Stealing the Dragon’s Heart by Kiersten Fay
10
Phase 1
“Last fucking place!” Aidan was still fuming as he guided Dragoon in the direction of the Phase One rendezvous point. “I don’t believe this. First she steals from me, then she ruins my chances to take the lead.” They’d missed all the excitement at the start. After finally managing to leave the hangar, they’d crossed a graveyard of battered ships. Apparently there had been some gruesome action at the start.
“We’ll catch up,” Zeek encouraged in an upbeat tone.
Asher sent Aidan a tight-lipped grimace, clearly not convinced. “What do you suggest we do with our little interlopers?”
Flipping on the small screen to the left of his console, Aidan checked the mess hall surveillance feed, where Lear and Priya were guarding the prisoners. Unfortunately, Dragoon wasn’t fitted with a brig. He never thought he’d need one.
Sitting on the bench on one side of the large communal table, the girls clasped their hands together, looking frightened and worried. As they should.
“We’ll leave them on Nazzu.” The first planetary stop marked on their map. It was a planet he’d never heard of, and very little was known about it.
According to Zeek, even the Phase Nine logs were vague on what they’d find when they arrived. For all they knew, Nazzu could be a land of peace and tranquility. Or it might be a bog of never-ending stench populated by man-eating fig bushes—and wouldn’t that be a fitting punishment? One thing was certain. No matter what the conditions, Nazzu was about to gain two new inhabitants.
They’d been required to start the race will all registered crewmembers, but leaving Onnika and Caryn behind at some later point wasn’t against the rules. Losing crew members was almost expected in Phase Nine.
The little thieves were immeasurably lucky that he wasn’t a cruel man. Who knew how many of the other racers would have been so lenient? Had the two of them tried to infiltrate another ship, they might have already been tossed into the cold vacuum of space by now.
He glanced back at the screen.
Onnika assessed Caryn’s neck for bruises and then affectionately tucked a lock of the girl’s hair behind her ear. Aidan took a steely breath. He would not let the tender action soften him. They could have targeted Dragoon specifically. Perhaps they were saboteurs, commissioned to destroy Aidan’s chances at a second win. They didn’t seem the type, but anyone was capable of anything. That was a hard lesson learned.
“They’re cute,” Zeek observed. “You sure we can’t keep them?”
Asher replied, “You are weak of mind, Z.”
“I’m weak of body,” Zeek corrected with a bawdy smile. “Not of mind.”
“They could be saboteurs,” Aidan reminded him.
“If so, they aren’t very good at it, are they?”
Zeek had a point. It made no sense for Onnika to first steal from him and then attempt to join his crew. She had to have known Aidan would recognize her instantly and that he’d be rightly pissed off.
Zeek mirrored his thoughts. “If they were here to sabotage us, why would they put themselves on our radar by stealing from Aidan? Seems like a dumb move to me.”
“Unless they thought her theft would have somehow kept us from taking off,” Asher reasoned. “It’s no secret we’ve been scrambling for parts, bartering and trading nearly up until the last moment.”
Zeek turned thoughtful. “So you think they realized their first attempt had failed and decided to changed tactics, trying to lie their way onto our crew? I don’t know. They would have had better success sneaking aboard unnoticed and damaging an integral part of the ship’s functions if sabotage was their goal. What do you think, Captain?”
Aidan checked the surveillance feed again. Onnika rubbed a spot on her elbow. It took him a moment to remember the angry bite of that elbow upon his temple. The girl was stronger than she looked. “Onnika had been genuinely surprised when I entered the mess hall. I was the last person she expected to see.” He could still picture the blood draining from her face and the shock in her wide, luminous eyes.
Zeek nodded. “Right. If they’d meant to target us, it stands to reason they’d have done some research on the crew beforehand.”
Asher remained silent, conceding the point.
Movement drew Aidan’s attention to the surveillance feed once more. Onnika was up and pacing the room. That filmy dress of hers fluttered with each sway of her hips, hugging her shapely legs. If they weren’t saboteurs, perhaps he should make them work off the chips they’d stolen before dumping them on Nazzu.
Onnika bent to check the condition of her ankle, a move that perfectly presented her backside toward the camera. Aidan’s body tightened. He gritted his teeth, his mood souring. It rankled that he still found her attractive, that he couldn’t look away from her.
Mentally scolding himself, he shut off the screen. “We’ll get more answers when we question them later. For now, I only want to focus on gaining ground. I’m not comfortable with being in last place. Are you?”
Both men grunted in agreement.
The large viewport that wrapped the front of the bridge doubled as a holo-screen. It went dark as Zeek brought up the live two-dimensional map that marked the location of Nazzu as well as any nearby crafts within range. “We’re coming up behind two ships now. Let’s show these bastards our backside.”
Onnika paced the mess hall, working off some of her anxiety. Her ankle and elbow were beginning to bruise from her unplanned attack on Aidan. The man’s head was harder than stone.
A volley of the crew’s individual wavering intent bounced around with no real resolve for Onnika to catch. She didn’t know any of them well enough to accurately discern from which of them her magic was gleaning the information, but one thing was clear: No one knew what to do with the unwanted newcomers, and that made her nervous.
The redheaded woman whose name she’d learned was Priya sat across the room with her boot perched on a metal storage unit, one elbow on her knee, and a pulsar gun draped in her hand. She followed Onnika with an assassin’s gaze, but Onnika felt certain Priya wouldn’t take aggressive action unless she made the first move.
“Nice gun,” Onnika chirped.
Priya inclined her head. “Thanks.”
Obviously, the gun was on display for intimidation purposes. It was working.
Caryn remained seated, doing her best to disappear into the bench. Except every now and again her eyes darted in Lear’s direction. He was leaning against the bulkhead next to the open hatch, arms crossed, gaze on the floor. He hadn’t said a word since Aidan gruffly informed him that he might have ruined their chances of winning Phase Nine. Onnika couldn’t tell for sure, but she suspected Lear was taking it hard…and Caryn was about to express her remorse.
Onnika quickly manned an offense. “Caryn, don’t forget he lied to us, too, about being the captain. You don’t have to feel bad.”
Lear’s head snapped up. “I dinna lie. I was the captain. Just not for very long. If they hadn’t announced it over the feed, informing Aidan of the change, I still would be.”
Priya lightly interjected. “You might have been captain on paper, but no one on this ship would have treated you as such. We’re here for Aidan. We couldn’t care less about you or your dragon clan.” Her tone held no real disdain; she sounded like she was merely stating a fact.
Lear just shrugged in concession. To Onnika, he said, “You are the ones who are liars. And thieves. Who knows what other dishonorable employment occupies your time?”
Onnika squared her shoulders. “Anything we do is not dishonorable if it means survival.”
Priya cocked her head. “And how does tricking my genius friend over here equal your survival?”
Onnika calculated how much to safely reveal. “People were after us. Dangerous people.”
Lear said coolly, “A thing to be expected when you steal from them.”
“We didn’t steal anything from them.” Too late, she realized that was technically another lie. She had taken something from Tag, something he wanted very badly. Something he’d kill to retrieve. But since the Tranzinite hadn’t actually belonged to him, could it really be considered stealing?
“Then why are they after you?” Priya asked, her fierce gaze hard.
Onnika recognized that Priya was trying to sniff out any falsehood in her story. She had to tread carefully. “A besotted male won’t take no for an answer.”
Priya’s eyes narrowed.
It wasn’t entirely a lie, Onnika reasoned. Tag had made little effort to hide his attraction to her.
Lear studied Caryn. “A man hunts you?”
Was it guilt over lying to Lear that averted her gaze, or did she feel Onnika was crossing the line where truth met deception? Caryn was a terrible liar and knew it. Even bending the truth made her fidget uncomfortably.
Onnika answered for her. “Yes, him and his friends. They’ve been following us for days.” Since she thought she had glimpsed Tag alive, as a precaution, she had to assume Ajay had survived the rockslide as well, along with Tag and Rice.
In turn, Priya openly assessed Caryn, then Onnika. “You nearly took down Aidan with that wicked roundhouse of yours. Not easy to catch a dragon off guard like that. With those moves, I’d be inclined to think you could handle three measly stalkers.”
That was why Tag had fitted her with those electro-cuffs. “These particular men aren’t measly. They are ruthless. Dangerous. We didn’t want to get on your ship to do any harm to you or your crew. We just needed an escape.”
At that, Caryn returned her gaze to Lear and nodded earnestly. “It’s true. I’m sorry for tricking you.”
Lear just tightened his lips into a thin line, his expression giving nothing away, but Onnika got the impression the tears swimming in Caryn’s eyes had affected him.
“Will you tell your captain what I’ve said?” Onnika beseeched them both. “Ask him if he’d permit us to stay aboard? Not for the whole race, just long enough for us to find a safe harbor. I was truthful about being able to fly a ship. And Caryn really can cook. We’ll help out wherever needed.”
Priya shared a look with Lear before speaking. “I’ll give him my opinion on the matter, and that’s all, but don’t get your hopes up. I’m sure he’s already decided what to do with you.”