Hunter's Claim: The Alliance Book 1 (12 page)

“Where is my husband?” Jesse asked, taking a
step closer.

Jag’s eyes flashed with fury. He should have
refused to bring these damn alien females aboard his warship. If it
wasn’t for the fact that Hunter had claimed this one as his
Amate
and her sisters were his family, he would have. He did
not need this type of disobedience on-board.

“Not that it will do you any good but we
lost contact with him and the two warriors with him over a week
ago. There was heavy fighting in an outer province. We believe they
were captured after they defended several wounded members of the
ground force that were being evacuated,” Jag snapped. “Is there
anything else you would like to know before I throw your ass in
detention until they are recovered.”

Jesse’s face relaxed a little. He had said
they were captured, not killed. She could handle that. She could
live knowing Hunter was still alive.

“Just one thing,” Jesse said. “Do you know
where they are being held?”

Jag’s eyes glanced at the screen up on his
desk. Jesse glanced at it and realized it was a map of the city.
Her eyes moved back to his before she smiled at him.

“Thank you,” she said. “That is all I needed
to know.”

“Good, because your ass is going to be
warming one of the detention cells in two minutes,” Jag bit
out.

“No,” Jesse said as she waved the knife at
him. “In less than thirty seconds, you are going to be dreaming on
the floor.”

“What the fuck…” Jag’s eyes widened as
Jordan stepped up quietly behind him and pressed the injector into
his neck. “You…” His eyes widened as his knees gave out under him
and he fell face first into the floor.

“Ouch,” Taylor said, poking her head in the
door. “That is going to leave a knot. Did you get the information
you wanted?”

“Yeah,” Jesse said as she drew in a shaky
breath. “We need to get off this ship before he wakes up. If he was
pissed before, he is going to be livid when he wakes. Are you sure
you want to do this? It is going to be dangerous and I… I think it
would be better if you two stayed here.”

Jordan was already shaking her head. “We’ve
already been over this, Jesse. We make our own decisions for now
on. We know how dangerous it is. We’ve lived dangerous,” she said
as she moved over to the screen and started typing in commands. “If
we do this together we have a chance of finding Hunter, Dagger, and
Saber.”

Taylor grinned. “Besides, we warned them
we’d come get them if they didn’t come back,” she reminded
Jesse.

Jesse watched as Jordan’s fingers flew over
the tablet in her hand. Her sister had always been good with
computers but she had been spending extra time learning the
programming on board the ship. It had been Taylor’s idea to go
after the guys. Jesse shook her head.

“What’s wrong?” Jordan asked.

“How did I ever get so lucky to have two
such wonderful sisters?” Jesse asked in a husky voice filled with
emotion.

“I think we are the lucky ones,” Taylor said
coming up and wrapping her arms around Jesse’s waist. “Now, are we
going to go kick some ass or not? I have an old fuddy-duddy to
rescue.”

Jesse snorted as she gave Taylor a quick hug
back. “He’s going to strangle you if you keep calling him
that.”

“Yeah, but he has to catch me first,” Taylor
said cheekily before looking at the unconscious captain of the
Star Raider
. “Do you think he might be nicer when he wakes
if we cover him up and put a pillow under his head?”

“It couldn’t hurt, squirt,” Jesse chuckled.
“Just hurry.”

“On it,” Taylor said.

Jesse blinked when the crate she was in
opened and light poured in. She and Jordan had hidden in two supply
crates while Taylor had slipped into one of the racks up high. They
figured she was smaller and more nimble then they were and could
open the crates to let them out.

“We’ve got to hurry,” Taylor said looking
over her shoulder at the open platform. “They are unloading and
returning for more supplies.”

Jesse bit back a groan as she rolled out of
the container. Jordan was rubbing her hip. The crates had been
filled with boxes of supplies and the hard edges didn’t make for a
comfortable journey, especially as they went through the rough
atmosphere.

“Come on,” Taylor said anxiously. “They are
really moving things fast.”

“Let’s go,” Jesse nodded. “I’ll go
first.”

Jesse peeked around the edge of the
transport they were on. Warriors were all shouting and moving
rapidly. Explosions could be heard in the distance. Jesse had a
sense of déjà vu. She shook it off and jumped from the back of the
transport, waving to Jordan and Taylor.

Glancing around, Jesse picked a dark alley
that ran along the area where they had landed. With a nod, she took
off running as fast as she could. A startled shout behind her
showed that they had been seen.

Jesse heard Jordan’s screams coming from
behind her. She turned in time to see one of the Trivator warriors
wrapping his arms around her. Jordan was fighting to break free but
the commotion had attracted additional attention. Jesse felt eyes
swivel to where she and Taylor were standing.

“Go,” Taylor said, pressing the backpack she
had into Jesse’s hands. “Find Hunter and bring him home.”

“Taylor,” Jesse started to say.

“I’ll lead them away from you, Jesse,”
Taylor said with a determined smile. “You’ll have to do this
alone.”

“Thank you,” Jesse whispered as Taylor ran
out into the open waving her arms.

“Hey, slow pokes!” Taylor yelled as she ran
back to help Jordan.

Jesse turned and disappeared into the dark
alley. The years of running and navigating debris quickly came back
to her. So did the need to move like a ghost. She slid between some
slabs of fallen stone, becoming one with the shadows. She would
wait until dark. She lay silently and closed her eyes as she
focused on her breathing as the sounds of light footsteps ran past
her hiding place.

Jesse concentrated on the items that she had
with her to help keep her calm. She had a couple of knives
including the one that had belonged to her dad, several cylinders
of spray that would hide her scent, water, food, the tablet with
the map of city with possible sites where Hunter and the others
might be held and some medical supplies. She also had Taylor’s bag
now. She wasn’t sure what was in it but if she knew her little
sister, it was probably something useful.

Now,
she thought as another explosion
shook the ground under her,
now comes the hard part.

*.*.*

Jordan winced as the bonds holding her hands
behind her back tightened. Her eyes moved to where Taylor was
sitting. Her little sister looked very young and very scared as the
commander of the
Star Raider
paced back and forth in front
of them. Furious didn’t quite express how he was feeling.

“I should...,” he started to say glancing
first at Jordan then at Taylor. A low frustrated growl rumbled
through the room before he drew in a deep breath. “Where is the
other female?” He asked instead, looking at the two warriors
standing on each side of the two females.

“She escaped into the city. We haven’t
located her yet,” one of the warriors replied.

Jag turned to look at Jordan. “You not only
endangered your lives with this stupid little stunt, you’ve
endangered the lives of my warriors,” he bit out harshly.

“I’m sorry,” Jordan started to say quietly.
“We didn’t mean...” She stopped speaking when the huge warrior in
front of her waved his hand, cutting her off.

“I don’t care what you mean or didn’t mean,”
he snarled out. “You jeopardized a mission. You endangered lives
through your recklessness and you attacked a commanding officer.
All those offenses are punishable by prison or death.”

“Then do it,” Taylor said suddenly.

“What?” Jag said, turning to stare in shock
at the tiny alien female who barely stood to his chest.

“I said do it,” Taylor whispered before her
voice grew louder. “Because if we got the chance to do it again, we
would. Do you think we didn’t know we could get killed? Do you
think we don’t know what it is like to be hunted or to have bombs
exploding around us or people trying to kill us all the time? Do
you think we don’t know what it is like to have someone promise to
come back but they don’t?”

“Taylor,” Jordan exclaimed in concern.
“Don’t...”

Taylor turned to Jordan. Tears poured down
her pale cheeks and she began to shake. She shook her head at
Jordan. She couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“No, Jordan. It’s the truth. We would do it
again and again and again until we brought them home,” Taylor
cried. She turned back to look at Jag. “I was eleven years old when
your people came to my world. I was in middle school. All I could
think about was doing gymnastics and how I was going to get out of
doing my homework until you came,” she whispered. “In one day, we
lost our dad, our home and everything else we knew. In one day,
your people took everything I knew away.”

“Taylor, baby, don’t,” Jordan begged.

“Don’t what? Tell them what it is like to go
days without food? What it is like to not be able to sleep because
you are afraid someone is going to sneak up out of the dark and
kill you, or worse? Do you think I didn’t know what you and Jesse
did? How you would take turns giving me your food or go without so
I could sleep or at least not be afraid to? Don’t tell them about
what those men did to you?”

“Taylor!” Jordan hissed in pain. “Stop.”

Taylor’s face crumpled and she impatiently
wiped at it. “We promised them, Jordan. We promised them that we
wouldn’t leave them behind. We promised them that we could come
after them. They are our family, Jordan, and I’m tired of losing my
family. I’m tired of them promising to come home and they never
do,” Taylor sobbed. “I’m tired of being scared. I want Hunter and
Dagger and... and Saber to come home and I want to feel safe
again.”

Jag nodded to one of the warriors to unlock
Jordan’s hands so she could go to her younger sister who was
silently sobbing. He watched as Jordan pulled the younger girl into
her arms and rocked her back and forth, trying to soothe her with
soft words of encouragement. Seeing them together, he realized just
how young both of them were and how much pain was etched into their
eyes. It had never concerned him before the effect of their going
to new worlds. They went because it was what was ordered. Now, he
questioned the orders.

Was there a better way?
He
wondered.

“Take them to their quarters and make sure
they stay there,” he ordered the two men standing back near the
door. “Find their sister,” he added, glancing at Jordan who was
watching him. “Get Thunder and his team on finding Hunter, Dagger
and Saber. I want them brought back.”

“Thank you,” Jordan said softly.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Jag said roughly.
“While we know the general region where they were last reported, it
is still a lot of ground to cover.”

Jordan nodded. There was nothing else to
say. The commander had already turned his back on them in
dismissal. She wound her arm around a now quiet Taylor and followed
their guards out. She could only hope that Jesse was safe and
having better luck.

Jesse crawled over another section of fallen
stone. She paused to listen before she glanced upward. She might be
able to see a little more from up high.

She had been following several strange
creatures for the past hour. This was the third day she had been on
the planet. The first day had been terrifying. She had to hide
numerous times as both Trivator warriors and the strange
red-skinned creatures that made up this world danced around each
other.

She discovered that most of the residents of
the city were thankful for the Trivator’s intervention. The little
she had overheard and understood, thanks to the translator that was
implanted in her ear, gave her a clearer picture of what was going
on.

A group of miners not from this planet had
come to work in one of the mines. It would appear they found a
cache of valuable gems and decided they wanted to take control of
it. When the local residents resisted, they hired a group of
mercenaries to come in and take over the local government. They
discovered word had already been sent to the council of the
Alliance asking for assistance so they had set up a trap to kill
whoever came to help the local inhabitants.

Jesse had a lucky break when she had caught
a glimpse of two creatures that she suspected were part of the
mercenary group. They had hidden across from her when one of the
Trivator battle transports flew over. She was about to climb out of
her hiding place when a sixth sense told her to wait a few extra
seconds. They had darted out of the alley across from her and run
by her without ever seeing her.

Jesse reached up and began climbing the
uneven wall to the top of one of the low buildings that made up the
city. She pulled herself up and over the wall, rolling onto her
knees. She was about to stand when a shiver of warning swept over
her. Not thinking, she rolled onto her side and aimed the pistol
she had found in the backpack Taylor had shoved into her hands at
the dark figure standing over her.

“Jesse!” The dark voice hissed in stunned
surprise. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Jesse’s hand dropped and she rolled to her
feet in one fluid motion. Not stopping, she rushed the figure and
threw her arms around the stunned male’s neck. Thick arms wound
around her shaking body and held her close for several long
seconds.

“Where is he?” Jesse asked in a low husky
voice. “Saber, where’s Hunter?”

*.*.*