Death Defying (Dark Desires) (16 page)

“I wanted to ask you a favor,” he said.

Daisy looked at him, her emerald eyes wary. At least she hadn’t been won over—yet. “What sort of favor?” she asked, her tone suspicious.

“Janey has sorted out some training programs for me. I need to brush up on a few skills. I’m way behind most of you, and if we get into a fight, I don’t want to let you all down.”

Tannis gave up the pretense of eating, put down her spoon, and listened openly. What was he doing? She glanced around the table and caught Rico’s gaze. He grinned at her, and she turned her attention back to Callum and Daisy. Daisy was twirling a strand of long green hair around her finger as she listened.

“So how can I help?” she asked.

“One of the programs works better with two. I wondered whether you could spare a little time to work with me.”

Daisy’s eyes brightened until they sparkled with green fire. “Of course. I’d love to.”

Tannis rose slowly to her feet. “I’ll see everyone later,” she said to the room in general. “We have a meeting in thirty minutes.”

She didn’t wait for anyone to answer, just pushed her chair away from the table, and strode from the room.

She paused outside the door.

“What’s it like to fly?” Daisy asked and now her voice was tinged with hero-worship.

“You want me to show you?” Callum replied. “There’s probably enough room in the docking bay.”

At that point, Tannis decided she’d heard enough. The thing was, Callum wasn’t flirting. He was just being…nice. Why did that make her feel as though there was something not quite right with the world?

Chapter Thirteen

Tannis was sitting alone in the meeting room, brooding, when Rico turned up. He kicked out the chair opposite and sat.

“What’s going on with Callum?” she asked.

“You think something’s going on?”

“Hell yeah. And who gave him the gun?”

“I did. I didn’t like the idea of him being unarmed with Starke on board. He’s promised not to kill anyone.” He grinned. “At least not on purpose.”

“Well, that’s a relief. So why’s he being so nice?”

“That’s down to me as well. I suggested that if he wants a chance of getting into your pants, it might be a good idea to get the crew on his side.”

Tannis glared. “He’s never going to get into my pants. And I don’t want him to try. I hate him.” But she could hear the lack of conviction in her voice. “So it’s all an act? The nice-guy, humble thing?”

“Who knows? I doubt even he does anymore. But does it matter? He’s doing a good job. And it’s not so much that he’s humble—no one actually believes that—but they appreciate he’s trying. It’s obviously not easy for him.”

“No, I bet it’s not.”

The others started coming in then and she put the thoughts aside—she needed to concentrate. Well, except for the thought about Callum getting into her pants; that one kept creeping back into her mind.

He wandered in and sat down at the edge of the room, where she could see him if she turned her head a fraction. Which she did. Her gaze drifted down to his hands with their long, elegant fingers. She had a flashback to the feel of those fingers, and a wave of heat washed over her. Glancing up, she caught him watching her, his eyes sleepy, heavy-lidded, and she had the distinct notion that he was thinking about the exact same thing. She squirmed in her seat, and his lips curved up in a slow smile.

“Tannis!” Rico spoke sharply from beside her.

“Yeah?”

“Meeting.”

“Oh, right.” She looked at him, and he shook his head, then leaned in close.

“You need to get laid. And soon. It’s messing with your mind.”

“My mind’s fine.” Maybe he was right. If living with Rico had taught her one thing, it was that sex was no big deal. Or it didn’t have to be. Then again, it was obviously a big deal for Rico with Skylar. And Jon and Alex. This whole sex thing was doing her head in.

She took a deep breath and stood up. “Okay, so let’s work out how we’re going to do this. Janey can you give us the intel?”

“They have the main target, which as far as we’re aware is unarmed except for the weapon intended to destroy Trakis Seven. It’s a Mark Two cruiser, but heavily modified.”

“Crew?”

“Four, we think.”

Tannis frowned. “How reliable is this intel? Where are we getting it from?”

“Mostly from Callum’s friend, the colonel. He’d been feeding us information as he receives it.”

“And he’s getting it from?” She looked at Callum.

“The colonel is head of intelligence. He has people everywhere. I presume he has someone on the inside.”

“Okay. Go on, Janey.”

“There are five vessels guarding the ship. All Mark One cruisers, but the new design, top of the line.”

That didn’t sound good. But expected. “So when are we due to intercept them?”

“We could reach them in two days.”

“Okay. Devlin—what do we have from your people?”

“Six ships that can reach us here in time. But none with the firepower of the new Mark One cruisers.”

Six sounded good, even if they were smaller. They could work with six. She’d been worried that the Rebels were going to turn out to be all mouth and no ships; she was glad that wasn’t the case. She had a good feeling about this and only just resisted rubbing her hands together—it didn’t do to appear too confident.

“That’s seven with
El
Cazador.
Should be plenty,” she said. “So how do we do it?”

“Well, the easiest thing would be to blow them out of the sky, including the weapon,” Rico said. “That would get rid of the threat.”

Sounded good to her. They’d get rid of the weapon, then
El Cazador
would take them as near to Trakis Seven as was safe—no doubt that bitch Venna could tell them where, and then she, Callum, and Venna would continue on to the planet in the shuttle and arrange to rendezvous with
El Cazador
when their business was done.

Their business—getting her the Meridian Treatment.

She was finding it hard to believe that it was going to happen at last. It had been her dream for so long. She glanced across at Callum, who watched her out of his inhuman violet eyes. How long would it take her eyes to change color?

The thought made a little shiver run through her. She looked from Callum to Skylar with her identical eyes. Skylar had told her the Collective were a sort of gestalt, all part of a larger being. Tannis didn’t know whether she liked the sound of that. When she had just been dealing with Skylar alone, it had been easy to ignore the fact that she was part of something, but seeing them together sent a prickle of unease down her spine. She pushed the thought away. She would worry about that later.

“So that’s the plan. Sounds simple enough. I like straightforward—less to go wrong.” She looked at Devlin where he sat on the opposite side of the room from Callum. “You happy with that?”

“Straightforward sounds good to me.”

“Well, I think we’re done here then. What’s our estimated time until interception, Janey?”

“Forty-six hours, give or take.”

“That enough time for your people to join us?” she asked Devlin.

“They’ll be with us within the day.”

“Good. We’ll have a meeting with the captains tomorrow.”

“Just one thing,” Devlin said.

“What’s that?”

“I’m in charge.”

Tannis pursed her lips as she considered that. Did she trust him? Did it matter? He’d be on board his own ship by then and she’d be here on
El Cazador
. She’d follow his lead as long as he didn’t tell her to do something she didn’t want to do. But she would worry about that if it happened.

It occurred to her that there was a lot of worrying she was putting off. She just hoped it wouldn’t all catch up at once and bite her on the butt.

She nodded. “You’re in charge.”

People began to drift away. Callum left with Daisy after sending her a long look that made her toes curl. She tried to remember the research center, and all he had been responsible for, but she couldn’t bring it to mind.

Rico left with Skylar, his arm draped across her shoulder. Jon and Alex left together. She felt edgy and restless.

Janey was chatting with the Trog and Devlin, and she watched him covertly. Then turned away to pace the floor.

Maybe it wasn’t Callum. Maybe it was just a natural progression. Yeah, she’d been put off sex, but that was understandable. She’d come away from the research center with a total aversion to being touched and to being held. But a lot of time had passed since then, and she was a healthy adult woman. On top of that, and the whole ship had turned into some sort of knocking shop since Skylar, and then Jon, had come aboard. There were probably a whole load of pheromones or whatever just floating around on the air waiting to zap her. So it was hardly unexpected that her own libido had decided to wake up at long last.

And perhaps it was pure coincidence that Callum had arrived at the exact same time her sex drive had decided to return from the dead. That combined with the fact that Callum was Collective, and she’d always had a fascination for anything Collective, she was predisposed to fall for him—it wasn’t only not unexpected, it was probably inevitable.

She just needed to prove that.

Prove that Callum wasn’t the only man who could make her heart beat faster and her insides melt. Somehow, she just needed to trigger her brain. She peered across at Devlin. In his own way, he was as gorgeous as Callum.

As if sensing her stare, he glanced over and held her gaze for long moments. Then he broke the contact and spoke to the Trog, who nodded and left with Janey. The door slid shut behind them, leaving her alone with Devlin.

He strolled over to stand in front of her, a small smile on his face. One hand reached out and he cupped her jaw. “I go back to my ship tomorrow.”

“I know.” She stepped in closer and looked up at him from under her lashes. Tried a little flutter and felt like a complete asshole. Shit, she didn’t know how to do this. How did you get a man to kiss you?

She licked her lips, and at last, he seemed to get the message. His big hand slid from her jaw to the back of her neck, and he pulled her closer.

At the touch of his mouth, she swayed toward him, her breasts brushing against his chest. His lips were warm and hard, and he pushed hers open and thrust his tongue inside. Tannis waited for the rush of heat to overwhelm her.

It never came.

There was no revulsion. It appeared that particular reaction had been banished, and she was glad. But there was also no burning need. No urge to meld her body with his, to push herself close until they were one.

After a minute, he raised his head, a rueful expression in his eyes. Dropping his arms from around her, he stepped away. Head cocked on one side, he studied her, and she had to prevent herself from squirming under the intense scrutiny. “Callum Meridian?”

She started at the name. “Callum Meridian what?”

“You tell me.”

For a few seconds, her lips tightened and she considered the idea of telling him to mind his own goddamn business. But she supposed it was his business in a way. She had just come on to him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” She broke off not really knowing what to say, because she had meant to get him to kiss her. And she’d always been crap at apologizing especially when she was in the wrong.

Devlin shook his head, disgust clear in his expression. “Jesus. Callum Meridian. Well, I wish you luck with that—you’ll need it.” He gave her a long look. “So what was this—trying to make him jealous?”

“No!” She bit her lip, and then her innate honesty made her go on. “Well, maybe a little, but not really. I just wanted to see whether…” She really wished she had never gotten herself into this.

He chuckled at her discomfort. “Don’t worry. I don’t think I’m up to warding off your protectors anyway.”

“Protectors?”

“So far, I’ve had Rico, Janey, and Jon come and tell me that if I harm you in any way, they’ll—”

She gritted her teeth. “They’ll what?”

“Actually, it varies from drain me dry, to rip my throat out, to slicing off my dick with a blunt knife and tossing it out the airlock.” He shuddered at the last one. “So maybe it’s for the best. You know, you have a good crew—you obviously inspire loyalty. The Coalition could use you.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.”

He shrugged. “Well the offer is open. At least until you become one of those bastard Collective monsters. Though come to think about it, it might be useful having a member of the Collective as part of the Coalition.”

“No.”

He laughed, easing the harsh lines of his face. “Okay, I guess it’s time for bed. You do know the Trog snores, don’t you?”

“So you were only coming on to me for the chance of a quiet night?”

“Yeah.”

Tannis paused just outside the room, wanting to thank him for not making a big deal out of her kissing him. She reached up to touch his face. “Thank—” Her words were cut off as a fist came out of nowhere and slammed into Devlin’s mouth, hurling him to the floor.

“Keep your hands off her, you bastard.”

Tannis spun around in time to see Callum leap at the other man. He landed on top of him in a flurry of wings, and for a moment, she couldn’t make out what was going on.

They rolled. Devlin came out on top, and he smashed his fist into Callum’s face. Callum heaved him off and pounced on top of him, pummeling his chest.

Tannis stood watching, hands on her hips. She considered walking away, going to bed, and forgetting the pair of them. Let them beat the shit out of each other. But there was work to do tomorrow, and she could do without either of them being incapacitated. So she drew her laser pistol, flipped it to stun, and thought about what or who to shoot.

A noise down the corridor made her glance away—it looked like the rest of the crew had come to watch the fun—just as Callum and Devlin rolled again and nearly slammed into her legs. She swore loudly and took aim. She wasn’t planning on shooting either of them, but she wasn’t perfect—she might make a mistake and actually hit someone. It was tempting. Callum was immortal. He would heal quickly. Devlin wasn’t. She waited until Devlin had the upper position and aimed the laser at the floor by Callum’s head.

Sparks shot out as the blast hit the metal floor, and the two men sprang apart. She put a booted foot on Callum’s chest and aimed the pistol at his head.

“You making trouble on my ship?”

Amusement flashed in his eyes. “No, Captain.”

“Good.”

She swung the laser around to point directly at Devlin. “How about you?”

He actually grinned. So she was funny now was she? Her finger tightened on the trigger, and the grin was replaced by a look of alarm. Much better.

“No, Captain.”

Someone sniggered, and Tannis backed off a step and turned to face the crew. She studied them with narrowed eyes. “And you lot,” she said, waving her weapon in their general direction. “I do not need protecting.” She pointed the pistol at Jon. “Right?”

“Of course you don’t, Captain.”

“I can protect myself.” She took a pace toward them, jabbed the pistol into Rico’s stomach, and met a solid wall of muscle. “Right?”

He grinned. “No, Captain.”

Vaguely mollified, she turned away. “I’m going to bed.” And with that, she stalked down the corridor, pistol still in her hand.

She was back at her cabin when she realized Callum had followed her. Whirling around, she raised the gun and shoved it into his chest hard.

“Back off, Callum.”

“I want to talk to you.”

She sighed and holstered her weapon. “What?”

He considered her a moment. A bead of blood welled on his lip where Devlin had got in a punch. He licked it away, and her gaze followed the movement. Then back to his eyes.