Uncharted Read online



  “Be well,” Nirobe told her. “And do not forget my first prophesy to you.”

  “We know—‘Seek the little healer which cannot fail and the silver sphere which finds the trail,’” Terex recited. “’These you will find within the Blind.’”

  “Do not forget the last line—‘Submitting first to ties that bind.’” The priestess’s eyes flashed. “That is very important, Warrior.” She looked at Elaina. “Especially for you.”

  Elaina thought about saying she didn’t understand again, but then decided not to. She didn’t think the priestess was going to give them any more guidance than she’d already offered. She would just have to go with it and hope that the oblique prophesies would make sense later.

  She hugged Sophie and Liv once more and Terex shook hands—or rather, clasped arms as was the Kindred way—with Baird and Sylvan.

  “Go with the Goddess, Brother,” Sylvan told him solemnly. “The rift is already open for you.”

  “We placed the exit coordinates a few parsecs outside the Blind,” Baird said. “So you’ll have a little room to maneuver and find the best place to enter.”

  “We will pray for your swift success and speedy return,” Sylvan added.

  “Thank you,” Terex said stiffly. “I appreciate your well wishes and prayers.”

  And then he was opening the door of the space ship and motioning Elaina inside.

  Biting her lip, Elaina climbed up the stairs and ducked inside the hatch. She wanted to turn her head and say one last goodbye to Sophie and Liv and what they represented—namely Earth and humanity and everything that was known and loved and familiar to her—but Terex was already right behind her, clearly impatient to be off.

  So instead of waving again, Elaina went quickly to the front of the craft.

  As she looked out the front viewscreen of the little ship, she wondered what was going to happen to her and if she would ever see Earth or her sister again.

  Chapter Six

  “Prepare for lift-off. That’s your chair.” Terex impatiently indicated the seat on the left side of the cockpit.

  Elaina settled herself into it quickly, not wanting to make him mad. It didn’t seem like he’d thawed a bit since the night before. In fact, if anything he seemed more irritated and remote than he had earlier.

  Great. She sighed to herself. This was going to be a fun trip—going off into the dangerous unknown with a huge warrior who hated her. It’s not supposed to be fun—you’re supposed to be finding something to save Gina’s life, she reminded herself sternly. You can put up with a cranky Kindred for a little while to do that.

  Terex was already in the pilot’s seat, which had a vast array of complicated looking controls and a steering yolk in front of it. Elaina thought it looked a little like an airplane’s cockpit but about five times more complex.

  A little less complex, but still confusing, was the array of buckles on her own seat. They seemed to be made for someone much larger than her—probably a Kindred male, she reasoned. Also, it seemed like they were supposed to crisscross over her chest and there was one strap that seemed made to come up between her legs but she couldn’t find the buckle that one attached to—

  “Can’t you manage even the simplest thing?”

  Suddenly Terex was looming over her, glaring at her for her ineptitude.

  “I’m sorry,” Elaina said with as much dignity as she could muster. “I’ve been in Kindred ships before but never one like this.”

  “This ship has been specially outfitted for long range, deep space exploration,” he said, frowning. “Here.”

  Rapidly, he began arranging the straps, buckling them tight across her breasts and pulling the strap between her legs into position to buckle just under her sternum.

  Elaina bit her lip and held still for the operation, even though having the huge Kindred so close to her made her feel uncomfortable. He was so big—she could feel the heat radiating from his muscular body and smell his warm, masculine scent, which seemed somehow intensified this morning. In fact, he smelled amazing, Elaina couldn’t help thinking. That scent made her want to climb in his lap and kiss him senseless.

  Wait a minute—what? Why am I thinking about kissing him? That’s crazy! she scolded herself. But her stern reprimand didn’t stop her from wondering what his lips would taste like. And when his hands brushed over her body, she felt herself reacting, even though she didn’t want to.

  Her nipples got hard as his fingertips brushed her breasts impersonally while he buckled her in. And her pussy began to feel damp when he pulled the strap up firmly between her legs.

  “There.” Terex stepped back, frowning down at her. “Do you feel secure?”

  “Um…” Elaina shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe…maybe a little too secure,” she admitted. “You’ve got these straps really tight.”

  She’d expected Terex to loosen the straps and maybe even apologize for tying her down so tightly. Instead, he gave her a stern look.

  “They’re tight for your own good. The better to keep you safe when we enter the Blind.”

  Then he strapped into his own harness and started the ship.

  Elaina gave him an uncertain look as he piloted them up and out of the translucent atmosphere dome which covered the Docking Bay and allowed ships to land and take off without allowing the atmosphere to depressurize or the oxygen in the Mother Ship to escape.

  “Um…so that’s it? You’re going to keep me tied up the whole trip?”

  “If I have to. It’s for your own good.” He gave her a look like she was a naughty school girl who might need to be punished. “Stay where you are until I tell you otherwise. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Sir.” Elaina meant the words to come out sarcastic. Instead, they sounded disturbingly meek and obedient. What was going on with her? She normally didn’t have a hard time standing up for herself, even if she did hate confrontations.

  It’s just that he’s the captain of the ship and I’m only a passenger. I have to do what he says, she tried to tell herself. But she couldn’t help thinking that they were setting a precedent—a dynamic between them that was going to be difficult to break later.

  * * * * *

  Why did I strap her down so tightly and then forbid her to move? Terex asked himself. Why was I so rough and stern with her?

  There was the obvious reason, of course—Elaina represented an almost overwhelming distraction to him. It was incredibly difficult to make himself concentrate on piloting the ship when she was right beside him, making his shaft hard and his fangs sharp. So it was better to have her restrained to minimize that distraction.

  But there were other forces at work inside him—forces he’d thought were dead and buried. Feelings he had sworn off forever, which disturbed him greatly.

  Suddenly the priestess’s words came back to him. “You will encounter an old perversion—that which is anathema to you…You must embrace it.”

  Terex shook his head angrily. Surely she hadn’t been talking about that. Never, he had sworn never to indulge in such practices again. Not after Solange died.

  But then what else could she have been talking about?

  Forget about it, he advised himself. Just concentrate on the mission…concentrate on killing that foul scion of Two.

  “What’s that?” Elaina’s voice sounded awed and he realized they were approaching the rift, or fold in space. He could understand why its appearance would make her nervous—it looked like a long, bloody gash in the black fabric of the universe and they were headed right for it.

  “The Kindred Mother Ship has the ability to fold the fabric of the space time continuum,” he explained, trying to keep his voice neutral and even. “It’s the only way, besides stable wormholes, to traverse the vast distances of the universe. Without the Kindred’s ability to fold space, we would have died out as a people long before we found others to make genetic trades with.”

  “Oh, I see.” She still sounded nervous. “And is it…safe to, uh, go through