Catalyst (6 page)

“Whoever lived here is long gone.” I stepped near so he could hear me, before moving closer to the water. “I don’t suppose those packs had any water testers in them?”

We both spun when loud noises came from the forest behind us. The lizard creatures halted at the edge of the trees, pacing, watching us. “There are so many of them, they have no reason not to rush us,” Bastian said.

“Unless they don’t like the water. Maybe that’s why whoever used to live here built their homes around it.”

“Then we’re staying by the water.”

Nodding, I kept my gaze on what looked like five sets of red eyes peering at us from the trees. “There are doors back there, but it’s going to be a long trek around this lake to get to them.” Thirst was already a problem for me. Between the run, the adrenaline rush and the leftover repercussions from gas inhalation, my throat felt like something had scratched it raw. “Did you say there are water tablets in the bags?”

Bastian knelt, opened one of the packs and began rummaging through it. “Just food packs and a few first aid supplies. Oh, a tiny med scanner.” He tucked his hair behind his ear. “They obviously don’t want us to die here.”

“But why drop us here? The planet seems deserted.”

“This part of it anyway. Maybe they dropped us in the wrong place.”

“If they knew about those creatures, everywhere is the wrong place—so I’m not so sure we weren’t meant to be left as dinner.”

“With weapons, food and a med scanner?”

He was so young. I’d forgotten there for a while. After staying in some of the worst sectors in the known universes, I wasn’t so innocent. “There are people who get off on being cruel. Set us up with a false sense of security and bam. They could have us on vidscreens right now, enjoying the show.”

“I didn’t get the sense the one in charge was deliberately cruel. His friend either. Now Juniper…”

Sighing, I knelt to look in the other pack for water tablets. “Yeah, I honestly didn’t either. Though a ‘good’ space pirate is a pretty funny concept. Trust me, I’ve met some bad ones—including one I’d still like to get my hands on.” I pulled out bunched-up clothes. “Watch to make sure those things don’t run at us. I’m going to check the lining.”

They hadn’t packed any water tablets. That meant they either planned for us to die of thirst or the water here was drinkable. I crept closer and placed my palms on the damp sand a few inches up from the water. Grimacing, I noticed the hand I’d used to stab that creature was dark with drying blood. The water trapped in the sand didn’t burn my fingers—not that it meant anything, but I crept closer and stuck the tip of one finger into it. Cool liquid washed away some of the blood. I raised my finger and stared at it, watching for blisters or a rash. “Pretty sure we can bathe in this,” I murmured after a few minutes passed without changes to my skin.

“Hope so, because look.”

I followed his pointing finger, my eyes going wide as I saw the mass of black clouds moving closer to us. “Shit! Come on!” I grabbed one bag, stuffed the clothes back in, and threw the other to Bastian who caught it before he nodded toward the jungle.

The creatures were looking at the clouds too, and every hair on my body stood because it seemed like they were following what we did—like they weren’t dumb animals, but sentient creatures, smart.

Maybe they were the reason there were no aliens here, when it was obvious from the structures there once were. A shiver racked my frame even as the temperature suddenly spiked by a good ten degrees. Sweat instantly layered my skin. “Something tells me we don’t want to be in this rain.”

We took off running again, but I knew we wouldn’t make it around the lake and into one of those doorways in time. “We have to brave the trees.” Humidity, so thick I could taste it, thickened the air.

The rain began.

Warm. It was uncomfortably warm. Drops came hard and fast and they pelted our clothes like small jabs. I was glad for the thick, long sleeves because the drops stung when they hit the bare skin on my hands and face. I spotted a small stand of trees a few yards ahead of us and grabbed Bastian to pull him under the canopy of leaves with me. We both bent, breathing hard, eyeing the jungle a few yards to our right.

“I don’t think they’ll come out in the rain.”

“They had thick hides, so I don’t see a reason for them not to.”

“For all we know, their hides can’t handle it. Who knows? But I can see stumps between these trees and that forest, so I’m pretty sure someone cut a path and left these trees here for a reason.”

A few seconds later, we couldn’t see anything outside of our cocoon of trees. Glancing up, I noticed a manmade tarp lashed to the tree branches with thick cords. “I think this was put here for cover,” I yelled. The rain came in massive sheets that obscured everything, the noise deafening. Sweat built on my skin so hard and fast, nausea sent me to my knees. Bastian immediately knelt beside me.

I looked at him, saw that red flushed his neck and cheeks. My weather shirt felt like it was smothering me and I realized his must be doing the same thing. I reached for the metal connector at his neck and quickly began unfastening the row of them down his chest. He took over and I turned to my own shirt. I unhooked the ropy belt around my waist and dropped it to the sand. The baggy pants I wore sagged. Within seconds we were both naked. I breathed a sigh of relief even though it was still unbearably warm under these trees. Steam rose from the ground as the hot rain hit it.

“What a miserable fucking place,” Bastian yelled as he stretched flat.

I reclined beside him, careful not to touch him. I couldn’t imagine body heat on top of this. I hoped storms were fast here.

They weren’t.

At least this one wasn’t. Hours passed and all Bastian and I could do was lie still and sweat. Exhaustion hit me at some point, but I was too uncomfortable to sleep. The heat drugged me until I lay in a state of misery. I rolled my head at one point to find Bastian in the same state, only he watched me. I offered a tremulous smile before turning away.

When the rain abruptly stopped, my ears rang for a full thirty seconds before I could sit up. The sand below us was soaked and it caked the back of my body, crawling into places I really didn’t want sand. Groaning, I shook my hands to dislodge what I could. “We’ll have to rinse off in that lake—clothes, too.”

He nodded and snatched his clothes off the ground. Clumps of sand fell from them as he walked to the edge of the lake. A more welcome kind of warmth filled my gut at the sight of his long, stunning body from the back. Nice, lean muscles rippled in his thighs. Fine auburn hair looked soft on his legs. The long, luxurious hair on his head was darker from the sweat and humidity and it stuck to his back, ending just above the most incredibly round and firm-looking ass. He turned and must have read the complete lust I was feeling on my face because a sexy smile stretched his lips.

I was too tired for anything fun, though.

Exhaustion weighted down every muscle in my body as I grimaced and decided to skip the rinse. I wasn’t walking around naked until I knew where we were and why we were here. I brushed off as much sand as I could, stumbled while pulling on my pants, and sucked in a startled breath to find Bastian had come back. I must have zoned out. He caught my arm, holding me up with a strong, steady grip. Staring up at him, I took in the dark color of his sweat-soaked hair as it stuck to his face, neck and chest. Even shiny and bedraggled, the kid had a beauty that stole my breath. He looked back, intensity narrowing his eyes until I felt the answering response in my lower body.

He was getting under my skin.

Bastian grinned and began pulling wet strands of hair off my face. “This planet sucks.” He knelt and rummaged in one of the satchels. “There must be something we can tie our hair up with in here.”

I chuckled. “You think the space pirates sent along hair clips?”

“Some kind of small rope would work.”

“Let’s just find whoever wanted Jarana.” My shoulders slumped. “And maybe a safer place to rinse off and sleep.” My vision blurred and I swayed.

Bastian was instantly on his feet, staring down at me with concern. “Let’s reverse that. Sleep, then find the bad guys.”

I could only nod, though my gut was telling me there was just one bad guy.

He hefted both satchels and put a protective hand on my arm as we left the trees. It didn’t even bother me, I was glad for the support because I was pretty sure I’d never been this tired in my life.

“There’s bound to be some kind of safe place set up away from the trees and those creatures.” He tugged me closer, leaned down. “Someone is watching us. Can you feel it?”

“Yes.” I shivered.

“You’re cold?”

I shook my head slowly. “No, I don’t feel well. I’ve never done well with knock-out gas and it’s just so hot. Let’s sit.” My legs picked that moment to give out and quicker than I could take another breath Bastian lifted me into his arms. “You can’t carry me and the bags.”

“It’s not that far and I want us away from the forest. Just relax. You don’t weigh that much.” His voice grew louder the closer we got to the roaring waterfall.

“Sure I do—I’m all muscle.”

He had to lean close to hear me. “Trust me, you aren’t all muscle. You have the most wonderful soft places…”

His voice drifted off and he continued walking. When he stopped, I lifted my head and followed his gaze. If I’d been standing, the world would have dropped out from under my feet.

Jackson Canfield, leaning against the side of a massive opening in the stone wall. I flashed back to the day after my eighteenth birthday, when he’d leaned against another wall. Heart racing, I gripped Bastian’s arms so tightly he looked down at me, genuine alarm filling his expression.

“Vala!” His yell could barely be heard over the waterfall—even in front of my face—but the tightening of his arms made me look up. He lifted an eyebrow and I could only shake my head. Didn’t have it in me to yell over the noise.

Suddenly feeling weak, I closed my eyes and leaned my head on Bastian’s chest. He shrugged off the satchels and ran, still carrying me.

Ran toward Jacks.

Jacks had tried to take me when we reached the entrance by the waterfall, but Bastian wouldn’t let go. It would have shocked me if he’d handed me over to a stranger, even when it was obvious from my expression he was no stranger to me. Bastian held me close as we followed Jacks past the doorway and behind the waterfall. Suns, it was loud. Bastian tried to carefully pick his way over wet stone, and I wiggled until he was forced to let me stand. But he wrapped one arm around me.

It grew darker and the roar of the waterfall made my headache worse. We reached a point where it looked like we’d be stepping into a black abyss and I stopped. Jacks turned and held out his hand, waited patiently for me to take it.

I didn’t want to.

Bastian, his arm still wrapped around my ribs, nudged me, so I took the hand. Jacks tightened his fingers and stared at our entwined hands with a sad expression before he tugged me into the dark. With the pounding of my head, the noise and the pitch-black, I was glad for Bastian’s tight, strong hold on me.

Luckily, it didn’t take long to get to another shadowy area. At this point, my nausea was taking most of my attention. I let go of Jacks’ hand and the second we passed under the waterfall into another stone doorway, I sagged against Bastian, who immediately swung me up into his arms again. This time I didn’t complain. Not that he could have heard me. We followed Jacks through a maze of narrow stone passages that were hopefully too small for those lizard creatures. As we walked, the roar of the waterfall faded but my ears felt hollow and achy—even the sound of boots on the hard floor made me grit my teeth.

“Sometimes, it takes time to adjust to the humidity on this planet, but it’s worse when the rains come. We shouldn’t have another for at least two weeks.” Jacks’ voice was too close.

I opened my eyes wide to try and make him out in the near darkness, and gave up when a wave of dizziness hit me again.

“Don’t worry, Vala, you’ll feel better as soon as you have water and rest.”

“You know her?” Bastian asked, cradling me closer.

“Unfortunately.” I muttered the word into Bastian’s neck. Bastian was breathing hard. He was just as exhausted from the fight, the run and the rainstorm. “Hey,” I said softly. “You can put me down now. I can walk.”

He merely tightened his embrace. “You were really pale.”

“It’s not much farther,” Jacks said. “You can put her on my bed.”

I snorted. “I’m not going anywhere near your bed.”

His tone was even more subdued when he finally spoke. “You don’t have a choice. I’m not set up for guests.”

I lifted my head. “Where did you plan to put Jarana, because she certainly wouldn’t go anywhere near your bed either.”

“I didn’t plan to sleep with the Tracker. I planned to lock her up and stop her. Her little foray into my business set off alarms I didn’t need. She very nearly ruined something I’ve had planned for years.”

I lifted my head. “You planned to lock her up?”

Bastian laughed. “He’s obviously never met Jarana.”

“I can’t afford to have her mess things up. Besides, I wanted to know who hired her. Guess I have my answer on that one.” Jacks pushed open a huge wooden door. “Christ, my brother is an idiot. What were you doing on that supply station anyway? Last I heard, you were zipping all over the galaxies.”