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In the aftermath of another round of incredibly hot sex, I find my mind suitably cleared for the task of planning what the hell to do next.
I have a plan to avoid capture. There’s a part of local space which is avoided by all interstellar traffic because there’s a near constant magnetic storm that rages across light years. Smugglers are the only vessels who dare travel through it, and even then most of the time they’ll do anything to avoid it.
The intense fields should block any leaking signals from the nanobots inside me using my internal energy to constantly tell on me. It will scramble a lot of the ship’s systems, probably. It will be uncomfortable. It will be dangerous. But it will provide respite from the constant chase that I have been suffering since the diner.
“SURRENDER, HUMAN FUGITIVE!”
I am napping when red and blue lights start flashing through the universe, and a frustratingly invasive voice comes over the ship’s systems.
I wake to jarring hues intruding upon my retinas as the Sheriff’s numahn vessel slides in front of me and attempts to put a tractor beam on the shuttle. Not for the first time, I give thanks for the fact that I stole a scythkin shuttle. This thing can’t be tractored. Taking one of these things is basically impossible. In spite of that, I am immediately furious with the kind of anger that can only ever arise from a deep-seated fear.
Jumping out of bed and running for the controls, I curse the question that is absolutely burning its way through my brain.
“How the fuck did he find me?”
Every step of the way so far, I have been found. There were reasons for that, but this time I am running quiet through an unscopable part of space. Radar doesn’t work here on account of the magnetic eddies. I should be undetectable here, nanobots, nanotags, or not.
“How did he find me, Raz?” I turn to the spy who is standing next to me, shirtless and sexy and suddenly very suspicious.
Raz gives a subtle shrug. I don’t buy it. I don’t let it show, but I am pretty fucking sure this asshole not only fucked me, but fucked me over. It makes sense, now that I think about it. Sheriff showed up at the Owned Mates asteroid and Raz kept well out of his way. I bought the nanobot reason then, but there’s no nanobot excuse now. If it was about the nanobots, I’d be absolutely swimming in alien owners. But the ship’s systems aren’t picking up on any other vessels.
“Time to give up, little lady…”
Sheriff’s drawl comes over the comms. I really need to work out how to turn that off so random alien males can’t talk to me whenever they feel the urge.
“Surrender,” Sheriff says. “There’s no way out of this.”
I let out an incredulous laugh.
“We’re in deep, uncharted, unstable space. There’s nothing but ways out of this.”
I take the controls and deploy a barrage of fire in Sheriff’s direction. I am in a scythkin vessel. This thing is designed to be two things: fast and brutal. Several of the shots land true, giving Sheriff something to worry about instead of me for a moment.
“Raz?”
“Yes?” He’s followed me, and now he turns to me with a deliberately blank expression. He is trying to school his features into making me think he is innocent in all of this, but there’s literally no other explanation for the Sheriff’s presence here. While I was asleep, this blue bastard was calling my location into the law.
“Get the hell off my ship.”
“I don’t see how I’m going to be able to do that,” he laughs. There’s a smugness about him now. I used to think it was a kind of confidence, but now realize it was nothing more than arrogance. He thinks he is smarter than I am. Maybe he is. Maybe he seduced me into being stupid. Maybe his mate connection made me the kind of dumb that gets girls of any intellectual capacity into serious trouble. It doesn’t matter. I can guarantee that I am more ruthless than he is. At the end of the day, that is what matters.
I reach for the same weapon I used on the alien in the station, and Raz’s golden eyes narrow, slightly catlike. Does he suspect what I am about to do to him? He should. He should know better than to cross me after what he has seen.
“You’re not going to shoot me, are you? After everything we’ve experienced together? I’ve claimed your body. I’ve made you mine, I’ve…”
“You’re working for him, aren’t you.”
It’s not a question. I’m not expecting him to answer. If he did answer, it would be a lie. I’ve already put two and two together. Every time Raz shows up, Sheriff shows up shortly thereafter. He’s stolen me away from Emrys, and Atlas, and Kronos, but he’s always ever so passive when Sheriff is around. This fucker is working for my worst enemy, and the employee of my enemy is my enemy.
I waggle the weapon at him. I’m not going to shoot him. I don’t want to make that much of a mess in the ship, plus I don’t want to accidentally blow a hole in the side of my own vessel. Nobody in their right mind would use this kind of weapon inside a ship in space. But he doesn’t know that I am in my right mind. I’m sure I don’t look like it.
“Get in the airlock, Raz.”
“No.” He refuses, but I’m not giving him a goddamn choice.
I take a step toward him, ushering him off the bridge. He steps back, no doubt with the image of the guy on the outlaw station in his mind, but he’s not moving fast enough. He keeps hesitating, stalling for time, and that is pissing me off. I can hear Sheriff issuing threats from the bridge comms. I’m sure he heard me threaten Raz too. Good. I want him to hear all of this. I raise my voice so it carries to Sheriff. These two really thought they had me. They picked me off from any protector or ally, and they were going to bring me in and kill me. That makes what I am about to do eminently reasonable.
“Get in the fucking airlock, or I’m going to pick the limb I delete with this gun. If you don’t do what I say, I will shoot your arms off, and then your legs off, and then I will roll your torso into the airlock. This weapon cauterizes where it hits, so you’ll probably stay conscious the whole time.”
