Pursued Read online

  “I don’t know…” Elise said doubtfully. “I mean…why?”

  “Because you need something you don’t have on Earth—a support system. I know you don’t talk to your family and I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of close friends either.”

  Elise frowned. “What makes you say that?”

  “Because, well…no one came forward and reported you missing when the AllFather snatched you.” Olivia patted her hand. “Please don’t be mad, I’m just saying if you were on the Mother Ship, we could all be here for you. Sophie and Kat and Lauren and I—we all want to stand beside you during this difficult time.”

  Elise sighed. “I’m not mad. And you’re right—I don’t have any close friends. I tend to keep people at a distance because of, well, because of some things that happened in my past.” She blotted her eyes again. “In fact, Merrick is—was—the first person to get through that…that barrier I’d put up around myself. He made me feel again, forced me to think about things I didn’t want to think about. He…” She shook her head and Olivia rubbed her back some more.

  “It’s okay. Get it out if you need to.”

  “No.” Elise sniffed and sat up straighter. “No, I have to stop wallowing in misery. It’s time to go back to Earth and straighten things out with James. After that…”

  “You’ll give notice at your work and come back up here. Right?” Liv looked at her hopefully.

  Elise managed a small laugh. “You’re certain the Kindred Council would let me? I mean, without…without Merrick?”

  “I’ll have Sylvan speak on your behalf,” Olivia said firmly. “And my husband, Baird, too. They have friends on the Council—you won’t be denied.”

  Elise sighed. “All right, I promise I’ll think about it. But right now, first things first.” She forced herself to get up on shaky legs and shrugged into her robe, wrapping it tightly around her. “Um, can I borrow some clothes? I can’t go back to Earth looking like this.”

  “Sure thing.” Liv hoisted herself off the bed. “Ugh, I’d get you something of mine, if we wore the same size. It’s not like I’ll be wearing anything cute for the foreseeable future.”

  “I think you look beautiful—glowing.” Elise smiled at her. “Have you thought of a name yet?”

  “Nothing Baird and I can both agree on.” Olivia hooked her arm through Elise’s. “Come on, let’s find you something nice to wear. Would you like me to go down with you for moral support when you talk to James?”

  “You really are a good friend.” Elise smiled and squeezed her arm, touched at the offer. “But no, this is something I have to do on my own.”

  The way I’m going to have to live on my own the rest of my life, she thought but didn’t say. She could break down and cry some more later. Right now she had business to attend to and the sooner she got it done, the sooner she could come back to the Mother Ship.

  * * * * *

  “This had better work, hybrid.” Draven gave him a threatening look as they stood together on the bridge of the prototype wormhole ship. It was made of some new material—semi-sentient plasma-steel or something like that. Draven had been bragging about it ceaselessly, talking about how the ship itself could handle most of the steering and how it had uncharted capacity for self-healing.

  Merrick didn’t buy the self-healing bullshit but he supposed having a ship that could steer itself would make Draven’s army more effective—especially considering most of them were dumber than dirt. His troll soldiers were strong and loyal but they weren’t big in the thinking department. Having a ship that could chart its own course and deposit them on whatever unlucky planet Draven wanted to invade would be a real plus.

  Of course, all that was assuming the wormhole generator he’d cobbled together worked.

  Merrick was pretty sure it would—but it wasn’t going to be taking Draven and his monstrous army anywhere. The tiny but lethal bomb he had in his pocket would see to that.

  It had been difficult to find the time to build the delicate little device, but Merrick had done it anyway, taking time from the wormhole generator despite the pain words Draven spat at him when he felt he was falling behind schedule. He’d been very careful to work on it only when his guards were all trolls. The imps weren’t super smart but they were clever enough to spot something wrong if he gave them half a chance. He’d hidden the bomb in the fuselage when he wasn’t working on it, and now he had it in his pocket, ready to detonate when the time was right.

  “It’ll work, all right,” he growled at Draven, who was still staring at him. Behind him were half a legion of trolls—apparently Draven didn’t trust him. Go fucking figure.

  “If it doesn’t, I’ll have you skinned alive.” Draven gave him that charming, empty smile that never quite reached his solid silver eyes. “Slowly.”

  “And if it does work, you’ll do me the favor of killing me quickly. Yeah, I got it.”

  Actually, Merrick already had the quick death thing covered. He didn’t expect to survive the blast once he activated the bomb. Even if he wasn’t initially torn to shreds, the explosion would blow a huge hole in the space ship, sucking out all the air and letting in the freezing vacuum of space. That was the reason he’d decided against detonating the bomb while they were still on the planet's surface. If he survived the blast, Draven would be able to get away on the ground. But once they were out in space, no escape would be possible. Merrick was fine with dying himself as long as he took the silver-eyed bastard out with him.

  Or I would be fine, if it wasn’t for Elise. Gods, baby, miss you so much…

  Firmly, he dragged his mind back to the business at hand—making a jump with the homemade wormhole generator and proving to Draven the machine actually worked. Then, once they were far from the bastard’s home planet—much too far to call for help—Merrick would flip the detonation switch and blow them all straight to the seven hells.

  “This will do,” he heard Draven say as he looked at the instrument panel. “Let’s test it out and make a jump.”

  “Fine. Where do you want to go?” Merrick asked.

  Draven gave him a slow, cruel smile. “Let’s make things interesting, shall we? Why not jump to your lover’s solar system? Far enough out not to alert the Mother Ship, of course. But close enough that you can see her home planet.”

  Sadistic fucker! Merrick scowled at the controls. “Fine. I’ll put in the coordinates.”

  “See that you don’t alert your fellow Kindred, hybrid,” Draven said. “This is a private party and they’re not invited. If you bring them into this, you’ll be dead long before they can reach you.” He smiled. “But not long enough for your death to be anything but excruciatingly painful, I assure you.”

  “I believe you,” Merrick growled. “Don’t worry, Draven—this is between you and me.”

  Draven frowned. “Whatever do you mean by that?”

  Merrick didn’t answer, just finished inputting the coordinates for an orbit around Mars, the small red planet that was Earth’s neighbor, and then stood back. “There you go, boss. All ready to jump—just push the button.” He indicated the red button blinking in the control panel.

  Draven shook his head. “I think not. You do the honors for me, won’t you?”

  Merrick was surprised. He’d been certain Draven would want to test the generator himself the first time. Good thing I didn’t hook the bomb to the button, he thought, fingering the tiny device in his pocket. “Fine,” he said, shrugging. “I’ll do it. You might want to hold on to something.”

  Draven nodded but simply folded his arms, not taking Merrick’s advice. With another shrug, Merrick pressed the jump button and watched as space melted around them, folding in on itself in a bloody red blur as the ship generated a wormhole and then accelerated into it.

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  “Darling! It’s so good to see you!” James enfolded her in an embrace the moment she stepped out of the HKR building.

  “It’s good to see you, too, James.” Even t