Kidnapped By Her Husbands (Wings of Artemis Book 1) (26 page)

“Yes.”

His eyes brightened. “Just like that?”

“Should I not be so certain? Because if you think I should say no…”

He kissed me softly on the lips. “I’d never let anything happen to you. Besides, Geoff is here. He can freeze the bomb if it starts to go off.”

My blood pressure must have shot through the roof because the machine started dinging loudly and Dane whirled around. “Oh, what the fuck?”

“Is the bomb going to go off?”

“No.” Geoff shoved Wes in the shoulder. “It’s not. The likelihood of it exploding because we’re in there with it is slim to none. And, as Wes put it, I can cool it if it does that, since you’re already open.”

Dane grabbed something out of a drawer and crossed to me. I stared at the syringe in his hand. “What is that?”

He took my arm gently and pressed the needle into my vein. I jolted at first because of the pinch and then thanks to the slight burn the medicine caused in my arm. “Dane?”

“This is going to put you to sleep. It’ll take a minute or two. Don’t be concerned, this particular drug doesn’t pass through the placenta. The baby will have no idea anything is happening to you other than you’re taking a nap. When you wake, this will be done. No more risk of explosion. I’ll keep your blood pressure better than it currently is while you’re sleeping.”

Wes’ eyes were huge. “I’m sorry I said anything, Mel.”

“You’re forgiven.” I didn’t want him worried while he did whatever he had to do to place the wireless blocker in my body.

Geoff kissed me once before he moved away. “Get some sleep.”

C.J. stood next to him, leaning over for his kiss. “Since we’re all smooching you in front of each other these days, I need my turn. Didn’t used to be this way. We kept our hands and mouths to ourselves outside of your room. I kind of like this free-for-all thing. Goodnight, M. I’ll be sure to let you know if you snore while you’re under.”

I rolled my eyes. Dane had said the drug would take a few minutes, but as the room blurred I had to blink rapidly to keep my vision straight.

“That was fast.” Dane leaned down for his kiss. “I’ve got you. Just a quick nap.”

* * * *

When my eyes opened, an alarm blared around me. I gasped, sitting abruptly. My heart raced, and I stared at myself. My heart must still be inside me, and the baby kicked hard. I wasn’t dead and neither was she.

The blood pressure monitor was going off, but that wasn’t the blaring sound in the room. No, it was an emergency signal I’d never heard before. The plastic covering of the medical bed disappeared when I touched it, and I swung my legs over the bed, dizziness assaulting me.

My muscles were stiff. What the hell happened? I looked around. The lights in the room had been dimmed. Where was Dane? There was no way he’d left me alone post-surgery.

I stood, gripping the table for balance. “Dane?” I shouted his name but after a second of waiting, when he didn’t answer, I knew he couldn’t be within ear shot. They really needed to give me one of those wrist monitors that allowed them to speak to each other.

Stumbling forward, I made it to the doorway of the medical bay. Lights in the hallway flashed brightly in tune to the shrill alarm. “Dane? Wes? Geoff?” I screamed, but other than the blaring, there was no movement, no indication that anyone else was around.

My heart kicked up, and I hoped it was okay so close to surgery. If they’d all left me alone, they were in trouble. What was the alarm? Were they okay? What was happening? I had to calm down. I needed to think. Damn it, what should I do? I didn’t have a weapon, but I knew where they were stored. I’d proven on Truest that I could wield a gun.

On quiet, yet unsteady feet, I made my way to the weapons locker. It had been left wide open, which only increased my anxiety. I entered the small space. Most of the weapons were gone.

“Shit.” I closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath. What had happened while I’d been under? Why hadn’t they woke me? How much trouble were we in?

I grabbed a small revolver off the ground. It had either fallen or been discarded. I checked for ammo and found it loaded.

Nolan had been piloting when I fell asleep. If I was lucky, he was still in the control center. Or at least I’d get a clue about what was going on there when I arrived.

My knees shook and not from fear. I was weaker than I’d been since I woke up in Master’s. How much time had passed?

Reaching my destination and still seeing no one—or any evidence of a fight—did nothing to calm my nerves. I walked in slowly, although I needn’t have bothered. The center was as empty as the rest of the ship.

Making my way to the captain’s chair, I sank into the seat where Nolan should have been. My head pounded from the constant assault of the ship alarm. I grabbed the tablet Wes had briefly shown me how to use. There was a feature to turn off the blare and I pressed it, stopping the noise. If anyone was on the ship, it would alert them to my presence in the command center, a risk I had to take to simply function.

I wasn’t really worried—the ship was empty. I knew it in my gut. The last time the alarm sounded, C.J. had found me within minutes.

No one was coming this time. The implication of this made my insides cold. If I understood nothing else, I understood beyond a shadow of doubt the love the guys held for me. They’d die for me.

The computer screen beeped and the signal for a message popped with nothing but the letter M beneath it.

I let out a breath. C.J. called me M. I clicked on the tablet, bringing it on the screen.

The words recorded two days ago showed before C.J.’s face appeared on the screen. The ship alarm blared in the background of his recording. Blood dripped from a head wound, and I gasped as I saw him.

“M, if you’re getting this, then you woke. Dane says the med bay machine will eventually raise you on its own. It’s a setting, but it could be days or weeks. He doesn’t know what it’s set to, having never imagined this possibility. I just don’t know. If you’re watching this, then you woke and the ship is safe. We’ve been attacked, and not by the Nobles, but by the Nomads. They’ve boarded the ship. As far as we can tell, they don’t want you at all, which doesn’t make any sense. They’re here for the rest of us. They took Geoff first. Dane tried to wake you, and they took him next. Nolan and Wes are trying to get to you. If they don’t, this message will be here for you, assuming they don’t eventually get around to kidnapping you, too. I wish I had answers. I don’t. I love you, you know that, right? I love you like…like there aren’t words for it.” A loud bang sounded behind him. “Shit. Listen, I’m putting this on auto pilot. The second all of our badges are off Artemis, the ship is going to release sleeping gas. I programmed it a second ago. I don’t think it’ll affect you. You’re already out cold. Then she’s going to take off. As far as I can send her. We’ll do our best to keep our attackers so busy they can’t stop the ship. When you get this, send the ship to…” The screen blurred for a second and then went black.

“Sent the ship to where?” I jumped to my feet. “Send it to where, C.J?”

I sounded hysterical. He wasn’t there, and he couldn’t answer me. He’d set off sleeping gas. Did that mean there were people unconscious all over the ship? I had no idea how to run Artemis, and that was entirely my fault. I’d been painting when I should have been figuring out how to pilot and make Artemis run. Truth was, I’d been avoiding Nolan. I hadn’t wanted to face him before I’d understood him better.

“Pull it together.” I spoke to my shaking my hands, my racing heart, my clenching stomach. “You have to do this. You have to find out if there are people on this ship with you or if you are alone. You are Melissa Fucking Alexander.” Nolan would be mad at me for saying it, but for once it helped. “You don’t remember her, but she is in there. This is probably her fault, somehow. You’re strong, tough, you blow shit up. You earned the love of men who would take a bullet for you. So get up and figure this all out. Now.” I still couldn’t make myself move. “Now, damn it. Now.”

My own words, wrenched from my gut, propelled me forward. I moved, out of the chair, out of the room and across the hallway. Room-by-room, I would search, and if I ran into anybody other than the guys, I would shoot them first and ask questions later. I wasn’t a coward.

I couldn’t let myself be.

I’d almost convinced myself the ship had been totally abandoned when I found him. Lying on the floor, out cold, in the last room I had to check—the shuttle dock—was a face I’d never thought to see again. Frank, the leader of the Nomads we had rescued on Hall, who had been looking for Lilah, lay on the floor. I bent over to look at him closer. His face was beat up pretty badly. One of my guys most have been really mad at seeing him, but he breathed.

We’d saved him and he had, in turn, attacked us unprovoked. I kicked him hard in the gut and he groaned, his eyes flying open.

He coughed before he spoke. “Gas.”

“It’s gone.” I pointed my gun at his head. “Start talking.”

He sat slowly. “If you were still the old you I’d actually be afraid you’d fire that thing. But you’re a lamb now. I doubt you even know how to shoot.”

If he wanted to believe that, fine. He’d be all sorts of surprised if he had to find out I did. “What happened here?”

Frank sighed loudly, rubbing at his eyes. “I’m hungry.”

“I don’t care. Start talking.”

“I hate that this happened. She promised us she would get Lilah returned if we helped her. The general, your mother.” He rubbed at his eyes. “We came with two other ships, had very specific orders. No one was supposed to get hurt. Take the guys, then you. We were supposed to start with them to keep you calm and compliant, but you were already out cold. Changed things a bit. And then they managed to get the ship out of our control.” He tried to stand, and I waved the gun at him again. “Where are the others?”

“Just you. Why did the General, my mother, want this to happen? Why come after us like this?”

Frank laughed, a loud sound. “The General doesn’t share her plans with me.”

“Unfortunately, I believe you.”

I fired.

Afterwards my body vibrated from the discharge. I stared at his body on the ground of my ship. Like the man in Truest, I’d hit him right between the eyes. As before, I hadn’t even really thought about it. Nolan wasn’t here. I didn’t get to faint. In fact, as far as I could tell, and maybe it was the shock of the whole thing, but I couldn’t have cared less about ending another life. I dropped the gun to my side.

My mother had taken my men and then meant to capture me. What were her plans? Cooper had warned me against getting in the machine in The Bridge, he’d said I wouldn’t live through it.

Cooper…

We’d never gotten rid of the shuttle Geoff stole from Master’s after everything had gone to hell on Truest. I walked to the ship. This was a Noble vessel. Surely, there had to be a way to reach him. What had Peter, the asshole on Hall, done when he’d needed Cooper? He’d made a call.

Could it be that easy?

I walked to the com center of the small shuttle. Everything looked pretty self-explanatory, which was why Geoff had hated flying the thing. Point and click, Wes had said. I pressed a button that said
call
on it and waited.

A robotic voice answered me. “This is the shuttle center command. How can we forward your request?”

“I…” Geoff had pretended to be a shuttle commander. I didn’t have the luxury of doing the same. The Nobles were horrible, mind-erasing nightmares, and I needed their help. Somehow, I had to figure out what to do, where to go, so I could regroup and get my guys.

“Say again,” the computer responded.

“My name is Melissa Alexander. I am in a stolen shuttle. I need to speak to Prince Cooper Jackson. Please relay my message to him, immediately.”

“Do I understand you correctly?” This time a male, human voice answered instead of the computer. Something I’d said had moved me past the computer to an actual person. “You’re in a stolen shuttle and you want to speak to the Prince?”

I could hear the disbelief in his voice. “What kind of day do you want to have? One way or another, I need to speak to Cooper. You can have an easy time of this and put me through, or I can let him know later that you didn’t. Up to you.”

Ten minutes later, a voice I’d come to love hearing, even though I held no memories of him, came on the line.

“Melissa-mine?” His voice sounded low. “Is this actually you?”

“It’s me, Cooper. I know we don’t know each other and—”

“I know you,” he interrupted.

I smiled, despite my hands shaking so badly I had to stick them into my lap to control them. “I’m in trouble.”

“I can’t get a fix on you. The wireless signal blocker on the whole ship upped after the last time we spoke, which didn’t surprise me. What’s happening? Talk to me.”

So I did. I started with the decision to take the bomb out of play and to make a plan to go get him. I didn’t leave out any of it, including how I shot Frank in the head.

“Please tell me what is happening. Nolan thinks you didn’t cause this. That I did it myself and you are in this mess, too. I need you to tell me. My memories aren’t coming. I feel…sick. I think I’ve been unconscious for two days.”

Silence met my statement. Had he disconnected? Had I made a terrible error?

“Listen to me, mine. Closely. You are in a lot of trouble. I can’t tell you the details because I don’t have them. I barely managed to stow away on a shuttle you took before I passed out from the same drugs you used on all the guys. When I woke, we were in a firefight. I never knew with whom. All you would say, in between being furious with me for being on the ship, was they wanted you to do something you could no longer tolerate and that you were pregnant. Then we crashed. Hard. Onto a planet that doesn’t sustain life. You were out cold. I had no choice. I called the Nobles by turning on my tracking device.” He paused. “I cut a deal. I came to them, and I’m under constant surveillance now. Or at least I’m supposed to be. The last few days have been lax. If I could have tracked you, I would have come. You got to live and to keep the baby—they think it’s mine—and you had your mind erased. The plan was for me to marry you when you got out of Master’s. I never thought past that. Eventually, I’d planned to somehow get us both back home to Artemis.”