Salvation

A Total-E-Bound Publication

www.total-e-bound.com

Salvation

ISBN #
978-0-85715-551-1

©Copyright Jambrea Jo Jones 2011

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright May 2011

Edited by Claire Siemaszkiewicz

Total-E-Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2011 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank,

Warning:
This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has been rated
Total-e-burning.

Alliance

SALVATION

Jambrea Jo Jones

Dedication

Joy—
You
rock. That is all.

Shannon
—Thank you for bantering back and forth with me on Ethan’s group. Just remember—Brandon is MINE.
Lol
.
You did win fair and square. Now give me more. Please. Um…I said please…is it done yet?
Heehee

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following
wordmark
mentioned in this work of fiction:

Spyderco
Dragonfly Knives:
Spyderco
Inc.

Band-Aid: Johnson & Johnson

Chapter One

“What the fuck?” Rock stumbled as the ship shuddered. He looked up as
Sela
ran onto the bridge. “Hold on to something. A ship just exploded in our path.” He focussed on steering the
Salvation
out of the flames but something caught his eye. “Se, there’s an emergency pod! See if you can find their frequency and hail them,” Rock said over his shoulder, fully expecting her to jump to it. She was efficient that way. He scanned the area to see if there were any other emergency crafts, but didn’t see any other pods in the aftermath of the explosion.

“I’m supposed to be on vacation. I didn’t sign up for this,” Se grumbled.

“You didn’t have to come, you know.” It came out more harshly than he’d intended, but they were in crisis mode right now.

“Rave wouldn’t have forgiven me if I’d let you go on a gun run on your own,” she said clearly,
then
he thought he heard her mumble, “Stupid libido.”

“I’ve been doing this solo for a while. I don’t need my hand held by Rave and your cousin.
Or you for that matter.
Shit. Someone’s shooting at the pod. You get a frequency yet?” Rock threw back at her.

“I’m going as fast as I can.”

“Go faster,” he snapped. He wasn’t irritated with her but he needed to get to the pilot of that pod. He’d apologise later.
Maybe.

“Damn it, Rock. If you don’t like my speed, do it yourself.”

“Stop arguing with me. I’d like to find out why my gun sale went south.” He didn’t understand her need to fight him at every turn. Most days it was a turn-on, but this wasn’t the time or the place for his cock to take charge.

“What are you talking about?” Se sounded peevish.

“That ship was my contact. Maybe whoever escaped in the pod has the answers I need.”

“Put more pressure on me, why don’t you?” Se said under her breath.

“Se!”
He was about to lose what little sanity he had left. Didn’t she know that?

 
“It isn’t the fate of the world. It’s
one
gun sale.” Se sighed, pushing her hair out of her face.

“Those guns were going to a planet being overrun with marauders. The inhabitants need to protect themselves or they’ll be enslaved. So, yeah, the fate of someone’s world could be at stake. We need that pod.” They were going to have to do something about the sexual tension between them soon because he couldn’t take the fighting anymore. He’d rather be fucking. And now wasn’t the time. Damn.

“Stop it with the bleeding heart stuff. I’ve got them,” Se mumbled almost to herself.

“I’m the bleeding heart?” That made him smile. He’d never been known for his sympathy.
Not that he wasn’t sympathetic,
but money was a bigger motivator.

Se laughed. “Just talk to the pod. You’re keyed in.”

And just like that, his sanity was back. They really did work well together.

“Emergency pod, this is the captain of the
Salvation
. Do you need assistance?”

There was no response. Fuck. That couldn’t be good.

“Are you sure this is right?” He looked over at Se.

 
“Yes. They probably don’t know if we are friend or foe. They did just come off an exploding ship and who knows who’s there or what shape they’re in.” Se shrugged.

“This is the captain of the
Salvation
. We will shelter you. Please acknowledge,” Rock tried again, realising that Se was correct—anyone could be in there and only a handful of people had known he was meeting up with the ship.

“How do you use this thing? Hello? Hello?” A masculine voice floated over the airwaves.

Rock bit back a shout of relief. “I hear you. Do you need us to bring you in?”

On screen, another shot hit the pod. Rock couldn’t look away—it was like a bad vid streaming in 3D, and he had front row seats.

“Rock, you need to get that ship in here or it’s going to fall apart.”
Se’s
worry coloured her voice.

“Emergency pod, we’ve got a lock on you. Don’t touch anything. We’re bringing you in.” Rock manipulated the controls and the pod slowly inched its way towards the
Salvation
.

Come on, come on.

It was taking forever.
Or seemed to be.
He needed to upgrade his fucking equipment.

Finally! Rock had the pod in his ship and not a moment too soon. If he’d waited another second the pod would have been gone—along with his answers. Who had escaped and what the hell was going on?

“I’m going to meet the pod. Get us the hell out of here.” He left the ship in
Se’s
capable hands and made his way to the loading dock. The ship lurched, and he stumbled but caught himself.

“Damn it, Se. Take it easy,” he yelled towards the bridge.

“Bite me,” she yelled back.

In her dreams.
In his too, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.
At least not yet.
But soon, damn it.
He was tired of jacking off when he had a perfectly lovely companion travelling with him.

 
The bay doors opened and Rock halted at the sight before him. The man who’d emerged from the pod stole his breath. The guy was taller than Rock and slim, with rusty red hair and bright blue eyes. Rock’s type times ten.

“Are you my saviour? You don’t have a gun hidden anywhere do you? I think I’ve had about enough of that for today, if you please.” The man clutched the frame of the pod, holding so tightly his knuckles were white. Rock noticed. He took in every detail of the striking man.

Even his voice was sexy. His cock liked
it, that
was for sure.

Se called over the com, “Rock, hold on tight. We have a tail. I need to warp it.”

Se’s
voice right after the stranger’s did something to Rock’s body that was unexpected, in the form of an instant hard-on. He’d thought he was hard before?
So not what he needed right now.

“You might want to walk this way before we hit warp, and grab one of these bars.” Rock motioned for the man to join him, hoping he didn’t see the tent in his pants. No need to scare the man—yet.

“Yes, about that…I don’t think—” The redhead crumpled to the floor.

“Shit.” Rock raced to the downed man. He knelt over him and gazed at the gorgeous form.
What the hell have I got myself into this time?

Rock pulled the slim body close to protect the stranger from the jolt of the jump. No sense in hurting the man more than he appeared to be already. Rock hoped it was mostly adrenaline that had made him pass out. Bracing himself against the floor, he prepared for the ship to shoot to its new destination.

“Did I die?”

The bluest eyes he had ever seen gazed into his. The red lashes fluttered with each blink. Rock cleared his throat and adjusted his position so the guy couldn’t feel his erection—it wasn’t going away any time soon.

Traitor.
His stupid cock needed to make up its mind. He wanted Se and he wasn’t sure she’d be on board with adding another guy to the mix. What was wrong with him? Fuck. He hadn’t even approached the woman yet.

“No. You’re not dead. You’re aboard the
Salvation
. We pulled up as your ship exploded. I’m Rockwell Loy.
The captain.
Are you hurt anywhere?” He had to make sure the guy wasn’t injured somewhere he couldn’t see, and getting his hands on that trim body would be a plus in his book.

The ship levelled out and Rock got up, giving the other man his hand to help him off the floor.

“No. No. I’m fine. I got away in time. I’m Zander—Dr Alexander
d’Ado
. Maybe I should sit back—”

“Let’s get you to sick bay. Do a scan.” Zander’s face had gone white. That couldn’t be good.

Before Rock finished his sentence, Zander had passed out again. Rock swept the smaller man up in his arms and headed out of the docking bay. The solid body was warm in his arms and somehow…right.

“Se, what’s our status?” he shouted towards the helm, not taking time for a com unit.

Focus on the job at hand, asshole. Weren’t you just lamenting the fact that you wouldn’t mess with Se? Now you want some stranger. I need to get laid.

God he was fucked up.

“All clear, Rock,” Se yelled back.

“Could you meet me in sick bay?”

“What’s wrong?”

Couldn’t the woman ever do anything without all the questions? “Just—” he counted to five “—get down here.”

“Aye aye, sir.
Whatever you say, sir.”

“Smartass,” he muttered under his breath.

They reached sick bay in no time at all. He lowered Zander onto the cot, glad to get away from the guy. Zander had felt too right in his arms, and smelt of cloves and something Rock couldn’t name, but which overwhelmed his senses.

“Whoa. Who is
that
?” Se entered the room, her gaze wandering over Zander’s body.

Rock looked away to take a moment to settle himself. He didn’t know why, but Se checking out Zander had his libido on high alert. Damn it. Se was too important for him to be lusting after someone else.
And now this, wanting them both.
Yep. He was well and truly fucked up.

“This is the guy from the escape pod. We need to do a scan. He passed out, twice. Where did you take us? Did you lose our tail?” he shot the questions out in rapid-fire succession to distract himself from his lust.

Se grabbed the hand scanner. “I did a warp and vector scan. No one else is out here. We don’t want to stay for too long though, to be safe.
Might want to do another warp so they can’t catch up if they did a trace on our signature.”

“What happened?” a confused voice said from the med cot.

Se and Rock both turned to look at the refugee.

“Don’t move, Zander. I don’t want you to pass out again and we need to do a scan. How do you feel?” Rock kept his voice calm in case Zander didn’t remember meeting him.

“Like I’ve been ploughed into by a space cruiser.
My head is aching.” Zander cradled his head in his hands as he tried to sit up.

“Did you hit it on anything?” Se approached Zander with the device.

“I don’t believe so, but it all happened so quickly. One minute I was on the ship with my equipment and the next, I heard a call for everyone to abandon ship. I didn’t even look back. I don’t have much experience piloting the pods, but it had an auto function. But then there were shots. After that, you pulled me in.” Zander pointed at Rock. “You aren’t involved are you? Should I worry about another attack? Well, you wouldn’t rightly tell me if you were the bad guy would you? Ouch!”

“Well—Zander is it? You hit your head on something. The scan is picking up a concussion. If you take it easy, you’ll be fine. And no, we aren’t the bad guys.”

“And just who are you, if you don’t mind my asking?” Zander still sounded sceptical.

“I’m
Sela
Sims.
Helping out with co-piloting.”
She gave a two-finger salute.

“Right.
So why were you two in the sector?”

“You sure do have a lot of questions. Maybe you should answer some of ours. Like why was that ship firing on you? What kind of trouble did you bring my way?” Rock raised a brow.

“Me! This has nothing to do with me. I was minding my own business, hopping a transport to Vega Delta to finish my research.”

The warning sirens blared. Not good. They’d found them.

“Fuck me!” Rock pounded a fist into the door. “If this isn’t about you, why did they follow? Damn it, Se. I thought you said you lost them.” Rock’s frustration was palpable.

“I did.” Exasperation filled her voice. “I also said they could have put a tracer on us. We were sitting there long enough. Don’t make this my fault.” Se pointed a finger at him.

“Check him and the pod for a tracking device. I’ll see about getting us out of here.”

Rock rushed to the bridge, pushing thoughts of Se and Zander out of his head. He had a ship to save and a libido to get under control.

* * * *

Zander examined his surroundings. How did he get into these situations? It was always something, as if he was accident-prone or something. But this one couldn’t be about him. He was a scientist working on a cure for an obscure disease that had hit Vega Delta. It wasn’t even a life-threatening illness. He did his research and stayed in his bubble of science.

“Sit tight and let me do a tracker scan. I need to recalibrate the equipment.” The woman waved the med wand at him and pushed a few buttons.

“There’s no way I have a tracker attached to my body.”

“I’ll believe the equipment.” She winked at him.

“Ma’am, I’m telling
yo
—”

“Oh, hell no.
Do
not
ma’am me. It’s
Sela
or Se. I am nobody’s ma’am.”