An Apocalyptic Need (6 page)

She smiled up at him. “That’s why I have you. To keep me safe.”

He sighed and kissed her exquisitely soft lips, lingering a moment longer than he should because he couldn’t bear to break the contact. He knew he had to ask her about Grimm, but he also knew if he wasn’t very careful it would drive a splinter into their relationship. In matters of the alliance, he had to tread very cautiously so as not to appear to take sides against her.

When she broke the kiss he asked, “What will you do?”

Yeira turned back to the illuminated map. “I’ve told the captain of the
Beauty
to change course.” She slid a finger along the map, stopping at a large, black area with a jagged, uneven edge. “From her trajectory, I’m guessing the
Stellam
is heading for this wormhole. The captain of the fighter is very savvy, she’s known to use wormholes as escape routes. I’m placing the
Beauty
in her path to cut her off.”

Audie nodded. “Genius. That will also take the
Beauty
out of the path of the Authority’s ship.”

“Yes. That’s the plan. But I need to monitor carefully to make sure they don’t change course.”

He nodded. “Yeira…?”

“Hmm?” Her fingers flashed across the pads at the edge of the screen and the aspect of the map changed, zooming in for a tighter look at the red dot representing the
Stellam
.

Audie was shocked to see the size and shape of the spinning battle orb. It would be terrifying to see the rebel vessel approaching. He hoped the
Beauty
was up for the battle. “Have you heard from Grimm Forbes lately?”

She didn’t look up…didn’t respond. She was staring at the
Stellam
and dual lines of worry had appeared between her red-gold brows. Audie assumed she’d had the same though he’d had about the capabilities of her fighter against so formidable an enemy as the
Stellam
.

“Yeira, I have something I need to tell you.”

She tapped the flat keys again and the
Stellam
began to twirl slowly, a series of numbers appearing alongside the image. Yeira’s frown deepened.

Audie touched her arm. “Yeira, honey, Grimm was on the
Angel
. He escaped and the captain of the
Stellam
got him.”

She blinked, her fingers stilling on the pad, and turned to him. “You knew about the
Stellam
already?”

He expelled a breath before nodding. “The Huntsman told me…”

“And yet you came here pretending
not
to know?”

“I wasn’t pretending…”

She swore and stalked away from him, her steps quick and angry. “I can’t stand this feeling that you are dividing your loyalties between me and the Sorceri, Audie. It eats at me.” She turned back, her pretty face dark with rage. But the spark that lit her pretty blue gaze was more fear than anger. “Doubt flares daily and I constantly have to shove it away.”

He closed the distance between them. “I promise you I’m on your side, Yeira. But you asked me to monitor the Authority from the inside and that’s all I’ve done. The Huntsman told me right before I returned. I assured him you and Grimm were not working against us.”

“Us?” She peaked an elegant red-gold brow.

Anger spun through his gut, bringing pin-pricks of light flaring before his gaze. “Yes, Yeira, us. I am a Sorceri. I’m a loyal hunter. I never promised you that would change.”

Her gaze softened as if she realized she’d gone too far. She stepped closer and touched his arm. “I know. I’m sorry. I don’t want it to change. I’ve worked too hard to make you and the Huntsman understand that the reborn are on your side. And now this rogue mess…” She shook her head. “Every moment they exist puts the alliance and my people in danger.”

Audie took a deep breath, nodding. “It’s okay. I wasn’t aware that the Authority had sent the
Apprentice
into the area.” His gaze slipped back to the screen and the large, rotating battle orb. “If they attack, Grimm will be killed.”

“What the hell was Grimm doing on the
Angel
?”

“You didn’t assign him there?”

“No. The
Angel
was transporting weapons to a large nest of reborn on Delta Raze that’s been under recent attack.” She frowned. “I have no idea how the rogues even found the nest. I took great care to make sure no one except me and a very few of my lieutenants even knew they were there.”

“Did Captain Gladrial know they were there?”

She shook her head. “I told him we were delivering foodstuffs to the Sorceri.”

“What about Grimm? Did he know?”

Yeira’s gaze widened and she paled. Finally she nodded. “He was to get the weapons we needed on Nostralpha One and organize their delivery to the
Angel
.”

Audie’s gut twisted with dread. He didn’t like what he was thinking. Apparently neither did Yeira.

“You don’t really believe Grimm would turn against us?” Her shell-shocked expression told Audie she had her own doubts.

“I don’t know, glowbug. I don’t want to believe it. But the Huntsman said Grimm was the only survivor from the
Angel
. And apparently they brought him on board after the attack.”

“If he’s on board that orb now he’ll be killed,” Yeira said.

Audie’s hand strayed to the screen, his finger touching the rotating orb as his thoughts spun similarly through his mind. “And if he’s a traitor against you…against the reborn…he’ll deserve it.”

“But we don’t know for sure that he
is
a traitor, Kord.”

“No. We don’t.” His gaze flashed to hers. “Which is why we need to get him off that battle orb. So I can beat the truth out of him myself.”

Pulling up a map of the orb, Grimm located the landing bay and found the bank of lifts that would take him and Cari to it. He spent a moment perusing the center of the battle orb, wondering what the apparently empty space, colored green on the map, was used for. It was near enough to landing bay to be useful as a prison, Grimm decided. And its location at the center of the orb would make escape a complicated affair.

“Note to self,” he murmured. “Don’t get caught and thrown into those holding cells.”

Behind him, Cari sighed softly, her hand fluttering upward before falling again. He’d moved her from her pallet on the floor to the over-soft bed so he could grab her quickly if he needed to. Unfortunately, she showed no signs of waking anytime soon. Grimm took a moment to watch her sleep. Her lips pursed as if she was dreaming about something unpleasant and he wondered what it was.

A soft expulsion of air had Grimm shooting to his feet, Cari’s weapon in his hand. An older man stood just inside the door, his hands lifted to show he was unarmed.

“My name is Benlocken Spence, Cari’s friend, and I’m here to help.” When Grimm didn’t lower the gun, the man glanced at her, his careworn features folding into a worried frown. “Is she all right?”

Grimm’s pulse slowed as he recognized genuine concern on the other man’s face. “She’d be a lot better if someone hadn’t poisoned her.”

The older man shook his head, slowly dropping his hands. “It was merely a sleeping draught.”

Grimm’s finger tightened on the trigger. “You’re responsible?”

Spence shook his head, turning to peer through the partially open door. “We don’t have much time. You need to get her out of here. She’s in danger.”

Grimm’s temper flared. “I’m working on it.”

The old man nodded, his gaze sliding to the woman on the bed. “Good. Look son, I see the way you look at her, so I’m going to trust you to get her out of here. I’ll do what I can to slow them down.” He shook his head. “I told her to be careful. Alcott seems a rare idiot but he’s got no scruples and he didn’t like being overlooked for a woman.”

When Grimm held his ground, his expression still hostile, the other man grew agitated. “Look, I came to get her out of here, but now that I see you have that well in hand I’ll let you get to it. There’s a portal in the arboretum. I’ll stay on the
Stellam
and try to slow things down until Cari finds a way to stop Alcott.”

Grimm finally lowered the weapon. “Where’s Alcott?”

“He’s on his way. The bastard plans to put her in a cage on the prison level…make an example of her to ensure nobody else gets the idea of trying to stop him.”

Grimm frowned. “Stop him from what?”

“We don’t have time to get into that right now!” He peered through the door again and then opened it just enough to slip through. Glancing one last time at Grimm, the man whispered, “Hurry!” And then disappeared through the door.

Grimm didn’t waste time speculating about Spence. His appearance didn’t change what Grimm had to do. He punched the emergency command he’d programmed into Cari’s computer.

Warning horns blared throughout the ship. After checking that the weapons he’d gathered up were still safely tucked into the various spots he’d placed them, Grimm hurried over to gather up Cari. He threw her over his shoulder, grimacing at her soft grunt when she landed harder than he’d planned. “Sorry, captain.”

Grimm hurried to the door and opened it a crack so he could check the hallway before emerging with his sweet-smelling burden.

As he’d hoped, the fire alarm he’d set for the exact opposite side of the huge orb had pulled all of the guards from the hallway.

He knew it wouldn’t take long for them to discover that it was a false alarm. And only a moment longer to contemplate why it had gone off.

Forget the portal, Grimm had no idea where the arboretum was. He hoped to be climbing into an escape pod before the guards figured out they’d been duped and came looking for them.

He started down the hallway at a fast jog. Cari’s head bounced against his back and her feet flopped dangerously close to his favorite body part. Grimm wrapped an arm more tightly around her calves to protect himself.

When Grimm reached the end of the hallway he turned left, heading toward the lifts that traveled along the outside of the orb. They were freight lifts and he figured they had the best chance of being empty at that time of night.

Halfway down the corridor, he heard voices and forced himself to halt. Letting Cari slip down his body, he pressed her against the wall and tipped her delicate chin upward. Fastening his lips over hers just as two women, dressed in the garb of cleaning servants, turned the corner and stopped with a surprised gasp.

Grimm lifted his head from Cari’s delectable lips and gave the women a heavy lidded look. “Move along. My mistress likes her privacy.” Taking a chance as the younger of the two women turned pink with embarrassment, Grimm went on. “Unless you’d like to join us in a bit of fun…my mistress likes girls too.”

As if playing along with his ruse, Cari moaned softly and wrapped her arms around him, her soft belly pressed against his raging erection.

Grimm barely kept from checking to see if she was awake.

He lifted a questioning eyebrow at the women and the older, plainer maid glared back, grabbing her friend’s hand and dragging her past with quick, angry strides.

The pretty young maid turned to stare at him as she was dragged down the hall, her cranberry colored lips turning upward in a shy smile.

Grimm winked at her.

“Are you going to explain to me why you’re mauling me in the hallway?”

Grimm jumped, giving a less than manly bark of surprise. “Oh. You’re awake.”

Cari’s eyes were still slightly glazed and, when Grimm stepped back she stumbled forward as if her legs weren’t working. He grabbed her before she could fall and started her walking again. “I’ll explain later. The short version is that you were drugged and someone was sent to your quarters to kill me and imprison you.”

Cari jerked her arm from his grip and stopped, wavering dangerously on her feet. “Kill? Whatever for?”

Male voices drifted toward them from the opposite end of the hallway and Grimm made a quick decision. “Sorry, but we really need to keep moving.” He grabbed her behind the thighs and shifted her over his shoulder.

Cari landed with a soft exclamation of surprise and then started to wriggle as he took off running.

“Stop that right now, woman! Or we’re going to end up on the floor, ripe for capture when those guards find us in about thirty seconds.”

She gave a frustrated scream and started to pound on his back. Her flailing feet connected with his quickly shriveling erection and Grimm sucked air in a pain-filled gasp. “Dammit, captain!” Before he considered what he was doing, he’d smacked her hard on her pert little bottom. “Stop fighting me. I’m trying to save your life.”

“You’re saving your own life, pirate. Put me down right now or I’ll start shrieking.”

“There!”

Cari’s head came up when she heard the guards. “Help me, please. My vassal is trying to escape.”

Grimm swore and started running again. He hit the end of the hall and slowed just enough to take the corner as a sizzling jolt of energy slammed into the wall beside them.

Cari yelped but he didn’t have time to stop. The bank of freight elevators loomed ahead of them, the massive metal door open.