “He will do anything to have his son back. He will pay any amount.”
I shook my head. “I’m not sure that’s the kind of thing you should go around saying, but no, we haven’t asked for a ransom.”
“So, you’re just going to kill me, is that it? Is this where I meet my demise?” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. I could see he was scared. Perhaps this kind of thing had happened to him before.
“We’re not going to kill you,” I assured him.
“You’re going to cut off little pieces of me and send them to my father, one by one? Is that how you’re going to make him pay up? Has he refused?” The poor merevin was sounding more desperate by the second.
“No, no, you’re misunderstanding me,” I insisted. “We haven’t asked for a ransom. We just needed your ship for a little while.”
He looked at me like I’d grown a new head. “I don’t understand. What do you want then? Did you just do this to rob me blind?”
I handed him the plate of food, but he only stared at it as though I were trying to poison him. “I made this for you, with your machine. I thought you might be hungry.”
“What did you do to it?”
“Nothing, I promise,” I told him. “We don’t want to hurt you, and we don’t want anything from you. Well, that’s not exactly true. We want your ship, but that’s all.”
“Just my ship?” He took the plate of food from me and sniffed it cautiously, before taking a big bite.