An Apocalyptic Need (4 page)

“The reborn have us blocked here, captain.”

Something in the man’s voice had her turning her head, catching his gaze. His wise brown eyes held hers, narrowed between puffy lids and the wrinkles that were proof of lifelong experience. The navigator was curious about her new plaything. Cari knew it. She’d never before wasted time on frivolous things and had been an outspoken advocate for personal rights and freedom in a turbulent political climate.

But she couldn’t tell him why she’d clamped golden chains on Grimm Forbes. Mostly because she wasn’t sure why herself. Something about the man called to her…inspired her lust. And it disconcerted as well as intrigued her.

Fortunately the old navigator wouldn’t ask. At least not in front of witnesses.

Cari pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Okay, let’s travel through here,” she indicated an alley of open space between their two enemies. “We’ll do the slap and dodge and then hit this wormhole here.” She slid her fingertip along the chart to a black area unbroken by the silver blots of stars and distant planets. “If we’re lucky they’ll engage each other while we slip away.”

His thick lips curved upward. “I like it.” Admiration filled his gaze and he nodded. “A delightfully deceptive and savvy maneuver. You’re a natural strategist, captain.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Just like your daddy.”

Cari grinned. “Thanks, Ben.” She’d never known her dad, but she’d heard lots of colorful stories about his strategic prowess as a hunter. Benlocken had worked beside him until he got too old to keep up.

Cari’s parents were killed when she was very young and she’d been passed around from government facility to government facility for years. During those years, the old soldier had visited her often enough for her to begin calling him Uncle Ben. She’d always gotten the feeling he was making sure the mindless government drones at the orphanages were treating her right.

When Cari was seventeen and old enough to finally go out on her own, Benlocken had approached her with an offer she couldn’t refuse. They’d been working together ever since.

A snotty voice put the kibosh on the jolt of quick pleasure her old friend had given her. “So you’ve managed to find time between sexual encounters to run the ship?”

Cari’s smile died on her lips and she fought to keep her expression neutral. “Thank you, Navigator Spence.”

Her old friend inclined his head and, with one last sympathetic look, rolled up his charts and left.

She turned around to face her second in command, her fingers twitching to clench into fists. It was all she could do to keep a glare from her face. “Lieutenant Alcott, do you have a problem we need to discuss in private?”

The tall, impossibly good-looking man who was striding across the room gave her a mean smile. “I think we can cover it right here, captain. I just want to make sure your new…hobby…doesn’t interfere with your duties on the
Stellam
.”

Alcott turned a hostile blue gaze on Grimm, his perfect features tightening under a surprising rage. He slid a look over her vassal and then, his wide lips twisting with derision, dismissed him. “I’ll admit I’m surprised at your choice, Cari. The man’s nothing more than a stinking pirate.”

She smiled meanly. Obviously the snobby Lieutenant didn’t have an eye for quality. “My private life is not your concern, lieutenant. If you have a problem with how I’m running
my
ship, I’ll be happy to hear your grievance in my quarters.”

Alcott’s gaze darkened before sliding over her in an irritatingly possessive way. He took a step closer and lowered his head, speaking softly. “If it will get me a private moment with you in your quarters I’ll be happy to share a grievance.”

Movement behind Cari brought Alcott’s head up and returned a hostile spark to his eye. Warmth bathed her back and Grimm’s unique cedar and spice scent surrounded her. She didn’t need to turn around to know the man had moved closer.

His sexy voice rumbled at her back. “You might want to show the captain a little more respect.”

Alcott’s face darkened with rage as he reached toward the gun at his waist.

Cari stepped forward, her hand moving to her own weapon. “Need I remind you that it is illegal to harm another’s vassal?”

“It’s also illegal for a vassal to address its betters.”

“Not on my ship,” Cari told him. “Now, tell me your concerns and then return to your post. We’re about to travel into dangerous airspace and I need you to ready our defenses.”

Alcott yanked his wrist from her grip and, with a final glare at Grimm, stepped backward. “I’m not comfortable having this mercenary on the
Stellam
. Our orders were to execute him.”

Cari inclined her head. “Your objection has been noted. Is there anything else?”

His jaw tensed at her dismissal, his lips compressing. He poked a finger toward Grimm. “I’ll be watching you, vassal.”

Relief surged as her troublesome lieutenant stalked away. Despite the fact that he’d left the helm without taking his instructions on the coming maneuvers. Cari sat down at a monitor and started typing in defensive instructions to be sent to Alcott. He’d most likely ignore them as usual, but at least he’d know what she intended and it would be up to him to get it done however he saw fit.

She’d handle the evasive maneuvers.

“Why do you let him speak to you like that?”

Cari bristled at Grimm’s whispered reprimand. She stiffened as his soft breath slipped across the back of her neck. He was so close she could feel his impossible heat. “Mind your own business, vassal.”

His husky chuckle made her sexual core clench with interest. “I thought you wanted me to speak my mind.”

She frowned. “You thought wrong. And don’t use my own words against me.”

Her fingers stopped moving on the keyboard as he stilled behind her, his warm breath continuing to cloud her senses. She expected him to step away, to take offense, but surprisingly he moved closer. His hands appeared on either side of her, flat on the console. He dipped his head, pressing against her back.

Cari’s core clenched as fire ignited in her belly.

“If you’d prefer I won’t use words at all…” moist heat touched the arch of her ear and she sucked in a gasp. His mouth feathered along the outside of her ear and pulled the lobe inside, nibbling it gently.

Cari thought she might come on the spot.

Then he moved away, leaving her cold and frustrated. And all she could do was pretend to forget him in her work.

That wasn’t easily done. They’d started something moments earlier. Both of them. Something that would come back to bite them sooner rather than later.

Grimm had no idea who he’d picked a fight with. Cari cursed herself for letting it happen. It would endanger her mission and probably engage a battle she could ill afford.

~AN~

Audie left the Huntsman’s office, his mind spinning. When he’d been forced to turn Grimm Forbes in for crimes against the Authority, it had been the hardest thing he’d ever done. He considered Grimm a friend…especially since the man had put himself in danger to keep Yeira safe when the black witch had tried to kill her.

But Grimm had freely admitted his crimes and Audie had been forced to take action.

The situation had driven home, once again, just how honorable a man Grimm Forbes was. Which made it even harder for Audie to believe Grimm was working for the enemy. There had to be something else…something they were missing.

He walked across the courtyard of the Authority Headquarters, the wind whipping his shoulder-length black hair around his face. The moist breezes left behind a heavy wetness and he looked skyward, to the magic-induced storm clouds that kept the Sorceri’s headquarters buildings safe from airborne prying eyes.

They roiled and spun, thick and gray with unexpended power. At any moment the skies would open and send an electrically charged wash of rain downward, to ping against the ion dome protecting Headquarters.

In the distance, an energy-drenched ocean crashed against the rocky shoreline, sending water upward in a frothy spray. Its roar was a constant drone that Audie suspected one got used to if one spent enough time there. Audie had no intention of ever getting used to it.

The smell of water and fish permeated the water-locked buildings and the coldly grim façade turned Audie’s brooding thoughts to dark worry.

“Hail, hunter,” a deep voice called out.

Audie was pulled from his thoughts as an eight foot tall black man approached him. The last survivor of the once-thriving underwater city of Atlantis, the Ingress Sentinel had barely escaped as the walls of the great kingdom folded inward and sank into the sand at the bottom of the ocean. The event had left him prickly and not a little arrogant. The Sentinel made no secret of the fact he believed Atlantis’s inhabitants were the finest race to ever grace the twenty worlds. To him, the humanity that was left were little more than brainless animals.

There were times when Audie secretly wondered if he was right.

The sentinel fixed his silver-blue gaze on Audie as he approached. “What brings ye here?”

“I had business with the Huntsman.” Though the huge Atlantan’s gaze narrowed with curiosity, Audie didn’t elaborate. He would be doing Grimm no favors to spread word of his possible traitorous behavior among the Sorceri. Especially since Audie didn’t believe for a moment that it was true.

Dressed in the form-fitting, shimmery uniform of an Atlantan Special Guard, the Sentinel stood unnaturally straight, a lethal trident clutched in one enormous fist. He was a formidable warrior with or without the trident and Audie knew from experience that the Atlantan was a good man to have on his side in a battle.

But he had no need to know the details of Audie’s current mission. It was true, the bounty hunters of the Sorceri suspected there were traitors in their midst. However, so far it was only speculation. Audie was determined that
he
would not be the one to put truth to the suspicions.

“If you need help…”

Audie inclined his chin. “Thanks. I’ll let you know.”

He pushed past the Atlantan, moving toward the water, where pulling his guide magics to transport himself through time and space would be easier. By necessity, the Sorceri had dampening magics covering its buildings.

“Hunter.”

Audie stopped and turned back. “Yes?”

“Some have said that Grimm Forbes works against the Authority. That the reborn use him to undermine our work against the zombies.”

Audie frowned. “The reborn are not working against us. They are our allies.”

The Sentinel held Audie’s gaze, his wide, black face giving nothing of this thoughts away. “I just wanted you to know I was not one of those who believe this.”

To his surprise Audie felt relief. “That’s good.” Audie nodded. “I look forward to fighting beside you again, Sentinel.”

The Atlantan inclined his head.

Audie was fully cognizant of the Sentinel’s following gaze as he strode away from the magic barrier. He regretted keeping secrets from the others, but the secrets weren’t really his to share.

So, for the moment at least, Audie would keep his mouth shut and find his friend. Then they could put the rumors to rest. One way or the other.

~AN~

Cari paced the length of her quarters, her hands twisting nervously before her.

“Tell me what’s going on, captain. So I can help.”

She glanced toward her prisoner, standing with both hands held loosely at his sides, a foot from the bars of his comfortable prison. He’d been watching her all day, his sexy brown gaze sliding over her with the kind of heat that made it difficult for Cari to perform her duties. But he hadn’t only watched
her
. She suspected he missed nothing with that curious gaze. A fact that did little to assuage her doubts about him. “Nothing’s going on, vassal. Nothing that concerns you at least.”

He showed no emotion when she used the derogatory term, but she discerned a very slight tightening of his jaw.

“A long as you insist on keeping me like a dog on a leash it does concern me.”

A knock sounded on the door and it slid open. One of the
Stellam’s
guards carried a glass pitcher filled with her favorite, sweet wine inside and placed it on her desk, bowing shallowly before turning and walking out without speaking.

Grimm gripped the bars with both hands, leaning slightly forward. “What’s the story on your lieutenant? He obviously wants you in his bed.”

Cari shook her head. “He only wants to control me. He believes that is the easiest way.”

Her sexy prisoner favored her with a slow grin that made her knees knock together before she straightened them. “Then I will add stupid to the list of his bad traits. Only an idiot would believe you would allow yourself to be controlled that way.”

She turned away so he wouldn’t witness her pleasure at his words. “Alcott isn’t stupid at all. He’s just a little too sure of his own abilities.”

“That must make things difficult for you.”

She shrugged, refusing to let him weave a path into her heart. “I can handle him.” Cari poured herself a goblet of wine and sipped it, avoiding Grimm’s probing gaze.