Born of Shadows (20 page)

Probers were small, electronic scanning devices that checked for living organisms and reported back to a search force. Desideria had no doubt that she and Caillen were the target of this one. If that thing picked up even the smallest trace of their presence, the Andarions would swarm all over them.

Move slowly,
Caillen mouthed to her.
Get against the wall.

She did exactly what he told her to. She focused on her heartbeats to keep from panicking. Any little sound might be detected…

Even her breathing.

Time stretched out like an arthritic snail before the prober finally pulled back.

She started to move, but Caillen motioned subtly for her not to.

Sure enough, another prober popped up from the ground and scanned for several minutes more. Only after it left did Caillen inch his way back to her. He stood between her and the door, shielding her. He was so close that she could feel his body heat.

“Are we safe?” she whispered in his ear.

“We’ll know in a few minutes.” His breath tickled the skin of her cheek and his warmth went a long way in soothing her ragged nerves.

They stood right beside each other, waiting. And she didn’t miss the fact that he was protecting her with his body. Though whether he did it out of habit or on purpose, she couldn’t tell. Yes, she could take care of herself, but she found his actions sweet and unexpected.

Most of all, she found them strangely endearing.

Caillen glanced down at Desideria to make sure she wasn’t panicking.

She definitely wasn’t. Her lips were parted while she stared past him, toward the entrance. But that wasn’t what held his interest. It was the deep cleft between her breasts. Her top was so tight, it pushed them up to the point it appeared that even the slightest breath would spill them out.

Sneeze, baby, sneeze.

Unfortunately, she didn’t. Damn. He’d like to have some good come to him after the freight load of crap that’d assaulted him today. Even if it did mean the Andarions would find them and he’d have to battle his way out.

Some things were just worth it.

And he had a gut feeling seeing her naked was definitely one of those things.

Just a tiny taste…

Desideria went rigid as she realized Caillen had his head practically buried in her hair. “Are you sniffing me?”

His warm, low laugh sent chills over her. “I prefer to say I’m admiring your scent, but yeah, I guess you could say I’m sniffing you and you smell really good.”

Normally that would creep her out. Instead, she was actually aroused by the gesture. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say she was aroused by his presence. Even dressed like some phantom creature, he was sexy. Only Caillen could pull off that look. And she had a strange curiosity about what his fangs would feel like grazing her skin.

As if he could hear her thoughts, he dipped his head closer to hers. But before he could make contact with her lips, a loud voice sounded outside.

Desideria listened intently. Nothing was remotely familiar to her. Not a single syllable. “What are they saying?” she whispered in Caillen’s ear.

He placed a gentle finger against her lips as he listened. That sensation sent a chill over her and made her wonder what it would have been like to kiss him.
I shouldn’t be attracted to him.

Yet she was…

He didn’t move until the voice had drifted out of her hearing range. When he spoke, he whispered low in her ear, raising even more chills along her body. “They’re calling in search animals that will be able to sense p the mirrors. We’ll have to get out of here.”

“And go where?”

“Wherever there’s something that can mask our scent.” He moved away from her to retrieve his backpack. “We’ll need a cover story should we cross paths with the natives. I’ll be using the alias Dancer Hauk. Call me Hauk around other people.”

She curled her lip at his choice of alias. What a stupid name. Surely that would get them caught faster than her appearance. “Dancer Hauk?”

He held his hands up in surrender. “Believe me, I know the name’s a freakfest. But he’s actually a real person and he’s Andarion. With any luck, they’ll know his name and not his face. If we’re really lucky, they’ll have heard about his fearsome reputation—which will definitely buy us some prestige.” He slung the pack over his shoulder. “If they know his face, well… we’ll deal with it. Let’s just hope we catch a break at some point today.”

Her jaw went slack at the way he moved through the darkness. Light of foot, with the fluid moves of a trained dancer, he picked the light stick up and extinguished it before sliding it into his pocket. It was obvious this was his natural habitat—hiding from enemies… not cruising on board a ship full of aristocrats.

In a few heartbeats, he eliminated all traces of their presence, then sprayed something she assumed would mask their scent from the animals. He crooked his finger for her to follow him. At the opening, he removed his mirrors, returned them to the pack and led her back into the woods. He sprayed more of his bottle’s contents, but she couldn’t detect anything at all coming out of it.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Aquibrade.”

He said that like she should know what he was talking about. It was gibberish to her. “And it does…?”

“It’s erackle pheromones.”

Her head was starting to ache from his unfamiliar vocabulary. “What’s an erackle?”

“One of the ugliest-looking animals you’ll ever meet. But they secrete a scent that if inhaled by another animal screws up their olfactory glands for days. One whiff and they won’t be able to find us.”

“Should we bathe in it?”

He gave her a charming grin. “We could, but if we happen upon an erackle, it would try to mate with us. Trust me, that would get ugly fast.”

Yeah, but that might not be a concern for them. “Do they have those here?”

“No idea.” He handed her the bottle. “If you’re willing to risk it, I’m willing to film it and make a lot of money from it online.”

She glared at him. “You’re not funny.”

“Not trying to be. Simply an opportunistic entrepreneur in the purest sense of the word.”

She scoffed at his light tone as she made sure to keep her voice to a whisper like him. “How many sisters did you say you have?”

“Three. Why?”

“Tell me how it is they let you live this long?”

He pointed to the scar on his head. “I assure you, there was no lack of trying to kill me. I’m just really resilient.”

She followed him over a fallen tree. “Apparently.”

He slid something into his ear as he led her through the thick overgrown weeds, deeper into the forest.

She gestured toward his ear. “What is that?”

“An amp for sound, so please don’t scream or shout. It’d take out my eardrum.”

Which would be bad. Last thing she needed was for him to go down since she couldn’t show her face on this planet without being imprisoned or eaten. That thought made her draw her cloak tighter as she rushed to keep up with his long strides. “Is that what you were trying to tell me with all the earlier hand gesturing?”

Holding back a low-hanging limb, he paused to let her pass in front of him. “You don’t know League sign language?”

“Never heard of it.”

He shook his head as he retook the lead. “It’s a hand language soldiers and assassins use to communicate with each other when they’re on missions.”

That explained why she’d never seen it before, but not how he knew it. “Were you in the League?”

He laughed out loud, then instantly lowered his voice. “No. I learned it so that I could tell what they were saying while trying to capture me.”

Now that was interesting. What kind of criminal was he? “What exactly did you do before your father found you?”

“I survived, Princess. Most days only by the skin of my eyeteeth.”

She opened her mouth to ask him to elaborate, but before she could, he pointed up. She followed the line to see the hovercraft coming in.

Why wouldn’t they give up?

But that wasn’t what concerned her. The fact that a blast of orange shot through the clouds and into the ship did. She watched in horror as the ship disintegrated and then rained down burning debris all around them.

Oh dear Lord. The assassin had found their crash site and was coming in for a rematch.

Caillen took her arm and led her toward a small cut-out growth in a large tree. He pressed himself against her as the area around them was salted liberally with fire. “Looks like our friend decided to join the party.”

Desideririmaced as a part of the bark cut into her back. “How offended do you think he or she would be if we rescinded the invitation?”

“Well since their home-warming gift for us was an exploding Andarion hovercraft, I’d say they’d be real upset. They’d probably want to hurt us.”

She rolled her eyes at his sarcasm. “Do you have any weapons in your pack?”

“Not a one.”

She was stunned by that. He’d been so prepared for everything else. What kind of lunatic wouldn’t have at least one weapon at hand?

He winked at her, then unzipped his jacket to show her an arsenal strapped to his body.

Now that amazed her, especially given the close proximity she’d had to his body over the last few hours. “How have I not felt those?”

“I’m used to wearing them. And it wouldn’t do much good if a frotteur or pickpocket could feel them on me.”

Yet another word she didn’t know. “Frotteur?”

“Someone who takes sexual pleasure from rubbing their body up against another.” He clicked his tongue at her. “Frottisse is the female version. Feel free to partake of it with me anytime you so choose. I promise you I won’t mind in the least.”

How could he even contemplate sex while they were being fired on? The man was completely insane. And still, she was impressed with him. “To have been raised on the streets, you have an amazing vocabulary.”

“I have my sister Tessa to thank. Unlike me and my other two sisters, she liked to insult people so that they didn’t realize she was being cruel. Hence Kasen’s favorite phrase, ‘I’m gonna break Tess on your ass and call you names you’ll have to look up in order to be offended.’ ”

She laughed in spite of the danger. “Your sisters sound… interesting.”

“That’s a polite way of saying they’re all effing nuts. But it’s okay. Sanity waved good-bye to me a long time ago too.”

The fighter flew back over them. The sound of the engine was so loud Caillen jerked the amp out of his ear. He sucked his breath in sharply.

So much for not being able to pick up ambient sounds.

Damn.

Desideria glared up at the fighter that opened fire on the ground again as if the pilot knew they were here. “You wouldn’t happen to have anything to shoot that down, would you?”

“I could try your shoe theory, but I doubt it would do anything more than land on our heads and give us a concussion. And I think we’ve both had enough head injuries for one day. What I carry isn’t quite that strong. However, I can poke out his eye should he come near us.”

“What is it with you and this eye-poking business?”

“Another thing I picked up from my sisters. They never fought fair, especially not Tess.” He held his hand up to midchest. “And she’s only this tall. Vicious little thing. Reminds me of you.”

“I think I’m insulted.”

“Don’t be. I admire strong women… most days.” He cursed as the fighter went over and dropped a smoke bomb on the ground. “Hold your breath.”

She did so without question while he pulled out two small masks from the pack and handed her one. Coughing, she covered her face. Still her eyes burned. “How do they know we’re here?”

“I don’t think they do. The pilot’s flying too wide a radius. Bastard’s just hoping to get lucky.” He made an adjustment on the GPS on his wrist. “We need to get out of here before he locates us.”

“How far do we have to go?”

Caillen coughed twice before he answered. “The nearest town’s a haul. But there are outlying burbs and he won’t be able to fly over them. Sooner or later another Andarion patrol is bound to get here and take him on.” He held his arm out so that she could see the satellite photos on his chronometer of the nearest town.

Lightly settled, the houses were rather advanced for a colony. “Are you sure about where we are?”

“Yeah. I think the town we’re looking at must be where the local governors and politicians live. Which is not a good thing if we get caught, but if we can get there and snag some sleep, everything should be all right come morning.”

Now he decided to turn optimistic? That was almost more frightening to her than the assassin bombing the forest around them. She pointed up at the ship as it zoomed past again. “What about our friend?”

“Once we hit town, he’ll have to land, and then he’ll have the same problem with the authorities that we will.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Me too. And if I am wrong… It’s all right. There’s only one assassin I think I might not be able to defeat and Nyk’s not here. The rest are just target practice.”

She rolled her eyes again at the ego in those words. “You are so arrogant.”

“Not really. I know I’m the best in a fight. It’s a fact. Plain and simple.”

Yeah, right. “I’m sure you’ve lost a few rounds.”

“Only when I wasn’t trying to win. I’ve never once lost a fight or a battle against an enemy when it counted. Ever.” With those words spoken, he stepped back from their cover as if daring the fighter to shoot him.

She watched in stunned silence while he tested their safety. Once he was sure the fighter couldn’t see him, he motioned for her to join him. She’d only taken four steps when she heard a new set of engines barrelown on them. Looking up, she realized more Andarion craft were moving in to pursue their “friend.”

Never had she seen a more welcome sight. But that caused Caillen to pick up his pace.

“We need to put as much distance between them and us as we can while they’re distracted.”

She couldn’t agree more.

The two of them ran for so long that she couldn’t even begin to keep up with how much distance they’d gone. Her lungs ached and her legs were starting to protest. Still Caillen ran with an endurance that was as frustrating as it was impressive.