Driven Read online

  She couldn't move now, not even to get up. She'd spent her last reserve and could only lie in a tangle of limbs, staring up at the black sky and unable to even call out for help.

  Her breathing slowed and calmed while the sweat dried on her skin. She licked the salt from her lips and wished for a drink. Del groaned softly from beside her and she found the energy to turn toward him. His eyelids fluttered.

  A few more deep breaths and her body's enhanced functions began to repair and replenish the resources she'd spent. She needed food and water, but she wasn't as bad off as she'd been the night Del saved her. She'd survive this, too.

  "One big, freaking adventure," she croaked, not sure where the laughter was coming from, but feeling it burble out of her chest just the same.

  She must have spoken louder than she'd thought because, in the next moment, the bright light no longer shone off in the distance, it shone in her eyes. She threw up a hand to shield them while they adjusted.

  Dark forms appeared in front of her eyes. Broad-shouldered. Tall. They were all men, and Linna found herself on her feet, crouched over Del.

  One of the shapes grunted what sounded like a question, but in a language she didn't know.

  "I don't speak Xanderran," she said.

  "Who are you?" said the man in Universal and dropped the beam of light from her eyes.

  "She's got the melek," said another in a voice hushed with awe.

  "Don't call him that," barked the third man. More slender than the others, his hair long and tied back from his forehead, he nonetheless had a look about him that was familiar. Something about the eyes and set of the mouth.

  "Don't you touch him," Linna warned as she stepped in front of the man. "I know who you are."

  "You do?" In the golden light from the lanterns, the man's face quirked with arrogant amusement. "I highly doubt that, kallah."

  Linna didn't know what a kallah was, but the way he said it made her think it wasn't an endearment. "You're Del's brother. You tried to kill us."

  "Del?" The man laughed. "You mean Delek."

  She had forgotten that was Del's full name. "You tried to kill us."

  His amused look turned sour. "That's quite an accusation, kallah."

  "Don't call me that."

  "Give me your name then."

  "It's Linna Fortense."

  "Unique. You're from...?"

  "I'm from Earth," Linna said, surprised at the rush of pride that filled her at the words. "Newcity."

  "Is there any other place to be from, if you're from Earth?" Del's brother grinned, and for a moment, looked a lot like Del.

  But he isn't Del, she thought. This man had the mark of cruelty on his face, of greed and wanting. She recognized it from many of her clients. Del's brother was the sort of man who wasn't satisfied with what he had, no matter how much that was.

  "He got bitten by a tannan?" one of the other men asked. He bent over Del and felt his pulse, lifted his lids, tapped his wrists and throat.

  "Yes." Linna ignored Del's brother and bent back to Del. "Will he be all right?"

  Del's brother didn't like being ignored apparently. He shoved the man aside to kneel next to her. "The venom causes sleep and temporary paralysis. He'll be fine when it wears off."

  "Which will be when?"

  Del groaned as if on cue, and his eyes fluttered. The next instant, they flew open and he flew upward. His hands locked around his brother's throat. The two of them went tumbling over and over on the ground, fists flying.

  Linna and the other men jumped out of the way. "Stop them!"

  Nobody did. For the first time, she truly understood what life on Xanderra was like. The warriors faced off, hands raised and faces set in grim determination.

  Del was tall and broad, heavily muscled. His tattoos covered his back and ran from his lower biceps to his wrists. His head, which she'd always seen closely shaved, now wore a fine cap of closely curling black hair. He had big features to match his large frame. Del exuded power and strength.

  His brother, on the other hand, stood several inches shorter. His dark hair fell to his shoulders in tight ringlets gleaming with oil and held back from his forehead by a circlet of braided ribbons. He was leaner than Del, muscled but not so broad, and his features reflected that. Thinner nose, thinner lips, narrower, deeper-set eyes. He looked like Del, but a more pinched version. Sly.

  They didn't look like they'd be evenly matched, but watching them circle each other, Linna could see they were. Where Del was blunt and intense, his brother was sharp and swift. Each complemented the other.

  Del threw the first punch, which narrowly missed his brother's face. His brother took the chance to lunge an uppercut to Del's gut. Del grunted and took a step back, but didn't hesitate to slam his fist back toward his opponent.

  The man standing next to her muttered something in Xanderran. Seeing her incomprehension, he switched to Universal.

  "Vardek won't let him win," he said casually. "He likes his life too much. He's not going to let Delek come back and take it away."

  "We didn't come back to take anything away," Linna said.

  The man looked at her. "We? You're behsherit?"

  She nodded reluctantly, not really sure that was any of this stranger's business. The man grinned and shook his head, looking back to the fighting pair.

  "That's going to cause some problems. The Amanrabah is officially supposed to be bonded. Vardek hasn't taken a behshera. If Delek's behsherit, as the older sibling, he's got a better claim to the seat."

  "If Del wants it." Linna turned her back on the fight between brothers, sickened by the noises of flesh hitting flesh.

  "He doesn't have a choice really. If he's back, and behsherit, there's nothing to keep the melekim from electing him in Vardek's place. Delek's got the line of ascension, not his brother."

  "Can't he just...decline?"

  The man jerked his chin toward the brawling duo. "Does it look like he wants to decline to you?"

  Linna turned just in time to see Del crunch his fist into Vardek's face and bring it back covered in blood. Anger overtook her and she strode forward, ignoring the shouts from the men behind her. She forced her way between the men, not even flinching as Vardek's fist, meant for Del's head, flew toward her face. She reached up and caught it, held the fingers, and squeezed.

  Vardek's eyes widened in surprise at her speed and strength, and his face contorted when she put a little extra pressure on his fingers. She bent his hand back at the wrist until he stepped back, and then she dropped it.

  She whirled on Del. "You're acting like a pair of babies! Now stop it, both of you!"

  Del's expression was unreadable. He wiped at his face, smearing blood on his cheek. "Linna, this is between me and my brother."

  She crossed her arms and shook her head. "This is ridiculous. Get out of this freaking jungle before you go killing each other. Get to civilization. Have some food. Take a bath, for the love of God-of-Choice! You both stink. You're filthy! And you're punching each other for what? What do you hope to win?"

  Del dropped his hands and put them on his hips. "Damn it, Linna."

  She faced Vardek. "And you! Don't play the belabored innocent with me, you asshole. You sent us into the jungle on purpose. You tried to kill us, and while I'm not only severely offended on Del's part for that little stunt, I can tell you this. I am extremely pissed about the fact you tried to kill me. So back off, baby brother, stop posturing like an animal and behave like a human being."

  Vardek's brows rose under the onslaught of her insults. He looked past her, toward his brother. "This is the woman you've chosen for your behshera?"

  "He didn't choose me," Linna snapped, fed up to her eyeballs with Xanderran men. "I took him."

  Now Vardek seemed genuinely stunned. "Delek?"

  Del sounded amused. "She's right."

  Vardek looked down at the hand she'd bruised. "She took you?"

  Linna wasn't in the mood to debate semantics or go over her rom