Seducing Stag Read online

  “Eight seconds,” Kelis stated. He began to count down.

  Nothing happened when he stopped the countdown, and Stag actually cursed.

  “What?” That burst out of her mouth.

  He didn’t answer her. Hellion did. “We should be out of the dead zone but we’re not.”

  It was a nightmare. They were trapped in the Pitch.

  “Hold course.” Stag sounded too calm. “Maintaining speed.”

  Blackness filled the screen—but then she spotted a light.

  “There!” She pointed, forgetting her promise to Stag in her excitement.

  “We see it.” He turned his head and shot her a dirty look. “Quiet, Nala.”

  She sealed her lips. The belts dug into her as the ship reversed thrusters. Stag had to be doing everything by drastic measures for the stabilizers to be that out of sync. Nala was tempted to ask him why. The captain part of her protested his methods. He could have slowed their speed gradually, causing less stress on the ship.

  More lights appeared in the distance. They were seeing stars.

  The cyborg crew had actually done it. They’d found their way out of the Pitch.

  It was the first time anyone who’d ever entered it had escaped, to her knowledge.

  “Sensors are limited.” Kelis sounded tense. “I’m not picking up anything but they aren’t reliable at this distance.”

  “I’m easing us out slow and releasing some oxygen.” Stag lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “We don’t want to show on their sensors.”

  Frustration burst through her. That made no sense! Every ship could be detected on sensors, except those fancy ones some of the military had made. She couldn’t hold her thoughts any longer.

  “What are you talking about? Venting oxygen? Why?”

  Stag didn’t turn that time in his seat. He ignored her.

  Veller was closest to her by the exit doors. He cleared his throat and whispered, “The Genesis Four shuttles are completely reliant on sensors to fly. We have someone who is familiar with their design and their weaknesses. We’ll read as a chunk of debris or an asteroid to them if we move slow. Venting oxygen creates a mass around our ship that confuses the sensors when they try to read the shapes they’re picking up.”

  She understood—and it was brilliant. “Thanks.”

  He inclined his head. Her next concern was how much oxygen they had to vent out, and if life support could sustain all of them. She didn’t ask though. Avoiding capture and attack was paramount at the moment. She probably would have made the same choice if she’d known it could have saved her crew. All human ships kept emergency tanks of oxygen, and she hoped the cyborg ships did, too. It would be tough being attached to a breathing rig for days until they could reach a station, but it beat suffocating.

  Stars filled the screen now. They were completely out of the Pitch.

  Kelis hissed a curse. “At least one shuttle remains in range.”

  “Where? I’m not reading it on our sensors.” Tension filled Stag’s voice.

  “I can only see it because one of the trackers attached. It’s almost out of this system, but it’s there. Nothing on the second shuttle.”

  “We tagged one of them.” Hellion suddenly lifted his hand and made a fist. “Yes!”

  Nala opened her mouth but then closed it. What tracker?

  “They must not have detected it. Good. Show it on the main.” Stag leaned forward a little in his chair. “They’re probably traveling together.”

  A blip flashed to the far right of the screen.

  “We hope,” Hellion muttered.

  “Silence,” Stag demanded. “We’ll keep this speed until they are out of range, then get out of here.”

  “Home,” Kelis muttered. “I’ll be happy to see it.”

  Nala saw some of the cyborgs smile. They might be thrilled to be returning to wherever they lived, but she wasn’t. At least on this ship, she knew she’d be with Stag. Once they docked with their station or landed on a planet, she had no idea what would happen to her.

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, blowing it. Life had taught her to tackle one problem at a time. She was strong. Whatever awaited her, she’d deal with it. She was a survivor.

  Chapter Ten

  Stag watched Nala take a seat on the bed they shared. The past few hours had been tense. The Markus Model shuttle they were able to track had gone out of sensor range and now the Varnish traveled toward Garden. Veller would wake him if anything happened. The male was an accomplished replacement to take the helm. He had faith in his abilities.

  “You spoke.”

  She arched her eyebrows. “Sorry.”

  “You promised you wouldn’t.”

  “I’m human. Sue me. I was dying of curiosity. Why the full burns and drastic stops?”

  “I had my reasons.”

  “Mind sharing them? Please? I remember you like that word…”

  He bent, tugging off his boots. “The Markus Models dispensed bombs inside the dead zone.”

  Shock flashed across her features. “They mined the Pitch? Shit!”

  “The types they used are drawn to vessel hulls. I didn’t want them attaching to us.”

  “You wanted to outrun them so they’d have a harder time of locking on.” She removed the socks she kept taking from his drawer, baring her feet. “Damn, you’re smart.”

  “I’m a cyborg.”

  “I thought you were crazy. I would have blown up part of my ship if I’d pulled a stunt like that with the Pride. She was old though. She rattled and almost shook apart the last time I had to race her. I’d never have dared to full blast from a dead takeoff. I had to slowly increase speeds to keep her in one piece.”

  “Why did you go to that speed if it wasn’t something your freighter could handle?”

  “Pirates. They were the bane of my existence. We could always outrun them but I swear they’ve gotten smarter in the last year. It used to be that we’d run across a single ship and it put off enough radiation that our sensors detected them long-range. We’d adjust course and increase speed a bit so they didn’t stand of a chance of catching us. Four months ago, six of their ships were working together, or they were just closely spaced apart. It kind of caused a net effect. We had to push the Pride harder than I’d ever done before. They got close enough to fire on us that time. They missed, but it got hairy.”

  He put his boots away in the drawer and turned. “Hairy?”

  “Scary. Close call.” She shrugged. “Never heard that term before, huh? They almost got us. I was actually worried that time.”

  “They wanted the sex bots you were transporting?”

  “There’s no way they knew. It was a secret. I didn’t want a target on my back. Lots of thieves would have searched for us if they knew what we were carrying. Those bots are worth big credits on the black market. Pirates target anything large enough to carry food supplies, and the Pride probably looked like they’d hit the jackpot. Imagine their surprise if they’d actually boarded us to steal food.” She smirked.

  “Your job was dangerous.”

  “What job isn’t these days when you work in space?”

  He couldn’t deny the truth in her words. “Most women don’t venture this far out. It’s considered lawless. Earth Government rarely sends battle cruisers beyond the Baylor System.”

  “It’s too costly to resupply them beyond that point. I know. It would have taken my freighter three trips to Earth and back just for the food staples they use up with a crew that size. Think of the time involved. They would need a fleet of transports hauling water, food, spare parts, and other essentials to them every few months to keep a battle cruiser stocked if they regularly patrolled this far out. Imagine the fuel they’d need, too. Some of those vessels carry five to eight hundred crew members.”

  He crossed the room and took a seat next to her. “I never thought of that.”

  “It’s my job to know about supplies and shipping them.” She smiled. “The