Dorsey realized her guard—Collins, according to his nametag—wasn’t on the up and up ten minutes into their walk to the transpo depot. Her first clue came when he bypassed the hover bikes that made getting around the station swift business. Then he shoved her into a closet when one of his fellow guards turned a corner and walked towards him.

What really gave it away was the sweat. The kid wasn’t built for clandestine work. But he had a blaster and passcodes for anywhere on the station. If she ran, she wouldn’t get far.

That he took her all the way to the transpo depot was a surprise, but instead of leaving her by the gate to Nina Port and leaving to retrieve Ty, he led her down a hidden hallway and sat her down, binding her hands to a chair specifically designed to hold prisoners.

There was no proper door to the room, but the hallway was long and no one would hear her scream if she cried out. Well, no one except Collins, and he wouldn’t be a sympathetic audience.

“The Commander won’t like it if I go missing,” she told the corporal. It was just barely true. Nina might recognize her, but they didn’t have much of a relationship. Still, this was Nina’s station. Even if it was neutral, she had command.

“You’re a two bit freight pilot who’s cozying up to some off-worlder. Do you think she’ll care?” Collins snapped, his cheeks even redder. He couldn’t control his blushing and was little better at keeping his physical reactions to a minimum. His hands were balled up into fists and he scowled hard enough that it had to hurt his face.

“I think she’ll care that one of the guards she pays betrayed her.” He flinched, but Dorsey was still strapped to the chair.

“If you hadn’t found—” He cut himself off and turned away from Dorsey, facing down the hall as if watching for a relief guard to come back him up. They stewed in silence for a long time, the minutes ticking by with only the faint echo of the loudspeaker from the depot breaking through.

If I hadn’t found what? Dorsey wanted to demand. Was it Lex’s body? If she hadn’t found a way to escape from the pirates? If she hadn’t found Ty? What was the cause and effect? And why did Droscus—because it could be no one other than Droscus—care? She’d done business with him through her corporation, all pilots did eventually, but she’d never even met the man! Why would he hire a guard to smuggle her off station?

An awareness tugged at the edge of Dorsey’s mind, something she couldn’t make sense of. It felt like Ty. She couldn’t explain it with her senses, not with sight or smell, but it was the feeling of his presence. She would bet her entire being that he was close, that he was coming for her.

“Collins!” she called out, trying to drag his attention away from the hallway. If Ty was coming, there was only one way in. It was crazy to believe that he’d come for her, but she knew it in her heart to be true.

The guard ignored her.

“Come on, Collins, I want to play your game,” she tried again. She just needed to buy time. “Come over here.”

Collins whipped around, “What?” he demanded. “What could you possibly want to say you… you…”

“Cat got your tongue?” The taunt slipped out and Dorsey didn’t have time to regret it.

The sting of his hand radiated out across her cheek before she realized he was going to slap her. Damn, the kid was fast and strong. He could have been something someday. It was almost too bad he’d never become a real soldier, not after she was done with him.

Her ears rang with the power of the contact and she tasted the coppery tang of blood blooming on her tongue. Dorsey rolled her head back towards him and stared him right in the eyes, one brow quirked up. “I offer you info and that’s what you give me?”

“I don’t need to hear anything you have to say,” he sneered.

Not good. That impossible awareness of Ty was getting closer, but it wasn’t with her yet. Ty, she tried to call out with her thoughts, please, find me! Maybe this was what he’d meant when he mentioned psychic bonds. If there was some bond between them right now, she’d thank all her lucky stars.

Collins started to turn toward the hallway and Dorsey tried to reach out to stop him, her arms still held by the metal bonds of the chair. The sound of her struggle caught his attention and he turned back with a sickening smile plastered on his face.

Dorsey tried to keep her expression even as bile churned in her stomach and climbed up her throat. She’d seen that kind of smile before. It was always when a certain kind of man had a woman helpless before him. And it never ended well.

Collins loomed over her, absolutely certain that she was completely at his mercy. And she would have been, if she didn’t catch a whisper of movement just past his shoulder. Dorsey jerked her gaze back to Collins as he laid a hand on her arm, his grip too tight to be anything but menacing.

“You’re just a little girl who doesn’t even know that she’s in over her head,” he crooned, flattening his palm and moving it down her chest.

“I’m pretty sure you’re wrong about that,” she said, the fear transforming back into rage with every second she waited for Ty to make his move.

“Oh yeah?”

He jerked back as a blue hand with spikes coming out at the knuckles clenched his throat. “Oh,” Ty said as he held him in place, “yeah.”

“Don’t kill him, he might know something!” Dorsey said before Ty could take revenge. She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t admit that a part of her wished he didn’t listen to her.

But Ty held himself still. “Is she right?” he asked, his voice dangerous and so sexy she felt heat creep up her neck. “What do you know?”

“Nothing!” Collins squeaked, the powerful attitude dissolved into a puddle of jelly at the smallest sign of duress.

Ty glanced over at Dorsey, his expression glacial as he took stock of her situation. “He knows nothing, may I kill him now?”

She wanted to say yes, and she wanted to kiss Ty. She’d never known she was so bloodthirsty. “We need to take him to Max.” She still trusted the captain, despite the quarantine.

“Our shuttle leaves in ten minutes, there’s no time.” He didn’t explain how he’d procured them passage on a shuttle and Dorsey didn’t ask. She could do that later, once they were safe.

The restraints bit into her arms and she smiled. “Then we leave him here. Max can question him once we’re gone.” And though it hadn’t seemed possible, Collins got even paler.

Ty grinned. “I like the way you think.” He tapped his claws gently against Collins’ pulse. “If you run, I’ll kill you. If you scream, you die. Let Dorsey out and take her place.” With his free hand, Ty held up the blaster that had been resting in Collins’ holster. The boy was weaponless and terrified. He didn’t try to resist.

It took a minute for him to free her and another one to get the restraints settled back into place. Ty used a spare piece of cloth as a gag and left the boy bound as they sprinted down the hall towards the shuttle to Nina port.

It was time to find a safe place and rest.

And then she could figure out what the hell was going on.

 

***

 

The shuttle looked like any space station to land shuttle on this side of the galaxy. It was built to be sturdy enough to withstand multiple daily breaches of the atmosphere and stay in operation for years. They were on a smaller model, made to hold a few hundred passengers rather than several thousand.

Max had been good to his word and the gate attendants had let both Dorsey and Ty go on without question. They sat beside one another now and Ty couldn’t keep himself from touching Dorsey, from convincing himself that she was okay.

If she hadn’t stopped him, he would have killed that boy soldier and felt no regret. No one was allowed to hurt his woman. She was his denya and he would tear apart all the worlds of this galaxy to save her.

And even if she weren’t meant for him, Ty was coming to believe that he’d do the same thing anyway. Dorsey was one hell of a woman. Smart, sexy, with a wicked wit that kept him guessing. He’d never been in love before, but if this wasn’t the road, he didn’t want a map. A Detyen woman could walk across his path right now and he knew he wouldn’t be tempted. He wanted his denya, no one else.

Dorsey laid her head on his shoulder, her curly hair tickling his chin. Their row was isolated from most of the shuttle, reserved for high paying customers or important passengers. No one had booked it before Ty talked their way on and this row was the only one with two empty seats next to each other. No one on the shuttle had argued when he took the seats. He knew he still radiated anger, but Dorsey didn’t seem to mind.

“How did you know to come for me?” she asked. She wasn’t looking at him but out the little screen shaped like a porthole. It simulated the view outside the ship while leaving the hull intact.

How? He could name a dozen reasons, but few of them would make sense to her without explaining their bond, and now was certainly not the time for that. She needed to rest, needed to feel safe, and if he told her they were psychically bonded in the ways of his people, he feared that he’d lose her forever.

For the first time he realized that he should have said something before, back when there was a chance to stop this. But he’d been so caught up in the rush of escaping and the confusion of his temporary blindness that the act had been completed before he could think to prevent it.

With a start, he realized that it had been a week since his capture. If they hadn’t made love when they’d escaped, he’d be dead now.

“Ty?” She turned toward him when he took too long to respond.

“Your friend Max came to ask you some questions,” he explained. “He couldn’t take direct action but he could send me.”

She grinned. “My hero.”

He bristled for a moment before he understood she was talking about him, not the cyborg. “I will not let you fall into enemy hands. Not while I’m around.”

She snuggled into him and Ty threw his arm around her, keeping her close. She hadn’t left his sight since they’d left the would-be traitor tied to the chair; he didn’t know if he could let her have her space. Not yet, not until his protective instincts receded enough for rational thought to intervene.

The loudspeaker crackled to life and announced that their arrival was imminent. The trip from space station to land had taken less than half an hour. The shuttle rocked as they broke through the atmosphere and Ty’s ears popped as the artificial gravity of the shuttle gave way to the true gravity of Tarni. It was always surprising how different real gravity felt from that which was simulated on ships. He’d been out to space so long that he’d forgotten just how heavy his body could feel.

When the shuttle docked, he and Dorsey unbuckled their restraints and disembarked with the rest of the passengers into the shuttle station of Nina City. They walked down a narrow flight of stairs to the black stone of the tarmac. The sun beat hot overhead, though it was not yet midday on planet. Space lag meant Ty and Dorsey would have the joy of adjusting to a sun-regulated day. Space hours worked on the Interstellar Common Day, which was an entire hour shorter than Tarni time.

He looked past the shuttle and over to the shuttle port. It was a sprawling sandstone building with large windows taking up most of the walls. The roof was made of several domes, and columns supported the whole structure, solid lines of stone that looked like they’d been plucked from somewhere by a giant and put in place in one piece.

The oppressive weight of age seeped out of the port, and from a view of the surrounding areas, this had to be an older part of the city.

Jaaxis City had been all cobbled together over the years with metal and grit. Shining towers soared above ramshackle hovels next to perfectly respectable dwellings. Nothing matched all squished together like that.

Here in Nina City, they’d taken a different approach. This looked like the Old World, one of those planets that had grown into itself long before its people had the ability to traverse the stars. But from Dorsey’s history of the Consortium, Tarni and its sister planets were decidedly New. Clearly the settlers had taken to the technologies of space with aplomb while holding to the aesthetics of their home planet.

Dorsey sucked in a deep breath, her chest puffing up before she let it out. “Ah,” she breathed, “That’s air that hasn’t been circulated through the filtration system a thousand times.”

Ty took a breath. She was right—there was the stink of exhaust and heat and something faintly spicy all around them. It wasn’t the stale, sterile cleanliness of a life support system. No, the air here smelled like life itself.

Out of the corner of his eye Ty saw a vehicle coming towards them. At first he thought it was a shuttle port transport, but the four armed men gave lie to that assumption. Ty stepped closer to Dorsey, ready to jump in front of her if anything went wrong.

“Is that our ride?” she asked, shifting back and forth, light on the balls of her feet.

They could run and try to get lost in the crowd of Nina City if they could get out of the shuttle port. But there were at least two hundred meters of empty space before the fence to the populated areas of the city, and guard towers dotted that stone structure. They were slightly closer to the shuttle port building, but an area like that would have airtight security. There was nowhere to run.

“I think it may be,” Ty responded, dread and resignation settling in.

It was.

The vehicle stopped in front of the two of them. It was a land speeder designed to hold six. There were no doors on the front or back positions, but the middle row of seats was enclosed by solid walls, meant to hold detainees.

Two soldiers stepped out of the backseat. Ty saw that the woman closest to them was the leader. Three yellow braids covered one shoulder of her otherwise unembellished black uniform. The soldier on the other side of the speeder wore only one braid. He couldn’t see the other two to be certain, but since she was the one who talked, she was the one he’d listen to.

“The Commander requests your presence and offers her hospitality,” said the soldier. “I am Octava and have been sent to retrieve you.” Octava waved her hand and one of the sides of the speeder slid down to reveal a padded bench. “Please take a seat.”

Dorsey glanced at him and gave a slight nod. She was telling him not to resist. Ty nodded back and stepped up to the vehicle and took his seat. Octava was too well disciplined to visibly relax, but she nodded to her fellow soldier, who lowered his weapon.

And then they were off. None of the passengers from the shuttle glanced towards them, and that told Ty more about this city than he’d known before. Nina may have been a better warlord than Droscus, but she was still a warlord, and the city lived in resigned fear of her.

Once Dorsey sat beside him, Octava sealed them into the vehicle and instructed her driver to move. While the roads were packed with traffic and pedestrians, all moved out of the way without any need for a siren or horn.

The people of Tarni wore bright colors in many different styles. Some men and women covered their heads with silks and fine hats, while others left their hair free under the light of the sun. While most wore jumpsuits or pants, there were a fair number of dresses and robes as well. At first, Ty thought the crowds were overwhelmingly human, but as his eyes adjusted to the scenes he passed, he noticed the non-humans within the crowd. His eyes even caught onto a familiar clan marking for an instant before they turned a corner.

He’d seen a Detyen. But they drove on too fast for him to get a better look.

A bazaar covered by cloth drapes was propped up in between two tall stone buildings. Though they were only tall by Nina City standards. There couldn’t have been more than ten floors. In the bazaar, people of all colors and species traded their wares in the open air and the sound of voices and music drifted through the speeder.

“It’s so lively,” he said. The Jaaxis city center was a place of commerce and speed. It was meant for trade, not for life, and always felt monochromatic and sterile.

Dorsey looked back towards the bazaar as they passed it. “It doesn’t suck,” she said.

They drove for several more minutes until they came to another sandstone edifice in the center of the city. This was Nina’s palace, the seat of her power.

The road dropped off suddenly thirty meters before they reached the walls. A proper moat would be filled with water, but from his vantage point, all he saw was sheer rock over a dark pit. That was one way to discourage the rabble from storming the castle.

A bridge extended for them when they got close enough, and they drove into the heart of the castle courtyard. Soldiers and civilians walked around, some drilling in squads and others doing their own work. Their driver parked the vehicle in a spot designated for “Authorized Personnel” and the four guards got out, Octava waiting to let him and Dorsey out until they were properly covered.

Their guard led them inside and Ty craned his neck around, trying to take in everything at once. It wasn’t every day that a man got to be prisoner in an actual working castle. In comparison to the view outside, the inside was almost a letdown. The place was built for function over form, with sensors and cameras built into the walls and ceilings, the windows small with laser grids protecting them from invasion.

No one greeted them as they were led up a staircase and down a narrow hall. They walked past a great door that looked like it could turn into a gate with the push of a button. The walls were a happy yellow and the bright skylights made the place feel much bigger and homier than the corridor was.

But it was still a prison.

Nicer than the kidnappers’ ship, but Ty was getting very tired of being held captive.

Octava dismissed the three guards when they reached two heavy wooden doors. “The Commander has provided each of you with a week’s worth of fresh clothing and a bath. If you are hungry, there is food a little farther down the hallway. Until your… situation… can be sorted out, you’re to remain on this level. The Commander will want to meet with you tomorrow, but she understands that you’ve had a trying journey and must need rest. If you need anything that is not available on this floor, please contact Keeda, the floor maiden. She will see to all of your needs.”

“Thank you,” said Dorsey, somehow tamping down the resentment she had to be feeling about once again being placed under lock and key. “Please relay my regards to the Commander and let her know that I look forward to meeting her.”

Octava nodded and left them alone in the hallway.

Ty opened the door to his room and looked in. It was nice, modern even, with dark walls and a metallic decoration on the ceiling. The bed looked soft and big enough that he could sprawl with room to spare. “It beats a dark cell,” he said.

Dorsey smiled and opened her own door. “I think I could sleep for a week.”

They went into their rooms, and when the door shut behind her, Ty had a strange moment where the world wobbled on its axis. He’d been apart from Dorsey on the ship, technically, but they’d been in space. There was no place for her to go if she wanted to get away. On the space station, they’d been confined to quarantine and placed together once more. But here in the castle, though they were technically under guard, he knew Dorsey could find a way to leave.

Ty shook himself out of it. That was the danger and exhaustion talking. He couldn’t just barge into Dorsey’s room and demand her attention in the first moment she had to herself. He wasn’t that desperate.

Lovesick, yes, but not a fool.

He found the clothes that Octava mentioned and pulled on a fresh set. Compared to what he’d been wearing for days, the soft synthetic fibers felt decadent on his skin. He briefly considered taking a shower, but the weight of gravity and everything else struck him down and he suddenly felt too tired to do more than stumble into the bed.

When he rolled over, he saw a second large wooden door that looked nothing like the flimsy thing that slid to reveal a bathroom. This one looked like it joined to another room.

A few minutes later, that door opened and Dorsey peeked her head through. She, too, had changed into new clothes, her outfit made of an orange silk top and dark pants. “Hey,” she said, wedged in the doorway, half in her room, half in his.

Ty gave her a sleepy smile. “Hey.”

“I…” Dorsey looked back at her room and bit her lip.

Ty patted the sheet next to him. “Lay with me?”

She nodded and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.