Joel (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 5) (43 page)

She wondered how her father was. She’d screamed at him, telling him he was no father of hers and that she never wanted to see him again. It had been largely to keep him away from Strathmore, but it had come naturally. At the time letting out years of frustration and disappointment had been cathartic, but now that the chances she would ever see him again being depressingly low she wanted to take it back. Carl Heathcoat hadn’t been the best father in the galaxy, but he was the only one she had. Hopefully he was so deep in a bottle that Strathmore’s men wouldn’t be able to find him.

And then there were Annie’s concerns about her own safety. She wasn’t dumb enough to think that Strathmore couldn’t track her little Needle. Honestly, she wasn’t sure why he hadn’t just caught up to her and either blown her out of the air or used a tractor beam to pull her back into the main ship. The
Appomattox
was capable of warp 8, despite its size; Needles could only get up to half of that. Even with the memory of sitting on her mother’s lap as she steered a patrol ship in lazy circles around buildings fresh in her mind she couldn’t out-navigate a trained pilot. The only thing she could think of was that he hadn’t noticed she was gone yet, or that he didn’t care.

Soon, a blue light lit up on her dash to warn her she was about to break atmo. She sighed, rolled her shoulders, and prepared for her descent. This was the part Annie was truly worried about. She’d never landed a ship on her own, especially not without a proper landing strip. Her plan was to try to hit a huge lake that should be right under where her coordinates put her. If she could slow down enough and hit it at an angle, the emergency ejection system should get her out of the Needle safely. Of course, this depended mostly on her not dying on impact.

As the rippling blue-green waters grew closer and closer, she steeled herself and tilted the ship slightly upwards and she cut power to the engine. The Needle shuddered for a moment, then automatically booted up its safety protocols. The plasma shielding flickered back to life around her and she felt her freefall slow incrementally. She hoped it was enough.

The impact hurt more than she expected. She was thrust forward, her ribs hitting the dash with bruising force and knocking the air of her lungs. The Needle skidded over the surface of the water before slowly sinking. Gasping, Annie hit the eject button. Her seat launching out of the Needle and hitting the water a few yards away certainly did nothing for the spinning in her head. The parachute that came equipped on the back of the seat was a relief when it meant not smacking into the water again but soon she was fighting her way out of its folds. Eventually, she managed to escape the parachute and sit back in her seat, bobbing in the water and breathing deeply.
 

Annie pinched herself to force her thoughts to gather. She had to get to shore, but she needed the seat to do so since its function as a flotation device was the only thing keeping her from sinking due to the weight of her elaborate, diamond-encrusted, and now soaking wet wedding dress. If she went under, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get her head above the surface again. She awkwardly managed to maneuver out of her underskirt, which helped, but Annie knew she wasn’t a strong enough swimmer to not feel worried still. In the end, she ended up clutching the seat in as much of a death grip as she could manage and doing an awkward doggy paddle to the shore. It took longer than she would have liked, but she made it to dry land without drowning. Then, however, the dress became a problem once again. It weighing her down was arguably better on the sand where drowning was no longer a concern, but it still slowed her down. Even without the underskirt, it was heavy and the material wouldn’t tear no matter how hard she tugged at it. She had two options: strip out of the dress and run around an unfamiliar planet in her underwear or leave the whole sodden contraption on.

“I managed to get off your damn warship,” Annie mutter as she pulled futilely at her skirt, “and you’re still managing to make my life hell.”

Opting to leave the dress on, she made her way into the forest of silver-barked trees that ran around the lake. Once she was far enough in that she was certain she couldn’t be seen either from the shore or the air, she slumped against a tree and slid to the ground. Annie knew that she didn’t have the time to waste on a mental breakdown, but she couldn’t seem to will the hysteria to stop. Her breathing turned rapid and shallow as her mind began to race, showing all the worst things that could happen next in a loop. She slapped herself, the stinging pain letting her gain some control over her thoughts. She needed to make a plan, and she needed to figure out how to make that plan happen, and she needed to…

…were those voices?

Annie stopped breathing entirely, listening intently. She could only pick out fragments of what was being said, but keywords like “recover” and “bride” told her all she needed to know about who, exactly, was close by. Annie weighed her odds of survival if she stayed versus if she ran. Clenching her jaw and squeezing her eyes shut, she gathered up her skirt. Then, snapping her eyes open, she threw herself into a mad dash forward.

She had no idea which direction she was going or what would be waiting on her when she got there but anything would be better than being the property of a monster like Strathmore. Her boots pounded the ground with every step, sounding to Annie’s suddenly sensitive ears like thunder. Ahead, she saw the trees beginning to thin out. She decided to chance it; maybe there was someone who would be willing to help her.

Annie darted out of the forest and immediately skidded to a stop. In front of her was a ship, in front of which were two groups of men talking next to a stack of crates. They all turned to look at her, and more than one of them reached for a weapon. Eyes wide, Annie backed up. Sure, these people probably weren’t as bad as Strathmore, but that hardly meant they were the type she wanted to get acquainted with.

A tall, broad man with tan skin that probably had more to do with genetics than actual time in the sun and messy black hair stepped forward.

“Hold up, boys,” he said, one hand on his belt and one stretched out to calm down him comrades. “I’d rather not end this day by murdering an innocent woman. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

Annie wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to answer, or at least to answer honestly. Luckily, a man covered in tattoos spoke before she had to decide.

“I don’t care what her name is, she’s trouble. She’s clearly running from someone, and she’s seen us.”

“Look, as someone who’s had to look at your face for the last hour, I can completely understand the urge to shoot anyone who’s had the misfortune to bear witness to that monstrosity,” the first man drawled, “but let’s not be hasty.”

Annie wasn’t familiar with the gesture the tattooed man made but the meaning behind it came across loud and clear. “Fuck this, man. My job here’s done. Me and my boys are out.”

With that, he and several of the men turned and began walking towards a truck and several hover bikes.

Annie turned to look warily at the remaining men as the sound of engines starting filled the air before growing gradually quieter. Other than the man who had spoken, there was a taller, skinner man with brown hair and a blond leering at her. She noticed that all three had gold eyes that almost glowed in the sunlight. She debated running back into the forest, but any one of these men, who were all dressed in perfectly reasonable clothing and probably hadn’t just crash landed, could easily catch her. Besides, she didn’t know if Strathmore’s soldiers had followed her into the forest.

“So, who might you be?” the man asked, smiling at her.

“My name’s Annie,” she said softly, resisting the urge to take a step back.

“Nice to meet you, Annie,” he said. “I’m Leo, and this is Rick and Custer. Care to explain why a pretty little thing like you is running around in a wedding dress?”

“I really don’t think you’d believe me,” Annie answered, eyeing the other men warily. The tall brunette seemed calm, but the blond still had a manic grin on his face.
 

“If it’s got anything to do with the people crashing through the forest,” Leo said, “I think I might.”

On instinct, Annie spun and backed away from the forest. It put her back to the strange men, but they were only probably going to kill her as opposed to Strathmore’s men, who were definitely going to kill her, so she figured it was the lesser of two evils.

“Shit,” she hissed, shoulders tightening. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“I’m guessing there’s a story behind this,” Leo said, sounding amused.

“Captain Strathmore won me in a card game,” Annie said as the despair settled over her. She supposed it no longer mattered if these men knew who she was because she doubted she would live long enough for it to matter. “I drugged some of his guards and stole a Needle to escape. Hopefully, the soldiers are just here to kill me.”

There was silence, then a low whistle.

“Ma’am,” Leo said, “I think you just might have beat out my entire crew in terms of ball size.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind to comfort me while I’m being tortured to death,” Annie said. Shouts began to leak out of the forest and she tried to figure out a place she could run to that she couldn’t be followed. Maybe she should just throw herself into the water and end it all on her own terms.
 

“I have a proposal for you,” Leo said.

Annie turned slightly back towards him, unwilling to put her back entirely to the forest but suspecting she should be looking at Leo for this conversation. Leo walked around until he was closer to her.

“Captain, I don’t think—” the brunette started before Leo cut him off with a lazy flick of his wrist.

“Didn’t ask you to,” he said, quirking an eyebrow at Annie. “So? Interested?”

Like she had any choice. “Go for it.”

“We help you with your soldier problem. Hell, we’ll get you off planet. For the right price.”

And there it was. Annie felt something cold start to move through her veins.
 

“What price might that be?” she asked as calmly as she could.

Leo’s grin widened as his eyes traced down her neck and over her torso. He nodded at her chest.

“Those real?” he asked

Annie bristled. “Ex
cuse
me?”

Leo smirked at her. “The diamonds, sugar. I’m assuming yes if you got the dress from Strathmore but I thought I’d ask anyways.”

Annie straightened her shoulders as heat slowly filled her face. She ran fingers along the tiny crystals.
 

“He said they were,” she answered. “I don’t know if he was lying, though.”

Leo shrugged. “Good enough for me. Alright, let’s get this onto the
Breakwater
.”

Leo gave Annie a wary look before glancing at Custer, who was still smiling like this was exactly what he had wanted to happen today. He turned and walked up the ramp into the ship behind him.

“Hyde, Dom, we need your help to load fast,” he called before walking over to one of the crates and loading it onto a flatbed next to the stack of cargo. He and Custer grabbed another box as Leo took a step closer to Annie.
 

He smiled at her and put his hands up in a placating gesture when she tensed. “Got anywhere in particular you’re needing to be?”

“Why are you helping me?” Annie asked in lieu of answering his question. “And don’t say the diamonds. I’m asking why you’re actually helping me.”

“You don’t believe I’m motivated solely by greed?” Leo said. “I’m touched that you think I’m such a good person.”

“It has nothing to do with being a good person,” Annie snapped. “There are soldiers from one of the most feared private militaries to ever exist who are going to burst out of the forest at any minute now because the man who put the galaxy’s balls in a vise is trying to find me. If I were you, I’d need a hell lot more than a couple rocks to convince me to get involved.”

Leo’s smile faded as he ran his eyes searchingly over her face. “You think I’m going to sell you back to Strathmore.”

“I’d have to be an idiot to not consider the possibility,” Annie told him. “I’m a lot of things. That’s not one.”

“So why haven’t you made a break for it yet?” he asked, tilting his head.

“Because you’re only probably going to hand me giftwrapped over to Strathmore whereas the jackasses in the forest definitely will. The hand’s shit, but it’s still more in my favor with you.”

“Captain, they’re getting closer,” Rick called as two men ran down the ramp to help move the cargo. One had a shockingly blue eyepatch and the other, while no less muscular than his crewmates, looked to be several inches shorter than Annie. Both glared suspiciously at Annie as they approached and she wasn’t surprised to see they also had gold eyes. Rick leaned over and muttered something to them. They looked at each other, then went to work.

“Alright, you need to get inside now if you’re getting inside at all,” Leo said to Annie. “I can’t focus on fighting these chucklefucks and protect you at the same time.”

“Wait, you’re fighting them?” Annie said in disbelief. “I thought the plan was to try and outrun them.”

“I don’t remember saying that,” Leo replied calmly, rolling his shoulders.

“I thought it was implied in that there’s going to be at least five of them and unless you’re all secretly highly trained operatives then there’s no way you’ll win,” Annie said as she slowly realized she was throwing her lot in with a mad man.